a few usability ideas

Community Ideas for Ardour
#1

forgive me if these have been suggested elsewhere, or if i am just missing something.

  1. copy and paste track settings similar to a template i suppose, but on a smaller scale. there should be the ability to copy all track settings (sends, plugins, midi assignments, channel ins/outs etc) and paste as new tracks. they should also be able to be saved as 'sub templates' within a template (or within a default set). this would work hand in hand with the templates functions, for example:
    • start a new session, selecting 'live band' template (or whatever).
    • this particular template might have say 8 tracks, all set with an eq plugin, and a send to a reverb bus containing a reverb plugin. The first 4 tracks are also connected to a 'drum mix' bus.
    • i now realise that my masterpiece requires a track containing some bongo playing, which i want to treat as another drum track (ie route through the drum mix bus). i simply add a new track, and in the dialog where you select the type of track there should be an option to choose things like 'drum track (connects to drum mix)', 'vocal track (might add some more eq options)', 'reverb bus (sets up a bus with reverb plugin already set to some defaults)' etc.
    i could also decide that my custom 'zither' track needs to be duplicated for use with my 'lagaphone', but since i don't need it in any other projects, i simply right click the track (or whatever) and choose 'duplicate track settings' to make a new track with the same connections/plugins etc.
  2. 'delete' option for plugins/sends/inserts
    • as far as i can tell, the only way to remove plugins from a list is to choose 'cut', which obviously gets rid of any others you have in the 'clipboard'. a simple 'delete' option added to the list would be nice, and i don't think too hard to implement.
  3. faster way to activate/deactivate and adjust mix/level of plugins/sends/inserts
      having to right click on a send to open up an edit window just to change the send levels is a bit tedious, when for instance you have 12 tracks mixed differently for 3 headphone mixes and fussy musos on the other end :) having a way to adjust (and monitor) send/plugin mix levels as well as 'active/inactive' states would be very useful. maybe integrate the bar controller with the send label list and make something like 'ctrl/click' activate/deactivate the send/plugin. this way the only time you need to 'edit' the send/plugin is when you want to change internal settings (target ports, plugin parameters etc).

    4. hope this isn’t too much for yas :wink:

#2

thanks guys. i really believe ardour is becoming the most powerful daw software in existence. great job!

#3

  1. This will be considered.

  2. Shift-right click deletes a redirect (=plugin/send/insert).

  3. middle-click to activate/deactivate, ctrl-right click to open the editor. Editing send gain is a bit tedious at the moment, yes. That will probably be addressed after 2.0 .

#4

  1. is filed in mantis already as a feature request, and will be done early in the life of post-2.0

  2. i will do this in the next couple of days

  3. we have discussed this many times and your proposal is likely to be the solution we take. it will be a post-2.0 feature.

thanks for your feedback and ideas. stay in touch!

#5

I like what I am seeing very much, the only thing I would ask for at this time is that the import loops in the loop manager automatically be at the project tempo so you can preview at project tempo Kind of annoying to have to paste a track to hear what it will sound like at tempo. Other than that this software is awesome.