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Visual presentation of the sends in the mixer Issue Tools
issueid=678 07-22-2009 10:10 AM
Human being with feelings
Visual presentation of the sends in the mixer
Could be made a lot clearer



Why could the sends not look exactly the same as the parameter knobs? The long coloured line, the small knob... it isn't very useful, it is hard to see, and looks messy in constrast to the FX parameter knob.

I think making the knobs the same size as the FX parameter knobs would work very well toward making the visual presentation a lot clearer and easier to read.

Discussion thread: http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=471911
Issue Details
Issue Type Feature Request
Project Deprecated REAPER issue tracker
Category GUI and graphics
Status Suggested
Priority 4
Suggested Version 3.06
Implemented Version (none)
Users who would use this feature 25
Users who would not use this feature 7
Assigned Users (none)
Tags GUI, Mixer, sends

07-22-2009 04:13 PM
Human being with feelings
 
I agree, but keep the knob itself on the right to easily distinguish between the two.
[img]http://img195.**************/img195/2071/newsends.png[/img]
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07-23-2009 02:25 AM
Human being with feelings
 
Yeah, I'd agree with that.
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07-24-2009 12:33 AM
-blänk-
 
I didn't vote yet, but I think the downside of this change is simply that sends will take double the space that way.

I don't really like the current sends either, because the metering is badly readable (especially when panned) and because they don't visibly differentiate between MIDI and audio routing. I also don't like how the meters extend through the knob.

But I am not convinced that simply making them double the height is the solution.
A lot of sends in Reaper are set and go, eg sends for multiout instruments and MIDI sends. You set them and never touch or have to look at them afterwards other than to convince yourself they exist. I wouldn't like these sends to hog even more space.
I could be convinced when I could leave those as "one-liners" while setting others, like bus FX sends to be double- liners, preferably with better readout of pan and levels.
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07-24-2009 02:01 AM
Human being with feelings
 
I also didn't vote yet, but this is almost the first thing that came to mind when I first touched reaper's mixer..

it could be useful to have the routings more obvious...that we won't even need to trace track names...
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07-24-2009 04:36 AM
Human being with feelings
 
We had this discussion when Justin showed up with these sends one day, at around v2 of Reaper.

Sends need to be of a different colour and/or shape to distinguish themselves from other elements. Flipping a fx parameter knob is not enough for me. The current sends aren't the be-all-end-all but they work well and don't eat too much screenspace.

The colour bar that indicates the send level are quite easy to read for me. A larger green knob isn't quite as easy to spot, judging by your mockup. The reason is simple. Reading the Send label also gives you the send level. Nobody needs exact dB figures visible at all times, but only a general indication with a decent 0dB reference point, like faders have, and which we have with the small knobs that show 0 dB at 12 o'clock.

Larger is neat option, but I for one wouldn't want to lose anything of the current sends. They've proven themselves too useful for me.
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07-24-2009 06:02 AM
Human being with feelings
 
I guess I do agree that I do not want to take up more space when sends are not used for FX, so this is not the answer, unless....

Maybe we could be able to shrink or expand sends (kind of like the current size or the new larger method)?
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07-24-2009 06:34 AM
Human being with feelings
 
I don't mind the loss of space, personally. I have one monitor dedicated to the mixer. And I also do feel like I would gain control if I could see exact DB amounts, with a big knob to control.

It just isn't visually appealing as it currently is, and you have to squint to see the send value, and even to see if you're moving the knob the right way!

It isn't very useful to people with poor eyesight, or dark themes.
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07-24-2009 07:15 AM
Human being with feelings
 
How about this idea?

[img]http://img196.**************/img196/2627/newsendsvs2.png[/img]

Remember this is just a mock, the larger send backgrounds can be a different color for quicker differentiation (probably the same color as the existing for cleanness).
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07-24-2009 08:09 AM
Human being with feelings
 
how about
when you select a track, all other tracks that connected to it, will get slightly highlighted..

when you adjust a send level, the send track will get a little bit more highlighted than the rest.
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07-24-2009 01:11 PM
Human being with feelings
 
Although you have a good idea Reflected, most of us want VERY clear visuals with out touching anything...basically just by looking at the PC/Mac/Linux screen.
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07-24-2009 02:24 PM
Human being with feelings
 
My thinking is there's really little in need to be changed.
Why not do them somewhat like this?



It gives you more instant feedback since the text is detached from the send coloured bar.It's almost as it is right now, but separating these two components improves it tenfold.

I'd put the db value in a small space next to the coloured bar and the text above.
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07-25-2009 03:17 AM
NAS NAS is offline
Human being with feelings
 
Strange how peoples taste differ
I personally wanted the parameters to be the same size as the sends hehehe
Just because i like to save space but i can see how they are hard to read sometimes

NAS
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07-25-2009 03:44 AM
Human being with feelings
 
IMHO the one above is quite cramped. The colour of the bar is neat, but the text is very tiny and we'd be back to squinting.

I still think dB values are redundant when you have a good reference point to work with. For me, they clutter up the display and a graphical approach is just easier. Optional is the word then, isn't it :) .

Labyrinth, why don't you try creating a mockup with a few more tracks. That way it'll be easier to judge how effective the larger sends stay readable in a larger session. Just create a bunch of knob values and past them all over the place. A single track doesn't present you with a full picture.

Then we could try different colour schemes for the sends, or play around with a graphical and numerical schemes and see what works best in such a context. I'm all for exploring this.
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07-25-2009 04:30 AM
Human being with feelings
 
Sorry airon, I explained myself incorrectly.

I meant something like this:



The dB value would stay like they are now, only appear when you click the send and adjust its value.

One could do without the black line between L and R though...
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07-25-2009 04:43 AM
Human being with feelings
 
I don't like any of these yet..

labyrinth - it seems too busy and clumsy imo...
CoffeeMilkshake - same...in big projects it gets busy and reading text become useless/annoying to trace.

keep it small for space and highlight connected channels...

you will click on the track before you edit its sends anyway, so I don't see why do you need to see texts so big and clear...it only gets more busy for the eyes...

I think it will be just great if:

"when you select a track, all other tracks that connected to it, will get slightly highlighted (so it will be easy to trace what that's really relevant!).

when you adjust a send level, the send track will get a little bit more highlighted than the rest."


I don't see why do you need more than that, seriously...what is the problem to click on a track to see its connections more clearly?
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07-25-2009 05:26 PM
Human being with feelings
 
Saving space is not a priority for me. I have one whole monitor dedicate to the mixer. But the mixer is quite hard to read. Out of all the presented ideas, Lab's first image is the only one I think offers anything worthwhile.

I don't like the highlight idea either; as again, it isn't very obvious. I think a big phat knob infinitely more obvious than some sort of highlight which will be visibly subjective on certain types of monitor.
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07-25-2009 11:39 PM
Human being with feelings
 
I vote yes for making it optional (large/small)

I don't care how it will look like as long as we will have 'highlight sends for selected track' as option as well...
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07-26-2009 12:21 AM
Human being with feelings
 
I've made dedicated FR for highlight sends for selected channels, as I think that this is a different request.

+illustration http://forum.cockos.com/project.php?issueid=711
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07-26-2009 04:15 PM
Human being with feelings
 
Why can't this be left to the skin? As NAS said, "Strange how peoples taste differ" which indicates this should be an option in the prefs dialog or up to the skin.

If it isn't currently possible, then maybe it is skinning that needs overhaul?
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08-21-2009 08:10 PM
Human being with feelings
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by labyrinth
I agree, but keep the knob itself on the right to easily distinguish between the two.
[img]http://img195.**************/img195/2071/newsends.png[/img]
i like thatone perfectly ... bigger knob gives you a clear statement on the sent ammount, plus the readout is bigger and one can perfectly read and adjust the send ... this imo is how it should be ... also it looks better than how it is currently ...
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08-02-2010 02:30 AM
Human being with feelings
 
I agree with Brok.
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08-02-2010 11:09 AM
Human being with feelings
 
I don't...

infact I think that FX parameters should look more like sends.
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08-03-2010 01:36 PM
Human being with feelings
 
Looks like we need two prefs:

Parameters look like sends
Sends look like parameters
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