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Old 07-19-2012, 05:19 PM   #70
msore
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Rafael
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Default keep it open - that's good design

Software developers and programmers must be very careful about WHICH subsets of the potential audience they are designing for. Watch out for assumptions.

If the programmer listens to the bankers, it is often disastrously the case that the software is liked by bankers (they made all the feature and design requests) but when the software is used by people working in credit unions, they cry foul. They see that the software is banker-favored and they say "goodbye".

Music software has sometimes been designed with loops and dance music in mind. After listening to the DJs too much, the software takes on a character that is not friendly or usable to non-DJs.

Perhaps (it seems likely) that one of the assumptions of the subset of users wanting to emphasize global MIDI editing (one possible design emphasis) is that there are only a few instruments in the band, in the piece, and that the role of each one does not change that much, and so setting things all the way THROUGH works for them.

On the other hand, there are people doing non-groove, non-dance and non-rock music, who may appreciate a different emphasis.

For example. One thing often done by arrangers is to decide that for ONE verse, or only THIS chorus, a certain pattern should be played by the flute, not by the trombone. But wait, simply moving the item down from the flute track to the trombone track might not WORK, if too much has been done by global editing previously.

Other users, using Reaper for other purposes, might point out other issues arising from assuming that instrumentation does not change over the whole piece. Or from other assumptions made by those working in the most popular genres.

I am not arguing any of the points made by Lawrence, but it is probably a wise thing for all users and developers to consider that THEIR way of working may not be the same way of working that others want.

Remember, people interpret "anyone" differently. If you assume "anyone" means the people who work like you, then you have reduced "anyone" to exclude people whose needs and ways of working you have not considered.

A good programmer and a good software designer considers a broad range of users.
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