FR theme: Sequencer Workflow & Controls

[iU]

[title changed ... DarkStar, it was:
About workflow in the sequencer…]

Hello, after months of reading and experimenting, I thought I could drop by and share with you guys some of the things I would find useful implementing in order to facilitate workflow in the sequencer. I'm very much aware that Jorgen has plenty of requests for now but…anyhow…maybe some of the following fr could be of use to some people…my modest contribution to the community I guess …or very likely I could end up learning new stuff…let's see

My computer being somewhat …archaic (the least to say), I would very much beneficiate from the first one:
· Panic button (native)! (I know it has been requested several times and I know the workaround but…)

· "Centre" function
Explanation: When autoscroll is disabled, it would be handy to have this "centre" shortcut that would take the actual view to where the location of the song position indicator is at the moment. Practical for someone like me who never uses autoscroll.

· Within the piano roll, moving a note vertically often ends up on the wrong spot (note). Workflow would benefit a lot, me think, if, when selecting a note and dragging it upwards or downwards, the note would more abruptly go from one spot to another. Notice how, actually, when selecting a note and dragging it up or down, it goes fluidly (too much for my taste) from one note to another. I would like it to be similar to the horizontal dragging with snap.

· When zooming in the sequencer window, you always end up having the location of song position marker in the centre of the window. I hope it would work the same way in the piano roll window. Actually it doesn't.

· Ability to insert or delete space (bars) within the piano roll view. It would be much faster than to go back in the sequencer window to cut the part.

· Ability to go, within the piano roll, from one track to another without having to go back in the sequencer window to select it. I guess a small box showing all the tracks could do it. Don't know if it would be possible though considering that a track can contain several parts?

· Ghost tracks in the piano roll (again…)

· Graphics: - Larger keyboard layout in the piano roll
- Darker vertical lines, each four bars, in the piano roll (getting old...)


That's all a can think of…for the moment

Last question: I've read somewhere that XT2 would probably include file referencing for the sampler, but didn't found it in the truth thread. Did Jorgen confirmed?

Thanks

[.jon]

· "Centre" function
Explanation: When autoscroll is disabled, it would be handy to have this "centre" shortcut that would take the actual view to where the location of the song position indicator is at the moment. Practical for someone like me who never uses autoscroll.

Press + or -, they zoom in or out at th song position.

· Within the piano roll, moving a note vertically often ends up on the wrong spot (note). Workflow would benefit a lot, me think, if, when selecting a note and dragging it upwards or downwards, the note would more abruptly go from one spot to another. Notice how, actually, when selecting a note and dragging it up or down, it goes fluidly (too much for my taste) from one note to another. I would like it to be similar to the horizontal dragging with snap.

I see what you mean, vertical movement is rather different from horizontal. I normally use the mouse wheel for moving and transposing notes, or then key commands.

· When zooming in the sequencer window, you always end up having the location of song position marker in the centre of the window. I hope it would work the same way in the piano roll window. Actually it doesn't.

Ctrl+mouse wheel zooms the sequencer window "at place", exactly like in piano roll.

· Ability to insert or delete space (bars) within the piano roll view. It would be much faster than to go back in the sequencer window to cut the part.

The possibily to insert clips in between others would be great. Have you tried the in-track MIDI editor? It allows clip manipulation with MIDI editing.

· Ability to go, within the piano roll, from one track to another without having to go back in the sequencer window to select it. I guess a small box showing all the tracks could do it. Don't know if it would be possible though considering that a track can contain several parts?

+1, I've often wanted this. And to move to next/previous clips on the same track without leaving piano roll. Of course the in-track editor allows this.

· Ghost tracks in the piano roll (again…)

You mean ghosted notes? Sorry, don't quite understand.

· Graphics: - Larger keyboard layout in the piano roll

Why larger? I would like it's display optional, at least.

- Darker vertical lines, each four bars, in the piano roll (getting old...)

+1, yes please!

[.jon]

btw welcome on board if you haven't been welcomed before!

[iU]

Press + or -, they zoom in or out at th song position.

But it would be nice to be able to centre without having to zoom in or out. By doing so, you kind of loose track of what your doing

Ctrl+mouse wheel zooms the sequencer window "at place", exactly like in piano roll.

I have a vintage mouse I guess (no wheel...)would be nice that it would be implemented though

You mean ghosted notes? Sorry, don't quite understand.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Possibility to see notes from other tracks within the piano roll.

Why larger? I would like it's display optional, at least.

or resizable...? It's only for comfort I guess.

[iU]

btw welcome on board if you haven't been welcomed before!

Thanks .jon

[.jon]

But it would be nice to be able to centre without having to zoom in or out. By doing so, you kind of loose track of what your doing

Yep, "jump to song position" would be nice addition.

Ctrl+mouse wheel zooms the sequencer window "at place", exactly like in piano roll.

I have a vintage mouse I guess (no wheel...)would be nice that it would be implemented though[/quote]

I really seriously recommend a wheel mouse. You can change it's function by clicking the wheel, from scrolling, moving and resizing to transposing. Fast and efficient

Yeah, that's what I meant. Possibility to see notes from other tracks within the piano roll.

Oh, that is coming in XT2, tracks can be "layered" on top of each other visually.

Why larger? I would like it's display optional, at least.

or resizable...? It's only for comfort I guess.[/quote]

Yes, a taste issue. I sometimes use it to audition drum notes/slots, and the size or pretty ok for that.

[robenestobenz]

You can make the piano roll keys larger (i.e. zoom) in the piano roll-- you see the button below the vertical scroll bar? Left click and drag it to zoom in and out vertically to do that.

[iU]

thanks,

but by saying larger I meant....longer!

[soma]

· Panic button

+1

· Workflow would benefit a lot, me think, if, when selecting a note and dragging it upwards or downwards, the note would more abruptly go from one spot to another. ...I would like it to be similar to the horizontal dragging with snap.

+1

· Ability to insert or delete space (bars) within the piano roll view. It would be much faster than to go back in the sequencer window to cut the part.

+1

· Ability to go, within the piano roll, from one track to another without having to go back in the sequencer window to select it. I guess a small box showing all the tracks could do it.

+1 please allow for a custom short cut for next track and next clip in the pianoroll/audio clip view.

Add to that
· Toggle button for hiding notes not used (fold).
· Single click for adding notes.
· Better support for composing with qwerty.
· A Relative snap mode that depends on the zoom level.
· Scripts for the composer (hey stop throwing rotten fruit you can't blame me for being persistant.)

[disturb]

what bugs me the most right now is the cumbersome separation between the seq and midi editor.
I think we should be able to do what soma mentionned, switch between tracks and clips, AND also show all the midi data in the track (greyed out for the unactive clips : better overall feedback)

[.jon]

· Toggle button for hiding notes not used (fold).

Hmmmm sounds cool but what on earth are unused notes?

· Single click for adding notes.

Difference between alt+click is sort of irrelevant, but why not.

· Better support for composing with qwerty.

I agree, but what are your top wishes in this regard?

· A Relative snap mode that depends on the zoom level.

-10000 only over my dead body. Zoom and snap should never be mixed, they are two totally different factors! Noooooooooooo

· Scripts for the composer (hey stop throwing rotten fruit you can't blame me for being persistant.)

+10000!!!! even at it's current form the composer is great, with simple scripting it can become incredible.... and selections <3 Really looking forward to XT2 because of this. Jorgen did promise to look at extending the Composer.

[soma]

-Relative snap as an option I would use both relative and absolute snaps often.
I find it useful when composing because I am usually zoomed at a level that lets me see 4-32 notes of my main length. So a relative snap that would allow the visible area to be divided into the closest square grouping of beats would be great. Then you can change the relative snap with a key-stroke to make the snap large or small or in between.

Hmmm sounds cool but what on earth are unused notes?

Notes that correspond to midi keys you haven't touched in that recording.
SEE THIS

[soma]

· Better support for composing with qwerty.

I agree, but what are your top wishes in this regard?

-shortcut to toggle qwerty keyboard into midi input device (or at least better key than insert for adding notes in step mode; something on the left hand)
-move screen when using arrows to move to next clip (show the part of the arranegement with the clip that is active)
-use insert key to toggle an insert mode on (pushes back info after inserted notes/samples)
-use qwerty keyboard to add samples from audio pool list to clips/arrangement
-click or press keystroke on clip/sample and then input midi note (or toggled qwerty midi fuction) to transpose a clip or sample (use qwerty to transpose clips and samples)
-shortcut to open clip from arrangement
-shortcut to link the piano roll/editor to active clip
-shortcut to move focus to (next) part of xt (pianoroll, arrangement, mixer, browser, vst, etc)
-qwerty for navigating/editing mixers
stuff like that.. other people have had some good requests along these lines too.

[pysj]

Many good ideas here.
I agree very much.
Why not also have some of these options for _each_ single midi editor you open?
Im running a dual 1600*1200 screen setup myself and would love to have a few more 'window options'.
I would very much like to have a fixed setup with a few midi editor windows always open with different zoomlevels, and then by just selectinga part(s) in the sequencer, these part(s) will be shown in my already opened editor windows.
You could have something like a 'sticky' button in the midi editor to enable this function.
Also autozoom buttons (vertical and/or horizontal auto zooming).
A 'keep in center' button. So when you are not playing the song the playposition will always be in center of this window. Thats very usefull in a heavily zoomed in window, so you dont have to zoom in/out and scroll to right positions etc.

[.jon]

-Relative snap as an option I would use both relative and absolute snaps often.
I find it useful when composing because I am usually zoomed at a level that lets me see 4-32 notes of my main length. So a relative snap that would allow the visible area to be divided into the closest square grouping of beats would be great. Then you can change the relative snap with a key-stroke to make the snap large or small or in between.

Hmmm sounds cool but what on earth are unused notes?

Notes that correspond to midi keys you haven't touched in that recording.
SEE THIS

My zoom level depends on the need, sometimes close in but more often far enough to see the whole phrase/part - and this is too far for snapping. Relative snap is something else, tho, this is more like zoom-tied snap and really unrelated to musical snap.

Ok, I see what you mean with the fold - sounds cool, +1!

-shortcut to toggle qwerty keyboard into midi input device (or at least better key than insert for adding notes in step mode; something on the left hand)

An integrated qwerty to MIDI would be nice, yes. I use Tracktiokeys which can be toggled by a key shortcut.

-move screen when using arrows to move to next clip (show the part of the arranegement with the clip that is active)

Yes please - this has also to do with seq/MIDI edit relation, I would love to have some control over the way MIDI editor opens, ie in what section of the clip and the zoom level.

-use insert key to toggle an insert mode on (pushes back info after inserted notes/samples)

+1

-use qwerty keyboard to add samples from audio pool list to clips/arrangement

-click or press keystroke on clip/sample and then input midi note (or toggled qwerty midi fuction) to transpose a clip or sample (use qwerty to transpose clips and samples)

-shortcut to move focus to (next) part of xt (pianoroll, arrangement, mixer, browser, vst, etc)

-qwerty for navigating/editing mixers

Yes please, all menus and dialogs should be fully keyboard-manageable.

-shortcut to open clip from arrangement
-shortcut to link the piano roll/editor to active clip

ctrl+e opens editor for active clip... But how to close the editor?