Reaper 7 released

[enroe]

Yeah, but you said "Fixed item position mode" ... , that's what I commented on above (see quote in my previous post). Just a glitch in the system, so to speak, heh.

Sorry - that was a fast typo. Of course, FIPM is a term used in Reaper and in
the Reaper-manual for a long time. And it is indeed FIPM = "Free Item Position Mode".

[jens]

Yes, exactly as I said in my post you quoted - and again: that's not it - this empty space is R7 specific.

I'm actually quite familiar with FIPM and so I can tell you that you can see in my screenshot that it's off, otherwise the items would have resize-handles at their lower edge.

[Guenon]

Indeed. Have you asked about this on the Reaper forums (Bug Reports)?

[jens]

I'm actually quite familiar with FIPM and so I can tell you that you can see in my screenshot that it's off, otherwise the items would have resize-handles at their lower edge.

Plus, what's more is that free horizontal space in FIPM is always proportional to the zoom level, which is not the case with the empty space I have in R7 since this is always the same height regardless of the zoom-level as I mentioned (and as you can see in my screenshot).

plus empty horizontal space on a FIPM track is arbitrary both in position and height as it all depends on your items (which you can freely move and height-adjust), so it's highly unlikely (if not outright impossible) that it would be evenly distributed like that across all channels. You'd have to try really hard in R6 to make it look like that with FIPM (resize-handles aside, of course).

Indeed. Have you asked about this on the Reaper forums (Bug Reports)?

I have not, since I had no reason to assume it'd be a bug. Normally WTF???-issues like this I that encounter in Reaper are due to some setting that's hidden somewhere in the depths of some menu and due to the enormous level of convolution in Reaper (which keeps increasing all the time since they keep adding stuff without seemingly putting too much thought into user-experience) takes major detective work to discover as the cause.

These things are often set-and-forget affairs so I have a whole lot of fun with every new machine I use Reaper on.

[TheMaestro]

Here's the same song zoomed-in... as you can see there's still a lot (it's the same amount actually) of empty space below the items...

I know what this is. Default setting is 4.

[Guenon]

I have not, since I had no reason to assume it'd be a bug. Normally WTF???-issues like this I that encounter in Reaper are due to some setting that's hidden somewhere in the depths of some menu and due to the enormous level of convolution in Reaper (which keeps increasing all the time since they keep adding stuff without seemingly putting too much thought into user-experience) takes major detective work to discover as the cause.

These things are often set-and-forget affairs so I have a whole lot of fun with every new machine I use Reaper on.

It doesn't hurt to ask on that forum, though; no matter whether it turns out to be a bug or not. I haven't seen anything like that, and don't recall seeing an option for a mode like that - other than yep, it sure does look like something (erroneously?) bringing up some of those free item positioning characteristics, even when it's not turned on. But better just to ask there.

To that other point: because Reaper is so extensively customizable (with an installation that can have literally thousands upon thousands of files, settings and personal workflow specs, things you use for years and years after setting/building them), it's been ensured that you never need to install and then build your environment from scratch on a new machine. Reaper can export everything in it, including the theming and your scripts and preferences, menus, cursors, key maps, project and track templates, even custom note names and web interface pages , and can then pack them into an archive you can import in one go into another installation (even a portable one) when you have the need to do so. Your new machine will have a 1:1 version of your current Reaper installation, with identical behavior, if you just import your current Reaper environment into it like that.

Options > Preferences > General > Import Configuration / Export Configuration

[jens]

Thanks, but yeah, I know - however I use my machines typically until they die... it's rarely a planned thing. ( I know, that's what cloud backups are for... one day, one day... )

[jens]

Found it - it's a setting (as I had been assuming): Preferences -> Appearance -> Vertical space at bottom of track

this was set to 40 here (pixels I assume?) - it's a new setting I guess? Never have seen it and certainly never touched it.

Maybe one of the betas I'd been trying defaulted it to that value and this setting was then falsely propagated to the official release (i.e. that should have only happened had I ever touched this setting)


Edit: personally I think that's really a daft feature to begin with. Seriously: who needs that?
Some Reaper users ... (and especially now that the visual spacers exist)

[Guenon]

Thanks, but yeah, I know - however I use my machines typically until they die... it's rarely a planned thing. ( I know, that's what cloud backups are for... one day, one day... )

I didn't mean exporting your working environment only when you know you are immediately going to install on a new computer afterwards . Having an export like that, when a feature for it is so readily available, is a good idea at all times.

[elassi]

Seriously: who needs that?

Very good question, indeed.

[ghettosynth]

Seriously: who needs that?

Very good question, indeed.

Probably some sort of accessibility/usability feature for some. Once you decide to add the textbox for the number of pixels, why not let people set the number of pixels. It's not the same as the track spacers. I like it set to 8 so, whatever, mine has been changed.

[jens]

Thanks, but yeah, I know - however I use my machines typically until they die... it's rarely a planned thing. ( I know, that's what cloud backups are for... one day, one day... )

I didn't mean exporting your working environment only when you know you are immediately going to install on a new computer afterwards . Having an export like that, when a feature for it is so readily available, is a good idea at all times.

Yeah, you're certainly right - I probably should have done that/should be doing that...

[jens]

Seriously: who needs that?

Very good question, indeed.

Probably some sort of accessibility/usability feature for some. Once you decide to add the textbox for the number of pixels, why not let people set the number of pixels. It's not the same as the track spacers. I like it set to 8 so, whatever, mine has been changed.

I still don't see the point of it/a possible use for it at all - I have it set to 0.

It's also strangely described in the preferences - I wouldn't call it being "at bottom of track" - sounds to me like they don't really have themselves too much of an idea what it actually really is and what it is supposed to be good for - plus, no other DAW has that and I certainly never saw someone ask for something like that. Plus, that's imo clearly GUI-design which is the job of the GUI-designer. But people keep fiddling with Reaper's GUI from all angles because it just (still) isn't really fully ready for prime-time to begin with. I find it extremely "klein-fitzelig" as we say in German. (I don't think you can translate that in English - things that have several too small and therefor difficult to handle elements to them, so using them is likely to cause a lot of errors and edginess within the user.)

[ghettosynth]

Seriously: who needs that?

Very good question, indeed.

Probably some sort of accessibility/usability feature for some. Once you decide to add the textbox for the number of pixels, why not let people set the number of pixels. It's not the same as the track spacers. I like it set to 8 so, whatever, mine has been changed.

I still don't see the point of it/a possible use for it at all - I have it set to 0.

That doesn't mean that it's not useful. The default is 4. There were some comments about similar features on the Reaper blogs regarding certain kinds of trackpad usage. I'm assuming that it's about usability with respect to manipulating adjacent clips vertically, although, it might just be for aesthetics.

In any case, I hardly see the point of droning on about it like you've been deeply hurt. Stop trying out betas and you won't encounter stuff like this.

[jens]

1) It's just a guess that me trying out the beta was the cause for it having been set to 40 here

2) I'm not "droning on about it like I've been deeply hurt at all". I merely said that I don't see the point of it and asked what it is supposed to be good for, to which you chose to reply (speaking positively about the feature without actually answering the question - you still haven't as none of the reason you gave really makes much of a sense if you think about it) to which I again decided to reply

3) please leave it to me to decide what and what not I criticize (about this or that product)

4) with that out of the way, I still think it's a nonsensical function that just helps to increase the mess in the already quite messy Preferences... er... tool? It's so deep at this point I don't know what to call it. It's also quite hard to find certain settings, even if you kown there are somewhere in there.
I think they really need to start showing some restraint when it comes to adding stuff and I gladly make use of this opportunity to say it. Whether that suits you personally or not is none of my business.

5) if you ask me, you clearly start showing fanboy symptoms here