Posted
I was away for a couple of months and just tested the latest version.
To me, it’s absolutely incomprehensible why new features are constantly being introduced, but the truly basic functions of the program still work so poorly.
Even the simplest things, like track solo, are still full of bugs. There aren’t even keyboard shortcuts for something as basic as solo or mute.
Scrolling/zoom handling with the mouse is still a pain.
I’d love to do something with Synfire, but unfortunately, not much has improved in terms of usability.
Sun, 2025-01-19 - 22:18 Permalink
Ok I understand that, when you are coming straight from a DAW, Synfire doesn't feel as fast compared to that. If you are working with Synfire all day, muscle memory gets used to the timing and the music takes the foreground. That's not an excuse. Just so you know that your feedback helps to put more focus on that again.
So if your suggestion is to allocate more time to address these things, I'm with you. If you send us a list of the things you believe are most urgent, we can used that to prioritize things.
The new features are necessary to make Synfire work for a broader range of music. Composing string sections, for example, did not work well enough with Relative symbols.
On a side note, it's a hefty challenge to get up to par with DAWs. Synfire is not a monolithic program. The audio engine (the actual 'DAW') is a separate program without a GUI. Every user interaction needs to be passed through the network and every state change is reported back through the network. This is why some seemingly basic things (e.g. solo buttons) are more complex than you might think and why they take a longer to debug and fix.
(EDIT: got the solo thing wrong, it already functions per instrument)
Mon, 2025-01-20 - 18:13 Permalink
I think it's very good that you want to take a closer look at these things.
It's also not about whether someone comes from a DAW and expects certain workflows.
But basic things like solo, mute, corresponding keyboard commands for them (including clearing solo), or proper zooming (I have to click on zoom in/out 20 times to achieve a significant effect) simply have to work.
Sure, you can get used to anything, but perhaps that's the problem—that some obstacles simply become invisible over time. Yet they consume time and nerves with every use.
I don’t have a list… nor the time to delve into it right now. But the points mentioned above would be a starting point. Thank you.
Mon, 2025-01-20 - 21:09 Permalink
some obstacles simply become invisible over time
That's quite a challenge. I remember when I was a kid, I was riding to school for weeks on end with a bike that had lost pone pedal. It was uncomfortable but somehow possible. There was no easy fix, so I got used to it.
Until I got a bloody nose ;-)
The solo/mute stuff should work with next build. Shortcuts and configurable zoom factor are trivial. Thanks for the reminder.
Mon, 2025-01-20 - 23:02 Permalink
And Just to illustrate, a current example from daily life:
I want to shorten a symbol without quantization. So I select the appropriate setting and tool. Then I click on the symbol to select it. Then I move the mouse to the end of the symbol until the arrow appears. Then I click because I want to shorten the length. And what happens then? The whole segment is smashed up. What can you say about that? Such things happen all the time.
Also popular: Selecting by drawing a rectangle doesn't work straight away, but only the second or third try. @spukipuki: Tell him :)