Comments on DP 9.02
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 12:19 pm
I need a place to keep my comments on DP 9.02 together, rather than just tacking them on to random threads. This is going to be that place. You're all welcome to join in, but please try to post verifiable bugs or things you have seen and need 2nd-party confirmation. No rants, please.
I'll start with some things I've posted elsewhere, then add newer observations.
• The "Disappearing Window Bug," aka the NEW View Filter Bug. Just when they fixed the View Filter so that novices aren't accidentally clicking on it and making all their data disappear, they've given us a new one that makes the entire window disappear. This isn't a bug. It's just the new Search Field in several of the windows. TAB puts you in it, but if you type Spacebar a couple times, you'll see all your tracks just disappear. That's because it's searching for a track with two spaces together, and most track names do not have that. I have an entire thread about this elsewhere. Here's a quote which I think sums up what we need for MOTU to change about this feature:
• A rainbow wheel of death spun for 10 minutes before I finally realized that it wasn't going to come back, and I suspect it originated during an Auto-Save while I was clicking on other things. Not verified, but I've seen others mention similar problems. Weak bug report, but I don't have any reproducible evidence at this point.
• I had a total lock-up when looking for a preset for the MOTU Plate Reverb, but I realize that I was using the MAS version, and I think I've been using AU or VST in the past. Not sure about any of that except the part where it locked up while I was messing around in the preset menu. When DP rebooted, it had to re-read every single plugin while in the splash screen. Are MAS plugins now unstable?
• I've been getting a LOT of pops and clicks which I thought were not in the soundbites, but random occurrences. Many are random, but I'm getting many reproducible clicks associated with comp track sections and borders, and also many that are just in the soundbites. I can usually get rid of the comp-related clicks with extra-careful positioning of borders and soundbites within them. Sometimes I just have to choose another take for that section. As for the other clicks that are actually in the soundbites, I don't know what's causing those. They will happen a lot in one song, which is the identical track layout and similar music to the other tracks where there is no noise whatsoever. Why suddenly one Chunk picks up a couple dozen clicks? Its cloned sisters are pristine. I guess there's just got to be a dirty chunk somewhere.
• Control Panel sometimes disappears when I switch to and from other apps. The menu for opening Control Panel would not bring it back. Switching to various windows, as well as back and forth to CueMix finally brought back the Control Panel. Sorry that I can't remember the exact one that did the trick. It happened several times, but the first time was the only one that seemed like it wasn't going to come back. Afterward, it would come back with minimal fiddling.
• I love the new clock, sample, bit and buffer menus in the Control Panel. However, the buffer menu is off by one line. That is, when you choose 256, it sets the buffer to 512. Choose 64 and it sets it to 128. 512 becomes 1024. Compare to the Configure Hardware Driver dialog box and you'll find that the buffer listed there is half that of the menu in the control panel.
• Snip and Comp are at each others' throats! If I have a mix that includes one or more comped tracks, each compiled of a mosaic of takes, and if I select all tracks and attempt to Snip a range out of it. For simplicity, let's say we are deleting the first 4 bars. Snip deletes the bars and moves the tracks to fill the gap. But the comp tracks' takes are all skewed with their timing hither and yonder. Nothing lines up any more. Snip and Comp are useless together. Those have gotta be fixed! Anyone want to try it and see if it's happening there?
• In the MIDI Edit Window, "Lines Mode" is all screwed up. At least, it was when I tried it a few weeks ago. I haven't tried i recently, and I'm not sure whether it was a previous version or 9.02, so i need to try that again. Basically, it won't accept new control points by merely clicking on the line. When you finally coerce it into taking some control points, they won't edit the way they are supposed to. Again, I need to look this one up again and see if it's still broken in 9.02.
That's all I can think of for now. Will add more as I remember or find them.
Shooshie
I'll start with some things I've posted elsewhere, then add newer observations.
• The "Disappearing Window Bug," aka the NEW View Filter Bug. Just when they fixed the View Filter so that novices aren't accidentally clicking on it and making all their data disappear, they've given us a new one that makes the entire window disappear. This isn't a bug. It's just the new Search Field in several of the windows. TAB puts you in it, but if you type Spacebar a couple times, you'll see all your tracks just disappear. That's because it's searching for a track with two spaces together, and most track names do not have that. I have an entire thread about this elsewhere. Here's a quote which I think sums up what we need for MOTU to change about this feature:
- I just think they need to create a text box that comes up when a search yields no results. It should explain that no tracks matched the search, and ask if you want to re-type your search or exit. That would stop a lot of people from calling MOTU Tech Support, not to mention posting here about their missing window. I also think they should NOT hardwire the keyboard command for the search field. Why suddenly the change from allowing us to set our own commands? (I know, I know, there've always been commands that were hard-wired. But new commands ought to be flexible.)
• A rainbow wheel of death spun for 10 minutes before I finally realized that it wasn't going to come back, and I suspect it originated during an Auto-Save while I was clicking on other things. Not verified, but I've seen others mention similar problems. Weak bug report, but I don't have any reproducible evidence at this point.
• I had a total lock-up when looking for a preset for the MOTU Plate Reverb, but I realize that I was using the MAS version, and I think I've been using AU or VST in the past. Not sure about any of that except the part where it locked up while I was messing around in the preset menu. When DP rebooted, it had to re-read every single plugin while in the splash screen. Are MAS plugins now unstable?
• I've been getting a LOT of pops and clicks which I thought were not in the soundbites, but random occurrences. Many are random, but I'm getting many reproducible clicks associated with comp track sections and borders, and also many that are just in the soundbites. I can usually get rid of the comp-related clicks with extra-careful positioning of borders and soundbites within them. Sometimes I just have to choose another take for that section. As for the other clicks that are actually in the soundbites, I don't know what's causing those. They will happen a lot in one song, which is the identical track layout and similar music to the other tracks where there is no noise whatsoever. Why suddenly one Chunk picks up a couple dozen clicks? Its cloned sisters are pristine. I guess there's just got to be a dirty chunk somewhere.
• Control Panel sometimes disappears when I switch to and from other apps. The menu for opening Control Panel would not bring it back. Switching to various windows, as well as back and forth to CueMix finally brought back the Control Panel. Sorry that I can't remember the exact one that did the trick. It happened several times, but the first time was the only one that seemed like it wasn't going to come back. Afterward, it would come back with minimal fiddling.
• I love the new clock, sample, bit and buffer menus in the Control Panel. However, the buffer menu is off by one line. That is, when you choose 256, it sets the buffer to 512. Choose 64 and it sets it to 128. 512 becomes 1024. Compare to the Configure Hardware Driver dialog box and you'll find that the buffer listed there is half that of the menu in the control panel.
• Snip and Comp are at each others' throats! If I have a mix that includes one or more comped tracks, each compiled of a mosaic of takes, and if I select all tracks and attempt to Snip a range out of it. For simplicity, let's say we are deleting the first 4 bars. Snip deletes the bars and moves the tracks to fill the gap. But the comp tracks' takes are all skewed with their timing hither and yonder. Nothing lines up any more. Snip and Comp are useless together. Those have gotta be fixed! Anyone want to try it and see if it's happening there?
• In the MIDI Edit Window, "Lines Mode" is all screwed up. At least, it was when I tried it a few weeks ago. I haven't tried i recently, and I'm not sure whether it was a previous version or 9.02, so i need to try that again. Basically, it won't accept new control points by merely clicking on the line. When you finally coerce it into taking some control points, they won't edit the way they are supposed to. Again, I need to look this one up again and see if it's still broken in 9.02.
That's all I can think of for now. Will add more as I remember or find them.
Shooshie