My beta issues (beta 15 onwards)

[DarkStar]

[Beta 15]

Some things that I have run into:

BR: If I move the GUI off-screen or move another window over it the samples names are not refreshed correctly. In this screenshot I moved a (MS Paint) window over the area shown by the red rectangle then moved it away. Text that was not covered is also not refreshed properly.

Big pic: http://i.imgur.com/hOYCn.png

BR: If I close the GUI and re-open it, the zoom level is not remembered in the Keyboard Mapper or in the Sample Editor. Nor is the currently-selected sample / slice remember or displayed.

BR: I closed the GUI and it would not re-open at all; in the end I had to crash the host. No crash log, sorry.

FR: in the Sample Editor, show a zero line at all zoom levels, for both mono and stereo samples.

FR: When slices are laid out, they are mapped to C2 upwards, can this be selectable? So that I can map 2 sets of slices to different sets of keys.

FR: In the Keyboard Mapper (graphics area), show the slice number after the sample name

Q: The date shown in the Guide is September 2011. Did you really write it a year ago, or is that a typo?

FR: In the Sample Editor: rather than "Delete wave" and "Delete loop" (which could infer that the audio is deleted from disk", better words would be "Remove wave" and "Remove loop".

FR: Volume control for File Browser

BR: The first slice was not detected correctly - see this screenshot. "Slc1" is actually the second slice in the sample.

BIg pic: http://i.imgur.com/PipmW.png

BR?: I tried renaming some slices, from Slc1 etc, I could type in a different name and press Enter, but the change was not kept. Should this be possible?

Q: When I Save a Program, the samples are being modified on disk, 500-700 bytes added here. I had not edited the sample. Why is this needed? I do not think that the sample files on disk should be overwritten at this stage.

[elcallio]

Thanks for the bug reports. I'll get on them. A few questions:

[Beta 15]

Some things that I have run into:

BR: If I move the GUI off-screen or move another window over it the samples names are not refreshed correctly. In this screenshot I moved a (MS Paint) window over the area shown by the red rectangle then moved it away. Text that was not covered is also not refreshed properly.

Big pic: http://i.imgur.com/hOYCn.png

BR: If I close the GUI and re-open it, the zoom level is not remembered in the Keyboard Mapper or in the Sample Editor. Nor is the currently-selected sample / slice remember or displayed.

Yes, known issue. I'll add persistence of that as well...

BR: I closed the GUI and it would not re-open at all; in the end I had to crash the host. No crash log, sorry.

Host, OS, etc? And can it reproduce?

FR: in the Sample Editor, show a zero line at all zoom levels, for both mono and stereo samples.

FR: When slices are laid out, they are mapped to C2 upwards, can this be selectable? So that I can map 2 sets of slices to different sets of keys.

You can always drag the sample manually to select where the mapping ends up, but perhaps the "layout slices" should check if there are previous slice groups and place a new one on key above (or next octave, setting?).
Also, maybe if the same sample is already slice-mapped, ask to replace?

FR: In the Keyboard Mapper (graphics area), show the slice number after the sample name

Good idea, since they play "special".

Q: The date shown in the Guide is September 2011. Did you really write it a year ago, or is that a typo?

Just forgot to update the date when I rewrote the v1 guide.

FR: In the Sample Editor: rather than "Delete wave" and "Delete loop" (which could infer that the audio is deleted from disk", better words would be "Remove wave" and "Remove loop".

FR: Volume control for File Browser

BR: The first slice was not detected correctly - see this screenshot. "Slc1" is actually the second slice in the sample.

BIg pic: http://i.imgur.com/PipmW.png

Do you mean that the sample when auto-sliced did not result in a slice for the first part? Weird. Can you send me the sample? I might need to test it.

BR?: I tried renaming some slices, from Slc1 etc, I could type in a different name and press Enter, but the change was not kept. Should this be possible?

Yes. I will check.

Q: When I Save a Program, the samples are being modified on disk, 500-700 bytes added here. I had not edited the sample. Why is this needed? I do not think that the sample files on disk should be overwritten at this stage.

Not sure. You saved a program without "copy content" on, and it modified the wave on disk? You can check if the TX thinks a sample is modified simply by checking if "Save As" is available in the wave editor menu. However, what was modified is not easy to say...

Cheers
/C

[DarkStar]

GUI would not open:
-- that was in energyXT v1 (32-bit) on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. Not yet reproducable. THis was after I tried editing the slice names (slc1 etc)

Layout Slices:
-- your suggestions are good, especially with a Preference

Save a Program - sample overwritten:
-- I was using "Save as" and I did not use "Copy Content" (had not noticed it )
-- on further research, it looks like the slice info is being saved in the sample, that would explain it

[DarkStar]

FR: can the Solo buttons be coloured yellow when selected (leaving red or orange for the Mutes)?

[DarkStar]

Q: Can I drag samples from my host into TX16Wx ?

I've tried but all I seem to do is move the sample clip in the host arranger.

[DarkStar]

Q: Is there a way to remove a single unwanted slice point? Adjusting the threshold did help, but it did not update in real-time so it was trial-and-error going up and down the threshold.

As in this:


And, when I clicked the [+] twice to Zoom in, the waveform was not displayed at all:

[DarkStar]

FR: I find the "go to previous / next zero crossing point" buttons a bit difficult to use - I have to hover over them to make sure I get the right one.

If they were repositioned they would be easier to use. Perhaps as in the lower mock-up?

[DarkStar]

FR: I find that, in the Sample Editor, when I move the mouse upwards to the horizontal scroll bar I often overshoot and end up auditioning (part of) the sample.

Perhaps the "auditioning area" could be changed or minimise the chance of that happening?

Hint: the Geist method is good:

• top-third of the sample area - click auditions the same
• middle-third of the sample area - drag up/down zooms in/out
• bottom-third of sample area - click selects the sample for dragging to a pad (key)

[elcallio]

GUI would not open:
-- that was in energyXT v1 (32-bit) on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. Not yet reproducable. THis was after I tried editing the slice names (slc1 etc)

Layout Slices:
-- your suggestions are good, especially with a Preference

Save a Program - sample overwritten:
-- I was using "Save as" and I did not use "Copy Content" (had not noticed it )
-- on further research, it looks like the slice info is being saved in the sample, that would explain it

Just a heads up:
In b16 (coming this weekend), slicing work flow has received some tender loving:

• Layout slices now respects the low/high key settings for auto mapping (sampler section)
• Layout tries to find an empty keyboard region
• If you have a slice layout for the sample already, it will update this group instead
• When using slice evenly or beat slicing, active mappings will be updated when you change parameters. I.e if you have sliced a sample into 16 parts, laid it out, and then change 16 to 20, the layouts will be updated with the new slices.
  Same for beat slicing.
• Double click inside a slice to cut it into two (quick manual add slice)
• Delete all slices now removes layouts as well
• And some bug fixes with left over loop assignments etc.

In general, slicing should be somewhat quicker and cooler now
Cheers
/C

[DarkStar]

Thank you for sorting out those points - well done.

Here's a few more, using beta 16

FR: Minimum size for the Scroll bar handle
40 pixels perhaps. When I am Zoomed in it is difficult to grab the handle for dragging the waveform view. Also, arrows at the ends of the scroll bar would make it much easier to scroll the view to the right or left.

FR: Separate Scroll / Zoom settings for each channel slot
There seems to be a single set of Zoom / Scroll values in the Keyboard Mapper, so that if I zoom and move the scroll bar for the samples in one channel slot, then switch to another slot the same values are used.

Q: Add Channel Slot
When I add a new channel slot, the first (alphabetically) loaded program is assigned to it. Is that intended or should the new slot be empty?

FR: Collapse the list of sample in a Group
The list of samples can get very long when velocity splits /layers etc are used. It would be valuable to list them within their Groups and to be able to collapse /expand the Groups (in the same way as Groups containing slices can be collapsed / expanded).

FR: Set MIDI Channel in Exported MIDI
When the slice map for a Group is dragged to the host DAW or file system, set the MIDI notes to the channel set in the channel slot. This saves editing the MIDI notes tin the DAW to change the channel there.

FR: Mouse modifier for "Insert slice"
I find that is it a bit too easy to insert a slice point when previewing slices (by clicking twice a bit too quickly) - perhaps the Insert Slice could need, say Ctrl+click?

FR: Merge slices
Sometimes the Beat Slicer creates unwanted slice points (and if I drop the Threshold others are removed too). It would be valuable to remove that single slice point, by combining that slice with the previous one. Below is a mock-up to show what I mean:

Big pic: http://i.imgur.com/O3Ess.png

Q: Early transient detection
In the above screenshot some of the slice points created by the Beat Slicer look to be a bit early to me. In the end I edited each slice in turn, clicking the "Find next / previous zero-crossing point" buttons and previewing the samples to get better slices. Is there a better way?

FR: Highlighting the selected channel slot
Could you make the highlighting of currently-selected channel slot more distinctive? It took me a while to spot that the lighter grey tinting indicated the selected slot.

[DarkStar]

...

BR: Wrong note sounds from Keyboard Mapper keyboard
If I click the lower right part of any key on the Keyboard Mapper keyboard, the next white note upwards is played. As an example, click on the "3" in the C3 label, or the "4" in C4. It happens when that part of the white key is vertically underneath a black key.

FR: Extract Root key info from file name
If root key metadata cannot be found within the sample file(s), try to find it in the file name - in the format:
a$n
where
a = note name A ... G
$ = optional sharp indicator # (or b for flat)
n = octave number

FR: Sound Controls title bar
Show the name of the selected Group in the Sound Controls title bar

Q: Lower edge of Group vs Velocity Offset ?
What is the difference between dragging the lower edge of a Group upwards to set the "Group Low Velocity" to 45 and setting the Velocity Offset in the Sounds Controls to 45?

FR: LFO Phase
"Continuous" does not fit in the box, I suggest "Free" (as in "Free-running").

BR: Right-click "Send to" routings not shown in Mod Table
I right-clicked in the LFO and ENV panels and selected some "Send to" destinations. But they did not get listed in the Mod Table. And I could not see a way to remove those routings.
-- They only appeared when I set a Seq Steps value and then I could remove them.

FR: Tidy up Mod Table
A way to delete those entries that are no longer used from the Mod Table, e.g. where the Source or Destination has been removed (set back to --).

FR: Volume control for playing samples
A way to control the level whern auditioniung a sample in the Sample Editor. Perhaps: reduce the volume depending on where I click (vertically) on the waveform - top is normal volume, bottom is low volume.

BR: Defining a loop
Dragging the Loop Start or End markers to change a loop position does not update the GUI graphics or sample list values

Q: Defined 2 loops in a sample - now what?
I defined 2 loops in a single sample. What can I do with them?

[elcallio]

Thank you for sorting out those points - well done.

Here's a few more, using beta 16

FR: Minimum size for the Scroll bar handle
40 pixels perhaps. When I am Zoomed in it is difficult to grab the handle for dragging the waveform view. Also, arrows at the ends of the scroll bar would make it much easier to scroll the view to the right or left.

You can click above or below the handle to move it, as well as use scroll wheel. But I do agree about the arrows.

FR: Separate Scroll / Zoom settings for each channel slot
There seems to be a single set of Zoom / Scroll values in the Keyboard Mapper, so that if I zoom and move the scroll bar for the samples in one channel slot, then switch to another slot the same values are used.

Not a bad idea. Goes to the list.

Q: Add Channel Slot
When I add a new channel slot, the first (alphabetically) loaded program is assigned to it. Is that intended or should the new slot be empty?

Its intentional. Its how all samplers I've owned worked.

FR: Collapse the list of sample in a Group
The list of samples can get very long when velocity splits /layers etc are used. It would be valuable to list them within their Groups and to be able to collapse /expand the Groups (in the same way as Groups containing slices can be collapsed / expanded).

I don't understand? The sound organisation is Performance?->Program*->Group*->Split+ where a split is the mapping of a single sample to a keyboard range with loop assignments. Splits are listed collapsible under groups so you can focus more easily.
Do you mean the sample drop down list? Or just the sample lister? That will show the "global" set of samples, thus there is no grouping. Do you mean you would like to isolate just the samples active in the selected program/group?

FR: Set MIDI Channel in Exported MIDI
When the slice map for a Group is dragged to the host DAW or file system, set the MIDI notes to the channel set in the channel slot. This saves editing the MIDI notes tin the DAW to change the channel there.

While easy enough, which DAW plays the imported MIDI data using the file channels? A MIDI track typically has an assigned channel which all notes are played at (or at least every DAW I use work this way...)

FR: Mouse modifier for "Insert slice"
I find that is it a bit too easy to insert a slice point when previewing slices (by clicking twice a bit too quickly) - perhaps the Insert Slice could need, say Ctrl+click?

Most modified are already stolen, and I felt that it became cumbersome to hold keys for this too. Remember that undo is your friend if you click a little to wild.

FR: Merge slices
Sometimes the Beat Slicer creates unwanted slice points (and if I drop the Threshold others are removed too). It would be valuable to remove that single slice point, by combining that slice with the previous one. Below is a mock-up to show what I mean:

Big pic: http://i.imgur.com/O3Ess.png

Already there. Just double click start or end of the slice to merge backward to forwards. (Note that the slices must be adjacent)

Q: Early transient detection
In the above screenshot some of the slice points created by the Beat Slicer look to be a bit early to me. In the end I edited each slice in turn, clicking the "Find next / previous zero-crossing point" buttons and previewing the samples to get better slices. Is there a better way?

Not really, no. Transient detection is tricky, and the results will always be a mixed bag. Some material its spot on, some you will need to edit slightly to get perfect results. Its a tradeoff between the speed of the algorithm and the results. I've tried to find a compromise that gave me good enough results with most loops I tried.

FR: Highlighting the selected channel slot
Could you make the highlighting of currently-selected channel slot more distinctive? It took me a while to spot that the lighter grey tinting indicated the selected slot.

Might be a good idea, yes.

[elcallio]

...

BR: Wrong note sounds from Keyboard Mapper keyboard
If I click the lower right part of any key on the Keyboard Mapper keyboard, the next white note upwards is played. As an example, click on the "3" in the C3 label, or the "4" in C4. It happens when that part of the white key is vertically underneath a black key.

Rounding issue. Only really noticable on minimum zoom, but yeah...

FR: Extract Root key info from file name
If root key metadata cannot be found within the sample file(s), try to find it in the file name - in the format:
a$n
where
a = note name A ... G
$ = optional sharp indicator # (or b for flat)
n = octave number

Maybe as a batch op in sample lister or something, but I've had quite a bit of complaints from the other side, about _avoiding_ root keys and non-fixed mapping, so I'm a little weary of this...

FR: Sound Controls title bar
Show the name of the selected Group in the Sound Controls title bar

... Maybe, does other agree that this helps? I'll have to check how it looks...

Q: Lower edge of Group vs Velocity Offset ?
What is the difference between dragging the lower edge of a Group upwards to set the "Group Low Velocity" to 45 and setting the Velocity Offset in the Sounds Controls to 45?

Velocity offset has nothing to do with the groups velocity range. It specifies at which velocity velocity sensitivity begins, i.e the lower bound for where hitting the key softer or harder impacts volume etc.

BR: Right-click "Send to" routings not shown in Mod Table
I right-clicked in the LFO and ENV panels and selected some "Send to" destinations. But they did not get listed in the Mod Table. And I could not see a way to remove those routings.
-- They only appeared when I set a Seq Steps value and then I could remove them.

Can not reproduce. Using the send to adds an entry to the table for me?

FR: Tidy up Mod Table
A way to delete those entries that are no longer used from the Mod Table, e.g. where the Source or Destination has been removed (set back to --).

Good idea. Merge entries upwards etc.

FR: Volume control for playing samples
A way to control the level whern auditioniung a sample in the Sample Editor. Perhaps: reduce the volume depending on where I click (vertically) on the waveform - top is normal volume, bottom is low volume.

Already there. The volume control for file browser impacts the sample view preview as well.

BR: Defining a loop
Dragging the Loop Start or End markers to change a loop position does not update the GUI graphics or sample list values

?? Works perfectly here. Or do I misunderstand what you mean?

Q: Defined 2 loops in a sample - now what?
I defined 2 loops in a single sample. What can I do with them?

You can select different loops for different mappings or the same sample, as well as different loops for sustain/release part.

[DarkStar]

Phew,

First off, thank you for your detailed answers to my points. It's much appreciated.

FR: Minimum size for the Scroll bar handle - I was thinking of the horizontal scroll bar, the handle can get very small and difficult to grab.

FR: Collapse the list of sample in a Group - Sorry, I used the wrong words. I have a multisampled clarinet and mapped the samples each to one key. Then, in the Keyboard Mapper, I used "Combine Groups" to combine all the samples into a single group. And now there is only one Group in the Group List and I can expand it to see the individual samples (as Splits). So far, so good. When I switch over to the Sample Editor, the individual samples are still listed as separate Groups. I thought that they would be combined there too. Here are the screenshots:


Big pic: http://i.imgur.com/YW804.png

FR: Set MIDI Channel in Exported MIDI
"which DAW plays the imported MIDI data using the file channels?" - Reaper does, by default.

FR: Merge slices - Yep, it's already there. I'll have to read the user manual more closely

BR: Wrong note sounds from Keyboard Mapper keyboard - this happens at many zoom levels here

Q: Lower edge of Group vs Velocity Offset ?
"Velocity offset specifies at which velocity velocity sensitivity begins". Let's see if I understand this. If I set VO to 45, then notes with velocity of 45 OR BELOW play at the "velocity 45 level". Notes with velocity between 46 and 127 play with increasing volume. So the VO effectively determines a minimum volume level for the sample? I should have read the pop-up tooltip.

BR: Right-click "Send to" routings not shown in Mod Table - this works now, but I'll see if I can reproduce it.

FR: Volume control for playing samples - yep, it's already there.

BR: Defining a loop - dragging the Loop Start or End markers is working now.

Q: Defined 2 loops in a sample - now what? Found it. I mapped the sample to a key, then in the Keyboard Mapper Group List, I selected different loops for loop/s and loop/r and cranked up the Release control. Woo hoo!

[DarkStar]

Is there something special about the slices created by TX16Wx and saved into the sample?

Such slices are not detected by Wavosaur and slices created using Wavosaur are not detected by TX16Wx.

In this screenshot the top sample is sliced in TX16Wx and the lower one in Wavosaur (I did not insert all the same slices):