The Top 10 Most Requested Features

[cowtothesky]

I would like to see some sort of intelligent quantize, that, on command, interprets what your playing and automatically sets the quantize parameters, such as triplets, 1/4, 1/8, whatever would give the tightest quantize.

Also, an intelligent conductor that will interpret time signatures, gliding tempos, etc.. You could tighten up or loosen the tempo after it is set. So, for instance, you could just play a piano track with emotion and set the intelligent conductor to follow you. Once set, you can orchestrate around that click.

[stubbsonic]

That's a nice idea-- even if it was only to open the quantize window with a "best guess" at what division you might want. As long as it was a checked preference (like smart-grid-sensing or what have you). If that could be pulled off in a plug-in, that'd be slick-- and would only require some look-ahead.

I'd add that a "smooth tempos" command would be nice. WHEN they fix tap tempo, it will be nice if they can add an option that will smooth the tempos in such a way as to not affect the length a chunk or various points along the sequence.

So for example if there are "outlying" highs & lows in tempo, you could SMOOTH TEMPOS bringing the high points down and low points up in such that the resulting piece would remain the same length and or every X number of bars would line up in time just as they had before. Ultimately, the net result would make the sequence or section neither to grow or shrink in time.

[bayswater]

Also, an intelligent conductor that will interpret time signatures, gliding tempos, etc.. You could tighten up or loosen the tempo after it is set. So, for instance, you could just play a piano track with emotion and set the intelligent conductor to follow you. Once set, you can orchestrate around that click.

Yes. And they have the capability already. I always thought MOTU Freestyle was good at putting a tempo on top of whatever you played. I wish it had been pulled into DP.

[csavetman]

I'd be down with the following updates

1. VCA faders

2. Polarity invert button on mixer channels so I don't have to open a plugin for such a rudimentary task.

3. Fixing the behavior of the reshape tool when scaling the sequence editor's bite volume layer so it consistently inserts all the break points needed and not try to ramp back to some previous point. (Also- make that line stand out more!)

4. Have grouped faders retain their relative dB levels to each other when being moved

5. A preference for dual pan knobs on stereo channels (maybe right-click opt)


Carlos

I'd like to add improving the strip silence feature to my list. Making it so you can see in real time the effect of the parameters entered in the dialogue box, so you're not just taking a stab in the dark, and having to undo/ redo to get it right.

[stubbsonic]

OMG. YES. And is strip silence still so low resolution percentage?! I haven't used it in a while, but I remember thinking it needs to be in tenths of a dB units. If it already is, apologies-- I can't launch DP right now, so I can't look.

[Tritonemusic]

Does anyone remember the graphic version of Strip Silence that Studio Vision Pro used to have? It was great. No worrying about entering values...just shift the slider, and you can see exactly what the outcome will be.

[Shooshie]

Could someone explain VCA faders and why they are suddenly everywhere you look? I've made it 40 years in this business without ever really knowing about them, other than to see the name (rarely) in the odd article or post, but all of a sudden they're at the top of many lists of wants and needs.

Why?

I've read some linked articles in SOS and other forums, but I still fail to grasp their importance in a DAW, which already seems to do what they are meant to do. What sets them apart and makes then so desirable? I think I understand Voltage Control Amplifiers, and I think I understand why they make for good mixing board control hardware (faders), but I don't see how emulating them helps us any. We're already emulating faders. Is there a behavior, like a delay or something, that smooths their output? What's the difference between a VCA group and one of our regular groups, when they are both emulations of grouped faders?

Shooshie

[davedempsey]

Could someone explain VCA faders and why they are suddenly everywhere you look? I've made it 40 years in this business without ever really knowing about them, other than to see the name (rarely) in the odd article or post, but all of a sudden they're at the top of many lists of wants and needs.

Why?

I've read some linked articles in SOS and other forums, but I still fail to grasp their importance in a DAW, which already seems to do what they are meant to do. What sets them apart and makes then so desirable? I think I understand Voltage Control Amplifiers, and I think I understand why they make for good mixing board control hardware (faders), but I don't see how emulating them helps us any. We're already emulating faders. Is there a behavior, like a delay or something, that smooths their output? What's the difference between a VCA group and one of our regular groups, when they are both emulations of grouped faders?

Shooshie

I'd say the essential difference is that aux subgroups etc are summing amps - moving them increases or decreases the combined output of the channels routed to that mix bus, whereas a vca or dca fader addresses the input gain of any channel assigned to it regardless of it's output route. This means, for example, once you have your drums and reverbs in shape you can assign them to a single fader - when you change that fader level up or down the wet/dry balance is unaltered. In more complex mix situations vca faders allow single fader control for multiple channels that may not be routed to the same subgroup/summing amp. With vca groups you can do things that would be a lot more difficult to achieve otherwise.

[bayswater]

Individual faders can be moved freely without suspending the group.

[Shooshie]

Individual faders can be moved freely without suspending the group.

Is that the end of it? That's something that could be done with an option key press. In fact, I used to think it DID that, but it doesn't now, whether or not it ever did.

So, is there anything else that it gives us? For it to feed the buzz normally reserved for SSDs, new Mac Towers, and MIDI mutes seems much ado about little indeed. Is it more complex than that, and you're just giving me the 10 second tour? (thanks, btw)

Shooshie

[bayswater]

It deals with pre/post fader issues. But as you will know we can already deal with that. I suppose we have to wait to see just MOTU has implemented this to see if it does more useful stuff.

[davedempsey]

In a complex mix where you already have channel fader automation, plug-in parameter automation yadda yadda, vca faders give you another layer of automation control which will address everything associated with the assigned channels without touching any of the other automations already in place. You can alter the entire drum kit with it's reverb wet/dry balance unchanged, along with any other bussed settings, such as kick drum as side chain control to another channel's plug-in, all in one vca fader movement. The benefits of vca faders (or more correctly, dca faders) are huge and they quite simply are not the same as fader groups.

[mikehalloran]

Ok... But would it make DP snappier?

[davedempsey]

It would certainly make the engineer feel snappier at a late stage in the mix

[Killahurts]

I think we need them as well. When I think about it, I've had to come up with some pretty complex routings and workflows, because of not having DCAs. Would have saved a lot of time..