Subject:More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Posted by: knowbody

Date:12/8/2002 3:32:08 AM

Finding, organising and using files - can anyone think of ways of making this easier? Here are a few ideas (don't know how many have been suggested before or not):

1. Forward/back buttons in the explorer view (someone suggested replacing the up directory button - I think this is a good idea!

2. The drop down directory list could show a list of recently accessed folders. That would be really useful.

3. In the track view I'd like to be able to group tracks making them easier to keep together and move around together.

4. I'd like to be able to change the list order of tracks by typing in numbers rather than dragging them by hand. For example right click a track and have the choice to type in a new track number. Dragging files around when I've more than a screenful of files is a pain.

5. I like the U function for showing/hiding the master/bus tracks. Could we have something similar for the entire explorer window. Finding the handles to drag the window up and down isn't always easy. At the very least it could be a little thicker and be in colour.

6. When I zoom in on a track the handle to move forward and backwards along the track shrinks. This is fine giving a feel fr how much of the project is in view, but when I zoom in very close it gets too difficult to grab the tab. The tab could be bigger making it easier to move. Ie make the smallest default size for tabs (sliders?) bigger.

7. The up down arrows on the track slider are too sensitive, especially when a single track is maximised. It should be possible to move up and down one track at a time. At the moment it's too difficult to move to the next track when the cursor is inside a track. Clicking an arrow once should move up/down one track rather than several tracks.

8. Could there be a quick key to select all events on one track (does this already exist)?

9. Could there be a quick key to select a track (as opposed to the events within a track)?

10. If I rename a track and then save the project including the media it would be nice if there was an option to save the files as the renamed tracks rather than keeping with the original name.

I hope at least some of this makes sense,

Chris (Hunt)

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: knowbody

Date:12/11/2002 2:21:13 AM

In addition to the previous list:

1. I'd like a shortcut key (eg m) to bring up a dialogue box for moving selected loops a precise distance forwards or backwards. This would be particularly useful for moving loops that come in before the beat. At the moment I have to zoom right in to adjust a loop and then zoom out again. This is time consuming and sometimes discordinating - adjusting the position of loops by typing numbers would be much faster for me.

2. Customized zooms with keyboard short cuts would be great. I'd like a one key zoom to selected tracks. CTRL+up arrow doesn't always seem to work.

3. I'd like to zoom out beyond the exisisting painted loops. I like to be able to paint into the screen rather than off the screen. This goes for both audio and midi. I know I can paint a long spare extra track to make Acid show more of the front of the project but I don't think I should need to do this. The Zoom tool in the new Geniesoft midi editor is very interesting - it allows me to zoom out to look ahead.

Does any of this and the last lot sound at all useful to anybody else?

Chris (Hunt)

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: SonyNateM

Date:12/11/2002 10:43:49 AM

Quote from knowbody:
1. I'd like a shortcut key (eg m) to bring up a dialogue box for moving selected loops a precise distance forwards or backwards. This would be particularly useful for moving loops that come in before the beat. At the moment I have to zoom right in to adjust a loop and then zoom out again. This is time consuming and sometimes discordinating - adjusting the position of loops by typing numbers would be much faster for me.

The rest of your comments have certainly been appreciated and noted by the ACID project leader for consideration. I just thought I might be able to help you out on this one. This is what I do:

1) Click to place my cursor at a point where zoomed in I can see what I'm doing
2) If you are shifting a repeating event, like a kick drum or similar, right-click the nearest event and choose "Select all on Track"
3) Roll the mouse wheel up to zoom in
4) Use '4' and '6' on the keypad to shift your event left or right

I know it's not optimal, and doesn't fully replace your idea, but it's a quick and simple edit and may help to keep your work flowing.

Nate

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: SonicJG

Date:12/11/2002 11:42:51 AM

Some good ideas, we'll see if we can get to them.

5. I like the U function for showing/hiding the master/bus tracks. Could we have something similar for the entire explorer window. Finding the handles to drag the window up and down isn't always easy. At the very least it could be a little thicker and be in colour.
F11?


8. Could there be a quick key to select all events on one track (does this already exist)?
A keyboard shortcut, probably not. Does "Select all on track" from the Track View context menu suffice?

9. Could there be a quick key to select a track (as opposed to the events within a track)?
Clicking on the Track List area with a mouse is currently the way to do this. What would you suggest for choosing, for example, Track 22?

Joel

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: midihead

Date:12/11/2002 1:21:51 PM

I had a problem last night with a midi note getting stuck...am I blind or is there no "panic" button in Acid? This would be a helpfull feature as well.

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: analoguekid

Date:12/11/2002 2:01:22 PM

I use F12 to stop everything in Acid. If you have a multi-media keyboard, you have a mute control there. I also know exactly where the standby button is on my mixer ;-)

DB

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: salad

Date:12/11/2002 3:09:39 PM

The "panic button" is Ctl+Alt+F7, or tools/reset all midi ports........BUT, it doesn't seem to work VERY WELL on external synths playing notes with long decays.

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: knowbody

Date:12/11/2002 6:25:18 PM

Thanks Nate, thanks Joel. Here are a few more thoughts:

F11 for minimising explorer - how did I miss that one? That's great!

Right click and select all on track is OK It would be nice if it worked when multiple tracks are selected. I know so Little about programming that I won't ask why a single short cut key isn't possible.

Choosing Track 22 - the key I'm thinking of is a toggle key eg 's' for select (though any key is fine) - from in the track it moves to the track list and from the track list back to the track. The reason I suggested it is that currently the easiest way for me to move up and down one track is to select the track in the track list and use the up/down arrow key - the vertical scroll bar is too sensitive.

shifting tracks left/right - I use a pen and tablet so reaching for the mouse wheel is a pain! Thanks for the tip - it's definitely useful but the point of my idea was that I wouldn't need to zoom in. If I could adjust the track position an exact amount from a zoomed out state - that would be great. At the moment I use F8 to take snapping off slide the event and listen but I still need to zoom in to 'fix' it.

Zoom to loop region (CTRL+UP)doesn't zoom to the loop region if the cursor is outside the loop region - it would be better if it did (ie jump the cursor to the track view.

I've been using Acid since it first came out - thanks for a great program. I'm a kind of keyboard junky - I don't like mice and always do my best to learn all the keyboard shortcuts. Since there's no need for text in Acid I think there's a lot of potential for assigning more keyboard shortcuts.

Thanks again,

Chris

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: Weevil

Date:12/11/2002 7:11:13 PM

As far as moving and zooming around goes I have a couple of thoughts.

I’d really like the ability to use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out relative to the mouse position rather than the cursor position.

More often than not I have to click to place the cursor, zoom in, do whatever editing I have to do, zoom back out and put the cursor back to where it was originally. This seems unnecessarily cumbersome. I feel that if I could simply zoom into a point independent of the cursor position it would make the whole process flow a lot more smoothly...A ‘Zoom to mouse position’ checkbox in Preferences/General would do the trick.

Also while on the mouse wheel, I think it would be excellent if you could hover the mouse over the scroll bars and spin the wheel to scroll up/down or left/right.

...Similarly, you could hover the mouse over the zoom controls and spin the wheel to zoom in or out. Hover over the vertical controls and spin to zoom vertically; and do the same over the horizontal controls to zoom horizontally.

...How’s that ALT dragging tempo markers idea of mine coming along Joel? [Rolls eyes] :-)

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: dkistner

Date:12/12/2002 10:47:44 AM

Chris, I'm with you on the keyboard shortcuts. Because of an arm injury, I have to use something called a RocketMouse--which I hold in my lap. It has a trackball, which is pretty imprecise to use. The mouse itself has really helped with pain, however, so it's worth it to me to use it.

I also got into computers in the pre-mouse days and could accurately key at 140wpm without ever looking at the keyboard. I don't care what anybody says about mice: the keyboard for many purposes is often faster, more efficient, and certainly more ergonomic.

So bring on those keyboard shortcuts, SoFo. User-definable shortcuts for user-scripted sequences would be incredibly helpful. Then we could put together whatever we wanted, based on existing functions in Acid.

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: gjn

Date:12/12/2002 11:53:34 AM

first of all it is necessary that acid remains simple ..we want numerous evolutions...but it must remain simple of use.
to you to decide..
not to make some " unusable and not reliable ".

I go all to even suggest an evolution.
could one change more easily the instrument " dls "?

long life to ACID.

Subject:RE: More things I'd like to see in a future Acid

Reply by: AnthonyJarrah

Date:12/12/2002 3:14:09 PM

There is no such thing as unusable in audio. What's unusable to someone might be very usable to someone else. I disagree with all of you who say that ACID should just be ACID. It can be an improved ACID which can fulfill any producer's needs. Why not support multitrack recording and MIDI sequencing. For those of you who prefer using the Looping strengths of ACID and nothing else, then more power to you, but there are a lot of us who like to loop, multitrack record, and midi sequence all in the same project. Sonar, Cubase, Logic support all of these features yet I know people in this business who use Sonar just as a multitrack recorder for audio only and use none of the midi features in it even though it's dubbed as a "MIDI sequencer". Cool Edit Pro is labeled a "Wave Editor" like Sound Forge yet it's also a multitrack recorder. Sonic Foundry is the only company that creates products to accomplish only a specific task (ACID for it's looping, Vegas Audio for it's multitrack recording capabilities, and Sound Forge for it's wave editing features). Why would I spend money to purchase all of these when I can buy one program like Sonar which can perform all of these very adequately and give me the powerful midi features as well. If I had little money, why would I buy Vegas Audio and Sound Forge when I could buy Cool Edit Pro and get both. There are a lot of artists out there who have the creative soul but not the funds to go all out. Somebody mentioned earlier that nobody who does this for a living uses one program. I agree, but why buy 5 programs for example when I can buy 3. I would like to see ACID support multitrack recording and if you don't want to use it, you don't have to. Have the track list already visible in unlimited tracks before start recording and allow us to chose which sound card inputs we like for each track, then record MULTI TRACKS at once. Why not? It doesn't mean that the bigger a program gets or the more features a program incorporates that it will get more unstable. Sonar, Cubase are all bigger and more complex than ACID yet VERY stable. Sonic Foundry is losing the battle to all the competetors because in each class or category, the competition is offering more features at a lower price. Why not midi? With the price of hardware synths like Korg Triton so expensive and the price of software synths like Reaktor so inexpensive, more and more artists are incorporating midi into there projects and Sonic Foundry doesn't have a true midi sequencer like the competetors. If you want to compete in any business you have to offer what your competition is offering or your gonna loose out. Now that ACID is officially a Host Application, it better deliver the goods when it comes to multitrack recording and Midi sequencing if they want Sonar, Cubase, Logic mentioned as there competetors. It is the only host application that I know of that doesn't support these. I like the midi movement in ACID and the VSTi support. Sure it needs improvement, but keep heading in the right direction. If you like to make beats only, then you can use ACID for that alone, and if you like to do more, you should be able to. I know a lot of you are going to disagree and some of you will probably agree. I'm just stating my opinion and SF will never outsell any of the competetors for those who can only afford one app, unless they keep moving in this direction . I'd like to here what Joel and Nate think about what I wrote. Do you agree or disagree.

Anthony