2CAudio Kaleidoscope | It's A Trip | Latest Update 1.1

[Andrew Souter]

To add to this: I have begun to distribute my images and wavforms over various subfolders in the User library now, as dumping them all into one user-folder just becomes chaotic. Using the import function does just that, dumping them all into one folder or creating a new sub folder with just a handful of new files inside them, so that would be yet another argument for a refresh/rescanning function.

I don't quite follow the exact usage goal. Can you show some example of the of structure you are trying to make ideally?

[Sampleconstruct]

Well, if you have multiple tabs opened in the Mac Finder it's a very fast procedure to drop files scattered all over your system into the KS user folders, compiling them all into one or two subfolders first (images/waveforms) and then importing them, seems like more work to me than simply hitting a refresh button. But if that's the way to go, so be it for now.

Is this really a re-occuring normal use thing to have files all over the place and then merge them into one folder? Seems like it might happen once or twice while setting up a custom library and then not really that common. right?

But in this case you can make a single folder in the finder, move everything you want into it, make as many subfolders in it as you like, do whatever you want etc etc.

Then, simply use "Import Subfolder" and select the parent of this new directory. Everything will be copied including your directory structure.

The resource library can have any level of nested folders. Import subfolder can import entire directories etc. This is different than the Preset file structure which is limited to one sub-folder level. The only thing you should not really do is mix files and folders at the same directory level. A folder should really only contain more folders, or files. Not both.

Speaking for myself, yes, very much re-occuring when inventing new presets over a period of many weeks/months/maybe years? Working on the fly, substituting images and waveforms without planning what to import before starting the work seems like a vital workflow-thing to me, but it seems impossible to argue into a refresh-button, so let's leave it at that.

[Andrew Souter]

And while we're on the feature-request trip now, an "export with assets"-function would be cool, either a single preset or a folder with presets, all assets (images/waveforms/tuning files) would be saved into their respective subfolders in the newly created save-folder.

Why? For backup/archival purposes, so you would like to save stuff that is used in a particular project (song. film score, sound-design sessions, whatever), in a folder together with all files connected to the project, like the DAW host session, the audio files, and basically everything and anything associated with the project, so that you are "future proof" to recreate stuff in the future if needed?

is that the goal?

[Sampleconstruct]

EDIT: wrong answer to wrong post

[Sampleconstruct]

And while we're on the feature-request trip now, an "export with assets"-function would be cool, either a single preset or a folder with presets, all assets (images/waveforms/tuning files) would be saved into their respective subfolders in the newly created save-folder.

Why? For backup/archival purposes, so you would like to save stuff that is used in a particular project (song. film score, sound-design sessions, whatever), in a folder together with all files connected to the project, like the DAW host session, the audio files, and basically everything and anything associated with the project, so that you are "future proof" to recreate stuff in the future if needed?

is that the goal?

The main reason would be to easily share things with e.g. subscribers and the other reason would be to share presets or smaller groups of presets with colleagues working on the same project. Backup would be a minor interest for me.

[lnikj]

I have a current workaround which is to create several 'holding' image files and then use the interface arrow keys to move off them then back to them which allows me to update them to my latest image editor saves.

Could you elaborate, I didn't quite get that and I also struggle with the non-updatability of image files and waveform folders.

@Simon - I don't know if you still want an answer to this but here goes:

When I'm going to have a 'session' with KS & image editing, I create half a dozen pngs and save them in my user folder: working-01 to working-06.

I then fire up KS and Photoshop and open working-01 to working-06 in Photoshop and work on them, saving as I go.

Back in KS I can scroll through them as normal in the main screen. If it is working-01 I am interested in then if I scroll to working-02 and then back to working-01 then KS will see the updated image file.

--

@Andrew - you have always thought of everything! I had only thought of the import command as something to import your 'official' extras, not my own! I think I might still vote for a simple refresh button though too.

[Sampleconstruct]

I have a current workaround which is to create several 'holding' image files and then use the interface arrow keys to move off them then back to them which allows me to update them to my latest image editor saves.

Could you elaborate, I didn't quite get that and I also struggle with the non-updatability of image files and waveform folders.

@Simon - I don't know if you still want an answer to this but here goes:

When I'm going to have a 'session' with KS & image editing, I create half a dozen pngs and save them in my user folder: working-01 to working-06.

I then fire up KS and Photoshop and open working-01 to working-06 in Photoshop and work on them, saving as I go.

Back in KS I can scroll through them as normal in the main screen. If it is working-01 I am interested in then if I scroll to working-02 and then back to working-01 then KS will see the updated image file.

Oh, I see, that's clever, so I could create my dummies first, then create a new image in e.g. ArtMatic, name it dummy1 and overwrite the existing dummy1 in the UL. That should work...thank's.

[Andrew Souter]

Speaking for myself, yes, very much re-occuring when inventing new presets over a period of many weeks/months/maybe years? Working on the fly, substituting images and waveforms without planning what to import before starting the work seems like a vital workflow-thing to me, but it seems impossible to argue into a refresh-button, so let's leave it at that.

Adding a "Rescan Resource Library" menu item to the Presets Action Panel below "Import Library Expansion" would be quite simple... I'm not opposed to it...

I just honestly am not quite sure how much more useful it is over what we already have... If for example you were exporting images from say Artmatic, these would all generally be in the same place and could be imported in batch using Import SubFolder. I can see how that is common. What I don't see being coming is needing to collect images from all over the hard-drive. That is the part I am not getting...

Unless maybe you want to make "project specific" content folders? Like a collection of images used in particular project? So I am just trying to understand the workflow and goal, so I know how best to handle it...

but it's simple to add "Rescan Resource Library", and if its in the Presets Action Panel panel, it does not clutter the GUI, so it is certainly doable...

[lnikj]

Adding a "Rescan Resource Library" menu item to the Presets Action Panel below "Import Library Expansion" would be quite simple... I'm not opposed to it....

I was envisaging it being on the toolbar, maybe to the right of the author field, not buried in a menu.

[Andrew Souter]

@Andrew - you have always thought of everything! I had only thought of the import command as something to import your 'official' extras, not my own! I think I might still vote for a simple refresh button though too.

That's certainly not true. I don't always think of everything. I wish I was that smart.

My questions to Simon et al, are just to try to understand how you guys are working so we can see the easiest way to do things without getting too exotic...

we want to help make usability as perfect as possible. We just have to understand the usage scenarios...

[Andrew Souter]

I was envisaging it being on the toolbar, maybe to the right of the author field, not buried in a menu.

The author field is on the Browser Page. if you are talking about importing Images, etc. this would be more tedious than having it in a menu accessible from the main page.

A////////

switch to browser
click rescan
switch back to main

B////////

open menu
click rescan


right?

[Sampleconstruct]

If for example you were exporting images from say Artmatic, these would all generally be in the same place and could be imported in batch using Import SubFolder.

No, I now collect my ArtMatics in several/many thematic subfolders before importing them into KS. Otherwise it will end in chaos within a week. The same goes for waveforms. Also I now use ArtMatic on three computers, and share files across them mainly using my server-ftp. So I import a new folder created on laptop A from the ftp with thematic subfolders, drag them into my ArtMatic collection on one of the thunderbolt drives attached to laptop B and take it from there.

[lnikj]

@Andrew - you have always thought of everything! I had only thought of the import command as something to import your 'official' extras, not my own! I think I might still vote for a simple refresh button though too.

That's certainly not true. I don't always think of everything. I wish I was that smart.

My questions to Simon et al, are just to try to understand how you guys are working so we can see the easiest way to do things without getting too exotic...

we want to help make usability as perfect as possible. We just have to understand the usage scenarios...

I thought you had a brain the size of a planet mate

[blue sky mode]
Regarding usage, because KS doesn't (yet?) include image editing tools, tuning files editing tools, or waveform editing tools, what would be really great is smoothing the workflow between them.

I don't know if you have ever used Adobe Lightroom but it has lots of clever ways of interacting with external image editing tools and processes. That would be overkill but my point is that having at least an option to switch easily to one or two user specified external editors in each category and back to KS with at least live browser updates would be terrific. Live 'in place' switching would be a dream but very very hard to achieve I'm sure.

I know that's probably a lot of work and a long way down the list though!
[/blue sky mode]

[lnikj]

I was envisaging it being on the toolbar, maybe to the right of the author field, not buried in a menu.

The author field is on the Browser Page. if you are talking about importing Images, etc. this would be more tedious than having it in a menu accessible from the main page.

A////////

switch to browser
click rescan
switch back to main

B////////

open menu
click rescan


right?

You are right again (of course!)

[Sampleconstruct]

+1 for blue sky mode