On 07 4 2003 at 10:59 am -0400, Frank Rubino wrote:
I'd like to be able to select an event to remove it. I find it cumbersome to have to click the mouse on the drum type of the event I want to remove and then click it on the event to clear it. Can we just have a general select tool (perhaps the user can access it with spacebar-click)?
Yeah, I feel your pain, and hopefully I will address this in the next beta. I'm thinking option-click to act as an "eraser" tool.
Also I would like to be able to create drum patterns that would be impossible to play by a human, such that for one beat I could play three styles of highhat or something equally contorted.
Well, you can do that currently by editing the drum kit a bit to e.g. separate out the hi-hat components into different instruments. But it might also become possible using a more generalised drum layout; see below.
Finally, I'd like to be able to control the output levels of the drum sounds on a per-song basis.
You mean like have a master fader beside each drum in the kit list? Not a bad idea. I am thinking of ways to improve the drum kit control from within the song editor, and this might be a good extension. Here's a preview of one of my plans which I am going to try working up shortly: a) remove the "5 position" grid limitation and make it so that there are a user-definable number of grid positions (editable in the drum kit). b) make it possible to adjust the relationship and ordering of all elements of the drum kit, insofar as what drums might share which grid positions and layout. c) create a toggle-able setting in the song editor for how the drum kit is presented, switching between three modes: i) "show all", which lists the entire kit in the margin with each drum in its own grid position, a la Virtual Drummer ii) "show current", which is similar but hides all positions where there are no drums currently in use in the song. iii) "show condensed", equivalent to the way things currently work, where various drums may share the same grid position if they do not conflict. In all three cases, there would be a direct visual alignment between the drum name/info and the gridline in the song editor which corresponds to it. (That's not currently the case, as the kit is presently shown in a scrolling list independent of the song editor.) My thinking is that these view modes would provide flexibility between having an easy-to-navigate condensed score for people who like the current notation style, as well as a larger complete, grid-like layout for fuller control (and those who find the current "grouped" concept irritating). Thoughts, ideas anyone?
As I said though, the software's great and I like using it lots. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Frank! -ben -- Ben Kennedy, chief magician zygoat creative technical services 613-228-3392 | 1-866-466-4628 http://www.zygoat.ca