Help showing automation on a MIDI track!

[Topo]

It's been a long time since this was reported to MOTU, by many users....but, no update yet. I could sure use reliable automation, like v7 had.

Here's something weird... So I came to this thread looking for information about snapshot automation problems.. my snaps are not snapping for some tracks and working for others.. anyways..

[Shooshie]

It's been a long time since this was reported to MOTU, by many users....but, no update yet. I could sure use reliable automation, like v7 had.

Here's something weird... So I came to this thread looking for information about snapshot automation problems.. my snaps are not snapping for some tracks and working for others.. anyways..

An update will come. Only MOTU knows why it is taking a while, but in the past it usually has come down to some major code rewrites when the delay has been significant. I suspect something along those lines right now.

Everything I write about what MOTU does to DP is speculation on my part, unless I state otherwise, but that doesn't stop me from trying to imagine what's going on there. I have this opinion, at the moment:
Recently there was a major rewrite of DP's code, because it had to become Cocoa compliant, leaving behind the legacy code that had been the foundation of DP since the mid 1980s. By recently, I'm referring to the 64 bit update in which the last of the legacy code was rewritten. I think that was DP8, but I'm not sure. It may have been DP9. In any case, things changed then. It was subtle. You had to be very familiar with how DP has always worked to notice anything, but there were ever-so-slight give-aways that revealed to me that coding had been changed. There were so many improvements that I didn't mind that at all, but I knew that there was potential trouble, for the original coding had many patches that connected parts of DP behind the scenes. Maybe a menu had a special connection for certain circumstances, or maybe an edit or routing had to change something else that we didn't see in order for special kinds of operations to take place. I'd be a fool to try to elucidate exactly what I'm talking about, because I really don't know. But I knew there would have to be patch jobs to get things working again the way they used to. What I didn't know was how pervasive or extensive those things would be. My suspicion is that they are starting to figure that out, and it's taking some time for them to get everything fixed. A DAW is not an easy thing to write. If it were, we would love using them all. Just because you can imagine a feature, bug fix, or change in operation does not mean that it's easy to write it. It may break something else, or it may not be possible given the way the audio engine is structured. There are any number of reasons why things get very difficult when you start going deep into a DAW.

But in the end, it IS all fixable. It's just a matter of time, money, attention and perseverance. That's what's happening now. They're putting in the time, attention and perseverance, and I'm sure the money is dictating at least some of the schedule. But I know MOTU, and I know that it WILL be done.

Shooshie

[musicman691]

An update will come. Only MOTU knows why it is taking a while, but in the past it usually has come down to some major code rewrites when the delay has been significant. I suspect something along those lines right now.

Everything I write about what MOTU does to DP is speculation on my part, unless I state otherwise, but that doesn't stop me from trying to imagine what's going on there. I have this opinion, at the moment:
Recently there was a major rewrite of DP's code, because it had to become Cocoa compliant, leaving behind the legacy code that had been the foundation of DP since the mid 1980s. By recently, I'm referring to the 64 bit update in which the last of the legacy code was rewritten. I think that was DP8, but I'm not sure. It may have been DP9. In any case, things changed then. It was subtle. You had to be very familiar with how DP has always worked to notice anything, but there were ever-so-slight give-aways that revealed to me that coding had been changed. There were so many improvements that I didn't mind that at all, but I knew that there was potential trouble, for the original coding had many patches that connected parts of DP behind the scenes. Maybe a menu had a special connection for certain circumstances, or maybe an edit or routing had to change something else that we didn't see in order for special kinds of operations to take place. I'd be a fool to try to elucidate exactly what I'm talking about, because I really don't know. But I knew there would have to be patch jobs to get things working again the way they used to. What I didn't know was how pervasive or extensive those things would be. My suspicion is that they are starting to figure that out, and it's taking some time for them to get everything fixed. A DAW is not an easy thing to write. If it were, we would love using them all. Just because you can imagine a feature, bug fix, or change in operation does not mean that it's easy to write it. It may break something else, or it may not be possible given the way the audio engine is structured. There are any number of reasons why things get very difficult when you start going deep into a DAW.

But in the end, it IS all fixable. It's just a matter of time, money, attention and perseverance. That's what's happening now. They're putting in the time, attention and perseverance, and I'm sure the money is dictating at least some of the schedule. But I know MOTU, and I know that it WILL be done.

Shooshie

I guess cleaning up the spaghetti code isn't easy and maybe MOTU doesn't want to get into that again with DP9. I don't blame that one bit

So I guess we shouldn't be surprised if the Q2 estimate for the updates (next gen pre-gen, etc.) talked about at NAMM slips a bit then. No biggie but I can wait.

[Mister Zero]

It's painful to think that you had to go to another app to keep working. DP's MIDI was always, IMO, second to none. I truly loved the way it was implemented, and enjoyed using it daily, immensely.

Likewise. I REALLY MISS DP's phenomenal MIDI editing tools! I was just checking back here at motunation to see if the automation issues were fixed. I'm starting a big project and would like to use DP, but the lines mode controller data is the deal breaker for me. I use a LOT of controller data on Orchestral VIs and don't want to get stuck struggling with that again. It's not worth it.

I am, however, keeping my fingers crossed!

[bayswater]

Likewise. I REALLY MISS DP's phenomenal MIDI editing tools! I was just checking back here at motunation to see if the automation issues were fixed. I'm starting a big project and would like to use DP, but the lines mode controller data is the deal breaker for me. I use a LOT of controller data on Orchestral VIs and don't want to get stuck struggling with that again. It's not worth it.

I am, however, keeping my fingers crossed!

You'll have problems editing with your fingers crossed. But otherwise, I find most of the earlier issues are fixed. Using selection tools in line mode to add remove and move automation points by clicking on existing lines and dragging points around still leads to occasional unexpected results. But using pencil and reshaping tools to create and edit automation lines works smoothly and accurately.

[Mister Zero]

It also does this crazy weird thing of adding more points after I select one and hit delete.

I used Performer for 24 years and the lines mode display bug turned into a persistent sore point for me starting with DP7. Did it ever get fixed?

I switched to Ableton Live for a big project I was starting and I never upgraded to DP9. I'm checking the posts here because I was removing DP from my dock today and got curious.

It was good switching software as that type of exercise can, and did, generate an increase in creative possibilities. I would still like to go back to DP at some point because I loved having a monster VEPro template to work with.