Individual zoom levels in track view and piano roll editor

[TheMojoMan]

I started working with the midi capabilities of Auria Pro today and I like the functionality a lot. Very easy to use and intuitive. No problem to record stuff with my 'Line 6 Mobile Keys 25'. I Also like these clever extra features like the 'Reference track' drop-down box. Well done, Rim!

However, there is one thing I miss:
When I enter the piano roll editor it has the same zoom level as the track overview. When I change the zoom level in the piano roll editor and close the editor it affects the zoom level of the track view.
So I guess zoom level is global in the current version of Auria Pro or am I missing something?

For my workflow it would be great to have individual zoom levels for the track view and piano roll editor. In the main view I like to have an overview of several regions. Then I would like to select one region and start editing with the piano roll editor. For that I need a higher zoom lever to acces the individual notes.

Is there a chance that this feature might be implemented in one of the next iterations of Auria Pro?

Let the Mojo be with you!

---
iPad Air, iOS 9.1, Auria Pro V2.00

[Rim]

You're right, the zoom level is global. If it weren't, it would be a little confusing when you entered the piano roll. You'd think "Where am I looking at exactly?" every time you entered it. Part of the confusion stems from the fact that a lot of desktop DAWs have piano rolls that only allow you to edit one region at a time. On those DAWs, to enter piano roll, you double click on a region, and that gives you a large screen filled what only that one region. The zoom levels are totally independent in that case. But in Auria, it's different because the piano roll shows the entire track, not just one region. You can't doubletap on a region to open the piano roll, because double tap is reserved for highlighting. So I made a global button for entering the piano roll, and it shows the whole track. And because it's a global piano roll, the zooms need to be tied together, otherwise you loose your place in the track.

Rim

[TheMojoMan]

Hi Rim, thanks for the quick response and your explanations!

I agree that it is the best solution to have a global editor for all regions. I always hated it that you had to exit editing mode and enter it again to work on a different region when using a desktop DAW. But that is no contradiction to seperate zoom levels.

Let me try to explain my main point once more:
Say, I am in track view and have a good overview of all the different regions. After listening to my song I find out that I have to fix some misplaced/bad notes in e.g. three regions.
I select the first region I would like to work on by a simple tap (now highlighted by a blue border). Now it would be super handy if the piano editor view would start with the beginning of the selected region at a higher zoom level when I press the piano roll editor button. This would allow for immediate editing of the notes. When I close the piano roll editor the view/zoom level should return to what was shown before. Then I could continue editing the other bad regions immediately by selecting the next relevant region and entering the piano editor again.
Currently I have to zoom in, do the editing, leave the editor, zoom out again to find the next region to be edited, select it, enter piano roll editor, zoom in again and so on ...
Many in- and out-zooming and searching for the next region which is time consuming and seem totally unnecessary to me.

For me there would be no confusion about where I am in the track because I would have selected the region that I would like to work on before entering the piano editor.

If no region would be selected and zoom level would change when entering the piano roll editor I agree that this might be confusing. In that case the current implementation indeed makes the most sense to me!

So the piano roll editor button should behave different depending on if a region has been selected or no region has been selected. In the first case it should zoom in to the selected region (with the zoom level being similar to the last used value) in the latter case no zooming. That would be the most convenient way to work for me and I guess some others as well (maybe many others?).

I hope you might give this idea some second thought or future consideration even if it would be in some weeks when discussing the next steps with your team (I can imagine how many thoughts, sweat and blood was put in the current version and that it might be too early to touch this 'new born baby' and think about changes already. First you need some time to be proud of it as it is and you have all the right to do so, because your work is really outstanding!)

Cheers!

[mtingle]

+1 intelligent midi zoom.
i.e. If midi region selected, zoom to that region. Once finished, zoom returns to original edited zoom level.

Feels like it would be intuitive.

[Rim]

This idea has been brought up during beta as well, and I'm aware it's a potential solution. I'm just a little concerned it might be confusing for people who selected a region without knowing it. In Auria, it's too easy to get regions selected. When you're scrolling around in a project, it's pretty typical that regions will get selected by your finger movements as you're scrolling. Then you enter the piano roll and it zooms to some region you didn't know you had selected. That could get annoying too. If nothing changes when you press the piano roll icon, it's reassuring. OK, I'm exactly where I was before I pressed it. So I'm not convinced it would be a better overall experience. The best solution would be to be able to double tap on a region and have the piano roll come up for that one region, but this isn't possible in Auria.

Rim

[mtingle]

... it might be confusing for people who selected a region without knowing it...

Rim

Perhaps not. Zooming would only be to the track who's midi editor button had been pressed.

So it's not like it could jump to a region in a completely random place. That would be confusing.

[Rim]

No, I am saying that as you scroll around in the main editor, things are getting selected all the time without you knowing it. Give it a try, it's pretty easy to do accidentally. That's not a problem normally, but if you didn't know you had a tiny little region selected on that track, then you press the piano roll icon, all of a sudden it's zoomed way in to some region you didn't even know was selected. I can see this as being a serious issue and it would "look" buggy if you didn't know why the piano roll seems to pick zoom level all on it's own.

Rim

[Washboy]

How about adding a switch 'Edit -> Zoom Piano Roll to Highlight' (similar to the current 'Edit -> Link Locators and Highlight')? If set, tapping the Piano Roll Edit button would cause the editor to be zoomed to the highlighted area (assuming the highlight was on the same track )

Thinking about it a little more, perhaps it should be a 'Settings' option instead, since I imagine it's a user-preference rather than something that would be turned on and off frequently.

[Rim]

Doing this as a setting is a good idea, I agree.

Rim

[TheMojoMan]

Rim, thank you so much for considering to add this feature!

N.B.: I can comprehend your fears/unease that people might get confused and consider the behavior as buggy. But that would preeminently be the people not reading the manual ... (In fact I appreciate how respectful you treat all questions asked on the forum no matter if the answer could already be found in the manual.)

But hopefully users would quickly understand the benefits of automatic zooming and if somebody does not like it he could easily disable it in the settings. A very nice solution!

[Washboy]

....But hopefully users would quickly understand the benefits of automatic zooming and if somebody does not like it he could easily disable it in the settings. A very nice solution!

I think maybe users should have to enable it, if they want it. Let the status quo be the default

[rossFen]

Working on a 100+ bar song, it’s real nice to be able to isolate a region or section for editing. Select the region and you can go right there to do work without scrolling and zooming around looking for it. If I have a choice between an app that’s easier to understand on the first day, or one I prefer to use on the hundredth, I’ll take the latter.