File Handling

[Bonteburg]

Evening,

Is it just me or is it awfully easy to accidentally overwrite songs in MU.LAB?

Something like a basic dialogue informing you about existing files by the same name/ asking you if you want to overwrite should definitely be implemented in MU.LAB's file handling at some point.

On a related note, I find MU.LAB's utter silence when backing up a previously saved project a little unsettling. I never seem to know if I really just pressed 'save' or missed the button. Maybe something like a status dialogue/some kind of blip in the interface to mark the saving process would be a good idea.

When quitting MU.LAB from out of a an already saved file that hasn't been altered in any way, the quit without save/save before quit/cancel dialogue feels like a stumbling block. You should be allowed to quit MU.LAB without much ado when there's no need to save any changes.

Marco

[MuTools]

Is it just me or is it awfully easy to accidentally overwrite songs in MU.LAB?

Something like a basic dialogue informing you about existing files by the same name/ asking you if you want to overwrite should definitely be implemented in MU.LAB's file handling at some point.

It is implemented.

But i recently noticed that if you do "Save As..." and you type in an existing musession filename but without the extension, then there is no "Overwrite?" dialog. That's fixed in M3.

On a related note, I find MU.LAB's utter silence when backing up a previously saved project a little unsettling. I never seem to know if I really just pressed 'save' or missed the button. Maybe something like a status dialogue/some kind of blip in the interface to mark the saving process would be a good idea.

I agree.

In the past, MU.LAB also used the "Overwrite?" dialog when doing "Save". Users requested to take this away as it's not compliant. Which is true. But now the "Save" is really too silent, i fully agree. So in M3 you'll get a little message after a succesful "Save". This feels like a nice balance

When quitting MU.LAB from out of a an already saved file that hasn't been altered in any way, the quit without save/save before quit/cancel dialogue feels like a stumbling block. You should be allowed to quit MU.LAB without much ado when there's no need to save any changes.

This has been discussed in another thread, i estimate 2-3 months ago.

Essential problem is that it's not easy to define when a session has changed...

[Bonteburg]

yes I remember that last one now!!:D I concur.

Maybe MU.LAB should look at all the things that really have been saved as changes and decide on the dialogue based on whether anything else has changed. err if that makes any sense

[MuTools]

It absolutely makes sense, but the realization of this theory is more work than one would expect.

Personally, if i'm in doubt whether to save or not, i do save.
And when i doubt about overwriting i increase the name-index of my session file e.g. "SpaceJam.Musession" becomes "SpaceJam-2.Musession", then "SpaceJam-3.Musession" etc. But that's a personal thing.

[TheGuysanIdiot]

Jo

"But now the "Save" is really too silent" - I disagree just take a look at something like MS Word how it reacts to a file that already has been saved, there is no message flashing up saying "Saved" etc also compare it to other DAWs.

I personally would like to see all these flashing up type of messages gone from MULAB in general. They tend to slow down the flow of MULAB unnecessarily in my opinion.

Jo it would probably be a good idea to make the changes as you suggest to M3 beta when released and then may be get the users to vote on what message pop-ups should stay and what should go.

I would like to see the work flow of M3 be as fast as possible but obviously users need to be comfortable with what they think is saved/not saved/overwritten etc.

OZ

[MuTools]

"But now the "Save" is really too silent" - I disagree just take a look at something like MS Word how it reacts to a file that already has been saved, there is no message flashing up saying "Saved" etc also compare it to other DAWs.

In most apps there is at least some kind of visual feedback when a file is saved, be it, for example, the fact that the filename is marked with a * at the end, and when saved that * disappears so you know the file has been saved.

I agree with Bonte that the Save in MU.LAB is too silent as i have had the same explicit feeling during my test jams here with M3.

The "Saved OK" popup in M3 is an auto-hide popup so it doesn't hurt too much, you don't have to do anything

I personally would like to see all these flashing up type of messages gone from MULAB in general. They tend to slow down the flow of MULAB unnecessarily in my opinion.

Jo it would probably be a good idea to make the changes as you suggest to M3 beta when released and then may be get the users to vote on what message pop-ups should stay and what should go.

I would like to see the work flow of M3 be as fast as possible but obviously users need to be comfortable with what they think is saved/not saved/overwritten etc.

M3 is getting very close to its test phase now. I'm fixing some last rough edges; Will make it available as a test version asap so we can all talk about something concrete.

[TheGuysanIdiot]

Super!

I simply cannot wait to see the test M3.

OZ

[Bonteburg]

+3, err, 1.

[MuTools]

Removed the ETA in my previous post. Discovered another issue. Anyway, M3 Test A is getting close(r)

[TheGuysanIdiot]

Jo,

I was wrong. I just looked at how another DAW similar to yours "XT2" deals with saving and sure enough it flashes up "Saving" after clicking on save.

The message flashes up quick enough to show you that the file has been saved (not too silent) and then vanishes.

I have noticed in general when MULAB flashes up messages they seem to stay on screen just a bit too long and somehow it interrupts my brain/workflow. May be the answer is to have pop-ups etc to notify users that an action has been performed but make them a bit quicker to vanish.

OZ

[MuTools]

In M2.5, these flash alerts stay for 1.5 secs.

In M3 this will be 1 sec, as i agree that it was just too long.

If it's important that the user can fully read the text then the alert should just stay there with an OK button.

So all more finetuned in M3

Thanks for your feedback!

[TheGuysanIdiot]

Jo,

Yes I agree one second is probably better.

It is quite a subtle thing and probably involves swapping between left and right side of brain etc. MULAB messages do seem to jam my creative thought processes some what.

MULAB uses a centre/centre messaging so the messages are dead centre of the screen and using large fonts so it is very much "in your face" so to speak where as XT2 "Saving" dialogue is smaller and top right of screen so it not so distracting for users that have been using the DAW for a while.

And yes any messages that must be read and understood needs the click "OK" stuff.

As with all things like this there will always need to be some sort of compromise.

Easy for the newbie to understand and then less distracting once the user becomes more experienced with the DAW.

I use MULAB everyday for at least two hours per day and under these circumstances it is important that a DAW does not get unnecessarily tiresome with too many pop-ups etc.

Sounds like M3 will be better in this respect.

OZ

[MuTools]

Once you got the M3 test version, please let me know which messages are still hurting.