Feature requests v. Rationale

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Sometimes we see requests on “how to” or feature requests (often followed by how bad DP is compared to other apps that “do that”( and just as often the requested feature is either obscure or “just because.” I, for one, refuse to rack my brain trying to figure out they “why” behind what seems like a question made up to come up with an idea just so that someone can post.

[bkshepard]

I, for one, refuse to rack my Brian

Thank You!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I, for one, refuse to rack my Brian

Thank You!

No, I will wrack my Brian! lol Damn cheeky spell checker!

[stubbsonic]

My brain must already be the rack version. Look: rack-ears!



Oooph. Sorry.

[Robert Randolph]

what seems like a question made up to come up with an idea just so that someone can post.

A bit ironic.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

what seems like a question made up to come up with an idea just so that someone can post.

A bit ironic.

Not really. When you view these posts as a moderator (as I do) you attempt to answer them, as opposed to being "bored" by them and contributing nothing. It gets a bit tedious to try and solve problems that don't actually exist, or ponder posts that have no apparent point or focus on what the program and company products do.

You must really be bored to respond to something that bores you; or did you have something else you wanted to express?

[Phil O]

I, for one, refuse to rack my brain trying to figure out they “why” behind what seems like a question made up to come up with an idea just so that someone can post.

Are you suggesting that when people post feature requests they should include their rationale for wanting that feature, or do you think feature request posts are superfluous by nature? Do you think posting here has any influence at MOTU? I wonder how closely MOTU follows this site now that Dave has left? Perhaps feature requests are inappropriate (or should I say unproductive) here. But then again this is the forum for gripes, theoretical, etc. Dunno...Just thinking out loud.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I, for one, refuse to rack my brain trying to figure out they “why” behind what seems like a question made up to come up with an idea just so that someone can post.

Are you suggesting that when people post feature requests they should include their rationale for wanting that feature, or do you think feature request posts are superfluous by nature? Do you think posting here has any influence at MOTU? I wonder how closely MOTU follows this site now that Dave has left? Perhaps feature requests are inappropriate (or should I say unproductive) here. But then again this is the forum for gripes, theoretical, etc. Dunno...Just thinking out loud.

Well, it is a subjective kind of thing. Then again when a rationale is not presented or offered when asked about, then yes, I see them as superfluous and arbitrary. A solution looking for a problem, if you will (even if you won’t).

[HCMarkus]

I have a 10,000+ track project... how do I determine the exact number of tracks?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I have a 10,000+ track project... how do I determine the exact number of tracks?

Divide by 12.

[Phil O]

Ahh, now I understand. We need a divide by twelve feature in DP10. Doesn't ProTools have it?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Ahh, now I understand. We need a divide by twelve feature in DP10. Doesn't ProTools have it?

It does, but it's an Easter Egg. You have to enter "UK Kitchens" (drop the quotes but be very careful with capitalization) in the dropdown in the RTEYU window. Be sure to double right click and stomp you feet in anger. Do this three times and then run the Margarita plug in on the ROCKS menu, not the BLENDED menu. Salt the rim, if you get my drift.

It's too early for this man, I got work to do. lol

[HCMarkus]

You guys are great.

[Michael Canavan]

Sometimes we see requests on “how to” or feature requests (often followed by how bad DP is compared to other apps that “do that”( and just as often the requested feature is either obscure or “just because.” I, for one, refuse to rack my brain trying to figure out they “why” behind what seems like a question made up to come up with an idea just so that someone can post.

Not saying it always is, just that it is possible, that someone else's request may be so far removed from yours that you don't/can't see the point of it? I mean depending on how you work, certain features of DP or lack of a feature would never be much of an issue. A good example is absolute snap to grid for MIDI editing. My recent request in the DP 10 speculation thread about extended MMC support; I have literally four controllers here that all do MMC for transport control, DP is the only DAW here that cannot receive MMC from a controller like that. You might not have any of those controllers though and think I'm going off on DP for no reason..

I'm not a fan of arbitrarily putting down DAWs in general, and get why that gets old, but often people experience a problem in their DAW and use forums to vent about it. As is evidenced by the splitting of the general forums into essentially gripes issues or DAW 101 and tips optimization etc. there is a general overt sensitivity about this issue here. In fact it can be difficult at times to address a shortcoming in DP without not so subtle hints of acrimony and the finger being pointed back at the person who points out that shortcoming.

What determines in your mind an obscure feature request for instance? especially with a DAW like DP that unlike a lot of typical DAWs does not have a typical way of working in it?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

For one, requests that are either over my head technically or don't relate to my hardware of software directly, I generally ignore. So there's that.

Requests that seek obscure solutions without any justification on why that is important are what I am referring to.

There was a guy here years ago who was asking how to get DP to record continuously for something on the order of days, non-stop. My first questions (before committing my neurons to the problem) was: why? What was it important to record that long? If one has a rationale, then I'm all ears. If the answer is just "because" without any basis in an actual problem or desired workflow, then I discard the request in my mind.

Does there always have to be a "why?" Well, no, that's why I'm an artist. I save my mysteries for my creative work. If I am going to tackle a brain teaser, I'd rather it be on how to develop new ways of conceiving of rhythm and time, as is currently under discussion elsewhere on the forum currently. That other stuff... not so much.