eXT: What You're Waiting for Before You'll Switch

[quincy]

I don't want to sound like a pompous prick...

but you do anyway

[Rellik]

I don't want to sound like a pompous prick, but I'm quite annoyed with some of the unoriginality of these requests. Not that they're not important or useful, but just that most of them can be done already.

Maybe most of them can already be done... you can't expect everyone to know everything about eXT when they're not even full-fledged users yet .

Then there's the things that can be done... but can they be done easily? That's, in my honest and sincere opinion, just as important. When it comes to making music, a workaround is almost never a real workaround, because you have to do these processes over and over again... and it is not a solution to let this extra wasted time and inspiration just add up and up.

[Jed]

Hi eXT'rs

I find that when I try to record my guitar into the eXT sequencer (eXT in stand alone mode) that there is a delay, ie the guitar lags the rest of the piece when playing back.

This doesn't happen in Tracktion or Sonar, and needs to be sorted in eXT before I can consider using it as my main host.

I guess I a talking about the development of recording latency compensation?

Cheers
Jed

[jens]

Hi eXT'rs

I find that when I try to record my guitar into the eXT sequencer (eXT in stand alone mode) that there is a delay, ie the guitar lags the rest of the piece when playing back.

This doesn't happen in Tracktion or Sonar, and needs to be sorted in eXT before I can consider using it as my main host.

I guess I a talking about the development of recording latency compensation?

Cheers
Jed

nope - it means you haven't set up your soundcard correctly - probably this latency is due to that you're not using asio.

On top of eXT's main window click 'setup' and then choose the same driver you're using within Tracktion.

If you're using the same driver with the same buffer-size within both sequencers also the latency has to be the same.

[Caleb]

Well I'm using eXT as my main sequencer for the moment and I'm pretty impressed on the whole.

There are LOTS of improvements that could be made to make it the totally kick arse program it should be - but they've already been said really in various FRs around the place.

I'm a big believer in a sequencer not just being a sequencer of midi and audio events but as a compositional tool.

Sometimes I feel that sequencers are just ellaborate blank sheet music pages waiting for me to draw all the notes in individually. There's nothing interactive or creative about the program itself.

That's one of the reasons I always look at the "LIVE" features of a program and how they will be developed. The reason is that "LIVE" features can also be compositional features if developed the right way.

I want my sequencer to be my instrument not just a pile of blank paper waiting passively for the ink.

But what I have stumbled across with eXT is a program that you can design yourself to help with compositional interactivity. That's why I'm looking at groove builders and guitar strummers etc... These are powerful ways of increasing your compositional toolset whether you use eXT or even another host.

Sorry - I meandered into my favourite sequencer topic again.

Caleb

[Lunch Money]

Heh, strangely enough, I WANT my sequencer to be more like a blank piece of paper. The MIDI parts equate to the sheet music, as you say, and the audio parts equate to some freehand sketching.

I want everything clear and linear. I don't like VSTi that are 'looping' audio, but I can't SEE what's going on at any point in time in the piece just by looking at the sequencer, so I usually render in order to see the waveforms.

To answer the question, specifically-- I want ease of use and navigation in the sequencer. Vertical resizing, for example (which I know is on the way at some point in time). I think more of the actions should be standardized and intuitive based on Windows mouse and key actions. For example, when a VST is active, I can press the 'delete' key instead of having to right-click and use the context menu to do it.

So... mostly, navigation-related stuff in the sequencer window.

Greg

[Rellik]

Yeah, I more agree with Lunch Money.

eXT's other features are more of the compositional tools, as I see it; but the Sequencer is kind of a safe haven (unless you don't want it to be ) from all those MIDI and Audio contraptions.

My real criteria for a Sequencer is clarity and ease of use (as long as it can do all those standard things like Send Effects and mixing and all). In that sense, I like it like a blank sheet of paper. My preference is that it should be as clear as possible; too much switching back and forth between things just kills the momentum. So I definitely love eXT's sequencer just not everything about it. For example, it would definitely be cool to be able to (insert all the FR's I and others bring up so often here) . It's just a matter of being able to entice me away from my current main host, FL Studio 4, and then eXT will have me in its clutches (and to do that, I think I've mentioned this enough, but the MIDI editing will have to be configurable for my needs, time signatures + tempo changes, some easier way to use the Sampler as a drum sampler, and that's about everything I can remember at the moment).

And that's my life's story. I mean my conditions for switching to eXT as my main host.

[thockin]

When it uses full resolution parameter automation (instead of midi cc style).

This has to be teh first thing that turned me off eXT. MIDI is a great way to get data to/from hardware. Software is SO MUCH more capable. Just dump MIDI almost entirely, please. 0-127 is a RIDICULOUS restriction.

[Jed]

Jens wrote:

nope - it means you haven't set up your soundcard correctly - probably this latency is due to that you're not using asio.

On top of eXT's main window click 'setup' and then choose the same driver you're using within Tracktion.

If you're using the same driver with the same buffer-size within both sequencers also the latency has to be the same.

Of course I am using the asio driver - you can't use anything elsein eXT! I consistantly get 3mS latency when recording vsti's but when recording audio I have to slide the audio slightly forward to get it to line up with the previously recorded tracks exactly.

When using either Tracktion or Sonar I don't have to do this, as the program does it for me automatically. I assume that this is because these programs have recording latency compesation built in.

Jed

[Caleb]

Heh, strangely enough, I WANT my sequencer to be more like a blank piece of paper. The MIDI parts equate to the sheet music, as you say, and the audio parts equate to some freehand sketching.

Ooooh yuck. Exactly why I don't like hosts like Cubase and Sonar.



Caleb

[NicFit]

A Spell-Checker is the only thing I'm holding out for...till then XT is unuseable to me


nF

[jens]

Jens wrote:

nope - it means you haven't set up your soundcard correctly - probably this latency is due to that you're not using asio.

On top of eXT's main window click 'setup' and then choose the same driver you're using within Tracktion.

If you're using the same driver with the same buffer-size within both sequencers also the latency has to be the same.

Of course I am using the asio driver - you can't use anything elsein eXT! I consistantly get 3mS latency when recording vsti's but when recording audio I have to slide the audio slightly forward to get it to line up with the previously recorded tracks exactly.

When using either Tracktion or Sonar I don't have to do this, as the program does it for me automatically. I assume that this is because these programs have recording latency compesation built in.

Jed

sorry, I don't understand what you mean

as I wrote:

If you use the same asio-driver with the same settings the latency is also the same.

If it is not it either isn't the same driver or the driver hasn't the same settings.

I don't understand the bit about the 3ms...

All I know is that 3ms is a delay you can't notice/hear.

I am recording lots of guitars in both Tracktion and
eXT. - Werks fine over here.

And yes, you can use something else than asio within eXT - it's called 'asio multimedia driver'

(it's only available if you have/had previously installed any Steinberg .exes though )

[Amberience]

I've got a sound installation to do in a group. We're going to use EXT to process live audio, as well as playback pre-recorded audio.

We're going to have microphones linked into a mixer, which is then linked into the computer. This would then enable us to split the audio to various vst effects.

To keep the sound constantly changing, we're going to use envelopes to change parameters of our effects over time. The envelopes could last as long as 3 or 4 minutes before they loop again.

Then I'm going to have a few sequencers. Some playing 4 bar loops of atmospherics, and then some playing seemingly random one shots every now and then.

It'll hopefully be possible to modulate the volume of one mixer channel with the volume of the input, so that there is only ever sound coming out when the microphones are picking up sound.

I think my point in telling you this is that I feel confident that EXT can handle a sound installation, and I also feel that its perfectly capable of being my main host.

This program rocks, and I can't wait to see what else Jorgen has up his sleeves!!

[jens]

Vertical resizing, for example (which I know is on the way at some point in time)

oh please - hopefully not

[cbit]

I agree with lunch money too (about the blank slate, importance of a solid linear sequencing foundation and navigation system).. and to kind-of echo what moduLR said: i think i'd want the eXT sequencer navigation to mimic the way tracktion deals with moving around a track visually. So far this is the fastest navigation system i've come across in a sequencer, and a big part of what makes tracktion so quick to work with.