Feature requests

[yellukhan]

i just got a wacky idea of the month - as usual -

would this be possible somehow?
kind a sender/receiver option for the Apply Melody Variation
to use it in between two separate tracks ?

[musicdevelopments]

How did this avoid my attention? I will implement it for the next beta version.

if i am not missing something obvious,
it would be really great if we have a button/shortcut key
for reset the slice order in the Slice Phrase Variation

[musicdevelopments]

kind a sender/receiver option for the Apply Melody Variation
to use it in between two separate tracks ?

This is so good, I added it to my to-do list!
Thanks, yellukhan!
Attila

[musicdevelopments]

I would very much like to be able to turn off the selected variations all at once and turn on all the selected ones at once again to compare the sound of the changes (In the Inspectors and Track and Phrases).

Hi lulukom!

Very good idea! I'll do my best to implement this for v4.0!

Thanks,
Attila

[yellukhan]

Yay!

double Thank you so much Attila !

[sj1]

Hi,

I have a desired workflow for MIDI file export from RC that is (AFAIK) not quite currently supported today, but could be, and if I were then productivity towards some of my goals would be greatly enhanced.

The background is that I want to quickly and easily create a library of properly named MIDI files representing chord progressions. These are to be subsequently imported (or dragged) into my other DAWs (Cubase, Ableton, Bitwig) where they become (properly named!) MIDI clips that are then used to drive other musical processes (e.g. Stephen Kay's KARMA Motif) harmonically, all under immediate control of a Novation Launchpad.

I gotta tell you, it is amazingly inspiring and FUN to be able to just touch a button on the Launchpad and have an entire music-scape completely change in realtime!

In Bitwig, the result would look something like this:

Bitwig Progressions Demo 01.jpg

(BTW, name-wise we only need the chord progression itself from RC, prefixes and post-fixes are easily added to file names by RenameMaster.)

So, back to RC ...

RC is potentially the perfect source for the chord progressions. RC has a large number of built-in progressions, many user add-ons, an excellent, flexible, fast interface for building your own progressions, MIDI file import capability, and the ability to instantly flip between note-name chords and roman numeral chords.

The only part that's not quite there yet (AFAIK) is to be able to select a measure range for the desired clip(s) and then have RC export a MIDI file across exactly that range, with the chord progression (with user choice of note-name chords or roman numeral chords) being used as the exported MIDI file name.

e.g. like this:

Chord Prog Names 01.jpg

So, RC having all the necessary preliminaries in place, if it could be possible to punch up the MIDI file export (and naming) capabilities to achieve this, I think it would be FANTASTIC!

Imagining one automation step further, a higher level-macro operation in RC could slice up a whole song a set number (e.g. 4) of measures at a time and the chords for an entire song could thus be turned into short repurposable clips in one operation.

BTW, I know that the chords themselves are not MIDI, a generator must be (selected and) applied in some way. There could be several possible ways to approach this interface-wise. Maybe from the developer's POV there is one obvious desirable way to approach implementing this. Maybe not. I'd be happy to comment further about various possibilities if the overall idea is positively received and if such comment is desired.

Here's hoping!

[musicdevelopments]

Hi sj1,

Fortunately I was able to implement this in 10 minutes.
The most logical things was to introduce a special token for master track chords. Just like you can name a track to {preset} which makes the track name same as the used preset name, you can name a track to {chords} which represent the list of master track chords:



If you save your track as "individual MIDI track", you'll have a file named (I - IVmaj7 - V - I - bIIdim7 - IIm).mid. For this you must leave the file name empty (".mid") in the file selector, otherwise MIDI files are prefixed with your file name (tracks will be named as "something-(I - IVmaj7 - V - I - bIIdim7 - IIm).mid"...

I almost finished the next beta version, which includes this small feature.

Thanks,
Attila

[sj1]

Fantastic! That's brilliant, and super-nice of you to work it in so fast!

That's one "small feature" for the developer, one giant leap for the user. <g>

BTW, will that track the Master Track - Chord Naming setting to write the names according to whichever of the 3 styles is selected?

RC - Chord Naming.jpg

[musicdevelopments]

Yes, it sets the name according to the chord naming set in the inspector...
I'll upload the new beta tomorrow.

[sj1]

Awesome! Many thanks.

[lulukom]

Hi Attila!
If this is not difficult, then I ask you to make it possible to drag and drop phrases of .rcPHRS format from Finder to the track, just as we are now dragging and dropping MIDI files. For example, because I do not store a large number of phrases in the CustomPhrases folder. Thank .

[sj1]

Hi,

I'm not sure if there are other implications to this, but I'll throw it out here.

If I double-click on a defined part (either in the Structure Browser or along the top of the Timeline) I am zoomed into a screen showing just that part. From there, if I double-click again (along the top of the Timeline) I am taken back to where I was (Composition) and now all the chords in that part are highlighted (selected). IOW, two quick double-clicks selects the chords of a part on the Master Track. This is very "rapid", I love it.

What is not selected by this though is the same area in the Timeline.

If the same area in the Timeline were selected, then the two quick double-clicks procedure would leave us all ready-to-go for exporting a MIDI file by Ctrl-dragging the track name.

Offhand, this seems desirable. In fact, not fully paying attention, I was grooving on this two quick double-clicks method of selection and dragging out MIDI files (which were indeed named as intended), only to find later that the contents were the entire composition rather than the selected chords.

So, I wonder, any particular reason(s) not to have both Master Track Chords and the same area of the Timeline wind up selected at once this way?

If no counter-case, then I suggest that. Thanks!

[sj1]

I suppose this is philosophical, but the effects can be very practical (either easy or mystifying/frustrating) ...

IMO (all that follows) - life is much easier when everything available is easily and straightforwardly discoverable in a consistent way. It makes for a complicated and hard-to-learn program (and I'll speak in theory for a moment) when some things are available only via menus, others only via mouse clicks, others only via double-mouse-clicks, others only via keyboard shortcuts, etc. etc. How the heck is one every suppose to find and learn the all the functions under these conditions? It's more like a child's treasure hunt than like a productive workflow!

OK, with respect to RC the above may be a bit overstated, but I want to stake out where I'm coming from (i.e. time is short, Death is the hunter, etc.!).

Here is my specific for the day - this picture shows a selected phase (the 2nd one).

RC Highlighted Phrase 01.jpg

A right click on it brings up the Phrase menu. OK, love it! Now where's the item that sends the phrase to the phrase editor? Well, there is no such item! Again and again I go thru the list carefully until I am finally certain that there is just no such animal. 15m later I finally discover by dumb luck that double clicking on the phrase in the first place would have loaded it right into the editor! Now, this is "rapid", and I applaud it, but I do not applaud the absence of 'Send to Editor' in the right-click menu. A menu is meant to present the choices and possibilities, this menu falls short.

Now, am I uniquely dumb? (Wait, don't answer that!) I'm willing to bet that if my wheels were set spinning fruitlessly and pointlessly by this, then someone else's will be too.

"Rapid", "Clear", and "Accessible" are all laudable goals for a program. Each of these qualities contributes to efficient and enjoyable workflow and the maximization of the creation the program was designed to enable. My point here (and I apologize if I'm belaboring it) is that "Rapid", "Clear", and "Accessible" are *NOT* in competition with each other. They are complementary, and all necessary for any program to be the best that it can be.

So, FWIW, I suggest specifically that 'Send to Phrase Editor' be added to the right-click menu for phrases, and generally that the same concept be applied elsewhere as analogous. Thanks for reading!

[sj1]

Hi,

I'd find it quite useful if, in addition to the one-click preview on/off for phrases that plays the phrase exactly once we also had a preview choice for phrases that would play the phrase as a loop.

(Side comment: that's what I initially thought the circle-arrow icon that is actually 'Reload Custom Phrases' would do.)

RC Phrase Loop Preview 01.jpg

[InLight-Tone]

+1000 for a virtual midi keyboard and a tabbed, Photoshop style docking panel on the right!!!