Inserting an ‘I’ into any column of effect data could reserve all rows to the right of it for user-defined strings of comment text.
I’d use the shit out of this, anyone else?
+1
I’d be more likely just to use a plugin or the song comments, or hell, even a piece of manuscript. I think it would also be a rather messy to create that many columns on every track.
Nothing forcing you to use it and you can still use the methods you mention as they already exists. Along with Pattern Names/Comments and creating Sections if you so desire.
I think it seems quite a neat little idea! Although I doubt I’d actually use it much personally…
At first I was like “Uhm, nah…” but then I was all like “Oh, yeah…”
Instead of putting this in the effects, I think it would be neater if there was simply another optional column (like toggling the pan and delay columns) that you could just type whatever you wanted in.
Once you put an I in all the columns beyond it become comment columns. This still allows normal pattern commands before it. Having an additional column especially for it is likely to take up even more screen real estate. It also allows you to chose the length. Plus doesn’t push it to the righthand side of all the normal effects columns you might have open. I think in the long run the method in the original post would be neater.
Unless it could be made more like pop-up comment boxes. But then it still isn’t as immediate when glancing through the pattern…
Only problem is it can’t actually be done! Well not with I in the first segment of an effect column.
Pattern Effect commands are now alphanumeric. Before we were limited to controlling 15 devices in a DSP chain (0 being the standard Vol/Pan device.) Now we can control 35 of them. Iyxx is control of the 18th device in the chain.
0Ixx is also taken for Fade In. But there are 0xyy type letters left (or I believe the numbers are now fully depreciated, right?) So something can be done from the basis of the idea.
I like the idea to comment anything and making notes into Renoise.
Coupled with an OSC Pattern command (like the actual Midi Pattern command), it would also be neat for passing strings messages to other hardwares via OSC.
+1
I’d really appreciate it for adding ideas as I’m listening, “filer sweep here”. Also very useful if you were working with longer samples, “Start of first vocal line add fx” “Start of second vocal line no fx” etc.
I’d only want to use this on tracks with a lot of columns of complex effect automation, sometimes the only way to find out what your commands are actually doing is to play the track through, which can be quite time consuming if you’re dealing with long delay / feedback trails that are built up over several patterns…
Having little comments like this could make it easier to ‘organise your code’ into little labelled chunks that can be copied and pasted around.
The idea of a separate comments column is pretty neat also! Might clutter up the already cramped track headers though?
Oh bugger. How about a slash? /
That currently doesn’t do anything with my keyboard shortcut layout (which is just the default one).
i think this is a nice idea, worthy of consideration in some way, shape or form.
Which is why I would keep it toggled off unless I was wanting to look at whatever comments were made. I guess you could do a similar thing with +/- effects columns but it seems sloppier and things might get mixed up (in my brain, anyway). Really, this tweak to his idea was mostly about saving screen real estate and general ui cleanliness. But, if you wanna leave comments on all the time, i guess you would loose a couple or 10 pixels or so? Suppose I assumed a no comment mode would be typical usage.
sorry about your phone, by the way…
That makes sense. Then it could also auto-size to the correct length (of the longest comment) within reason. Plus maybe Global On/Off, rather than per track. Unless you enter a note it’s only a single character so wouldn’t use much space and toggling this would quickly give you an indication of which tracks have comments somewhere.
Now I’m not sure which I think it more elegant… EDIT: Quite possible your solution as I can see it causing less havoc to currently existing user Tools, which might be worthy of consideration.
(But I would agree with slash being a suitable character to indicate start of comments if done in effects column.)
Any possibility where a script keeps an eye on the cursor and track movement and simply pops up a gui with the description when the cursor hits a line that contains a specific (non-existing) pattern effect command?
You can program the GUI to op up a dialog and automatically close it, just take care the keys are routed back to Renoise to prevent irritation that a user has to focus back on Renoise in order to scroll on.
Really like the mockup, doubt still if I’d use it a lot… But comments just like in programming, that would be awesome.
this would be great to use +1
+1
This is almost essential for people like me who don’t work on tracks for long periods of time and have shitty memories ^^
Actually, routing keys back to renoise would not solve the focus problem, AFAIK. The keys can only be routed back to the ‘global’ context, so bye bye pattern editor focus. I think.
As far as I see there would be 2 alternative ways for solving this. 1) using the “focus middle frame” lua trick, which would in effect focus the pattern editor. Don’t remember how it was done, but it most definitely was possible. 2) not using a GUI for the messages, but the status bar.
Cool idea, but would also need a way to store data with the song. Currently known techniques include saving data in instruments and the comments section.
I like the idea. It could be done like pop up notifier in Ubuntu: it’s going transparent when mouse cursor is above. See in the random yt vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pJpx8_nDVAc#t=385s
Status bar is indeed the better place, because dialogs do pretty strange things in various Linux flavors (not to forget about that).
Or simply create a table in the song-comments.
But the idea was to have comments visible right in the pattern. Maybe status bar to show the information and different background colour for line which has comment? Ofc colour only for line in the certain track.