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07-12-2020, 05:01 AM
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#1
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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WIP - Hummingbird Project
At an undisclosed location, in the RetroSonic Labs, work has begun on the Hummingbird Project. Below is a screen shot of the early prototype:
The mission statement is short: "Simple, yet elegant"
It is aimed at small displays or larger displays were you wan't to maximize display real estate.
The aim is for a light tone with subtle contrast, avoiding washed-out or harsh, over-brightness.
The arrange view is designed to capture the appearance of the morning sky and white clouds.
I am going for a flatish look. Not truly flat, but leaning in that direction. As the mission statement says, "Simple. yet elegant."
The toolbar is from WT's Brawn Bespoke, but is just a place marker for now. This is a from-scratch build.
So far, the build is progressing fairly quickly, it helps that I have a better handle on things and I am not trying to wedge things into someone else's work.
Last edited by Retro; 07-13-2020 at 05:23 AM.
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07-13-2020, 04:53 AM
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#2
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Here is an update of the MCP.
Not totally happy with the pan/width knob. There will be color options that are color coordinated with the volume fader. There will be a black fader option known as "The Dark Crystal."
The env is more a place marker than set. Not enough space in its present form for "Preview" I am considering using a circle "A" (for Automation) instead of the dot-line symbol.
The recarm button at the bottom of the MCP will be revised. Not totally happy with the circle symbol, but it is starting to grow on me.
Slowly clothing this naked beast.
Edit: You can't tell from the screenshot, but I changed the meter colors to a blue scheme that changes to yellow as is approaches peak to go with that of the arranger background.
Last edited by Retro; 07-13-2020 at 04:59 AM.
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07-13-2020, 05:28 AM
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#3
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Pixel Pusher
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Blighty
Posts: 4,951
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retro
This is a from-scratch build. ... it helps that I have a better handle on things and I am not trying to wedge things into someone else's work.
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This is music to my ears, and I guarantee that you're going to continue to find progress to be more creative and less of a struggle.
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07-13-2020, 08:49 AM
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#4
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Quote:
Originally Posted by White Tie
This is music to my ears, and I guarantee that you're going to continue to find progress to be more creative and less of a struggle.
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Yes, I know, this was your recommendation from the beginning in your themer's guide, but that first mod was supposed to be only a minor tweak. Little did I know the whirling vortex I was stepping off into. All through that build I was looking forward to the next one when I could start with a blank canvas.
Edit: BTW - I am using your scroll bars from Brawn and I may end up leaving them in there because they seem to fit so well with what I am doing.
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07-13-2020, 07:15 PM
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#5
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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MCP pieces in place. Not sure about the black recinput below the recarm. It is what I had originally planned, though, I may change it.
I think I will move on to the TCP while I meditate on the tweaks to the MCP I want to make.
I am open to any comments or suggestions.
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07-13-2020, 09:12 PM
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#6
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: quebec CA
Posts: 1,576
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way to go mister Jay !!!
__________________
[cpu=i7-6700,12gig ram]DAW=Reaper-[roland-quad-capture]-[krk rokit-5 G3]-[TR5-eq 81]-
[amplitube-max]
YouTube: ricky & marty
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07-13-2020, 11:17 PM
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#7
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Warrington, UK
Posts: 1,444
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retro
This is a from-scratch build.
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Well done, Retro.
This is exactly what I did and although I had some "issues" along the way it is still much easier to create a "from scratch" theme than it is to understand how an existing theme works. At least that what I found.
cheers
andy
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07-14-2020, 10:16 AM
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#8
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Quote:
Originally Posted by martmix
way to go mister Jay !!!
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Thank you. Maybe this will be something that will work for you, martmix; you should be able to stack 30 plus across the screen
Quote:
Originally Posted by synkrotron
Well done, Retro.
This is exactly what I did and although I had some "issues" along the way it is still much easier to create a "from scratch" theme than it is to understand how an existing theme works. At least that what I found.
cheers
andy
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Thank you. I have followed the progress of your theme; congratulations on creating something that has added value to the Reaper community and not only met your own needs, but others as well. This is the third theme I have worked on. It is nice to not have to try to wrap my head around what someone else has done and what should and must remain and what should and can be removed.
Last edited by Retro; 07-14-2020 at 10:22 AM.
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07-14-2020, 07:38 PM
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#9
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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The latest state of the MCP. Lots of little tweaks, not a lot of major headway. Working on making all the iterations of the buttons. Was making only one iteration of each as I was establishing look and layout. No reason to commit to production runs until design was set.
Not totally happy with Recmon. It may need a stronger border to the image or may need to be a tad bit smaller.
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07-15-2020, 12:03 AM
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#10
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Warrington, UK
Posts: 1,444
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retro
It is nice to not have to try to wrap my head around what someone else has done and what should and must remain and what should and can be removed.
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Absolutely
This is what I try to explain sometimes.
A theme such as the latest V6 default is great for people who are not sure what they want and need to experiment with stuff without having to dive into WALTER. And that is what makes the WALTER for that theme both very powerful and most difficult to follow and understand.
Once you begin to get a handle on what the simplest of WALTER code can do, along with creating your own graphical elements, you realise that you no longer need such powerful and complex coding. It's just a matter of using WALTER to place each element exactly where you want it.
All that said, I still fully appreciate that delving into such code is never going to suit every REAPER user and there will always be a need for themes that are flexible and customise-able through simple tools and methods.
cheers,
andy
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07-15-2020, 05:04 AM
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#11
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Quote:
Originally Posted by synkrotron
Absolutely
This is what I try to explain sometimes.
A theme such as the latest V6 default is great for people who are not sure what they want and need to experiment with stuff without having to dive into WALTER. And that is what makes the WALTER for that theme both very powerful and most difficult to follow and understand.
Once you begin to get a handle on what the simplest of WALTER code can do, along with creating your own graphical elements, you realise that you no longer need such powerful and complex coding. It's just a matter of using WALTER to place each element exactly where you want it.
All that said, I still fully appreciate that delving into such code is never going to suit every REAPER user and there will always be a need for themes that are flexible and customise-able through simple tools and methods.
cheers,
andy
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BTW - I was going to mention this last post, but I forgot. I like your avatar.
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07-15-2020, 06:47 AM
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#12
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Warrington, UK
Posts: 1,444
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retro
I like your avatar.
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Ah! Thank you
Here it is in all its current glory haha!
Taken from my Bandcamp page so I'm not sure if it will show up here.
The yellow/orange/red part of the image was created a while ago using JWildfire, which is a flame fractal graphics generator.
The synkrotron text was created in BricsCAD, which is an engineering CAD package. I used that because I am most familiar with it.
In BricsCAD I saved it as a DXF file.
I then opened the DXF file in Inkscape so that I could save it as a SVG file.
And finally I brought everything together in Affinity Designer.
Sounds quite a complex process but I'm not experienced enough in Affinity Designer to be able to do everything within it.
I hope you don't mind me sharing my process here in your post
cheers
andy
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07-15-2020, 08:49 AM
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#13
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Quote:
Originally Posted by synkrotron
Ah! Thank you
Here it is in all its current glory haha!
Taken from my Bandcamp page so I'm not sure if it will show up here.
The yellow/orange/red part of the image was created a while ago using JWildfire, which is a flame fractal graphics generator.
The synkrotron text was created in BricsCAD, which is an engineering CAD package. I used that because I am most familiar with it.
In BricsCAD I saved it as a DXF file.
I then opened the DXF file in Inkscape so that I could save it as a SVG file.
And finally I brought everything together in Affinity Designer.
Sounds quite a complex process but I'm not experienced enough in Affinity Designer to be able to do everything within it.
I hope you don't mind me sharing my process here in your post
cheers
andy
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Don't mind at all. I am using Affinity Designer as well. It was a huge step up from Inkscape -- much more polished and intuitive in my opinion.
If I remember correctly from a past post in another thread, aren't you a former draftsman? I was a mechanical draftsman out of high school and did it for a year and a half before forced to pursue another career during the oil crunch in the early 1980's. You will notice I have the text set to read from the right as all proper drafters would.
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07-15-2020, 11:50 AM
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#14
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Warrington, UK
Posts: 1,444
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retro
Don't mind at all.
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Thanks
Quote:
If I remember correctly from a past post in another thread, aren't you a former draftsman?
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Wow! What a memory! I don't even remember mentioning that
Quote:
I was a mechanical draftsman out of high school and did it for a year and a half before forced to pursue another career during the oil crunch in the early 1980's.
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Ah, right. I started work in '76 on the shop floor and transferred to the drawing office in '79.
I worked at the same place for ten years before going on contract so it may be that I missed out on the oil crunch thing.
Quote:
You will notice I have the text set to read from the right as all proper drafters would.
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Yes, indeed! I think I mentioned that at one point, so that must have been the post in which I mentioned being a draffy.
Anyway! Back on topic haha
cheers
andy
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07-15-2020, 01:19 PM
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#15
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Quote:
Originally Posted by synkrotron
Yes, indeed! I think I mentioned that at one point, so that must have been the post in which I mentioned being a draffy.
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That is the post I am referring to. Since it is something that has always bothered me, when you mentioned it, it caught my attention and stuck in my memory.
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07-16-2020, 02:22 PM
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#16
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Update:
-adjusted recmon images
-finished solo and mute buttons
-made unsolo and mute meter images
-made new knobs for pan/width faders
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07-17-2020, 11:54 AM
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#17
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Update:
-Finished mcp_env and I rather like the splash of color. It will really set-off and call attention to changes in automation for a track.
-Finished the I/O
The combination of the track-idx and the track label add a fair amount of selected color to the track and are in the same area so they present a unified appearance I think.
The basic MCP is nearing a wrap.
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07-17-2020, 01:18 PM
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#18
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Warrington, UK
Posts: 1,444
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retro
The basic MCP is nearing a wrap.
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Looking good
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07-17-2020, 01:27 PM
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#19
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Quote:
Originally Posted by synkrotron
Looking good
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Thank you. Just starting to fool around with the TCP.
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07-18-2020, 12:59 PM
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#20
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Update:
Using parts from MCP to mock-up the TCP and establish the layout, then I will go back an make replacement parts.
I made a folder and noticed that the child tack did not indent. Well, it indented, but the background image seems to overlay the space covering the indent. You can see the indentation under the last track if you look closely. The tcp_bg does not move with the indentation--which not only cover the indentation, but throws off the TCP layout. Is there a way to fix this?
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07-18-2020, 02:24 PM
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#21
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Warrington, UK
Posts: 1,444
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I'm seriously considering ditching the folder buttons on the TCP. They sometimes do not work as expected and sometimes I click one by mistake...
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07-18-2020, 02:48 PM
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#22
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Quote:
Originally Posted by synkrotron
I'm seriously considering ditching the folder buttons on the TCP. They sometimes do not work as expected and sometimes I click one by mistake...
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I do all my drag and dropping in the TCP.
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07-18-2020, 04:33 PM
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#23
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Warrington, UK
Posts: 1,444
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Retro
I do all my drag and dropping in the TCP.
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Yep, same here. I have never used those buttons to create folders.
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07-18-2020, 10:20 PM
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#24
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Went back to White Tie's Theming Guide and got the indent thing sorted out, but I also discovered there is no way to adjust the tcp_bg with the indenting process. I may rethink the background stripe and TCP layout in relation to it as the indentation process compromises the availability of real estate.
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07-19-2020, 10:43 PM
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#25
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Update:
-Updated solo and mute buttons for TCP with a contrasting light and dark which wasn't planned, but I like it.
-Have a slim marker for folder indent which will allow a fair amount of folder nesting in the allotted tab space. I may make it a hollow type outlined marker.
-Moved track_fcomp and track_folder to second color stripe and widened stripe. I still need to refine this some more. I will move folder icon up so it is inside color area on last folder instead of below (see track 6). Track_fcomp needs color variation inside the circle with the triangle (see track 4) to make it stand out a bit more from the background.
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07-22-2020, 09:22 AM
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#26
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Kentucky, USA (trying to get back to Texas)
Posts: 187
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Update:
Working on folders.
-Tinted inside track_fcomp
-Revised folder_last
-Darkened edge bit on both track_fcomp and folder_last from 127/127/127 (as MCP and TCP empty backgrounds) to 86/86/86.
-Revised folder indent
-Added I/O using graphics from MCP. Not sure about whether this will remain or I will revise. I may go with three colored dots.
-Reordered FX and ENV: ENV now is tack to the lower right corner. The graphics for both will change.
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