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Old 01-07-2010, 09:03 PM   #1
inthepipeline
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Default Alternative display of Track Controls

The ability to display Track controls in Reapers Mixer Control Panel (MCP) and Track Control Panel (TCP) make mixing a joy compared with other DAW applications.

For those visiting this forum who haven't discovered all the stuff in Reaper,
if you right click on the MCP empty space and select the option to display track controls (if space allows) you can then right click on an empty track control and insert a control on the MCP and TCP from any plugin installed in the FX rack for that channel. This is great. You can build a mixer with the controls you would like to see, add an EQ, Compressor, build customised channels for your mixer with which ever plugins you like and easily automate any parameter in any plugin.

There are a few enhancements I would very much like to suggest:

At the moment all the controls look the same apart from the label.
They cannot be installed with gaps between them, so there is no way to group them for easy visibility.
Buttons on a VST gui will appear as knobs in the MCP and TCP.
I have seen requests for the ability to colourize the knobs but I can see how much effort would have to go into this.

Would there be any support for a request to ask the Reaper developers to allow some sort of alternative GUI element which could be selected for individual controls?

I can think of a few visually pleasing possibilities:

a) show track control on right (turn the present GUI element upside down so that the knob appears on the right instead of the left).
This sounds very simple, but it would allow things like EQ to have gain controls on the left, freqency controls on the right, etc.

b) Show track control as button (perhaps using the existing red/green GUI element used for the FX bypass button)
This would be a great way to add visual seperation between controls in the MCP. What better than a bypass button under FX to separate them, etc.

c) Possibly the easiest method to implement, a simple spacer. This would simply be a right click option to allow a slot to remain empty/blank.



One additional feature request:

Preference Option to hide track controls from the TCP (only show them in the MCP)
Personally, I like to edit from the TCP and mix from the MCP.
I find the layout of the track controls in the TCP can be visually confusing.
Others may well prefer to work entirely from the TCP, or a combination of both. It would be nice to have the option available.

Your thoughts Reaperites?

Vote for/against this here: http://forum.cockos.com/project.php?issueid=1868

*i*
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Last edited by inthepipeline; 01-13-2010 at 08:59 AM.
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Old 01-07-2010, 10:10 PM   #2
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The best example ever of how cool building your own track controls can be:

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...ght=reaconsole
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Old 01-08-2010, 02:04 AM   #3
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I really should get serious and set up something like that, rather than adding plugins ad hoc.
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Old 01-08-2010, 06:24 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by inthepipeline View Post
The ability to display Track controls in Reapers Mixer Control Panel (MCP) and Track Control Panel (TCP) make mixing a joy compared with other DAW applications.

For those visiting this forum who haven't discovered all the stuff in Reaper,
if you right click on the MCP empty space and select the option to display track controls (if space allows) you can then right click on an empty track control and insert a control on the MCP and TCP from any plugin installed in the FX rack for that channel. This is great. You can build a mixer with the controls you would like to see, add an EQ, Compressor, build customised channels for your mixer with which ever plugins you like and easily automate any parameter in any plugin.

There are a few enhancements I would very much like to suggest:

At the moment all the controls look the same apart from the label.
They cannot be installed with gaps between them, so there is no way to group them for easy visibility.
Buttons on a VST gui will appear as knobs in the MCP and TCP.
I have seen requests for the ability to colourize the knobs but I can see how much effort would have to go into this.

Would there be any support for a request to ask the Reaper developers to allow some sort of alternative GUI element which could be selected for individual controls?

I can think of a few visually pleasing possibilities:

a) show track control on right (turn the present GUI element upside down so that the knob appears on the right instead of the left).
This sounds very simple, but it would allow things like EQ to have gain controls on the left, freqency controls on the right, etc.

b) Show track control as button (perhaps using the existing red/green GUI element used for the FX bypass button)
This would be a great way to add visual seperation between controls in the MCP. What better than a bypass button under FX to separate them, etc.

c) Possibly the easiest method to implement, a simple spacer. This would simply be a right click option to allow a slot to remain empty/blank.



One additional feature request:

Preference Option to hide track controls from the TCP (only show them in the MCP)
Personally, I like to edit from the TCP and mix from the MCP.
I find the layout of the track controls in the TCP can be visually confusing.
Others may well prefer to work entirely from the TCP, or a combination of both. It would be nice to have the option available.

Your thoughts Reaperites?

*i*
I love the request! +1 for me. It also seems to be a nice and easy incremental change from the current behaviour.

Yves
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Old 01-13-2010, 11:13 AM   #5
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Would these changes apply to the knobs in the TCP too?

And, vote for this too:
TCP Parameter knobs - some suggestions to improve the display and usability

http://forum.cockos.com/project.php?issueid=295
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Old 01-15-2010, 08:01 AM   #6
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Personally I think that these changes might look rather cluttered on the TCP because of the way they re-arrange themselves when a track height gets changed, but some might like the ability to use alternative ways of dispalying controls there as well as the MCP. It's a matter of personal taste IMO. I know that some Reaper users hardly use the MCP at all.

Myself, I prefer to mix in the MCP precisely because the controls on the TCP can appear less orderly. That is why I would also like the option to banish them completely.
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Last edited by inthepipeline; 01-15-2010 at 08:14 AM.
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Old 05-31-2010, 07:56 PM   #7
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well, at least not by me.

It seems to have become lost in the fog though.

I think it's a good FR. I like it, but then I wrote it!!

Well guys??

Vote for/against this here: http://forum.cockos.com/project.php?issueid=1868
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Old 06-17-2017, 11:08 PM   #8
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Blast from the past!

I'm just writing a Technique Article for Sound on Sound magazine on mixer FX controls, and realised that this excellent feature request has been sitting unimplemented for a loooooooong time.

Thought I'd move it up the forum for some air
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Old 06-18-2017, 02:20 AM   #9
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Hadnt realised I was responding to a necro thread till I had written half of this - this really would make life a fair bit easier & go a long way toward silencing some of the whining about Reapers "ugly GUI" in general.

Funny how we all seem to revert to the tape-and-large-format-board mentality when it comes to mixing, but maybe that only applies to us old tape-heads.
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Old 06-18-2017, 04:27 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc View Post
Hadnt realised I was responding to a necro thread till I had written half of this
Sorry about that

Quote:
Funny how we all seem to revert to the tape-and-large-format-board mentality when it comes to mixing, but maybe that only applies to us old tape-heads.
Haha, hey who are you calling... nah, I can't back up that level of outrage. I get tired at my age :P
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Old 06-18-2017, 02:53 PM   #11
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My LBX Stripper script gets close to this sort of functionality.

The caveats are that it doesn't show controls in the mixer - and doesn't generally show more than one tracks strip controls at a time (although with some manual work you can place controls from any track into one strip layout).

I have the script docked just above the mixer and set to follow selected track - so click on a track and the controls you've set up within the script appear in the script window just above the mixer. You can add parameters from any automatable plugin, track controls, sends, as well as some custom controls like macro controls to control multiple parameters at once).

You can pretty much use any control graphics you like and even include background graphics and labels to make it look pretty. Knobs/sliders/buttons/cycle controls etc.

It's simple to use (I think - once you've played with it a while) and once you build your most commonly used channel strips - very quick and efficient (possibly speed up your mixing workflow).

You can create presets for the parameters from multiple plugins also, and there's loads of other stuff under the hood.

It's free - in constant development - and close to what is suggested here. Possibly not right for your article as you specify mixer controls specifically - but for readers of this thread that might be interested.
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