A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

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sonus
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A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by sonus »

So am I the only one who finds the way the colors show in the sequence editor's waveform blocks strange? Up until DP7 the various color shades used to cover the entire block so it was easy to distinguish the tracks between them but in DP8 when I choose different shades of a color line these shades appear only at the top color bar of the block and the block itself remains more or less the same , therefore it needs much more effort to say which track it is.
Here are a couple of images showing the difference between DP7 & 8:
Image
DP7
Image
DP8


Another thing that I find weird in DP8 is that in the tracks overview window the waveforms themselves seem to have a different vertical resolution (?) than what they used to have . What I mean is that you need to have quite a hot signal in order for the waveforms to show, otherwise they look as if there is no audio inside. I opened the same project in DP7 and DP8 and the difference is obvious.
Images :
Image
DP7 tracks overview
Image
DP8 tracks overview


Am I missing something there ?
Last edited by sonus on Sat Aug 03, 2013 7:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Gravity Jim
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by Gravity Jim »

On the first one, it sounds like you have the "Soundbite Color Bar" option checked in the Track Colors preferences, and that you want to adjust the Waveform Colors preferences to get the actual Soundbite looking the way you'd like.

No clue on the second, although I think it does look different in DP8, and I wonder if that reflects a preference, too.
Jim Bordner

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RROY
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by RROY »

sonus, I agree with you on all three counts about the difference in track colors and wave form sizes between DP 7 and DP 8. I wonder if it is because we are both still on OS 10.6.8. I have not seen DP 8 on a Mac with 10.8. I do prefer the way it was in DP 7.
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sonus
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by sonus »

Thank you both for your responses.
On the first one, it sounds like you have the "Soundbite Color Bar" option checked in the Track Colors preferences, and that you want to adjust the Waveform Colors preferences to get the actual Soundbite looking the way you'd like.
I've tried that but whether the "Soundbite Color Bar" is checked or not things don't change much. The actual soundbite color remains the same. With it unchecked things are even worse since there is not even the small bar at the top there, showing the different color shade of this particular track.

No clue on the second, although I think it does look different in DP8, and I wonder if that reflects a preference, too.
Although I searched in the preferences I couldn't find any parameter that makes things better . :(
So I'd like to ask if you get this same "behavior" in DP8 or not ? And if yes do you like it as it is ?
sonus, I agree with you on all three counts about the difference in track colors and wave form sizes between DP 7 and DP 8. I wonder if it is because we are both still on OS 10.6.8. I have not seen DP 8 on a Mac with 10.8. I do prefer the way it was in DP 7.

Thanks for letting me know because I thought there was something wrong with my system setup in general. Mind you I am on Lion though. My signature had not being updated but it is now :) ).
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by Gravity Jim »

Sonus, the actual waveform colors are completely customizable now, too. You have to adjust the Waveform Color preferences to make them look the way you want. The check box only changes the behavior of the bar at the top of the waveform.
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by davidh »

I'm with Sonus on both counts and can confirm these issues are the same in DP 8.04 and OSX 10.8.4.

The vertical resolution thing in the TO is definitely a retrograde step from DP7. I regularly have to import loads of consolidated audio files created in 'other' DAW's by people who, bless them, are not fully conversant with recording (dynamic) levels . It used to be a breeze to simplify these into regions/soundbites in the TO but since DP8 this is now next to impossible since anything with less-than-a-pretty-hot-level is just shown as a straight null line. There must have been a compression/normalisation algorithm for the TO display in DP7 which has somehow been lost to Cocoa.

Regarding the track colors, it is definitely only the color bar in DP8 which behaves correctly. This always responds to color selections in the palette, whereas the waveform and background do not. While it is possible, as GJ says, to customize these area colors in Prefs, the waveform and background always display a variation of only the primary (left column of palette) color - thereafter if you change the hue (column) in the palette for any track, the waveform/background color does not change but stays with your preference settings for the hue (first column) of that palette row.
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by Killahurts »

davidh wrote:The vertical resolution thing in the TO is definitely a retrograde step from DP7. I regularly have to import loads of consolidated audio files created in 'other' DAW's by people who, bless them, are not fully conversant with recording (dynamic) levels . It used to be a breeze to simplify these into regions/soundbites in the TO but since DP8 this is now next to impossible since anything with less-than-a-pretty-hot-level is just shown as a straight null line. There must have been a compression/normalisation algorithm for the TO display in DP7 which has somehow been lost to Cocoa.
Yep, I've noticed this too. I hope they put it back in.. I hate to say it, but as far as I can see the new "waveform enhancements" we got in DP 8.02 (?) are not really any different than they were before, save this one undesirable feature.
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by Foxman »

Poor visibility waveform curves in the track editor DP8 unlike DP7 me makes the job more complicated. Is there any way to adjust the zoom of waveforms? Thx, Petr. :)
DP7
Image
DP8
Image
Last edited by Foxman on Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Don T
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by Don T »

Hello,
Checking my system (OSX 10.8.5 & DP 8.05) just now both color bar AND the track background change with the palette.


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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by FMiguelez »

There's an option to make the small and not-so-hot SBs look different, with a rectified look. You can set this up under Data Display in the preferences.

I know this is not ideal, but perhaps it works for you (OP) while MOTU corrects this issue?
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by Foxman »

Thank you but the problem is the size of the waveform. Small level value is not displayed in DP8 a larger zoom in a preference for track window is not possible. I have not found it. Color adjustment is good. :)
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jazharp
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by jazharp »

This doesn't seem to help in the 'Tracks' window, but in the 'Sequence' window, there is a tiny magnifying glass in the area JUST to the left of the audio file at the top of the track. The waveforms can be controlled at least in this window. Hope that helps a little.
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by Shooshie »

There are some arrows near the bottom-right corner of the Tracks Overview which change the vertical size of the tracks.

As for colors, here's a video I made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrmbSFBF0k8

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Dan Worley
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Re: A couple of "appearance issues" in DP8

Post by Dan Worley »

jazharp wrote:This doesn't seem to help in the 'Tracks' window, but in the 'Sequence' window, there is a tiny magnifying glass in the area JUST to the left of the audio file at the top of the track. The waveforms can be controlled at least in this window. Hope that helps a little.
Yes, the Waveform Zoom is helpful in the SE.

Because of how weak DP8 makes the waveforms look now, I've had to use Waveform Zoom quite a lot. I never had to use it before DP8, so something got changed (broken) and needs to be fixed.

The screenshots people are putting up show the problem quite well.
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