MWS Demo

[soundtrack2life]

I have just DL'd the MWS Demo. To be honest, at first I was not very impressed. I seemed to be missing basic features I was accustom to with other midi software. However, I deceided to give it a chance and dig in. The further I dug I discovered Yes it does have the features I was looking for. My suggestion would be to change how to implement basic features such as ie.: Transpose menu>modify>pitch>transpose to a simple button on the track. or at the very least a right click option, or both. Upon my second day of "experimenting" It hit me how the midi editing has the very familar feel of SAW Studio. So that being said I already knew how to copy, paste, undo & etc and was quickly on my way. I really love how MWS displays the control information ie.: volume & pan, the editing of it is as fast, easy and simular to SAW Studio automation. However in future releases I would like to see an edit list option added to edit the midi data simular to "Logic".

My only real gripe is while working with MWS when I "ctrl>save" or "enter a new track label and hit enter" & other functions will cause SAW Studio's audio multitrack window then come on top of the MWS window and cover it up. This can be rather annoying. I wish it would stay put, am I doing something wrong? If so please help.

The best feature is the tight intergration with SAW Studio Audio. That alone is the best feature and worth the money. So on a final note the more I use it the more I love it, definately A SAW Studio must have!! I will be purchasing it sometime this week.
Joe

[Bob L]

Glad you are giving it a deeper look.

The real trick to having a good experience is to not have any windows on top of the MWS windows... same concept as what I recommend for SAWStudio itself.

The best way to get a feel for how its designed to work is to follow the FKey setup example given right in the beginning of the helpfile showing how to hook the MWS tightly into the Alt-FKeys of SAWStudio. That way, normal F-Keys give you all SAWStudio only screens with the MWS hidden, and Alt-Fkeys popup the MWS neatly tucked into place alonside of SAWStudio screens.

Of course screen res of 1200 or higher makes the journey that much nicer. I feel that screen res of 1024 is simply not enough to use SAWStudio effectively itself, let alone the MWS with it.

Bob L

[tomasino]

The best feature is the tight intergration with SAW Studio Audio. That alone is the best feature and worth the money. So on a final note the more I use it the more I love it, definately A SAW Studio must have!!
Joe
;) I'm so glad you got around to making that closing statement.
No other system syncs up like SawStudio w/ MWS. Just use it for a day or two and you're gonna wanna take back all that other stuff you said. You won't use anything else ever again. Your "drift stress" has just been relieved and there were no pills with nasty sideFx's involved. Better living through SawStudio technology!

[soundtrack2life]

Bob, you are right on when you said "I feel that screen res of 1024 is simply not enough to use SAWStudio effectively itself, let alone the MWS with it." I just got done setting the F-Keys up with MWS and custumized them to my taste. The SAW Studio Multitrack window covering the MWS issues has now been resolved. Now I am diving into the patch window. I really like this feature alot!! :D. I will admit the MWS does require a bit of a learning curve but I am becoming more and more impressed with it as I go!!
Joe

[Bob L]

Glad you are having fun.

As I said before... anything worth anything requires a learning curve... :)

If you stick with the things that don't, then you are most likely also seriously limiting your options and effectiveness.

Bob L

[matt]

Was there a draw tool added to the last update?

[Bob L]

There has been a draw tool in the program for quite a few updates back. The tool is for drawing controllers of all kinds, including note velocities.

It is available as a right-click popup menu on the Controller Display button when the display is active.

Bob L

[matt]

Cheers!

[SoundSuite]

About the Pencil tool...
Once a note is there, you can select by filter and draw away on the existing notes. Good stuff.

But, how does the Pencil tool draw notes though?
I keep finding myself having to input them from Keyboard, then once in, I'm good to go.

I'd think that once you have selected your grid note and tempo/timesig, that you should be able to select a pencil tool of drawing in new notes.

Example, single note entry.
You wanna enter a piano part that is 16th notes at 80bpm, 4/4...
set up tempo, sig and grid note at 16th, then select filter mode of new note, pencil to that filter, and click the notes into place.
ie, while the pencil tool filter is on new note, if you left click somewhere on the track, it'll plant a 16th note at that pitch, in that place of the beat/measure.

Example, you want 108bpm, 4/4 and HH to hit on every 1/8th note.
Set the tempo, sig and grid note to 1/8, select filter of new note.
Click and hold on first note and hold left click while sweeping from left to right on the track at the X midi note on the scale...it's paints in notes at every grid, ie, 1/8th notes, until you release left mouse.

I gotta be missing it, how do I draw in new notes instead of playing them in?
(without having one note played in, then copy>paste>move, etc for the rest)

[Bob L]

That mode of manual note entry has usually been called Step Editing in my experience... and the MWS does not have the step editing functions built-in yet.

Also, in my experience, most people are expecting to PLAY their performances from a midi keyboard... not step them in... so I spent most of my initial time making sure performances would record properly with no skipped or glitched notes. :)

When I am manually building tracks, however, I simply get the first note or two in by recording a bar, then have a blast simply grabbing and right-clicking as I duplicate the starting note all over the place.

By the way, you can also create a starting note by using the Click Conductor creator on the first track... either as a full length click track, or for 1 or 2 measures... you want starting notes, simply place the cursor a measure or 2 out from the start and use the Click Conductor feature on the Track Properties menu... then grab and duplicate the rest of the notes you need from there.

Hopefully, the step editor will be part of the next update... many other things have taken up my time recently however, so we'll see.

Bob L

[SoundSuite]

sweet, thank you, Bob!

[soundtrack2life]

Well I took the plunge, I just purchased MWS online and I am just waiting for my DL access via email. Can't wait. Now the only RML software / plug I don't own yet is the Freq Analyzer . . . and thats next on my list.
Joe

[Carey Langille]

You will Love MWS! It really is rock solid. and with Bobs plans for updates it will definately add appeal to many users! Step editing, Regions, Its all so exciting!

[Dave Labrecque]

I used the Freq Analyzer the other day to find a couple 'bumps' in the upper low end of a voice-over that were making it muddy and boomy. After identifying the humps and dialing back the EQ in those spots, the VO got nice 'n' tight. A wonderful tool.

[omaru]

To get back to the "insert note with pencil" viewpoint - this is how I would like to be able to freely insert notes.

[quote Bob - That mode of manual note entry has usually been called Step Editing in my experience... and the MWS does not have the step editing functions built-in yet. endquote]

My experience of step editing is where a quantize amount is selected, the note entered and the timeline automatically moves to the next quantize position.
I may be misunderstanding what Bob means by "Step Editing" but if it is the quantize method then it's not a feature I use at all (apart from the days it was the only way to enter a note).

I do a lot of drum track and bass editing with just a pencil input (in Cubase) and it is my preferred way to input with the midifiles I use for backing (mostly fixups and re-arranging).

Having said that, I know nothing of the logic of SAWStudio's code so don't know if this is achievable.

I know Bob will do what is most suitable.

Thank you

omaru

[Bob L]

Joe,

Welcome onboard with the MWS... hopefully you will enjoy the benefits it can bring when doing midi in SAWStudio.

Omaru,

I will probably do something like the quantize method, either auto or manual with arrow keys and I will also probably want a freestyle method where you plop the note down where your mouse cursor is with or without quantizing to the grid.

Bob L

[omaru]

and I will also probably want a freestyle method where you plop the note down where your mouse cursor is with or without quantizing to the grid.

Bob L

Beautiful - thanks Bob

cheers

omaru

[SoundSuite]

Omaru,

I will probably do something like the quantize method, either auto or manual with arrow keys and I will also probably want a freestyle method where you plop the note down where your mouse cursor is with or without quantizing to the grid.

Bob L

*drooling*