Init Settings Vs. Init Parameters

[danoise]

Hi all,

except from a recently reported crash problem I am happy about the newfound ability to copy and paste settings for DSP devices.

But I find it a bit strange that the shortcuts are not consistent…Init parameters are used for resetting assigned MIDI controllers, while “init settings” will reset the device parameters. However, to initialize parameters one need to rightclick the device in a DSP lane, while “initialize settings” is only available from the mixer view.

Wouldn’t it be better if both shortcuts were available throughtout the application?

[taktik]

@Bantai

I agree, that needs cleaning up. Not consistent as it is now.

Yips.

To be very nitpicky about it: one can initialize a parameter, but copying and pasting a parameter would strictly speaking involve reproducing the slider’s graphics and code behind it, whereas the expected behavior consists of copying and pasting the state, value or argument that a certain parameter has at that time.

One can open a door, but copying a door to another house would in many cases result in unwanted behavior, let alone cutting. Rather, one wants to copy the state of a door and apply that state to other doors.

Anyway, in practice the word parameter is not used very consistently, and I fear it would not lead to a decrease in confusion if we were to adopt the guidelines above that suggest the syntactically more correct “init parameters; copy values; paste values”. Perhaps state would be a viable trade-off, but is it possible to initialize a state? Alas, catch-22…

Doesnt “Init/Copy/Paste Settings” do the job as well? Should then simply use this instead of “Parameters” in the Device FX context menu…

[danoise]

How about:

Clear MIDI assignments (instead of “Init Parameters”)

And I agree, “copy/paste/init settings” is a good enough description. But, for me, the best workflow would be to have a copy/paste/init preset command - you rarely need to reset, or transfer, all presets from one device to another (and if you wanted to, it would be possible to copy and paste the FX device itself).

Edit: Perhaps a quick and dirty copy/paste preset could be implemented as if the effect was saving an .fxp file to the harddisk, but in fact it was writing the data to the clipboard ? Pasting FX would be simular, reading from the clipboard as if it was an .fxp file located on the harddisk…

[taktik]

@danoise

Clear MIDI assignments (instead of “Init Parameters”)

It does more than this. It also resets all parameters, so that would be misleading…

[danoise]

OK I am confused !

As far as I understand, “init settings” will initialize parameters back to the saved state. Not just for the current set of parameters (the “preset”), but the entire set of presets (the “preset bank”).

Why should the clearing of MIDI assignments do something simular? Couldn’t this be broken into different commands, so it is possible to clear MIDI assignments, and initialize the preset independantly? It would make it a lot easier to come up with a name as well, with clearly defined functionality like that.

I think vV is doing the manual entry about this topic. Perhaps he can explain how it is supposed to work ? …

[vvoois (vV)]

@danoise

I think vV is doing the manual entry about this topic. Perhaps he can explain how it is supposed to work ? …

I did some emphasizing on a few words about the midimapping explanations and added a warning about the parameter behavior regarding the “init settings” option.

From http://wiki.renoise.com/wiki/index.php?n=Renoise.MIDIMapping :

To remove all mappings assigned to DSP/VST effect sliders in a specific track, rightclick upon the DSP effect (Inside the effect-frame!) and select Init parameters or press lshift-lctrl-del (Note that all parameter settings are also reset to their default values!).
To remove a specific mapped parameter of a DSP/VST effect, rightclick the DSP/VST frame and select Map midi parameters, select the desired parameter to be cleared and press the clear button.

It is all in the same paragraph, the single mapping removal as well as the full mapping removal.
If there is something not explained well in there then maybe I should rephrase certain things so you now have the chance to tell me.