LBX Stripper - create custom channel strips

[lb0]

Originally Posted by Arthur McArthur

Updated with new updater (which is awesome btw.) The crash hasn't reared it's head again. On alt-right-click drag on the strips the console is being left open (remnant of bug fixes?)

Oops - certainly was. Have removed

[lb0]

Originally Posted by Arthur McArthur

For anyone interested in switching or randomizing between plugin presets via MIDI program change control, here's a gif showing how to do it:

https://imgur.com/a/zWpDY

Nice!

[Arthur McArthur]

Thanks! There are a few things to look out for when using it:

-record arm usually needs to be toggled at least once for it to start sending the PC messages to the plugin
-turning FX online and offline seems to send PC messages for whatever reason, so save a snapshot before doing that or you'll lose what you were working on

[Arthur McArthur]

Found a crash when deleting a graphic:

...wner\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\Scripts\LBX\LBX Stripper.lua:38231: attempt to index a nil value (field '?')

[lb0]

Originally Posted by Arthur McArthur

Found a crash when deleting a graphic:

...wner\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\Scripts\LBX\LBX Stripper.lua:38231: attempt to index a nil value (field '?')

Thanks - I have no idea what conditions triggered that one (and couldn't repeat) - but have added a check to ensure it doesn't happen in the future.

[lb0]

Another update:

Right-click items in strip browser - (favs only) - to reorder them. This will also reorder them in the right-click favs menu.

And...

You can toggle an option (default is how it's always been) - which when dragging in a strip file - it maintains the saved strips separation. Option in in STRIP edit mode - right-click menu on strips list (where the Sharestrip options are).

So normally - dragging in a strip file - it collates all the graphics and controls into a single new strip element - thus in strip edit mode you can click on one control and it drags the whole strip around as one item.

The new mode (when option is ticked) - maintains the separate strips as they were when you saved the strip file.

Thus - say I wanted to make a strip that was a combination of 3 saved strips. I would create a new track - load the 3 strips and arrange them as I wanted (ensuring that I didn't overlap the individual strips). Then save this new multi plugin strip as a new strip.

Now - if I load it and keep the strips separate using this new option - the strip that gets created has 3 grabbable and moveable strips - so I can move the individual plugins controls around separately (kind of like a multistrip). EDIT - with the option off - the strips load as they always have - as one big strip.

This combines really nicely with the Strip Gallery mode - as you can reorder the strips (which automatically reorders associated plugins)...

[Arthur McArthur]

Originally Posted by lb0

Thanks - I have no idea what conditions triggered that one (and couldn't repeat) - but have added a check to ensure it doesn't happen in the future.

Crash is fixed! Thanks! I couldn't reproduce it either except for the strip where it was happening, but now it's solved.

Love the new ability to reorganize our favorites. And the new "keep separate strip IDs" is handy as well!

[Arthur McArthur]

Found a crash when loading a strip I had just saved:

...wner\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\Scripts\LBX\LBX Stripper.lua:20473: table index is nil

And an issue I'm having with the new alt-drag system is now I can't alt-click to open a plugin's FX window, which I used quite a lot.

[timbralzoom]

Originally Posted by lb0

Thanks Timbral

I'm not used to your video's being so *quiet*... :P

ill back very loud!
just installing updates and reading the posts sneakily..for now!

[lb0]

Originally Posted by Arthur McArthur

Found a crash when loading a strip I had just saved:

...wner\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\Scripts\LBX\LBX Stripper.lua:20473: table index is nil

And an issue I'm having with the new alt-drag system is now I can't alt-click to open a plugin's FX window, which I used quite a lot.

Sorry about that - should be fixed (the error).

Will see what I can do about the alt-click - It was working as I kept checking and didn't want to lose this functionality. But somewhere it's stopped working so will look into - although maybe not tonight.

The latest has the above fix -

+ a biggy (in terms of code adjustments)

GFX EDIT - now you can select multiple graphics items - and copy/paste adjust etc multiple ones at once.

It's been really tricky adjusting my code - but I think I'm just about there!!

There's bound to be a few hiccups - because so much has changed - but I've spent all evening carefully going through everything to try and make sure it works and that I've not missed anything...

Let me know (as I know you will) of any issues.

One I can think of is when dragging 2 or more items with some on grid and others off grid - they will not keep their original distance from each other as they each snap onto the grid separately... For now - hold shift if you absolutely need to maintain distance - and I'll see if I can get it working better (by treating them as one item)...

EDIT: And the arrow key nudging doesn't work with multiple items just yet)

[lb0]

Originally Posted by timbralzoom

ill back very loud!
just installing updates and reading the posts sneakily..for now!

heh heh - I was worried I'd offended you (the video was great - just enjoy listening to your tunes too!!)

[lb0]

Originally Posted by Arthur McArthur

Found a crash when loading a strip I had just saved:

...wner\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\Scripts\LBX\LBX Stripper.lua:20473: table index is nil

And an issue I'm having with the new alt-drag system is now I can't alt-click to open a plugin's FX window, which I used quite a lot.

Ok - both issues should be fixed - alt-click to open fx window and the crash

Will do gfx nudging with arrow keys tomorrow.

[Arthur McArthur]

Both issues fixed, thanks!

One thing I'd like as a live mode improvement would be a way to manage/reorder subsets. Navigating them gets to be pretty much impossible in these mega strips with hundreds/thousands of them.

And this may be a pipe dream but would it be possible to do import/export/update of snapshots? A lot of times I'll come up with a good snapshot in a project but won't save it into the strip because I've made changes to the strip that I don't want to be permanent (or I'm just lazy.) A way to sync or transfer them across projects/instances of the same strip would be neat

[lb0]

Originally Posted by Arthur McArthur

Both issues fixed, thanks!

One thing I'd like as a live mode improvement would be a way to manage/reorder subsets. Navigating them gets to be pretty much impossible in these mega strips with hundreds/thousands of them.

And this may be a pipe dream but would it be possible to do import/export/update of snapshots? A lot of times I'll come up with a good snapshot in a project but won't save it into the strip because I've made changes to the strip that I don't want to be permanent (or I'm just lazy.) A way to sync or transfer them across projects/instances of the same strip would be neat

haha - well - a new update gets the graphics stuff up to where I want it (save for any bugs I've not spotted).

Your first request - any thoughts as to what you would like? Something I think is required is a way to delete orphaned subsets properly (ie. when strips/controls have been deleted and suchlike). I have the delete all subset options - but this is a bit heavy handed if you only want to delete those which are no longer required.

Second pipedream - may remain a pipedream at the moment. It's really difficult - due to the open ended nature of the script - to ensure coherence between data and controls when doing such things. It only takes one control being changed/deleted - and that would make the entire subset incompatible with the same strip somewhere else. The links between subsets and the controls are purely numbers and ids. A ctl id links the data to the control on the strip - but this id is completely unique to that strips control set - and will not appear in any other instance of that strip elsewhere (it's generated randomly when the controls are added). The only other link is the actual control numbers - which depend entirely on what is on the strip page already and can change whenever anything is removed from a page. So it's easy for me to determine what snapshot data is associated with each control in a strip - but not any other external strip (and there's no way of knowing if one strip is the same as another).

I guess I could let you do it based purely on the assumption that you know whether the two strips are identical - but even that may not be enough to reliably transfer snapshot data from one strip to another. I'm not saying it's not possible - but with so many factors determining whether it might succeed or not - I just don't know.

I think it might be possible if I somehow preserved the original control ids when importing the strip (maybe duplicating them before overwriting them) - then it would have something common between the strips which could be used to identify matching controls... hmmm... This wouldn't help you with any current strips you've been working on as the original ids are already lost - but may help if I decide to attempt this in the future. Would be pretty simple to add just in case.

[dasombre]

hej guys, just wanted to say I'm amazed at the developement of this uber-useful thing!
I had a very busy summer last year and was just reading the thread, now I'm back with making my strips and following up on the countless new features that this thing has.
The new strip-browser looks really great, although I did not update yet.

Love editing multiple graphics too.

Keep up the great work, I have a few little things that I'm gonna pitch here when my mind is more free again. Lots of work atm and in 2 weeks I'm moving to a new house, but thanks for the great great work

Cheeers

PS: Ib0, I have a collection of text-files with all the info I collected about the script. It's all in your words, I just copied it from the thread. I could send it over for something like an "info-manual". I just copied the stuff where you introduced new features and explained how to use them.

[lb0]

Originally Posted by dasombre

hej guys, just wanted to say I'm amazed at the developement of this uber-useful thing!
I had a very busy summer last year and was just reading the thread, now I'm back with making my strips and following up on the countless new features that this thing has.
The new strip-browser looks really great, although I did not update yet.

Love editing multiple graphics too.

Keep up the great work, I have a few little things that I'm gonna pitch here when my mind is more free again. Lots of work atm and in 2 weeks I'm moving to a new house, but thanks for the great great work

Cheeers

PS: Ib0, I have a collection of text-files with all the info I collected about the script. It's all in your words, I just copied it from the thread. I could send it over for something like an "info-manual". I just copied the stuff where you introduced new features and explained how to use them.

Hey! Good to hear from you. Good luck with the move etc.

Would be very useful to have the text files Maybe I could sort them a bit and like you say - make some sort of useful info-sheet/manual.

[dasombre]

Originally Posted by lb0

Hey! Good to hear from you. Good luck with the move etc.

Would be very useful to have the text files Maybe I could sort them a bit and like you say - make some sort of useful info-sheet/manual.

thank you very much. We're moving a full house, so I'm a bit afraid of it, but looking forward to the new place very much.

Cool then, I will send them a bit later via e-mail

[lb0]

Originally Posted by dasombre

thank you very much. We're moving a full house, so I'm a bit afraid of it, but looking forward to the new place very much.

Cool then, I will send them a bit later via e-mail

Thanks

Another update - this time just a few small tweaks. Now when you grab selected controls or graphics to move - have added a very small delay before it lets you move them. This should prevent accidental moves when selecting items (as happens to me on occasion) - very annoying without an undo...

The yellow rectangle indicating the selection will go slightly brighter when you have clicked on the controls long enough to activate the move. (currently set to 0.2 seconds - which seems enough to prevent accidental click & drags.

Also have added lasso select for graphics mode. Sometimes the appropriate Options window doesn't open after a lasso (sometimes = nearly always). Until I track down why - simply click on the selection to open the options window. Note - an options window will only open if you have selected graphics of the same type (ie. Image OR Label). Selecting types of both will not allow the options window to open.

So to change label options - only select labels, and likewise - only select graphics to show gfx options.

[lb0]

Important fix update. In FX edit mode - the ctl options window wouldn't open or update properly on selecting a control. Fixed in latest.

And another update - to fix dragging about multiple graphics items when snap to grid is on. Now the top most and left most graphics snap to the grid - and everything else stays relative to those.

[Arthur McArthur]

Originally Posted by lb0

Your first request - any thoughts as to what you would like? Something I think is required is a way to delete orphaned subsets properly (ie. when strips/controls have been deleted and suchlike). I have the delete all subset options - but this is a bit heavy-handed if you only want to delete those which are no longer required.

Maybe a "delete snapshots that have no learned controls on the strip"? For navigating them, I think the gui from the RS5K manager would be perfect, with the ability to select multiple sets and delete/duplicate.

Glad to know something like exporting snapshots is at least remotely possible! I was making the assumption that the strips would remain the exact same, yes, but I realize now that if that's the case then we might as well just save over the strip file (or make a new copy) to get the same effect.

Ok, here's another not-quite-so-pipedreamy request in the vein of these UI improvements: I'd love the ability to define how a control looks when its plugin is bypassed and/or offline. Right now it's hard to get a grasp of what's going on in my strips at a glance because my controls are displaying full values when offline if the "control change color" goes from right to left. If we could define the control position and "dimming" amount when bypassed and when offline that would be money in da bank.

P.S. new graphics ease of use stuff working great for me!

[lb0]

Originally Posted by Arthur McArthur

Maybe a "delete snapshots that have no learned controls on the strip"? For navigating them, I think the gui from the RS5K manager would be perfect, with the ability to select multiple sets and delete/duplicate.

Glad to know something like exporting snapshots is at least remotely possible! I was making the assumption that the strips would remain the exact same, yes, but I realize now that if that's the case then we might as well just save over the strip file (or make a new copy) to get the same effect.

Ok, here's another not-quite-so-pipedreamy request in the vein of these UI improvements: I'd love the ability to define how a control looks when its plugin is bypassed and/or offline. Right now it's hard to get a grasp of what's going on in my strips at a glance because my controls are displaying full values when offline if the "control change color" goes from right to left. If we could define the control position and "dimming" amount when bypassed and when offline that would be money in da bank.

P.S. new graphics ease of use stuff working great for me!

Cool - will look into and do what I can (when I can).

Not got access to emails today so won't be around much.

[Arthur McArthur]

Cheers! *nothing urgent* (timbral voice)

[grandfougue]

Unfortunately it's a manual process to get the images to look like the strip - but it's pretty simple. Screen grab the strip - crop - then save in the strip folder where the relevant strip is stored and save it under the same name but with a .png extension (must be .png or script won't pick it up).

Eg: FreqEcho.strip would have a thumbnail called FreqEcho.png in the same folder. It can be any dimensions - the browser will automatically resize the images. You may wish to reduce the size as it will make loading the images quicker - but in my tests I've not bothered and it runs fine (no noticeable loading times for the images).

Hello
I try to put this in place but obviously I do not understand everything
I uploaded the file masster
extract the resource file in the resource folder skin in skin and i extracted winupdater then i made an image in png format that I named V1 as one of my strip
I put it in the same folder then restart lbx
but no new browser
Can you help me please

[grandfougue]

Hello
I try to put this in place but obviously I do not understand everything
I uploaded the file masster
extract the resource file in the resource folder skin in skin and i extracted winupdater then i made an image in png format that I named V1 as one of my strip
I put it in the same folder then restart lbx
but no new browser
Can you help me please

[lb0]

Originally Posted by grandfougue

Hello
I try to put this in place but obviously I do not understand everything
I uploaded the file masster
extract the resource file in the resource folder skin in skin and i extracted winupdater then i made an image in png format that I named V1 as one of my strip
I put it in the same folder then restart lbx
but no new browser
Can you help me please

Press '0' (zero) to open the strip browser.



WinUpdater is completely separate thing - to make updating to latest version quicker.

[Arthur McArthur]

Here's a crash when deleting controls that had been copied from one track to another:

...wner\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\Scripts\LBX\LBX Stripper.lua:52908: attempt to index a nil value (field '?')

Can't reproduce it but I thought I'd report anyways

[lb0]

Originally Posted by Arthur McArthur

Here's a crash when deleting controls that had been copied from one track to another:

...wner\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\Scripts\LBX\LBX Stripper.lua:52908: attempt to index a nil value (field '?')

Can't reproduce it but I thought I'd report anyways

Thanks - yeah - I've managed to reproduce - it's when you try and copy a randomize control which has been switched to advanced randomize.

Not an easy one to fix until I've gone over exactly how it all works again... It's complex and one of the many reasons I never wanted to be able to copy these controls across tracks (as the snapshots themselves do not get copied with controls as the two things are not implicitly linked.

Even trying to open the advanced randomize options window will cause the script to crash.

Best not to try and copy such controls across tracks for now... I probably need to put in a check to prevent this being possible (as the snapshots subsets themselves will never be copied with the controls - you might juat be copying one control after all - so the subsets wouldn't get copied too).

So I probably need to prevent snapshot subset randomize controls to a different track (as they simply won't work). I will leave the duplicate option working - as that allows duplication only onto the same strip.

[Arthur McArthur]

Ah ok cool I'll look out for that, thanks

Is it possible to run a second instance of Stripper? I've copied the LBX folder and tried to load a second instance of the script but can't seem to get it to work.

[lb0]

Originally Posted by Arthur McArthur

Ah ok cool I'll look out for that, thanks

Is it possible to run a second instance of Stripper? I've copied the LBX folder and tried to load a second instance of the script but can't seem to get it to work.

Yes - but it cannot use the same data (because of saving issues - changes made in one will not be replicated in the other - and whichever one closes last would overwrite the others data.

On a second instance you need to go into the top menu (... or shortcut '/') and go to the Strip Sets option and choose a unique number for the set.

It works - but requires completely new strip data etc.

[grandfougue]

[QUOTE=lb0;1949261]Press '0' (zero) to open the strip browser.



Thanks thats very very nice

[lb0]

[QUOTE=grandfougue;1950097]

Originally Posted by lb0

Press '0' (zero) to open the strip browser.



Thanks thats very very nice

Thanks - glad you found it

[lb0]

New small update.

Apart from a few minor bug fixes and tweaks.

In Snapshots - select a subset - right click menu (on *) new option - perhaps not titled perfectly but

Delete Empty/Orphaned Subsets - This will search all the subsets and remove any that have NO learned controls (or where all the learned controls have been deleted). This will not delete subsets that are simply empty (that would mess up randomize buttons and things like that). I think I'll rename it sometime to be less confusing.

Other thing - the new alt over strip in LIVE mode - now if you hover over a control - a small padlock button will appear just below the control (so you can still easily Alt-click to open GUI). This padlock control locks or unlocks the control to prevent it's value being changed (from within Stripper). So a locked control will not be affected by mouse/snapshots/randomize/modulators/faders etc. A locked control's status will be saved with the project but not recalled in a strip file.

You can also alt+shift+left click on a control to toggle its locked state. Super quick and easy.

I may have missed ways to change the value of the control - so please let me know if you find a way of changing a locked control (from within Stripper). The control will still change if you change a plugin parameter from its own GUI or through Reaper's recorded automation. Also - if you have two controls pointing to the same parameter (for whatever reason!) - if one is unlocked - changing that one will still change both - so in this case you would need to ensure you locked each control.

These updates require the skins to be downloaded again (of course with the WinUpdater - you don't need to worry about manually getting the resources or alt-skin files - as it's all taken care of).

[RJHollins]

I tested 'WinUpdate' for the first time tonite.Went into Settings, clicked update ...
stuff happened ... re-ran Stripper.

Seems all is OK, but without a Version# ? hard to know.

Another question. Does WinUpdater make a BACKUP of the original LUA stripper ? I've kept a running backup of every update [over 160 archived]. If I ever had to back step, it was simple. Now using WinUpdate, I'm not certain what I have, and how to be sure a latest release is not the only choice.

just wanted to raise a small concern for thought.

Thanks lb0

[lb0]

Originally Posted by RJHollins

I tested 'WinUpdate' for the first time tonite.Went into Settings, clicked update ...
stuff happened ... re-ran Stripper.

Seems all is OK, but without a Version# ? hard to know.

Another question. Does WinUpdater make a BACKUP of the original LUA stripper ? I've kept a running backup of every update [over 160 archived]. If I ever had to back step, it was simple. Now using WinUpdate, I'm not certain what I have, and how to be sure a latest release is not the only choice.

just wanted to raise a small concern for thought.

Thanks lb0

Hi RJ,

Version number I'll have a think about - I need to work out an automated way of doing it (because I'll never remember otherwise).

Yes - a backup is made of the LBXStripper.lua file - you should find it in resources/updater/oldversions.

At the moment - I think it will only store the current previous version (which you can rollback to via the UPDATE LBX button (right-click)).

But you can always get old versions (right back the the beginning) from github if required.

[lb0]

Originally Posted by RJHollins

I tested 'WinUpdate' for the first time tonite.Went into Settings, clicked update ...
stuff happened ... re-ran Stripper.

Seems all is OK, but without a Version# ? hard to know.

Another question. Does WinUpdater make a BACKUP of the original LUA stripper ? I've kept a running backup of every update [over 160 archived]. If I ever had to back step, it was simple. Now using WinUpdate, I'm not certain what I have, and how to be sure a latest release is not the only choice.

just wanted to raise a small concern for thought.

Thanks lb0

Hi RJ,

Have been working on the version numbers and have created a system that works. Have been testing today - so you may have noticed (or not) several updates to Stripper in github - these are caused by my tests - and no major new features have been added - just a few utility things for me (I can now trigger an upload to github from within Stripper - this won't be visible to any users).

What the new system does - is it automatically increments the version number - which will now be displayed at the top of the Settings window. So you will now know exactly what version you are running - and I cannot upload a new version without the version number being incremented.

So lets see how this goes.

Also - the backup system now stores a copy of each version in the oldversions folder (labelling it with the version number). At the moment - you can only rollback still to the previous version - but I should be able to update this soon to be able to rollback to any version that has been backed up.

EDIT: Latest version includes ability to choose from any of the backed up script versions to rollback to. Although keep in mind - if you go back to any prior to today - you will lose this ability to choose which version to rollback to - and would need to do so manually. In fact - I wouldn't use the old rollback system (prior to today) at all as it will likely make a mess of your LBX folder (not break it - just copy all the backed up versions of the script in there - but none will load as the main version).

[dasombre]

throwing in a little convenience-feature request here:

I'm not yet using the updater-script, so I'm updating manually and think will keep doing it this way, just because I like the manual stuff

But, I've changed some keycommands to my liking, and after every update I have to carefully edit the script again so I have my shortcuts back (changing numbers in the script to other numbers which match my wished keys). This keeps me from updating regularly and testing new versions.

So my question and wish: is it somehow possible to keep user-edited keycommands alive after updating to newer versions? I know that keycommands are not really user-editable via the stripper itself, so maybe this is not a much requested feature.

Maybe in preferences the user can modify their own keys OR there is a little .ini-File where the user can input his "key-numbers" and this file stays always the same even after updating the stripper-script.

Thanks in advance for any infos on this topic

EDIT: love that you added version munbers now. Makes it easier to keep track. Thanks!

[RJHollins]

Hi lb0.

Version numbers ... thanks for taking the time to figure this out. Nice to know if we're up to date.

As for 'rollback'. Personally, I'd most likely want to return to a previous version should an issue arise in the latest [which you seem to fix so quickly that the point becomes moot]. It's more a safety value as I see it.

rj

[lb0]

Originally Posted by dasombre

throwing in a little convenience-feature request here:

I'm not yet using the updater-script, so I'm updating manually and think will keep doing it this way, just because I like the manual stuff

But, I've changed some keycommands to my liking, and after every update I have to carefully edit the script again so I have my shortcuts back (changing numbers in the script to other numbers which match my wished keys). This keeps me from updating regularly and testing new versions.

So my question and wish: is it somehow possible to keep user-edited keycommands alive after updating to newer versions? I know that keycommands are not really user-editable via the stripper itself, so maybe this is not a much requested feature.

Maybe in preferences the user can modify their own keys OR there is a little .ini-File where the user can input his "key-numbers" and this file stays always the same even after updating the stripper-script.

Thanks in advance for any infos on this topic

EDIT: love that you added version munbers now. Makes it easier to keep track. Thanks!

Will add an optional 'ini' file for the key commands - you've requested this before and I was thinking about it just the last few days.

[dasombre]

Originally Posted by lb0

Will add an optional 'ini' file for the key commands - you've requested this before and I was thinking about it just the last few days.

awesome! Thank you a lot! Happy frequent updating days ahead for me again

[Arthur McArthur]

Just catching up: Delete orphaned subsets, locked controls, and version number all working great for me here!