Is "Matrix' really the right term for the 2nd tab and a philosophy essay...

For the 'Matrix" page To me "mixer" would be a better name.  And I would like to see a lot more reduncancy.. That is you could click on a parameter in the current' Matrix' mode and you could extract from output, or do any of the processes normally found on the main arrangement page.. 

I'd like to be able to set device, midi channel, msb/lsb, program from more places.. The more 'interconnected' you make the program, it will be easier for people to grasp and use..  

All good Mac programs, are known for their 'transparancy'.. That is for the user to 'figure' it  out while he is experimenting.. Not really having to read the manual... While SFP is far too complicated for that, there should be more intuitive features... Andre has made some good progress in that direction with this version though.

Just like in photoshop or some of the DAWs, there are 'several ways to get there from here'. One of the things I don't like about SFP (there are a lot things I love).  But I get to a place, where I see no 'logic' to it.. To stop and pour thru pages and pages of the manual to grasp it, has totally killed the 'spontainaity' of it..   And the original inspiration is gone..

Sometimes In Logic I come to a situation where I am not versed.. But the good thing about Logic and other DAWS, is that there is 'more than one way to skin a cat'  That way I can keep going, while the inspiration is flowing.. Later on, I can read up on a more concise way to carry out a procedure. 

We all process things differently.  What is completely intuitive to one person, might be inexplicable to another.  When the first modular synths came out,   I loved the complexity, the knobs, the patch chords, the panels, that looked almost alike but different. I loved the physicalness of it.. My hands would build patches, without me putting a lot of thought into it   It was like magic for me..  After an initial reading of ARP 2600 and MOOG manual.. It was almost intuitive how I could build a patch.

Now SFP is dealing with a lot more esoterical factors, it is not hardware, it is not physical.  You can't run your hand on a 4 foot patchchord to see whether it is plugged into a clock divider, envelopgenerator or sample/hold module.  

(A Sample/Hold module configured to run arpeggios or modal scales would be a lovely feature to have in SFP)

It's hard to figure out what three levels of control containers are going to do to the original sequence.. Hence one of my desires is to see a midi pianoroll or score track to actually see the effects, rather than just rely on my ears.

Andre you have been doing a great job of taking people's feedback and incorporating a working piece of software.  About a dozen of us should be flown to Amsterdam, and locked in a hotel room with a computer and SFP.  We should play with SFP all day and compare notes and share our knowledge gained.. Then we would see SFP transform dramatically at a greatly accelleratted pace..

I worked many years ago for Voyetra Synths (later became a music softtware company)  Voyetra 8 synths were 8 analog modules voice cards, digiatally controlled.  A truly amazing intrument for it's time I and one other guy had the job of playing the synth, trying to make it crash, or find new ideas or features to  implement..  

We would have a sit down with the computer nerd programmer every day.. Sometimes later the same day or the next, he would give us a new set of Eproms to install in the main "Mother Card'.. Eproms were 'rewritable  computer chips, that contained the Operating system.  The first digital sequencers using computers hadn't been built yet.

 He would implement totally new features, or refinements of other ideas.. The machine 'matured very quickly'.  He even burned a few sets of Eproms that gave one Voyetra totally unique features the others didn't..  Kind of like 'Sonny" the robot in Will Smiths ' I Robot' movie.

The progress SFP has made when you consider the size of the company is amazing.   It's good when everyone posts their ideas and hopes..