MusicDevelopments

oconnorstp · Post by **oconnorstp** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:34 am

Hi all,

I'm brand new to RC and was wondering if I could impose on you for some basic tips. Just point me to the right thread if this is the wrong way to do it. Here's my first puzzler.

How do I apply the Swing variation to a phrase? I'm working my way through the wiki and that's the suggestion on the Basics page. But I'm missing some newbie step. Here's a 45 second video of how I'm trying to do it -- clearly wrong because nothing is changing.

https://www.haven2.com/wp-content/uploa ... -swing.mp4

Thanks in advance.

Mike

musicdevelopments · Post by **musicdevelopments** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 8:46 am

Hi Mike,

I'll show you how to add a variation to a phrase, or to a track.
Each phrase and track have a list of variations that are applied to it. Multiple variations are applied in top-to-bottom order. Since the whole process is non-destructive, your original phrase will not be modified. So you can freely experiment.

1) Open the phrase/track inspector. Look for the colorful arrow at the top, and click on it:

2) click on the "Add..." menu at the bottom and select a variation to add. Alternatively you can drop a variation from the Variations browser on the list.

Usually it is not necessary to open the Variations browser at all. In theory you can drag and drop variations on phrases but at the moment it inserts the dropped variation twice. I'll fix this problem later today.

Thanks,
Attila

oconnorstp · Post by **oconnorstp** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:02 pm

Thanks for straightening me out Attila!

Here's what sent me astray. The wiki is suggesting that I can do this from the Variations Browser. When would it be more appropriate to use the browser rather than the Show Variations panel within the Phrase panel?

oconnorstp · Post by **oconnorstp** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:32 pm

Oh... and how do I add Swing to more than one phrase at once -- but not the whole track? I tried highlighting several phrases but only one of the phrases received the change. Do I have to do them one at a time?

oconnorstp · Post by **oconnorstp** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:50 pm

I'm over on the wiki Variations page now and notice that (at least in OSX Firefox and Safari) the text of the article refers to graphics that don't appear. Sorry to be so picky, but these pages are likely to be the first experience that a newbie like me is going to have. And, since this is a wiki, presumably it's easy to fix.

musicdevelopments · Post by **musicdevelopments** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 5:13 pm

Well, there were no screenshots there, but I added them now.

You can add variations to multiple selected phrases by simply clicking on a variation in the browser.
However I find it counter-intuitive, so in the latest beta version it works differently: clicking on a variation does nothing, but you can drag a variation to multiple selected phrases to add it to all of them. If you drop a variation to an unselected phrase, only that phrase is affected. I think this is a more logical and expected behavior.
I will gladly send you the download links for the beta version, if you would like to use the latest update. 'Beta' does not mean 'unreliable' or 'buggy'...

Thanks,
Attila

oconnorstp · Post by **oconnorstp** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:48 pm

Well, there were no screenshots there, but I added them now.

Terrific! Thanks!

You can add variations to multiple selected phrases by simply clicking on a variation in the browser.

I'm starting to understand my puzzlement. I didn't realize that "adding a variation" from the Phrase Browser is just like using the "Add" button in the Phrase Inspector. In both cases, that adds the *capability* to make a variation. I was expecting the *values* that I'd pre-set in the Browser to carry into the phrase when I did the drag to multiple selected phrases -- which is not the case, right?

Two scenarios come to mind:

1) Load a single pre-configured variation into phrases. Right now it looks like that's the intent of having all those sliders in the Browser, but they don't seem to be used (for that purpose anyway). What *are* those sliders in the Browser supposed to be used for?

2) Pre-configure a complex variation (multiple variations, each with values set) and then apply that group of variations/values to some (but not all) phrases in the track. Is there a way to do that? Apply multiple variations, with values, to selected phrases? Or is it better to just delete the target phrases and replace them with copies of the modified one?

However I find it counter-intuitive, so in the latest beta version it works differently: clicking on a variation does nothing, but you can drag a variation to multiple selected phrases to add it to all of them. If you drop a variation to an unselected phrase, only that phrase is affected. I think this is a more logical and expected behavior.

I will gladly send you the download links for the beta version, if you would like to use the latest update. 'Beta' does not mean 'unreliable' or 'buggy'...

Thanks! but... LOL. I think I better stay with the production version for now. Plenty to digest without adding new changes to the mix.

musicdevelopments · Post by **musicdevelopments** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 8:03 am

Good points. It is not possible to load pre-configured variations into phrases.
The solution will be to make it possible to drag multiple pre-configured variations from the phrase inspector and drop to other phrases.
The controls in the browser indeed do nothing. I'll do something about it. I think most users use the menu to insert variations.

Thanks,
Attila

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