QTractor Wish List

Hi rncbc,
Here is the never ending list of ideas for QTractor that we talked about. None of these are completely my own, but borrowed from another DAW, which I beleive is the best DAW available under the Win32 enviroment. If you choose to impliment any of this, I would help you in every way possible, be it graphics design, building GUIs with the QT designer, whatever.

Here goes.........

OBJECT EDITING
I will try to explain how this should work, and it should mostly function the same be it audio or MIDI.

Unlike general track editing, picture the wav data itself on the timeline is not really the data itself. It is simply a non-destructive representation of it (pointers to the wav data). This OBJECT can be manipulated just as if it were actually wav data, but really is only a set of pointers to the actual data. The OBJECT can easily be split into pieces, with each piece having it's own independent properties, such as EQ, Reverb, Volumn, Pan, etc. (right click on the OBJECT, select Properties and a window (Object Editor or OE) should open with said parameters available for that single OBJECT)

Each track should be able to contain unlimited OBJECTS.

Each OBJECT should also support Linux plugins (whatever format you choose to implement).

Each indivual OBJECT can also be altkey dragged to another track, or shift-altkey drag copied to another track. Then, those new OBJECT properties can be manipulated seperatly of the original OBJECT as well, as if the original wav data was copied, but still using the original wav data, all in real time (hence the non-destructive-ness of it all).

In example, I have an OBJECT representing wav data, I drag a copy of the OBJECT to track two. Then, I do a pitch change, while maintaining tempo. Non of the original data is harmed in any way, but I've just created a harmony track on track two. No additional HDD space is used for wav data. The OBJECT pointers representing the pitch/tempo change and wav data are saved within the project data.

I hope I am making sense here. This is really a revolutionary way to edit audio. You might also not want to use the term OJBECT, as it could be copyrighted, but I doubt it.

TRACK SECTION (AUDIO)
- A track/wav editor: This can either be internal or external, but it must communicate with the track being edited in such a way to avoid having to save and reload, which generally means realigning the track in the timeline. This editor would be destructive only.

- Having to define a range before splitting a track is a minor pain. How about this method, align the cursor line to where you want the split, press the "t" key, and voila, the track is cut into two OBJECTS. Very neat, quick and effective.

-Rubber Band (or envelope) editing: This should work for both volume and pan, and be track wide. This will also affect any pan/vol settings in the Object Editor. Two different colour envelope lines to make it clear on the track timeline. Should also be able to hide these from the left side of the track (track number section. I don't know what you call that). As far as the effect on the OE (Object Editor), the volume distances would be maintained. ie, you have two Objects on a track, one with volume set to 60%, the other 80%. The volume envelope would keep them both the same distance apart until approaching 0 or 100%, but the OE levels would remain constant among the other objects on that track. The 60% Object would disappear first, followed by the 80% Object. Doing the opposite, the 80% Object would peak out at 100% followed by the 60% finally reaching 100%.

MIXER SECTION
- Built in basic effects: This is arguable, as many people prefer to use plugins for this, but a built in, and bypassable, 3 or 4 band (with sweep on each) is a must. A decent reverb is also expected in most DAW systems. Compression and Limiting would be nice to, all should be replacable with plugins if a user chooses to do so. All this should also be available on the Master Bus outputs.

- Mixer Snapshots with quick retrieve buttons. 8 should be plenty.

- Master Mono/Stereo switch

- Phase reversal switch (could be a track option instead)

- Master Compressor/Limitor on Main outs, or bypassable with user plugins.

- All knobs (pan, eq, reverb, etc) should be easily reset (centered) with a double click.

- At leaset 8 AUX sends and returns. The returns should have the same functionality as a standard audio track.

MIDI SUPPORT
- Does Qtractor support JACK MIDI? I've not seen many apps that do, and there may not be an advantage to it. What do you think?

- External Controllers: The cheaper ones should be supported first, for obvious reasons. Also should contain a "Learn" function.

- Continous Controller support as well for internal parameters such as pan, eq, etc.

- Advanced quantization or midi tracks or ranges.

METRONOME
- Audio metronome with user selectable samples and user selectable output point. I personally like to set the metronome to the center speaker, which I don't normally use while recording.

- Tempo Maps

KEYBOARD COMMANDS:
- HOME: Return to song beginning.
- Numeric Keys 0-9: Position Locators.
- m Key: Brings up Mixer
....more one this later.

This is enough for now. Wow, what a ton of stuff. Sorry about that. I like to be fairly verbose in my explainations, and I wanted to discuss advanced features before you reach the point of not backup up to make changes, if you decide to impliment any of this.

This is simply a list of my own suggestions, that I think will make QTractor the ultimate Linux DAW system.

What do you think?

Lexridge