SWS Extension Updates

[cerberus]

Originally Posted by AdamWathan

"Set tracks to random custom colors command" it doesn't work. I tried it on a large group of track and it seems to only choose 3 colors no matter what, and those colors are dependent on what the gradient is set to? ...

may i please suggest a different workflow for selecting track/item colors (which i've found works much faster and easier)?

try this action:

(i've bound the action to the "c" key...)

this will bring up the color picker immediately, so we skip a dialog box.
(afaik, the gradients don't work in osx, so that function is not useful to osx users).
and it will apply the color to whatever track or item is selected and in focus.

this action does not do random colors... but otherwise, i've found
it's by far the fastest and easiest way to set colors in reaper;
(and also faster than it ever was for me in other daws).


cheers,

jeff dinces

[AdamWathan]

Originally Posted by cerberus

may i please suggest a different workflow for selecting track/item colors (which i've found works much faster and easier)?

try this action:

(i've bound the action to the "c" key...)

this will bring up the color picker immediately, so we skip a dialog box.
(afaik, the gradients don't work in osx, so that function is not useful to osx users).
and it will apply the color to whatever track or item is selected and in focus.

this action does not do random colors... but otherwise, i've found
it's by far the fastest and easiest way to set colors in reaper;
(and also faster than it ever was for me in other daws).


cheers,

jeff dinces

Thanks unfortuantely that won't really work for me because I am trying to take a large number of tracks and set them all to "random" colors all at once. I just want Reaper to choose the colors randomly from a predefined list of colors, which is what that SWS action should do. I'm guessing it's an OS X specific thing since the color selector seems to be an OS window, not a Reaper generated window.

The action "set track to one random custom color" is also only choosing between pink and white, even though white isn't one of my first 16 custom colors :/

[airon]

Originally Posted by Jeffos

Tim, I think can take that one, I've got something close, as you know.

Guys, would you go for a simplier implementation, something like:
-Load and store FX chain in slot x...
and:
-Set stored FX chain (slot x) to selected item(s), active take
-Set stored FX chain (slot x) to selected item(s), all takes
-Set stored FX chain (slot x) to selected track(s)

In short, yes it would be a nice building block. It would not be a substitute for what I'm asking, but a component for other macros. Missing is the pre and postroll padding of the items to be processed and the post-fx trim option for each slot setting. Having actions that can use just the fx chains would be a good choice too though.

Please do not do two systems of these fellas. All actions should use the same slots for save and recall.

[airon]

Originally Posted by musicbynumbers

Preview item (post fader)

A friend of mine edits effects in Nuendo. This function comes in very handy there he tells me. I usually scrub stuff, but this would be quite practical, quicker and less fiddly.

[musicbynumbers]

I was a Nuendo'er too, just did a war scene and it was great to use the sws extension to audition each sound and I love the fact that you can create custom "cheeky" macros like the one I created to allow me to additional the sound from any point I had hovered over, very cool

[nicholas]

Guys, would you go for a simplier implementation, something like:
-Load and store FX chain in slot x...
and:
-Set stored FX chain (slot x) to selected item(s), active take
-Set stored FX chain (slot x) to selected item(s), all takes
-Set stored FX chain (slot x) to selected track(s)

Along similar lines, these would be handy also:

Copy FX from selected item
Paste stored FX to selected item(s)

[musicbynumbers]

Originally Posted by nicholas

Along similar lines, these would be handy also:

Copy FX from selected item
Paste stored FX to selected item(s)

It would be very amazing

[babag]

copy/paste item fx would be most effective if tied to the item
properties window. the item properties window should have something
like a copy/paste/paste-to-all button group which would allow for
the selection of multiple items. settings could then be copied from
one item and pasted to another or a group with a single click. the
settings which might be included might be settings like which
effects are in use on the item, what fade type it uses, mute state,
lock, no autfades, invert phase, reverse, etc.

it would be even more useful if, on choosing to paste or paste-to-all,
a dialog opened which listed copyable parameters with checkboxes and
thus allowed for them to be selectively applied to the other or
group-selected items. this is called 'paste attributes' in final cut.

bottom line is, if parameters can be set at the item level, they
should be transferable as well.

is pan position applicable at the item level? just noticing it's not
in the item properties window.

thanks,
BabaG

[Pashkuli]

Great extensions, SWS!

I just wnt to ask if would be possible to translate the command extensions to other languages? Thanks.

[sws]

Originally Posted by AdamWathan

Just a little bug/issue at least on OS X running 3.35...

After I set my custom colors (although it looks like now there are A LOT more than 16 boxes?), if I use the "Set tracks to random custom colors command" it doesn't work. I tried it on a large group of track and it seems to only choose 3 colors no matter what, and those colors are dependent on what the gradient is set to?

Ah yes, that's definitely a bug, I fixed for you in #19.

As for the other posts here, looks like Jeffos is going to tackle some of the "FX chain" with item actions. (His actions are prefaced with S&M in the action list)

Tim

[musicbynumbers]

Cool tim, see you've added some other stuff too, will check out the new bits soon

Can't remember if i've already suggested this to you but since you've got an action that can tell you the rms of an item would you not be able to use that to make all selected item's "item volume" adjust to the same rms level. This would be amazing for so many things when you have lots of items of differing volumes that you need to get roughly the same.

[musicbynumbers]

Just tried your move cursor to item peak and what's cool about it is that if you edit that peak with item volume envelope to turn it down and do your command again it finds the next peak very cool. I can see lot's of commands like this becoming a reality (including the rms one above)

Also the get item peaks info is after the item volume envelope so you can see how much you have affected it by say drawing out the peaks to get a louder RMS level! again, cool!

-Just asked the devs for a command to un-hide all child tracks hidden by clicking on the mcp's folder icons, let's hope they listen as right now you can't really practically use both features together.

Keep up the good work Tim!

[AdamWathan]

Originally Posted by sws

Ah yes, that's definitely a bug, I fixed for you in #19.

As for the other posts here, looks like Jeffos is going to tackle some of the "FX chain" with item actions. (His actions are prefaced with S&M in the action list)

Tim

Thanks again Tim, loving this color functionality now!

[AdamWathan]

Tim, do you know if it's possible to add actions to change the "Default fade length" in the preferences? Toggling the default fade length between 0 (for no fades at all) and whatever value is in the preferences would be ideal, but even adding a place in your command parameters window to have like 2 "default fade" configurations to switch between would be awesome... More info in this thread if you're curious!

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=53418

[sws]

Hey guys, it's getting hard to keep track of your requests in this thread. I'd much prefer if you could add your FRs into my tracker, linked in my signature. That will significantly increase the chances of me remembering to do this stuff. (You'll need a google login, btw, sorry about that. I'd turn it off if I could.)

[cerberus]

hi tim, you continue to rock, the extensions are essential to my workflow, and it keeps getting better.
thanks again for your efforts toward making reaper the sharpest and most effective scythe in the barn.

[evanrabby]

i got a major crash and burn while using snapshots and leaving the snapshot window open. instant reboot with sound still in the audio card buffer on repeat (1.5 ms repeat doesent of course sound like an echo!) of course for now its way too complicated to pin down if it was the sws feature, though i have never had reaper just quit in the middle of my projects ever before, except for specific and well known errors and plugins and certain soundcard related logistics. i wasnt diong anything with sws when it happened, sws was idle as far as i know...

[willmorton]

Originally Posted by musicbynumbers

Can't remember if i've already suggested this to you but since you've got an action that can tell you the rms of an item would you not be able to use that to make all selected item's "item volume" adjust to the same rms level.

Would LOVE this feature!

[mikolo]

In this thread I brought up a few issues regarding the renaming of rendered takes and media explorer use, and had some success with the sws extensions:

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...750#post469750

will it be possible in the future to auto rename source files - ie choose one name and each source file is renamed with incremental numbers attached? I can do this with takes but not the sources - to do both would be awesome.When you use the regular "rename source items" action - it brings up a seperate box for each source file.

Also in the actions I see "set fades of selected items to configuration A-F" but in the command parameters it only lets me set the config of A and B.At the moment even two fades is proving very helpful but full access to C through to F would be great.

thanks.

[sws]

Hey everyone,

I've added a new feature to the SWS extension for automatically coloring your tracks. For example, I always color my folders blue, why not have it happen automatically?

Download link in my signature below.



Here's how it works - Open the autocolor dialog from the View menu (SWS Autocolor). Add "rules" by clicking on the Add button. Double click (name) and type in a piece of a track name, like "gtr". Then press the square of color next to the Remove button to choose your desired color. Then press "Apply" and any tracks with gtr in their name are colored. If you want this to happen automatically, check the Enable box. (Then anytime you change a track name or add a track, it applies for you.)

There are also special types of names/filters and colors, right click in the list to access them. For example, you can have unnamed (eg new) tracks automatically colored randomly.

Many possibilities here, let me know what you think! I'll release it into the main download once I'm sure there aren't any nasty bugs.

Tim

[pixeltarian]

holy crap that's nice!

[musicbynumbers]

Tim, not only are you "the man" but you also do the work of many men!!

Going to try this out now! awesome stuff! I think next time I've got some free cash I'll chuck some of it your way again as you should get something for all these fantastically useful things!

[Susan G]

Hi Tim-

This is very, very nice! No problems so far.

Thanks!

-Susan

[musicbynumbers]

Just been trying it out on win7 64bit with reaper 32bit and no crashes so far and it works perfectly!

What a wonderful thing you have created here! It's definitely not trivial to be able to do this! very elegant too..

Few things so far I can see being useful but I'd still be just as happy if you can't do them.

- At the moment there doesn't seem to be a way to have one "filter" pick up multiple names, for instance, If I put "bdrum kick bassdrum" into the filter it only picks up the first, I can see how this might cause problems though so what if it was easy to right click and copy the selected filter and paste it multiple times with control+v so you can use the same colour but add different names in the filters quickly. (just found out that you can copy and paste the colours via the code so that's not too bad a way)

-I think I know the answer to this one but how about a colour indicator instead (or as well as) the colour code for every set up filter (perhaps it's impossible right?)

-I'm so glad it works with symbols like = - < > as I use them for indicators for buses and sends etc so don't lose them (just in case you where going to!)

-It might eventually be worth having a global and project based section (maybe via a dividing line in the window with global on the left and project on the right)with the ability to copy global to project and vice versa as some projects might get quite eccentric with names of tracks (film stuff for example) BUT again, not sure if it would really be that useful as you could just keep adding to your list if there's no real limit

-is there a savable file for this so you can back it up and share it? (knowing you there is!)

EDIT: ADDED MORE

-would it be possible to make it drag and drop a filter from one place to another (maybe with multiple selections)to change it's priority?

- would it be possible to make the random option use the in built random instead of your 16 custom colours (think that's what it's doing now could be wrong) as the in built one is not limited and it leaves your more distinctive 16 custom ones for better uses. EDIT: ignore this one it does seem to use the in built random generator!

-Again, probably not possible but if you could set your "gradient" option so that you could choose a colour for that particular filter name so that all tracks with that name would get lighter by that specific colour instead of by the common one I would be over the moon even more but again, just a passing fancy really
Think that's all for now..

Thanks Tim, You are a big part in making my musical life easy! Thanks!

[Subz]

Originally Posted by sws

Hey everyone,

I've added a new feature to the SWS extension for automatically coloring your tracks. For example, I always color my folders blue, why not have it happen automatically?

Initially this feature is in beta, go to http://www.standingwaterstudios.com/reaper/beta to download.



Here's how it works - Open the autocolor dialog from the View menu (SWS Autocolor). Add "rules" by clicking on the Add button. Double click (name) and type in a piece of a track name, like "gtr". Then press the square of color next to the Remove button to choose your desired color. Then press "Apply" and any tracks with gtr in their name are colored. If you want this to happen automatically, check the Enable box. (Then anytime you change a track name or add a track, it applies for you.)

There are also special types of names/filters and colors, right click in the list to access them. For example, you can have unnamed (eg new) tracks automatically colored randomly.

Many possibilities here, let me know what you think! I'll release it into the main download once I'm sure there aren't any nasty bugs.

Tim

Ooooohhh!!

interesting!!

i'm all up for auto color folder tracks to one color (as i do that any who) & i like the random color for new tracks idea!!

i got to get ready for the radio show tonight but i'll play with the beta after that

Thanks

Subz

[Reflected]

super useful!
Thanks!

[NAS]

How is he not working for Cockos ?
I'll never know

NAS

[Reflected]

It could be useful to have

(new added track) - random color.

[mabian]

The new auto color function is utterly cool!

A question: is it possible to enable autocoloring per single filter beside globally?

More broad question - not strictly autocolor related: how about being able to set peaks and background color separately in items? It's a little feature I badly miss from SONAR, it helps a lot readability and recognizability of items.

Thanks a million,
Mario

[BenK-msx]

reminds of a tv documentary i saw while ago:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia (for the curious)


v cool! thanks.

[Jeffos]

as a big good news never come alone, some goodies too..

Originally Posted by sws

As for the other posts here, looks like Jeffos is going to tackle some of the "FX chain" with item actions. (His actions are prefaced with S&M in the action list)

just tackled them! so, will be availble in next SWS extensions release:

Added misc actions:
- Clear active take(s)
- Split MIDI or Audio at prior zero crossing

Added items' and tracks' FX chains actions:
- Show FX chain (FX n) for selected track(s)
- Load/Paste FX chain to selected item(s), slot n
- Load/Paste FX chain to selected track(s), slot n
- Copy FX chain from selected item
- Cut FX chain from selected item
- Paste FX chain to selected item(s)
- Paste FX chain to selected item(s), all takes
- Clear FX chain for selected item(s)
- Clear FX chain for selected item(s), all takes
- Clear FX chain for selected track(s)

Updated "Create cue bus track from track selection" actions:
- renamed actions (were "Cuetrack from track selection")
- With pre-fader mode, these actions now copy pan/vol from selected tracks

Added track FX actions:
- Set FX n online for selected track(s)
- Set FX n offline for selected track(s)
- Bypass FX n for selected track(s)
- Bypass FX n for selected track(s)
- Bypass all FXs for selected track(s)
- Unbypass all FXs for selected track(s)
  ..related online/offline actions natively implemented

Originally Posted by nicholas

Along similar lines, these would be handy also:

Copy FX from selected item
Paste stored FX to selected item(s)

.. it was a real pleasure to add few lines of code for ya!

[Kundalinguist]

That's brilliant, Tim. Ironically, it seems so obvious a feature once it's there in front of you. I feel like I've just witnessed the invention of something as significant as that metal cutter on a edge of the box for Saran Wrap. [applause].

[BenK-msx]

@Jeffos - FAB!! [jumps around like a small child]
thankyou for this addition of awesomness.
will be very well used!

[jas]

Originally Posted by NAS

How is he not working for Cockos ?
I'll never know

NAS

Tim, you're absolutely essential what Reaper is for many of us.
You are developing very practical solutions for end-users.
Thanks.

[musicbynumbers]

Thanks Jeffos too! sounds like some good stuff there!

[airon]

Neat indeed. Looking forward to trying these.

[Mercado_Negro]

This new Auto Color feature is amazing. Thanks Tim, thanks a lot man!

Jeffos.... now way! nah... that's not true, is it? Copy/paste FX chains... that's not true, right? RIGHT?

*I* *Need* *The* *Next* *Build* *Too* Please!

[sws]

Posting from my phone as I'm not home, but expect a new build within a few hours.

[nicholas]

Originally Posted by sws

Posting from my phone as I'm not home, but expect a new build within a few hours.

Brill!

[sws]

OK v1.6.0 is officially released, with Autocoloring and all of Jeffos's wonderful "S&M" actions! (The list of his new stuff is here.) Everyone enjoy and thanks much for all of the kind words.

Edit:
More info on Jeffos's awesome actions - "Load/Paste FX chain to selected item(s)/track(s), slot n": (n is 1..8)

First time you run the "Load/Paste" action on a specific slot, it asks you to browse to a .RfxChain file and then paste. This is then remembered/associated with the slot and you won't be prompted again.

This is saved to <my_reaper_dir>\Plugins\S&M.ini. You can also manually edit this file.

Also, the autocolor preferences are stored to the standard reaper.ini in the [SWS] section. I'll probably add some sort of import/export at some point.

Tim