DSP-Quattro 5 Reviews

[cuttime]

Watch this space:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N88meQIiPPQ

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So far, for me, anything I have managed to figure out is a turn for the worse, although I understand it's early in the game. I used to be able to jump to markers in wav files with Command-K and Shift-Command-K which I used constantly and that doesn't work and I can't find any other way to do that.

Phil, there is a new version out now (5.0.5) and this seems to work as before.

[bayswater]

The "aha!" in the Youtube video is where SD explains that the main menus at the top of the screen are only for Project functions, but elsewhere in the screen, there are menus for the functions specific to edits and CDs.

[mhschmieder]

I just updated to 5.0.7 last night (I skipped the previous few updates as I was out of town), and see that it is now preferred to create or load a project at startup vs. just having an initially orphaned session.

No problem with that, but after resizing the window and restarting, it goes back to full screen, just like Logic always does. I never ever ever want any app to start in full screen mode. I hate it when an app defaults to that -- especially if it doesn't recall session preferences.

It is awfully hard to grab a corner of a full screen window to resize it. Actually, I guess I should refer to this as maximum window size, as full screen mode is a bit different in that the menu bar goes away until you hover (for compliant mac apps; some apps override the OS-level behaviour).

I can't remember the last time in my life that I wasn't multi-tasking (many decades ago), but regardless, I do not like the risk factor of a dominant window, as app freeze-ups, crashes, and other issues then make it REALLY hard to access anything else on the computer.

Whatever; I'm in the minority for sure, and as an app developer, I have to deal with the increasing number of quirks in macOS related to OS-level decisions about how full screen mode, and even maximum size windows, should behave (such as tabbing of closed windows).

So maybe the toolkit used for this new version, didn't provide much programming flexibility regarding window preferences on session end and restart.

[philbrown]

I just updated to 5.0.7 last night (I skipped the previous few updates as I was out of town), and see that it is now preferred to create or load a project at startup vs. just having an initially orphaned session.

I know I'm in the minority, but I expect any audio editor to be able to open a wav file, do a simple edit and save it without creating a project. Why take away simple, basic functionality to make things more complicated and add steps? Ditto, for opening a file and quickly exporting an mp3. I have no need for a "Project". I'm sure the developer has their reasons, but to me it's dumb. This isn't academic for me, these are things I do a lot with V4. The project function has always been there, so all this does is take is add workflow steps by forcing the user to work that way all the time, even for the simplest of tasks.

[sdaino]

I just updated to 5.0.7 last night (I skipped the previous few updates as I was out of town), and see that it is now preferred to create or load a project at startup vs. just having an initially orphaned session.

I know I'm in the minority, but I expect any audio editor to be able to open a wav file, do a simple edit and save it without creating a project. Why take away simple, basic functionality to make things more complicated and add steps? Ditto, for opening a file and quickly exporting an mp3. I have no need for a "Project". I'm sure the developer has their reasons, but to me it's dumb. This isn't academic for me, these are things I do a lot with V4. The project function has always been there, so all this does is take is add workflow steps by forcing the user to work that way all the time, even for the simplest of tasks.

Hello,

this step is necessary to avoid all the problems of access privileges and missed source files which v4 was starting to have under MacOS High Sierra.

In v5 the project is fully self-contained, it keeps all the source files it will need when you will load it again. But, for this, it must be initialized as first step. It may appear to be a longer procedure, but at the end it is very much better, the project always contains all the audio files it will need also in the future, if you need to load it again.

And this step is even more necessary because also in v4 there was not only a “Project", but also an “AudioCDLayout", which needs to find the source audio files when you reload it. I mean, in most cases it may happen DSP-Quattro needs to re-use source audio files also after quitting.

It would NOT be strictly necessary if I would limit DSP-Quattro only to edit an audio file and to save it afterwards, forgetting everything after quitting. For this, I want to release also an "audio editor only” application, hopefully during the next autumn. It will lack the Project and the AudioCDLayout of DSP-Quattro, but it will do exactly what you are looking for, if I understand well... is it correct?

Thanks!
Stefano Daino
http://www.dsp-quattro.com

[philbrown]

Hello,

this step is necessary to avoid all the problems of access privileges and missed source files which v4 was starting to have under MacOS High Sierra.

In v5 the project is fully self-contained, it keeps all the source files it will need when you will load it again. But, for this, it must be initialized as first step. It may appear to be a longer procedure, but at the end it is very much better, the project always contains all the audio files it will need also in the future, if you need to load it again.

And this step is even more necessary because also in v4 there was not only a “Project", but also an “AudioCDLayout", which needs to find the source audio files when you reload it. I mean, in most cases it may happen DSP-Quattro needs to re-use source audio files also after quitting.

It would NOT be strictly necessary if I would limit DSP-Quattro only to edit an audio file and to save it afterwards, forgetting everything after quitting. For this, I want to release also an "audio editor only” application, hopefully during the next autumn. It will lack the Project and the AudioCDLayout of DSP-Quattro, but it will do exactly what you are looking for, if I understand well... is it correct?

Thanks!
Stefano Daino
http://www.dsp-quattro.com

Thanks very much for your reply. Beside quick edits as described above, the main thing I use DSP-Q for is CD authoring/burning, exporting DDP files and mp3's from the Audio CD Layout. I do this a LOT. I don't use projects now for that, but that makes some sense and I could adapt to the project-based workflow for those tasks. I still don't agree about taking away the ability to do quick edits, though. I'm not really in favor of a buying a second app just for simple everyday tasks that used to be built in.

Again, thanks for listening and explaining your reasoning.

[sdaino]

I just updated to 5.0.7 last night (I skipped the previous few updates as I was out of town), and see that it is now preferred to create or load a project at startup vs. just having an initially orphaned session.

No problem with that, but after resizing the window and restarting, it goes back to full screen, just like Logic always does. I never ever ever want any app to start in full screen mode. I hate it when an app defaults to that -- especially if it doesn't recall session preferences.

...

So maybe the toolkit used for this new version, didn't provide much programming flexibility regarding window preferences on session end and restart.

Hello,

I totally agree with you, it would be very annoying if the project window returns to full screen always, every time you load it again. But, using v5, the project should open a window which has exactly the same size and position which it had when you saved it.

Of course, if you saved it at startup at full size, then worked on it but you had not saved it on closing, it will keep the full size it had at the moment in which you saved it.

Could be this your case?

Thanks!
Stefano Daino
http://www.dsp-quattro.com

[bayswater]

I know I'm in the minority, but I expect any audio editor to be able to open a wav file, do a simple edit and save it without creating a project.

In addition to Stefano's comments above, there is a small change in workflow that gets you pretty close to what V4 did. Create a new empty project and save it. Quit. Start up DSP-Q again. It will start up with the save project. (There might a pref that needs to be set to do this?)

From then on, don't use the menus at the top of the screen. Instead use the commands inside the audio editor drop down file menu (which contains commands that used to be in the main menus. Better still, use the keyboard shortcuts for Import and Export to get files quickly in and out of the project. When you quit, don't save the project. (Press cmd-Q and cmd-D in quick succession.

[philbrown]

I know I'm in the minority, but I expect any audio editor to be able to open a wav file, do a simple edit and save it without creating a project.

In addition to Stefano's comments above, there is a small change in workflow that gets you pretty close to what V4 did. Create a new empty project and save it. Quit. Start up DSP-Q again. It will start up with the save project. (There might a pref that needs to be set to do this?)

From then on, don't use the menus at the top of the screen. Instead use the commands inside the audio editor drop down file menu (which contains commands that used to be in the main menus. Better still, use the keyboard shortcuts for Import and Export to get files quickly in and out of the project. When you quit, don't save the project. (Press cmd-Q and cmd-D in quick succession.

As always, I appreciate your insights Bayswater. That seems like it might be a pretty good workaround. Thankfully I'm on a work hiatus for a couple of weeks, but I'll try that when I'm back to work– which will be 7 day work weeks for a couple of months straight.

[mhschmieder]

I reverified just now, that the project's window size goes back to maximum (or full screen) after using it in a new launch when it asks for the project name, after having saved it at a smaller size.

This is a blank template project though -- I won't be doing any mastering with DSP-Quattro until I finish up some promises to other people today for some woodwind tracks. So maybe an effectively empty project isn't enough to trigger settings to get saved.

Good info above on ways to emulate old workflow as well. But already, I feel the new version gets me closer to my workflow from BIAS Peak, which I always preferred anyway, so I'm looking forward to my first serious mastering session in this updated version of DSP-Quattro.

[bayswater]

I reverified just now, that the project's window size goes back to maximum (or full screen) after using it in a new launch when it asks for the project name, after having saved it at a smaller size.

Same here. Maybe it's going to a minimum screen size. I can make it shorter, but can't make it narrower. In any case it goes back to full screen size on restart even if I save the project with a smaller screen size.

[mhschmieder]

I just realized this behaviour might be Sierra-specific. I plan to go to High Sierra fairly soon, once my OUTSIDE commitments are met (they aren't quite yet) and there's no risk to PROMISED delivery dates.

At work, I run High Sierra, and my clients sometimes have Sierra-specific problems, which can be quite frustrating. So I am sympathetic to small single-developer apps that may have issues only with the not-most-current OS.

[bayswater]

I just realized this behaviour might be Sierra-specific.

I'm on High Sierra. Same thing happens.

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I see there are several threads on this topic now, but for the sake of consistency I'll post here:
I was testing DSPQ-5.0.7 for VI hosting efficiency, and it seems the Audio Buffer Settings don't do anything. High or low settings don't affect the CPU usage or latency. Of course I have written Stefano, but I thought I'd post here.

EDIT: Well I tried this again and the buffer settings seem to work. I'm willing to chalk this up to pilot error, however this isn't the first time DSPQ-5's settings seem to stick (or not) in unpredictable ways.