My suggestions to the developers to make DP improved
Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 5:07 am
Firstly, I have loved DP and been a user for about 10 years now. There are some things that I have been suggesting now for some time that I really believe should be implemented into DP, especially since you are releasing a Windows version now, which suggests to me you are trying to go after the "masses" instead of just your die-hard Mac people who have been DP lovers for years.
1) There really needs to be a system to handle MIDI in parts or regions, allowing master parts or regions. It seems to me that you have that sort of ready to implement in your use of clippings. You should have clippings with an editor, so that a 2 measure drum part could be sequenced and then that is a Master clipping. Then, if that clipping is dragged into the sequence editor in a time line, it could be copied x number of times. If after inserting it into a song, you find that one hi-hat hit (for instance) is a bit too much velocity, all that would need to be done is to go into the Master clipping for that (part-region-event) and change it in the Master, then all of the instances of that in the song (sequence) would change to reflect the change in the Master.
This is a biggy. Logic, Cubase and Studio One Pro all have this option. I would think that since DP started out as a "MIDI" sequencer that you should already have had this in place. If you are going for the masses and wanting to expand your user base, you are going to need to address this. People who are used to sequencing in those other apps and then try to use DP and find that nothing is there like this are going to be disappointed. It takes so much longer to create a MIDI track for drums in DP than it does Cubase. That has been (probably) my biggest disappointment when using DP.
2) Default velocity in the MIDI editor. Why is this set at 64? I requested years ago that this be addressed. The default velocity in the drum editor can be changed, why cannot the default velocity in the MIDI editor be set? While I am addressing this, I think the MIDI editor needs an option to input a note and the velocity be changed before the clicker on the mouse button is released. Click, hold the mouse button down and scroll up or down to increase or decrease velocity (much like Studio One). I know how it is now, click the note in with the pencil tool (which puts the velocity at 64) then go down to the bottom row and increase velocity, one note at a time. This should not take this long. You need to check out Studio One Pro. They have this down and it is much faster to do MIDI entering with the pencil.
3) Text line under the Marker part to allow for chord symbols. Another suggestion that I have is there needs to be text line under the marker part to so that under a measure number a chord symbol can be inserted. Let me explain: I play using the Number system, (1 for tonic, 4 for sub-dominant, 5 for dominant, etc). One of my long running complaints of any of these sequencing programs is that there is nothing that runs along the time-line that shows chord charting that would allow for me as the user to see what chord I am in and know where I am during performance. Now, I write a chart in pencil, and number the measures of that chart with erasable red pen so that I know where I am in the sequence at any given time. IF I could just "chart" the song directly within the sequencer program it would be much, much better.
4) SOLO in the sequence editor. SOLO in the sequence editor is what I long for greatly. If I am working on an audio or MIDI track and I need to quickly solo that track I can't do it, short of going to the mixing board and hitting the solo switch for the track. It would be so, so, so much quicker to just be able to hit "S" key on the keyboard and be able to solo the track I am working on at that very moment. This is also in other programs and it is SWEET being able to do this.
5) Offset the song start. I would like to be able to have measure number -2, -1, 0, in front of the actual measure number one. Just a semantics thing, I guess for me.
6) The selection area. Why can't the selection area always stay selected. When bouncing down, I always have to make sure that all my tracks are visible, and that I have turned on the selection area (loop) and that I highlight the area, before bouncing to disk. This seems that it would be better without having to manually select what I want to bounce. It would save a step and would not get in the way of anything.
7) Pitch Audition. I would like to be able to hear the pitch changes as I am making them while moving the segments up or down.
Comp parts. When doing a comp, why can't the comp (and all associated takes) be in a container, so that, let's say I am doing a radio commercial that has three comp tracks (recording takes of someone doing script) and I want to be able to move the vocal take (comp and all associated takes) along in the time-line to place it in a different spot in the music bed. Now, the only way is to bounce "merge" the selected soundbites into a new merged audio file. But, let's say I want to make a change in a phrase later on in that selection. I have to make sure that I shift-click select, or drag-select all of the associated files in the comp and make sure I move them, or they will be out of place. Grouping or a container system would solve this.
I love the audio production sound of DP. Thick, bright, solid. It's probably the main reason I keep reaching for it when doing my work, however I wonder why development keeps going after guitar plug ins and such "trinket" type things instead of working on some of the basic elements that would improve work-flow and the basic production flow of DP. Don't most of us who are serious already have an array of plugins for these things? I want changes to make my work-flow more efficient in MIDI input, MIDI and audio part container system and just basic elements that will make my experience not so laborious.
DP is flexible, but I think that some things need to be put in place to deal with repeating MIDI and audio other than the LOOPING function. Do you realize how confusing this is? Loops, loops within loops? Master clippings (parts-regions-containers) would be much easier to deal with, then just copy the master to many places, make one change in a master and it reflects throughout the entire sequence. Just this month, I did drum work for a guy who called back and said that a hit on one particular beat was too loud in the entire song. Fortunately, I had grabbed for Cubase when doing this and I used the ghost-shared part system when constructing these drum parts. One click was all it took to change the problem in the entire piece. Bounce again, and I was finished. Had I composed this in DP, I would have had to manually go through the entire song and change all of them (255 or so measures). Do you see what I mean here?
The average sit-at-home guy using these programs for making music in the back bedroom or garage is looking for work-flow when sequencing something like drums and other repeating parts. If I want to change one little thing in a MIDI track, (that repeats) DP makes it a time consuming, labor intensive chore.
Again, I love DP. I love the show-hide tracks, the consolidated window, the plug-in boxes that can be changed to different MIDI channels without having to open a new instance and then end up with 50 window boxes open (ala cubase). And DP just SOUNDS GOOD. It's not flat, it has color and is bright...it's good.
I have put these sequencing programs through the ringer in testing for ease of use. I own Cubase, Logic, Studio One and Digital Performer. I keep coming back to DP, but get frustrated when doing MIDI work because of the things I have mentioned above. If you are going after a new crowd (with your Windows launch), I graciously ask you need to consider some of these suggestions.
Thanks for your time, your great PHONE SUPPORT and Dave Roberts. He's worth his weight in gold !!!
Sam
1) There really needs to be a system to handle MIDI in parts or regions, allowing master parts or regions. It seems to me that you have that sort of ready to implement in your use of clippings. You should have clippings with an editor, so that a 2 measure drum part could be sequenced and then that is a Master clipping. Then, if that clipping is dragged into the sequence editor in a time line, it could be copied x number of times. If after inserting it into a song, you find that one hi-hat hit (for instance) is a bit too much velocity, all that would need to be done is to go into the Master clipping for that (part-region-event) and change it in the Master, then all of the instances of that in the song (sequence) would change to reflect the change in the Master.
This is a biggy. Logic, Cubase and Studio One Pro all have this option. I would think that since DP started out as a "MIDI" sequencer that you should already have had this in place. If you are going for the masses and wanting to expand your user base, you are going to need to address this. People who are used to sequencing in those other apps and then try to use DP and find that nothing is there like this are going to be disappointed. It takes so much longer to create a MIDI track for drums in DP than it does Cubase. That has been (probably) my biggest disappointment when using DP.
2) Default velocity in the MIDI editor. Why is this set at 64? I requested years ago that this be addressed. The default velocity in the drum editor can be changed, why cannot the default velocity in the MIDI editor be set? While I am addressing this, I think the MIDI editor needs an option to input a note and the velocity be changed before the clicker on the mouse button is released. Click, hold the mouse button down and scroll up or down to increase or decrease velocity (much like Studio One). I know how it is now, click the note in with the pencil tool (which puts the velocity at 64) then go down to the bottom row and increase velocity, one note at a time. This should not take this long. You need to check out Studio One Pro. They have this down and it is much faster to do MIDI entering with the pencil.
3) Text line under the Marker part to allow for chord symbols. Another suggestion that I have is there needs to be text line under the marker part to so that under a measure number a chord symbol can be inserted. Let me explain: I play using the Number system, (1 for tonic, 4 for sub-dominant, 5 for dominant, etc). One of my long running complaints of any of these sequencing programs is that there is nothing that runs along the time-line that shows chord charting that would allow for me as the user to see what chord I am in and know where I am during performance. Now, I write a chart in pencil, and number the measures of that chart with erasable red pen so that I know where I am in the sequence at any given time. IF I could just "chart" the song directly within the sequencer program it would be much, much better.
4) SOLO in the sequence editor. SOLO in the sequence editor is what I long for greatly. If I am working on an audio or MIDI track and I need to quickly solo that track I can't do it, short of going to the mixing board and hitting the solo switch for the track. It would be so, so, so much quicker to just be able to hit "S" key on the keyboard and be able to solo the track I am working on at that very moment. This is also in other programs and it is SWEET being able to do this.
5) Offset the song start. I would like to be able to have measure number -2, -1, 0, in front of the actual measure number one. Just a semantics thing, I guess for me.
6) The selection area. Why can't the selection area always stay selected. When bouncing down, I always have to make sure that all my tracks are visible, and that I have turned on the selection area (loop) and that I highlight the area, before bouncing to disk. This seems that it would be better without having to manually select what I want to bounce. It would save a step and would not get in the way of anything.
7) Pitch Audition. I would like to be able to hear the pitch changes as I am making them while moving the segments up or down.
Comp parts. When doing a comp, why can't the comp (and all associated takes) be in a container, so that, let's say I am doing a radio commercial that has three comp tracks (recording takes of someone doing script) and I want to be able to move the vocal take (comp and all associated takes) along in the time-line to place it in a different spot in the music bed. Now, the only way is to bounce "merge" the selected soundbites into a new merged audio file. But, let's say I want to make a change in a phrase later on in that selection. I have to make sure that I shift-click select, or drag-select all of the associated files in the comp and make sure I move them, or they will be out of place. Grouping or a container system would solve this. I love the audio production sound of DP. Thick, bright, solid. It's probably the main reason I keep reaching for it when doing my work, however I wonder why development keeps going after guitar plug ins and such "trinket" type things instead of working on some of the basic elements that would improve work-flow and the basic production flow of DP. Don't most of us who are serious already have an array of plugins for these things? I want changes to make my work-flow more efficient in MIDI input, MIDI and audio part container system and just basic elements that will make my experience not so laborious.
DP is flexible, but I think that some things need to be put in place to deal with repeating MIDI and audio other than the LOOPING function. Do you realize how confusing this is? Loops, loops within loops? Master clippings (parts-regions-containers) would be much easier to deal with, then just copy the master to many places, make one change in a master and it reflects throughout the entire sequence. Just this month, I did drum work for a guy who called back and said that a hit on one particular beat was too loud in the entire song. Fortunately, I had grabbed for Cubase when doing this and I used the ghost-shared part system when constructing these drum parts. One click was all it took to change the problem in the entire piece. Bounce again, and I was finished. Had I composed this in DP, I would have had to manually go through the entire song and change all of them (255 or so measures). Do you see what I mean here?
The average sit-at-home guy using these programs for making music in the back bedroom or garage is looking for work-flow when sequencing something like drums and other repeating parts. If I want to change one little thing in a MIDI track, (that repeats) DP makes it a time consuming, labor intensive chore.
Again, I love DP. I love the show-hide tracks, the consolidated window, the plug-in boxes that can be changed to different MIDI channels without having to open a new instance and then end up with 50 window boxes open (ala cubase). And DP just SOUNDS GOOD. It's not flat, it has color and is bright...it's good.
I have put these sequencing programs through the ringer in testing for ease of use. I own Cubase, Logic, Studio One and Digital Performer. I keep coming back to DP, but get frustrated when doing MIDI work because of the things I have mentioned above. If you are going after a new crowd (with your Windows launch), I graciously ask you need to consider some of these suggestions.
Thanks for your time, your great PHONE SUPPORT and Dave Roberts. He's worth his weight in gold !!!
Sam
