Following on from the faders discussion, this idea:
In using the ui a lot I’ve been thinking about ways to minimise hand movement from the mouse to the keyboard. Most ‘advanced’ users stick closer to the keyboard for speed, but occasionally you have to grab the mouse. And if you’ve grown up with windows then the mouse is under heavy usage.
I find I’m about 50/50 keyboard/mouse.
In the pattern data most of the editing under ‘edit mode’ is done using the keyboard. This is fine for quickly arranging notes and offs, but work gets a little more keyboard intensive when you’re editing vol / pan / and 00xx commands, especially when getting a really fine adjustment.
The idea: holding a keyboard key on the left side (e.g. ~) and hovering over the desired vol / pan / or 00xx value the mousewheel scrolls through all the possible values. The start defaults, respecitvely, would be 40 / 80 / and whatever 00xx value is at in the automation flow.
This is an added option, mostly to save moving your right hand from the mouse, allowing for quick vol / pan / 00xx retouches - especially useful for quickly editing dynamic melody or percussion lines, possibly quicker than arrowing through and typing in the values. Though under this idea the old way can be maintained.
Maybe as an addition (or preference) we could have the values changed by holding L/R-button and dragging up/down (left/right). This would make it faster for bigger value-changes.
And by holding the R-button you wouldn’t even need a modifier key, since AFAIK the R-button on the mouse doesn’t do any function in the pattern right now.
No software i use that offers mousewheel for input offers the kind of resolution i can get from simply dragging a handle or typing in a number. I use a lot of different software, and it just doesn’t seem useful for anything other than scrolling or zooming in and out on things, and even for the zooming it feels imprecise.
I wouldn’t be AGAINST it in renoise, i’m just saying it probably wouldn’t have any value at all for me personally
I’d prefer a R-click plus dragging up/down, simply because you don’t need a modifier key.
Nothing exotic here, that’s how it already works in the boxes top left in Renoise. Except that there you can also use the L-click, which is already taken in the Pattern editor.
And if you really needed an alternative way of setting values (more/less precise) you could, for example, use both mouse keys. It might not seem very practical right now, but you’d get used to it.
Other than that, a modifier key. But I’d rather use my other hand for typing notes and stuff.
I wouldn’t mind even a R-click + mousewheel. That’d also be nice, imo.
Don’t use it if you prefer the keyboard typing method.
Each click-roll of the wheel can be set to +/- 1 value. So on vol you’ve only got 64 values, pan 128, and on the 00xx, well maybe a button combo can move either +/- 1 or +/- 10. ?
Glad people like the idea. I don’t know how codeable it is.
Yes, but only if you don’t move the mouse while holding it.
A fast R-click could still be used for the menu.
And entering the values should work so that the mouse cursor would “disappear” and stay in that value area after being dragged up/down, like it does in the other value boxes.
