Re: [Traverso-devel] Thoughts on plugin strategy

[Jonatan Liljedahl]

Nicola Döbelin wrote:
> Hi Jonatan, (sorry for replying to your personal account)
> 
>> I agree mostly with all you said. But one thing bothers me, I don't
>>  think we should load any plugins but gain and pan into tracks by 
>> default. Not even EQ or dynamics... _but_ it should be very easy to
>> just press a button for "Add plugin", which brings up a menu of
>> available plugins to choose from. The privileged plugins (shipped
>> with Traverso and with nice GUI's) would be at the top of the menu,
>> perhaps with a separator to separate them from other user-installed
>> plugins.
> 
> That's a good point. IIRC the TAP- and SWH packages contain a huge
> number of plugins, so a menu "Add Effect" could be organized like
> that:
> 
> - EQ 
> - Dynamics
> - Reverb
> - Plugins -> (Submenu with all 3rd-party plugins)
> 
> Or maybe we need a dialog which categorizes the 3rd-party plugins.

Perhaps all categories at the toplevel, and then list any privileged
plugins at the top of each category, with a separator-line...
Also, only categories with plugins in them would be shown.

>> Also, if the gain/pan controls (the "fixed" ones at the left of
>> each track) uses the actual gain/pan plugins to do their work
>> (multiplicating their value with the value of optional gain/pan
>> curves), then perhaps those plugins shouldn't be removable from the
>> track. Or, it might be better to let these controls do their work
>> as they do now, no need for plugins. But only provide _optional_
>> gain/pan plugins for the sake of curve control of those parameters,
>> which would mean we don't load _any_ plugins into tracks by
>> default. (this would be the best way, imho)
> 
> What I like about your idea of gain and pan plugins is that they can
> be re-arranged in the plugin chain just as every other plugin. Pre-
> and post-fader effects would become a no-brainer. If the fixed pan
> and gain controls do not appear as plugins in the chain, however, we
> need to define a pre-fader and a post-fader plugin slot.
> 
> I would prefer having a gain plugin loaded by default *which cannot
> be removed*. (One could argue if a pan plugin is always needed.) This
> plugin would do all gain related controls, that is a single gain
> value as well as the curve.

You have a good point there. I forgot about the pre/post fader feature... =)

> As to loading plugins by default: How about letting the user decide
> in the configuration page which plugins should be loaded by default
> when a new track / song / project is created?

Yes, that would be nice!
But still, gain (and perhaps pan) should always be there anyhow. Or else
the fixed gain-controls will have to be disabled (not drawn) when
there's no gain plugin...

Regarding the plugin GUI's, should they pop up as small windows (as
traditional) or should we also be able to integrate them into the
trackview? perhaps docking them into the left of the track (where the
fixed gain/pan and other stuff is), or dock them into an extra area over
or under the track, like this:

+---------------+---------------+--------+-----------------------
|               |               |        |
| GUI for plug1 | GUI for plug2 | etc... |
|               |               |        |
+---------------++--------------+--------+-----------------------
| trackname      |
| gain/pan       |      audioclip waveforms...
| REC arm, etc.. |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------

I think that would be kind of cool. Simple a small button/symbol in the
corner of each plugin GUI which toggles if it should be in an individual
window or docked in above the track. Or perhaps one toggle per track:
show all plugin GUI's above track or not.

-- 
/Jonatan    -=( http://kymatica.com )=-