Ultimate Channel Manager
Not so much a request as a floating dream...
Below is my idea of the ultimate Channel Manager. It's meant to replace and make more efficient (and less confusing) the current Channel Manager, and one day, the Channel mixer section on the General Page. Yes, it will take some work, and believe me if i had Visual Studio Standard, i would try to produce this myself. Here is a mockup, and below the image is a description of the functionality.
(well now i can't get the image to show inline! for now look
here -- second image)
Here are the columns (most of these functions are already found in the General page, and serve as redundant features until or if the Channel Mixer is ever removed in favor of this dialog):
1.
Channel ID2.
Channel Name: The same label as would appear in the Channel Header.
3.
Channel Record-Select: You can apply Record-Select either to the main instrument (1) or the alternate (split) instrument (2).
4.
Mute: Toggle the Mute status of the channel.
5.
Surround: Toggle the channel's Surround Stereo.
6.
Volume: Set the initial channel volume.
7.
Pan: Set the initial channel pan position.
8.
FX: Toggle the application of the channel plugin.
9.
Plugin: The plugin that will be assigned to this channel. This popup menu is not disabled if the FX box is not checked, to allow for experimenting with the channel audio.
The next 3 columns are on my wish list of the Instrument Lock request i made in
this post. These would take a little longer to implement since new methods would have to be created. But here it is:
10.
Instrument Lock: Toggles the channel instrument lock, which, when entering notes will only apply the assigned instrument no matter what is selected in the Pattern page's Instrument List.
11.
Instrument: The instrument that will be assigned to this channel. (It should not replace the data already present in the Channel; it only affects future note entry.)
12.
Tuning: The tuning to apply to the instrument. This is a redundant feature of the same function in the Instruments page, and would be very helpful to those of us who compose with scales.
The
Reconfigure button uses the same functions and layout as the Reorder/Remove tab of the present Channel Manager. I like how that's implemented and it's so easy to work with.
Each page can hold 8 channels, and the "folder tabs" increase as channels are added, just like the Channel Mixer in the General page. The tabbing order (when you press tab for input focus of the controls) is across, but if you press Return with any control, it moves to the next control DOWN. (This will it easier to batch-name or batch-set.)
There are also multiple mouseclick variations when clicking on a button control:
Ctrl-click: sets the button for all channels on the page
Shift-Ctrl-click: sets it for ALL channels
Alt-click: sets it for this channel and unsets it for all others on the page
Shift-Alt-click: the same but unsets for ALL channels
Ctrl-Alt-click: sets the control for all on the page EXCEPT this channel
Shift-Ctrl-Alt-click: sets ALL channels except this one
The Volume and Pan controls could be sliders, but i figure it would take too much space, maybe unnecessarily. The increment/decrement button for these use the same Ctrl-click and Shift-Ctrl-click methods as above, but additionally, if you SHIFT-click an arrow button it will increment/decrement RELATIVE to each channel's given value. IOW, Ctrl-clicking will increment/decrement that channel's Volume/pan and set all to the same value as this channel, while Shift-clicking will add/subtract 1 towards whatever value each channel has.
I simply put this out into the aether in case someone wants to pick it up. I think this would make song setup a lot quicker, and if no one ever gets to it, who knows maybe one day i will get my hands on VS 2008.
...[begins prayers and supplications]...
