[Traverso-devel] Hello Traverso P1

[Anthony Bisset]

Hey Guys,

Sorry for disappearing.. I've been taking notes in the background.
My lawyer would like you to know I may have misunderstood Traverso in some
ways and cannot be held liable :)

------------------- Begin Notes --------------------

I'm writing the following with commercial slogans intact partly for fun
(sarcasm) and partly for application because they could help people rally
around the concept of the software. Even successful open source require a
name and personality defined through phrases that help the new user grasp
the purpose.

Traverso's greatest power stems from the developers intention to make
editing a Speed of Thought(TM) process. Chiefly this has been accomplished
through the contextual Mighty-Mouse/Speedy Key(TM) [key+mouse] design.
This should be the focus of the application development; thinking on,
testing and refining this "direct editing approach". [Not just how it's
implemented now, but exploring this idealogy and willing the discovery of
further Speed of Thought interface choices.]

It would be wise for developers to spend time thinking on how to translate
Traverso's contextual controls to Multi-touch LCD panel gestures. The
future of music software is in multi-touch interfaces and Traverso should
be designed now with this in mind.

I see Traverso 0.5 as a well executed foundation for one or more powerful
yet minimalist DAW(s). Visual overload is a common problem with software
circa 2004 forward. Instead of interfaces becoming more meaningful and
refined as screen real-estate boomed the amount of unrelated features
holding weight on a screen has increased leaving many applications
unapproachable to new users. The time to apprehend the system is greater
than finding a simpler system or sticking with what you know already.
Modern DAWs in particular suffer from  visual overload. Traverso partially
solves this problem through its arrange window's mouse+Q global menu
although this menu could be better arranged. In the case of menus; words,
headings and subheadings are *everthing* so carefully choosing how to
layout just this menu can make a lot of difference to end users.

Finally, don't be afraid to change major aspects of Traverso until 1.0.
In Traverso's case be willing to change keystrokes at any time to help
keep the design growing comfortably into the *very limited* computer
keyboard. --Short term use-ability will suffer but the application will be
able to realize it's full potential and avoid feature-jam (key traffic
jams). Most users will respect such a decision. If keystroke assignments
are not kept fluid *and* tested frequently Traverso will struggle to
achieve and maintain the most efficient use of the keyboard.

What niches are left in the DAW arena?
        - Fidelity, every user hopes his system sounds the best
        - Speed of editing, most professionals judge an environment by output 
and productivity
        - Short Learning curve with well properly organized (hierarchal) 
feature set


With the above in mind I'll go on to make suggestions I feel would help
Traverso in becoming a DAW of choice and beyond (some of this is more well
suited for Traverso 4.0 than 1.0:

---------------

1) Consider how artists work and build the interface for them first and
industrial process second;

- Note how artist's recontextualize data and implement methods and
  classes to handle this; for instance an audio clip's amplitude data
  could be copied and converted into midi CC controller data and further
  applied to any target. Or MIDI CC data could be converted to a sinewave
  or squarewave and directly used to ringmodulate other audio clips data.
  Auto type conversion and modulation is really a key area that DAWs totally
  ignore but would make working with them more fun!

2) Consider making the UI more simple instead of more complex.  (Removing
  Icons, Meters, etc.). This seems a bit crazy, but the power of Traverso
  is really in the arrange window UI. Is there some way to keep the user
  in the "Speed of Thought(tm)" editor at all times? This would result in
  highly productive user sessions, which for any DAW is the real measure
  of value.

3) Consider supporting 1 or 2 of the most widely used of the plugin
  formats (this keeps users happy while the features and controls are
  shifting beneath their feet). [VST2 would be a good choice]

4) Don't worry about a mixer UI, just use the main arrange window --
  Mackie Tracktion proves that mixing directly in the arrange view
  (through automation and clip level controls) is fine and Traverso feels
  like a next generation design of Tracktion. Lots of things about
  Tracktion are cool, but Traverso promises to be lots faster.

5) Support MIDI &/or OSC control for Traverso automation from PD, Lemur,
  Max, Etc.

6) Consider allowing user envelopes input from a keystroke - for example;,
shift+v = volume envelope which then allows points to be drawn and edited over 
a whole clip
shift+p = panning envelope
shift+s = speed of playback envelope
shift+~ (new breakpoint on envelope)

6a) Allow copying and pasting of envelopes and fx settings between clips.
  (clip property cut/paste)

7) Consider a preference or user controls for adding noise as super low
  level amplitude modulation of signal rate envelopes (volume, etc) for
  warmer sounding mixes.
  - There are many techniques similar to the above. I've prototyped a few
  of them and would be happy to share at some point

8) Consider allowing clips to play at slower and faster playback speeds as
  defined by an envelope (resample the slowed or sped up playback for the
  current frequency using "secret rabbit code" or similar). The play
  cursor on said clips (which should turn a special color, would then lag or
  accelerate... a (snap or rubber band marker) could be dropped on the
  clips at points where you wanted the cursor to jump back in line with
  the master play position.

9) Consider that simpler designs encourage people to use their ears more
  often... Consider that "if it sounds good, do it" discourages technical
  over-analysis of process and allows artists to be artists and engineers
  to learn to be artists.

10) Routing - Mackie Tracktion wins in this department. It goes a step
  beyond busses allowing users to cable their own signal networks for
  channel audio routing. Consider making Traverso a plugin for PD or PD a
  plugin inside traverso with traverso channel objects routing audio
  around inside PD (or on a per channel basis)... This would totally rock the
  hardcore computer music people's worldview.

11) Keep everything per clip, but of course add groups for quick volume
  changes of whole clip sets.

12) Move very slowly to implement any type of loop playback system.
  Working with Loops is popular only because it's fast. IMO It needs to be
  rethought.. More about this later.

13) work something out with DSPaudio so we can co-develop the app with you
  guys and get some benefit like being able to utilize some of the code ;).

14) Signal flow (physical layout) - Consider putting audio inputs on left
  and audio outputs on right of the arrange frame (into track, out of
  track).

15) beat detective and advanced time editing:   Lets talk about this one
  later... An adaptive timeline with editable properties per channel.

16) Stay focused on audio and perhaps integrate MIDI as a direct function
  of the audio a LA melodyne.  There are several opensource DAWs
  attempting to do everything and not doing anything well so best to focus on 
the
  strong area of the interface and don't implement MIDI or composition
  until a truly original idea sparks something equally as cool as what is there
  now. I'd toss another vote to integrate Traverso within PD as an object
  basically as it is now... That'd be pretty slick. Amazing even.

17) Consider the role that happy accidents play in the composition process
  - A common source of happy accidents is timing. Consider, building an
  adjustable delay (+/-) into every link in the mixer DSP chain so that
  users can adjust the timing of FX events. It might already be needed
  for latency compensation of plugin processes... Many other ideas in
  along these lines.


18) Consider rendering the waveforms in 3D with various visualizations of
  spectral content for different editing views. Melodyne is moving this
  direction with amplitude not just being a peak, but also having
  depth. Someone will eventually go much further than this.. ;)


Traverso 0.5 UI Niggles:

A) Clip Gain changes should be on a logarithmic response to the mouse
input... large gain changes are too slow.

B) Mac laptops don't have multiple mouse buttons without an external
mouse. Lots of audio Professionals use them anyway... Allow room for a
Mac Specific layout or mouse handling

C) Add quick volume ramping (10 or 20ms) to shift+mouse position
movement of play cursor... this would remove much of the needless clicking
we get from moving the play position around during playback.



That's all for now. I hope this is useful and on point... I don't want to
waste any time.

Best Regards,
Anthony Bisset