reViSiT v1.3.1 Pro for free

[uncloned]

Also, OpenMPT would be a possible 32-bit host to choose.

Does OpenMPT do rewire?

My understanding is that ReVisit is a rewire device - not a VSTi.

[chrisnash]

Just in case there's any confusion - reViSiT does not use ReWire. The communication between reViSiT and reBUS is "homegrown".

[uncloned]

ah, ok, glad I asked.

Then I *can* use it with Sonar.

or... should be able to.

[chrisnash]

I've also edited my original post to make the description a little clearer, notably mentioning that reViSiT is a VSTi plugin.

One of the ideas behind the reViSiT plugin was to give sequencer users a taste of tracking without having to download, install and learn a whole new, separate program. As a plugin they're simply adding to their existing studio and skill set, and don't even have to use it for their whole song. For example, one can use the beat-munging capabilities of tracking for their drum programming, but record the rest of their track via MIDI or Audio.

[uncloned]

One of the ideas behind the reViSiT plugin was to give sequencer users a taste of tracking without having to download, install and learn a whole new, separate program.

well.... to be fair just going from FT to IT commands has a learning curve, let alone going from a piano roll, or staff to a tracker interface.

Not that it isn't a great idea - I think it is.

And - for what it is worth - OMPT has no installation really.

[Snu]

ive played around with it a couple times, and while i like the general idea, im really having a hard time getting used to the limitations.
specifically-

lack of ability to preview samples (as lp mentioned)
i also find myself really missing the treeview that mpt has, great for previewing and dragging in instruments

lack of sub column selections...
what about having them selectable with the mouse, but not with the keyboard? and as for the 'one more thing to learn' argument, i think following the windows convention of: normal left and right moves by a character, and holding down the ctrl+left/right moves by a word (a whole column) would be logical.

if there is a way to view the order list while editing the pattern, i have yet to find it...
im REALLY finding it hard to use without that (i always click to a different pattern to edit).  also lack of drag-n-drop editing for the order list is killing me...  at LEAST double clicking or pressing enter when a pattern in the order list is selected should cause that pattern to come up in the editor (and maybe close the order list window too).  also, having the currently opened pattern hilighted in some way on the orderlist would be nice.

lack of fully customizable keyboard.
i use a dvorak layout, so i have to switch back to qwerty to enter notes.

lack of tooltips
took me a while to figure out what a couple buttons were, very nice feature for those just learning the program.



to offset all the negatives, some features i really love:

the 'zoom in' on each row thing, little hard to get used to but very cool

that piano keyboard at the bottom of the screen, nice little visualization

that midi triggered patterns feature looks amazing, or would look amazing if i were using sequencers mostly and just using a tracker for some parts of the music



also, as a note to jojo, it seems to not work properly in mpt, i cant get it to load songs, but it works properly in other hosts.[/list]

[Saga Musix]

And - for what it is worth - OMPT has no installation really.

Yes, but it's still a separate program and with OpenMPT, users can't keep their sequencer at the same time anymore; that's what's so different.

[chrisnash]

Thanks everyone for the feedback - the support is really encouraging!

Chris

Snu:

what about having them selectable with the mouse, but not with the keyboard? and as for the 'one more thing to learn' argument, i think following the windows convention of: normal left and right moves by a character, and holding down the ctrl+left/right moves by a word (a whole column) would be logical.

Some nice thoughts here - I'll think about it for a future update.

at LEAST double clicking or pressing enter when a pattern in the order list is selected should cause that pattern to come up in the editor (and maybe close the order list window too). also, having the currently opened pattern hilighted in some way on the orderlist would be nice.

I can't see why this couldn't be added, too. However, at the moment, you can hit 'g' (for "go to pattern") to achieve the same effect.

lack of fully customizable keyboard.
i use a dvorak layout, so i have to switch back to qwerty to enter notes.

The "Key Shortcuts" button, in Preferences (F12), should allow you to setup you DVORAK keyboard, and change the note layout. If you stick with reViSiT and come up with a scheme for DVORAK that you like, perhaps you might consider posting it on the reViSiT forum.

lack of tooltips
took me a while to figure out what a couple buttons were, very nice feature for those just learning the program.

True, I should have something like that. Trouble is, most controls are coded from the pixel up, so there's no built-in tooltip functionality. On the other hand, the custom approach should allow me to add them at some point - as soon as I have the time.

[Saga Musix]

Just tried the new version, but apparently the "open" buttons still do nothing on my system. I still get "Loading cancelled" there.

[chrisnash]

Hi Jojo,

I've hooked it up to the debugger and it looks like the CFileSelector::run(VstFileSelect*) process is failing. The null return of this function is normally used to flag that the user clicked the cancel button, but here it looks to be flagging an error.

Typically, requests for common dialogs (File dialogs, etc.) are relayed to the host to produce. It looks like OpenMPT is unable to present an Open dialog when reViSiT requests one (despite reporting to VST plugins that this is something it "canDo").

If someone wants to have a go at fixing this, in OpenMPT, I'll try to answer any questions they have, and can provide example plugin-side code that I'm pretty sure is correct, and represents how most plugins (should?) do the request.

'Hope this helps,
Chris

[Saga Musix]

I personally don't know much about the VST SDK so I'm not sure if I can fix this, but I guess this code is related?

Code Select Expand


case audioMasterCanDo:
//Other possible Can Do strings are:
//"receiveVstEvents",
//"receiveVstMidiEvent",
//"receiveVstTimeInfo",
//"reportConnectionChanges",
//"acceptIOChanges",
//"asyncProcessing",
//"offline",
//"supportShell"
if (!(strcmp((char*)ptr,"sendVstEvents")==0 ||
strcmp((char*)ptr,"sendVstMidiEvent")==0 ||
strcmp((char*)ptr,"sendVstTimeInfo")==0 ||
strcmp((char*)ptr,"supplyIdle")==0 ||
strcmp((char*)ptr,"sizeWindow")==0))
return 1;
else
return -1;
Apparently, the "audioMasterOpenFileSelector" action is logged, but not actually executed.

[chrisnash]

Hmm, I don't think that NOT operator (!) should be there in the initial IF clause. strcmp returns 0 if it matches the string, and then it looks like you want to return 1, saying you support that.

As it is, this routine will return -1 for all the strings you specify and 1 for all the ones you don't (!). -1 indicates that you don't know if you support it or not. 0 is used to say there is no support.

[Harbinger]

Thanks for joining us on these forums, Mr Nash. About a year ago i tried out ReVisiT, mainly because MPT had some holes that needed to be filled (even though it's THE best free tracker program out there. I thought it was odd that, since ReVisiT was a plugin, i had to open it from MPT! That seemed absurd. But i decided to give it a chance...

While i don't remember what i did and didn't like about this plugin, i do remember i was taking a step BACKWARD using ReVisiT. The main issue was keyboard customization. I have gotten used to certain keys calling certain functions or inputting certain entries. If i couldn't customize at least as fully as MPT, it wasn't worth my time. And i sent you an email to your website stating this fact. I am happy to see over time a lot more keyboard customization has been allowed.

As far as features, i don't remember specifics, but it wasn't enough to make me go to ReVisiT and put aside MPT. I have tried Renoise and that one is too "busy". The nice thing about MPT is that it is compartmentalized effectively. It still needs, and is constantly getting, improvements to its features and interface, but i know it and know it well. For me to try any other tracking software, standalone or plugin, it has to either be BETTER than the one i'm using, or ADD to what i do when i compose with my tracker. (And be free of charge! :wink: )

The learning curve with ReVisiT, if i remember correctly, was not nearly as steep as with Renoise, but it just lacked a lot. I have kept with your "newsletter" emails you've sent me, but i'm still waiting for the following:

1. FULL keyboard customization (at least as deep as MPT's). Interface appearance customization is secondary to that.

2. FULL VSTi access and hosting. MPT has some limitations with loading VSTi banks, but recently has overcome some problems with parameter control. I'm not going backward from here.

3. FULL Pattern Editor display customization. This is after all where we all work. MPT has many nifty features but not enough to realize my workspace the way i want it. The ability to hide/show channels and columns, as well as visible global attributes like channel volume and channel audio output (including plugins) would be necessary, and should be the first consideration in a tracker interface.

I hope this helps in guiding how you develop ReVisiT. I'm still interested in its development, and i am keeping an eye on your product and how it's evolving...

[Saga Musix]

@chrisnash:
Okay, I played around a bit with file selector dialogs. I'm not quite sure yet how to return the result. Tried to copy the final string in the returnPath pointer, but that didn't work, apparently. Well, I wouldn't wonder, because how am I supposed to know how big the char array behind the pointer is? (sizeReturnPath was 0).
Can you explain a bit how data is supposed to be passed back to the plugin?

[residentgrey]

YAY EXPERIMENT!