Posted
I think I mentioned this before, but can there be an 'unlock windows' or just do away with it all together.. Once you get a few windows open, I'm forever juggling to get a clear view of what I want to work on. Or perhaps you could explain your intention, and I could make better use of it, right now it's mostly a pain.
Also consider taking a lesson from Logic's Arrangement page, they have done a very good job of minimizing windows but still able to get at anything fast.
In the arrange page itself, if you double clicked on instrument name it remained in the arrange window but blew up in size. You could enter parameters, velocity, step, pause, etc. Double click (or shift click) would return it to normal size, of if you picked another instrument. That would blow up. You could still open a window to set off to side if you wanted..
They also do a cute trick be clicking on on of the left most boxes in a of external windows. it shifts between three states (changing color) , one state, It always stays static, or if you select a new instrument that parameter window will now display that. Thus you could have a couple of windows open, velocity, pause, step. And switch thru instruments changing things quickly.
It might be nice if there was a way to show parameters in the root container, These colors would be somewhat transparent, red for velocity, blue for step, green for pause, or these could be user assignable.
It's really hard to get an overview of what SFP is doing, Yes trace parameters is useful, but one wants to quickly ascertain where things are happening, and why they are happening. Many a time, I've somehow put data into a lower container accidently, and get all flustered trying to figure out why something doesn't work..
I know it's a tall order, because of the complexity of the program,
Sat, 2012-10-27 - 13:41 Permalink
This is a high-priority topic on the agenda. Also a very delicate one. The issue with single-window layouts is you can only see one item of a kind at any one time. And usually only a small selection of items, because screen space is very limited.
Optimized layouts need to be tailored to a specific workflow, which in turn makes them worst for other workflows. We need to gather more information and feeback on user's actual workflows before we can reduce the layout. That's the actual challenge, not the complexity.
Sat, 2012-10-27 - 20:00 Permalink
Yes, I was giving it some thought, cause I wanted to offer something constructive. Maybe we should get some users here to try to give a detailed view of how they use, SF, what features they might like, what works and doesn't work..
I guess a first step would be to look at other programs, the major DAWS, even Photoshop and some of the video editing programs, just to see if they inspire a new approach or direction..
Boy you really have taken on a monumental task with your software,, I feel honored and proud to be involved in it in a small way.
Sat, 2012-10-27 - 21:20 Permalink
Coming from HN2, I do feel that it is distracting to have so many windows opening. When I want to work on a song, there is always a 'New Song' open before I get there as one minor peeve.
My suggestion for HN2 ... which may or may not translate well to SFP/ SFE ... would be a basic two pane window with sliders. The left window pane would reflect the current song window with Instruments, Progression and Harmonizer. The right would be where everything else opened successively from anything accessed in the left window pane. Windows could stay open in the right pane and there could be a little bring a window into focus on a sidebar in the main left window. Also, there could be an option accessible in each window on the right pane to bring it out of the dual window frame if you wanted or needed more than one of the right windows in view.
This is what Cubase does with 'Always on Top' ... it permits the window to float independently. A similar scheme used by Sony in Acid Pro is to have a list of the 'support' windows, such as palette, devices, etc., etc., tabbed in a pane at the bottom of the main GUI. The panes are resizable within the main window and a 'view' menu lets them be displayed or not. I think there are also key strokes to display them or not. When visible, they can then be dragged with a handle off the docking when you want them to remain visible while using other support windows. I cannot say great things about Sony Acid Pro, except that it probably has the best context 'Help' menu I have ever seen and the window docking scheme is brilliant.
Prado