Waveform: Feature ideas...

[ryanwdaum]

is there a place where Tracktion is collecting feature ideas / feature input for future versions of Waveform? Do they look at the forum? Because I have a pile, including these

Generally:
- Ability to write macros/extensions in a little programming language (Lua, say), and an official repository for collecting them. Cakewalk/Sonar had this, and it's super useful.

MIDI editing:
- 'Explode notes to multiple tracks' like I listed elsehere in the forum. This is a great feature that some other DAWs have that allows one to 'prototype' say, a drum pattern, and then isolate different sounds out to different channels.
- Related: select all notes of the same pitch with a single click.
- Also related, another way of doing the above would be to a way to declare (say in the rack view) that certain notes in a pattern be sent out to different instruments. As long as the UI for this isn't too laborious
- For pattern generators, the ability to describe algorithmic 'variations' in a pattern: I.e. play this chord sequence with this pattern, but every 4th bar alter the sequence to a different pattern and/or chord sequence.

Step editor / drum programming:
- Would love to see a drum pattern generator, in a manner similar to chords/basslines/melodies.
- Collective needs multiple outputs, it doesn't seem to have that possibility right now.
- The step editor is pretty weak generally. Is there a way to change the note assignments and even the number of pitches available? I don't see it, this seems rather not good. If I'm missing it, it should be more obvious in the UI.
- Is there a way to convert back and forth between MIDI and step editing for the same set of notes? Seems to me they should just be a different view on the same underlying note data.

Arrangement view:
- Extend the pattern generator concept into arrangement generators -- add an arrangement generator or a way to describe a sequence of arrangements: play this clip 3 times, then chorus, then this, etc. (Like we used to have back in the 80s with Notator, etc.) Taking the grunt work out of structuring compositions.
- Clone/duplicate track -- exact copy including the same plugins w/ same configuration.

[tatanka]

Arrangement view:
- Extend the pattern generator concept into arrangement generators -- add an arrangement generator or a way to describe a sequence of arrangements: play this clip 3 times, then chorus, then this, etc. (Like we used to have back in the 80s with Notator, etc.) Taking the grunt work out of structuring compositions.

[magicmusic]

I like a chord track in simular way cubase have it. so it is possible to add chords as W8 and the melodyne audio or midi can transpose to fit the scale and chord.

[dRowAudio]

- Ability to write macros/extensions in a little programming language (Lua, say), and an official repository for collecting them. Cakewalk/Sonar had this, and it's super useful.

We already have this in the form of Javascript scripts. Take a look at the "Keyboard Shortcuts" page then ensure the "Show script editor" button is ticked.

MIDI editing:

- 'Explode notes to multiple tracks' like I listed elsehere in the forum. This is a great feature that some other DAWs have that allows one to 'prototype' say, a drum pattern, and then isolate different sounds out to different channels.

Does setting a track with MIDI on it as the ghost track of another track achieve this?

- Related: select all notes of the same pitch with a single click.

You can do this by selecting a note of the pitch you want then choosing "Select Notes" -> "Select all notes with the same pitch"

- Also related, another way of doing the above would be to a way to declare (say in the rack view) that certain notes in a pattern be sent out to different instruments. As long as the UI for this isn't too laborious

You could do this if you have a simple MIDI splitter plugin. We might add one of these in the future but I'm sure there are some free ones out there.

- For pattern generators, the ability to describe algorithmic 'variations' in a pattern: I.e. play this chord sequence with this pattern, but every 4th bar alter the sequence to a different pattern and/or chord sequence.

We don't do exactly this but the chord track in W9 will let you dictate chords for your MIDI patterns to follow.

Step editor / drum programming:
- Would love to see a drum pattern generator, in a manner similar to chords/basslines/melodies.

You can already store drum patterns to presets (use the Search browser to look for Clips and you'll find a few). Then you can create your step sequence from items in that preset.

- Collective needs multiple outputs, it doesn't seem to have that possibility right now.

That's a fair request. Maybe the new multi-out "Multi Sampler" instrument in W9 will server your needs though?

- The step editor is pretty weak generally. Is there a way to change the note assignments and even the number of pitches available? I don't see it, this seems rather not good. If I'm missing it, it should be more obvious in the UI.

Yes, it's incredibly flexible. If you select a channel from the popup name list you can adjust the note, velocity, channel, name and even groove. There's also options to quickly assign every 'n' note to build patterns.
If you press the rollover "V/G" button you can also adjust the velocity and gate for every single step. Extremely flexible. Maybe check "Chapter 27 - Step Clips" in the user manual for a more in-depth look?

- Is there a way to convert back and forth between MIDI and step editing for the same set of notes? Seems to me they should just be a different view on the same underlying note data.

You can convert to a MIDI clip by selecting the Step Clip and choosing "Render to MIDI Clip" but there's no way to go from a MIDI clip back to a Step Clip because it would be extremely difficult to account for all the different note lengths and starting positions etc. that don't have a rigid grid like in the step clip.

Arrangement view:
- Extend the pattern generator concept into arrangement generators -- add an arrangement generator or a way to describe a sequence of arrangements: play this clip 3 times, then chorus, then this, etc. (Like we used to have back in the 80s with Notator, etc.) Taking the grunt work out of structuring compositions.

We have thought about this. We might be able to explore it in the future but it's a big UX problem to solve.

- Clone/duplicate track -- exact copy including the same plugins w/ same configuration.

Copy/paste or use the "Duplicate" keyboard shortcut? If you want the same config between sessions/Edits you can always save the track to a preset? (Now with an audio preview in W9)

Hope that helps!

[jabe]

Arrangement view:
- Extend the pattern generator concept into arrangement generators -- add an arrangement generator or a way to describe a sequence of arrangements: play this clip 3 times, then chorus, then this, etc. (Like we used to have back in the 80s with Notator, etc.) Taking the grunt work out of structuring compositions.

You could do this with sub-edits. Create edits for the verse, chorus, intro, outro, middly bit, etc, then place them in the required order in a main edit (or have multiple main edits, if required). Then sing and play over the main edit(s).