Waveform 14 released.

[dysjoint]

I wish there was a hotkey to hide/unhide it, and I wish the whole transport area could be hidden, or moved, too.

Hotkey to show/hide what exactly? Pretty sure every panel has an option to show or hide except transport. You might have to assign your own keystroke perhaps, can't remember

I didn't have the bottom.control panel visible much, but I still miss it as it was.my hack to get a quick 'big meter', by selecting the level meter and locking the control panel.

Not sure how i inserted my reply in a quote lol

[GuitarPlayerinNYC]

Hotkey to show/hide what exactly? Pretty sure every panel has an option to show or hide except transport. You might have to assign your own keystroke perhaps, can't remember

I didn't have the bottom.control panel visible much, but I still miss it as it was.my hack to get a quick 'big meter', by selecting the level meter and locking the control panel.

Not sure how i inserted my reply in a quote lol

To hide the new transport area that fills the whole bottom pane. On WF 13, I had a template to have the transport controls to the right, in line with the meters. and the whole bottom panel could be hidden, using that button in the upper right that shows/hides different areas.

With WF 14 there's no option to hide the bottom panel, so I doubt a hotkey can be assigned. I just discovered you can hide all your inputs, but the track numbers row remains- not sure why anyone would do that. Why not just hide that whole panel?? The whole right side can be hidden. I guess over time, I may discover the logic behind some of this stuff.

WF 14 looks sleeker, while having more stuff loaded by default. Ahh...if I undock the Edit window, there's no transport stuff at the bottom. Guess I'll just have to get used to all this stuff.

[Inagami Tobi]

So I caved and went for
Ableton Full suite.
Hello logical workflow and a programe I can concentrate on making music and not have to be a computer programer to do simple stuff

The reason I used to like Waveform was that its workflow was more logical, but the UI of version 14 is really a bit messy.

[talby]

(...)
Initially, I missed the properties panel, but after playing with WF14 this weekend, I kinda see the logic in it, and it's detachable. I wish there was a hotkey to hide/unhide it, (...)

Do I understand correctly that you here refer to the Actions Panel?

You can set your own hotkey to hide/unhide the Actions Panel:
SETTINGS - KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS - "Show or hide actions panel"

By the way, interesting is also the keyboard shortcut for "Show or hide plugins, browser and actions panel". This quickly makes big space for the arranger, or quickly brings back in all panels for accessing a tool from some menu.

[jsandas]

[Do I understand correctly that you here refer to the Actions Panel?

You can set your own hotkey to hide/unhide the Actions Panel:
SETTINGS - KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS - "Show or hide actions panel"

Thanks a lot!

Edit: it's towards the bottom of the list, under the heading "View".

[GuitarPlayerinNYC]

(...)
Initially, I missed the properties panel, but after playing with WF14 this weekend, I kinda see the logic in it, and it's detachable. I wish there was a hotkey to hide/unhide it, (...)

Do I understand correctly that you here refer to the Actions Panel?

You can set your own hotkey to hide/unhide the Actions Panel:
SETTINGS - KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS - "Show or hide actions panel"

By the way, interesting is also the keyboard shortcut for "Show or hide plugins, browser and actions panel". This quickly makes big space for the arranger, or quickly brings back in all panels for accessing a tool from some menu.

I was thinking of the Transport Panel, that seems locked in place. But thanks for the tip. I like as much real estate as possible, and use as many hotkeys as I can remember.

[Kido]

I have a couple of thoughts—or even questions. I don’t quite understand where WF is headed. If they’re banking on loyal, long-time users, why not ask them what they really need? Additions like multi-channel audio suggest an attempt to attract a new audience. That’s good. I’m sick of these perpetually grumbling dinosaurs. It’s time for some fresh blood. But to go in that direction, they need to invest seriously in media. Look at how many YouTube videos there are on how to do things in Ableton or FL, and try to find similar content about WF. You’ll see what I mean right away. I like what Tracktion is doing, and for some reason I can’t quite explain, I love Waveform. And I’ll continue to support these guys as much as my budget allows. But I’d like Waveform to have some kind of roadmap, a strategy. And it would also be nice if users were made aware of that strategy.

[skipscada]

where WF is headed.

I'm guessing they feel they have basic audio/midi for music producers well covered and now aim to give enthusiastic users as few reasons as possible to switch to other DAWs/applications for related media production. Fair enough.

My personal use case is pretty basic hobbyist music making, so I could probably switch to Waveform Free or even Audacity and get the job done, but a mixture of habit, curiosity, loyalty and a badly founded idea that one of these days I'll start doing this more seriously keeps me within the Tracktion fold. Also, W13.5 is fast, simple and solid for me, which is a boon in these times of enshittification. User experience, streamlining and stability are priorities for me in the development, so if user feedback is positive over time, I'll get W14.

One thing I have been missing lately is a different kind of drum grid editor. I like the one in Cubase / Studio One / EZDrummer (diamonds on lines instead of cells in a grid). Is it in there somewhere already? Would anyone else be interested in that? It just makes more sense to me to represent the start/transient of percussive sounds as a specific point rather than as cell/block where in reality only the left edge (representing the start/transient) gives useful information.

[GuitarPlayerinNYC]

I have a couple of thoughts—or even questions. I don’t quite understand where WF is headed. If they’re banking on loyal, long-time users, why not ask them what they really need?

From a comment on the official Tracktion YT channel by Tracktion (paraphrased): "the vast majority of users wanted this" in response to people complaining about the Properties Panel being removed. I'm guessing this feedback is from beta testers? I received an email from Tracktion a coupla months ago, asking if I wanted to be a beta tester- I'm guessing all Pro users were sent the email.

I complained about the the Properties Panel in this thread, but, after some use of the Actions panel, I kind of see the logic, but I don't understand why the Transport Panel is locked in place. Why not the ability to hide that as well (you can undock the entire Edit to have a giant screen, but I'd prefer to have the ability to hide everything at the bottom)?

Other than that, I'm not sure how they get feedback, other than reported bugs, etc. During the pandemic, one of the developers was here a lot.

Additions like multi-channel audio suggest an attempt to attract a new audience. That’s good. I’m sick of these perpetually grumbling dinosaurs. It’s time for some fresh blood. But to go in that direction, they need to invest seriously in media. Look at how many YouTube videos there are on how to do things in Ableton or FL, and try to find similar content about WF. You’ll see what I mean right away. I like what Tracktion is doing, and for some reason I can’t quite explain, I love Waveform. And I’ll continue to support these guys as much as my budget allows. But I’d like Waveform to have some kind of roadmap, a strategy. And it would also be nice if users were made aware of that strategy.

IMO, Ableton and FL are the "big boys" for home producers, and Logic and Pro Tools are the "pro" DAWS- collectively, they have a nearly 60% market share of DAWs, where Waveform has a 5% share. I doubt Tracktion has the budget to market Waveform, or, more realistically, I don't think any amount of marketing will pull an Ableton user to Waveform, and vice versa.

On Youtube, I get spammed with Ableton ads, but never have seen a WF ad. Waveform almost always gets included for "best FREE DAWs"- I think this is how Tracktion markets their DAW- giving away the unlimited free version, minus some of the Pro bells and whistles.

I agree about the lack of Waveform tutorials, but I think that simply reflects how many people use it. I've relied on that guy Zane- who's on Tracktion's site for tutorials.

Overall, I think WF continues to innovate, and I'll be along for the ride- I've tried Ableton, Cubase, Luna, Reason, and a few others- they don't grab me. Probably because I started on Tracktion 4.

While I personally am against generative AI music, I think it was a genius marketing move for Tracktion to include it as an opt-in choice.

I bought the the discounted upgrade license yesterday. The sale has been extended to about the 14th, 15th.

[GuitarPlayerinNYC]

One thing I have been missing lately is a different kind of drum grid editor. I like the one in Cubase / Studio One / EZDrummer (diamonds on lines instead of cells in a grid). Is it in there somewhere already? Would anyone else be interested in that?

There's a Drum Grid Editor <Drum Grid Mode>. It's on the website.

Haven't tried it yet, but apparently there were enough people interested, for Tracktion to have included it, along with other new features: https://www.tracktion.com/products/wave ... o-features

[skipscada]

One thing I have been missing lately is a different kind of drum grid editor. I like the one in Cubase / Studio One / EZDrummer (diamonds on lines instead of cells in a grid). Is it in there somewhere already? Would anyone else be interested in that?

There's a Drum Grid Editor <Drum Grid Mode>. It's on the website.

Haven't tried it yet, but apparently there were enough people interested, for Tracktion to have included it, along with other new features: https://www.tracktion.com/products/wave ... o-features

Thanks for the tip. I had a vague memory it was introduced at some point, but I expected to find it as an option alongside step clip, midi clip etc when inserting a clip, and since that wasn't the case I concluded it didn't exist. It turns out it's an alternative view in an ordinary midi clip with piano roll. That's not very logical, IMO. Instead of displaying sample/drum names, it shows the keyboard and note names. Also, velocity editing isn't simple and immediate, and zooming/sizing is awkward. All in all, not useful at all. It would make more sense as an alternative view in step clips, which have immediate access to velocity/probability and display sample/drum names.