Kahalab
03-29-2005, 12:33 AM
SAWStudio is a great program, in many ways the best out there, but who says you can get some new ideas from other programs?
So, i've been checking out other programs. My brother in-law has Ntracks, and Power Tracks Pro. A friend has Adobe Audition (which was Cool Edit Pro). I've got Sonar.
Let's start with effects and plugs [oh no! :eek:]
Each of these programs have plug-in lists with bypass buttons by each plug name for easy monitoring and comparisons.
To give you an idea of why this is cool, let's pretend we change a very useful feature in SAWStudio. In W Mixer there are individual bypass buttons for EQ, Compression, and Gate. Now imagine that instead of those bypass button you have to click on the name Compression, EQ, Gate to open a large window for each one and then click on a bypass button in that window. Then if you no longer want the window in your way you have to close each one. Anyone want to take away the EQ, Compression, and Gate bypass buttons from the W Mixer and use this method instead? Having similar bypass buttons next to the plug names in the Post and Pre windows would make life a bit easier.
Adobe Audition has an ingenious way of viewing the interfaces for the various active effects - using a tab system. To get to each effect all you need to do is click on the respective tab and the effect interface instantly appears. In this way all the interfaces remain neatly tucked away in a limited space - a single self-adjusting window. Ultra efficient use of space, and much much easier to work with than having a mess of plug interface windows clutter your workspace.
The last tab in this window brings up another cool cool feature - an effects mixer with faders for FX levels, as well as buttons for allowing the FX to work in parallel or serial configurations. It's here that you also have the bypass buttons for each effect - right above the fader.
Adobe Audition also has a wonderful method to load up plugs and effects with. Just double click on the one you want and it loads them up! It took me less than 30 seconds to load 30 effects. ;)
Sonar has a fantastic way to save and load (in real time) the settings you create in a plug. No need to click open anything on the interface - It's right in front of you! There before you eyes is the name of the current setting in a box. Click on the arrow by the box and a drop down list appears allowing you to change to whatever preset you want. If you want to save a new setting all you have to do is type the name in the box and press the save icon. Save as many as want, load as many as you want, in real time, while you are previewing. It very very very simple and very very very efficient. (So efficient that if someone had told me about it i would have guessed that it was a feature in normally super efficient SAW Studio rather than not very efficient Sonar).
And in Sonar if you want to move a plug from one position in the chain to another you just drag it to where ever you want it to go. Very easy, very fast.
SAWStudio is in the lead for use and efficiency in many many ways compared with these 4 programs. Unfortunately, when it comes to the entire combination of adding, bypassing, loading/saving, and previewing plugs it doesn't fare very well.
So Bob, i'd like to ask you to please make a great program even better and see if you can't add these features (or some variation of your own) to SAWStudio
Thank you! :)
So, i've been checking out other programs. My brother in-law has Ntracks, and Power Tracks Pro. A friend has Adobe Audition (which was Cool Edit Pro). I've got Sonar.
Let's start with effects and plugs [oh no! :eek:]
Each of these programs have plug-in lists with bypass buttons by each plug name for easy monitoring and comparisons.
To give you an idea of why this is cool, let's pretend we change a very useful feature in SAWStudio. In W Mixer there are individual bypass buttons for EQ, Compression, and Gate. Now imagine that instead of those bypass button you have to click on the name Compression, EQ, Gate to open a large window for each one and then click on a bypass button in that window. Then if you no longer want the window in your way you have to close each one. Anyone want to take away the EQ, Compression, and Gate bypass buttons from the W Mixer and use this method instead? Having similar bypass buttons next to the plug names in the Post and Pre windows would make life a bit easier.
Adobe Audition has an ingenious way of viewing the interfaces for the various active effects - using a tab system. To get to each effect all you need to do is click on the respective tab and the effect interface instantly appears. In this way all the interfaces remain neatly tucked away in a limited space - a single self-adjusting window. Ultra efficient use of space, and much much easier to work with than having a mess of plug interface windows clutter your workspace.
The last tab in this window brings up another cool cool feature - an effects mixer with faders for FX levels, as well as buttons for allowing the FX to work in parallel or serial configurations. It's here that you also have the bypass buttons for each effect - right above the fader.
Adobe Audition also has a wonderful method to load up plugs and effects with. Just double click on the one you want and it loads them up! It took me less than 30 seconds to load 30 effects. ;)
Sonar has a fantastic way to save and load (in real time) the settings you create in a plug. No need to click open anything on the interface - It's right in front of you! There before you eyes is the name of the current setting in a box. Click on the arrow by the box and a drop down list appears allowing you to change to whatever preset you want. If you want to save a new setting all you have to do is type the name in the box and press the save icon. Save as many as want, load as many as you want, in real time, while you are previewing. It very very very simple and very very very efficient. (So efficient that if someone had told me about it i would have guessed that it was a feature in normally super efficient SAW Studio rather than not very efficient Sonar).
And in Sonar if you want to move a plug from one position in the chain to another you just drag it to where ever you want it to go. Very easy, very fast.
SAWStudio is in the lead for use and efficiency in many many ways compared with these 4 programs. Unfortunately, when it comes to the entire combination of adding, bypassing, loading/saving, and previewing plugs it doesn't fare very well.
So Bob, i'd like to ask you to please make a great program even better and see if you can't add these features (or some variation of your own) to SAWStudio
Thank you! :)