Re: big picture stuff (was re: widget)

[Fredrik Roos]

On Fri, Feb 02, 2001 at 05:16:57PM -0500, David O'Toole wrote:
> > I dont know why you think this would be helpfull.  I have never seen a
> > Buzz machine with too many paramaters.  Even if the pattern view is
> 
> Some of the synths have a lot (multiply by number of tracks.) However I
> think the widget choices (and eventually that layout extension we
> discussed on this list) will make the problem go away. The real problem
> wasn't size of the control boxes, it was that Buzz drew only sliders that
> all looked identical (and had veeeery tiny handles! :-)) If the widgets
> are broken up visually (both with outlines around each track's controls
> and by using different widget types) then I don't think it'll be an issue.
> 
> > convenient and easy.  Collapsable frames would just clutter it up with
> > little collapse buttons and expand buttons.  I have no problems
> > scrolling left and right to get to other columns in the pattern editor
> > either.  Its easier to scroll left and right than it is to grab the
> > mouse and click "collapse" and "restore" buttons.
> 
> Oh. This was only for the GUI control boxes, not for the pattern editor.
> Yeah, having widgets in the pattern editor would kind of suck :-)

That's not what i meant. You are right about control boxes not being a
problem if you arrange the widgets in a good way. The problem is in the
pattern editor. Let's assume we have a 3 OSC synth with 2 filters and a
couple of modulation options. That would mean you could only have one
track visible in the pattern editor at a time, even if you're only
interested in 2-3 of the parameters.  
My idea was that you should be able to hide the parameter columns you
aren't interested in. It would allow you to get a better overview and
still offer full control over each channel in the pattern. The other 
solution is to make every parameter global (some buzz machines do this) but
i think this approach is better.

    --fredrik