Kudos to the super-cool team - so far so good! (now get back to work :~)
Here are some issues identified, enhancements and also suggestions to improve, refine and redefine the UX. Some of these may be related to v2 as my testing of v3 was very limited so far -
- Playhead scrubbing - removed in v3. Please bring it back.
. - Chord buttons - please bring these back as pads cannot do what editable chord buttons can do. Check out my Dance Monkey videos to see edited chords with notes spanning lower/higher octaves for each chord. Pads cannot do that and they cannot display chord keys on the keyboard because there is no keyboard - just pads. Pad chords may have their uses but please bring back the 10 Chord buttons.
.
- YouTube
.
.
3. In v2, the handles in the miniature keyboard snap keys to screen edges - please bring this back in v3. Fine scrolling the keyboard is hard to position it to fit the screen precisely for capturing videos. The X button on the top right is too thick (just use the button from v2 which is perfect). Also, the inner/top corners of the keyboard are rounded - inner corners of all bottom panels should be squarish to align with the top panels on screen edges. All corners of top panels should be squarish because of the toolbar on the top.
.
4. Octave buttons - need buttons to scroll the keyboard by an octave up or down. Most of the DAWs and AUs have this feature. Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
.
5. Dual keyboards (like GarageBand) or better yet, triple keyboards (like SynthMaster One) for a wider range of playable keys. Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
.
6. Search - Media Bay without knockout search feature is only half-baked, half functional and hence half user-friendly. Ability to rate, tag, search, filter and sort files (currently glitchy) will add more muscle to it (see: Gmail). Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
.
7. Ratings - Implement this with a scale 1-5 for instruments (see: Factory synth), presets, projects, files which gives us 5 levels of favorites indicating their importance/usefulness as opposed to simple one-dimensional Favorites feature that gives only one vague level of favorites and no clue of how important or trivial the file is.
.
8. Tags - ability to add tags to files and ability to search/filter by tags (see Factory synth with an intuitive Tag Cloud! to filter instruments).
.
9. Sorting by modified date is sorting by the âstring valueâ of the date column instead of the underlying âdate valueâ. Eg: files with time 12:20 pm (noon) sorting above files with time 10:10 pm (night) when sorted by date descending.
.
10. Folders are not very functional. Storing a project inside a folder does not scroll to the project inside the folder and highlight it on launching Cubasis or opening the Media Bay - leaving us clueless as to which project we are currently working on (unless we know in which subfolder to find it).
.
11. New Project is created in the root directory instead of in the selected subfolder.
.
12. No breadcrumbs display for sub folder navigation, losing track of current path until we drill up to the top level again. The â<â icon in the navigation looks like a â|â - please make it more angled.
.
13. When Move is pressed and canceled, the row is still highlighted in purplish blue color and Delete/Auto Play buttons are disabled for the row.
.
14. Display duration of audio files in the Media Bay.
.
15. Display File Count in folder names as a visual cue of its contents. (eg: Demo (12), Test (0)). Or show folders with files inside them in bold and empty folders with normal font weight or light gray/disabled look.
.
16. Auto-Save - Do not re-save for just opening a project, checking its track settings or swiping through its timeline and updates its modified date that messes up the sort order. This is frustrating as we shy away from opening old projects to refer to their settings, etc. This also affects modified dates of folders which is a bummer and so, using folders to keep modified date from messing up sort order of files within the folders is of no use. See LumaFusion, BeatMaker 3, etc - they work perfectly - saving the project only when a change is made to it. This was promised with v3 but still not there yet. Make Auto Save intelligent and optimal. Also, do not update Modified Date of folders if any file inside them is modified. Please add this feature to v2 too.
.
17. Persist sort orders across sessions.
.
18. Persist track heights across sessions.
.
19. Persist collapsed status of the Inspector on the left across sessions.
.
20. Persist Auto Scroll in playback mode across sessions. These preferences should be global and not project-specific. You can even add a section under Settings and have these switches so we can control what preferences to persist across sessions and what preferences to reset to default.
.
21. Background Audio - force set Background Audio back to OFF on launching Cubasis every time! However, as suggested by Samu, this is not recommended for IAA apps. Or maybe you could make some intelligent decision during launch of Cubasis to see if background audio is requested by other IAA apps, if possible, and act accordingly (even if background audio was not turned on in the previous session) which may resolve some reported connection issues to IAA apps.
.
22. My Presets should not have Steinberg icons to their left (see: Master Strip presets). Display a User icon instead.
.
23. Factory presets should not be deletable or editable. For instance, we are able to delete Master Strip presets (I think Iâm wrong on this one)
.
24. Saving a factory preset did not save along with its customizations for Master Strip.
.
25. User presets are not sorted until closed and reopened (after creating a new preset).
.
26. Warn before deleting presets. Delete is a destructive action - if the deleted item cannot be safely moved into the Trash Can, seek a confirmation from the user (displaying the preset name in the popup) before deleting; otherwise, itâs gone POOF!
.
27. Warn before deleting folders if they are not empty.
.
28. Error: âOne plugin not found no nameâ on launching Cubasis which is vague - display the name of the plugin in the error so we can reload/reassign it or report it or deal with it or do whatever.
.
29. After undo, keep the items selected as they were before. Currently, everything gets unselected after undo/redo.
.
30. After splitting an event, both the split events become deselected. Leave the split event on right selected like most other tools do (including v2) because the user mostly wants to delete/act on the split event on the right. Apply this same logic to MIDI note splitting too.
.
31. When we open Master Strip, show presets list on the left and highlight the current preset instead of showing plugins.
.
32. In Master Strip, the output meter numeric reading displays are gone at times, until turned off and on.
.
33. Optional Note Names on Black Keys too.
.
34. Make note names on the white keys a bit darker as they are too light to see in captured videos.
.
35. Pinch vertically in the arranger should resize track heights naturally as pinching on left column is hard without messing up Arm, Mute, Solo and other switches. See other DAWs. Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
.
36. Shortcut buttons for quick track heights - Short, Medium, Tall - similar to Mixer widths. This is really useful on iPhone version where tracks cannot be resized in height! Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
-
Short - display just the instrument names. No switches like Mute, Solo, etc. in this height.
. -
Medium - display instrument names and just the Mute and Solo switches on the track column on the left for each track. Most people would prefer this ideal height while working with more tracks. Try this beautiful Medium height for yourself (with just Mute and Solo switches visible) and you will NEVER go back to the default Tall height again! On my iPad Pro 11â, I see 7 tracks with default tall height but with track heights reduced to Medium (only Mute and Solo switches visible), I can see 12 tracks!! And they look very ELEGANT in this Medium height. For these reasons, I resize tracks heights to Medium every time I launch Cubasis. If users want to see all the switches, they can switch to Tall height quickly to access Freeze, Arm, Monitor and other switches. Freeze and Monitor are rarely used switches and Arm switch with default focused track behavior setting doesnât usually need to be messed with and ok to hide them in this height. In fact, we accidentally Arm some audio tracks at times and while recording MIDI on another track, it records on both tracks and so, this height will hide the Arm switch gracefully and always arm only the current track with default behaviors as expected.
. -
Tall - Default track heights. This tall height is ideal on desktop apps with more screen real estate - not mobile apps. More height only gives access to more switches like Freeze and Arm and not much to gain in track visibility or functionality.
More height = fewer visible tracks.
.
-
Snapshots are missing in v3! For the crazy autosave feature messing up modified dates on just opening a project, snapshots were a workaround solution as they cannot be opened or edited and retained their modified dates. When I wanted to open an old project, I just extract its snapshot, open the extracted project and blow off the extracted project after my use. But now, the Snapshot feature is gone. Duplicate Project option (whose modified dates get updated when we open them) is not much of use compared to readonly snapshots - please change Duplicate into Snapshot. Snapshots are backups that give us peace-of-mind. Bring back Snapshot feature or true Versions feature like StaffPad -
.
https://www.staffpad.net/it-s-here-the-staffpad-2020-update
. - Copy an event, paste it while the MIDI editor is open, where does it go? It apparently gets added to the undo history.
. - Volume of the song in LumaFusion / videos uploaded to YouTube from LF is a bit louder compared to volume inside Cubasis with default volume settings.
. - Master FX disappeared after deleting all tracks.
. -
Mixdown as MusicXML - please bring this feature from Cubase! This will resolve many import issues/errors with scoring/notation apps using just MIDI files (Iâll pay your asking price for this as an IAP). MusicXML format contains all the articulations such as slurs and is used for importing/exporting music notation between notation apps. MIDI format doesnât have all the data such as slurs and is for interchanging songs between DAWs and notation apps. However, MusicXML export from Cubasis would be nice and PRECISE and will not have import errors in scoring apps. Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
. -
Add a Sheet Music score tab (maybe a mini Dorico?) in the arranger for the entire project with ability to show/hide individual instrument staves from tracks, play, scroll, export as MusicXML and PDF, Print, etc. Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
.
=====================================================
Michael Good, Author at MusicXML - Page 5 of 6
MusicXML has become the most successful standard for music notation interchange since MIDI. Back in 2007, Steinberg was the first major commercial DAW vendor to add MusicXML import and export in Cubase 4.1. MusicXML format has long had widespread support among notation and scanning programs. moving a score from DAWs like Logic to notation programs like Finale is a much more common workflow than moving scores in the other direction. MusicXML export is a terrific boon for musicians who compose in Logic and then want to produce end scores in a full-featured notation program like Finale.
=====================================================
. - I heard from StaffPad devs that MIDI files exported from Cubasis have Invalid Velocity values like 176 causing messy import.
. - Mixdown as MIDI is exporting muted tracks too (these should be excluded just like they are excluded from Mixdown to WAV, etc).
. - MIDI play button missing in My Midi and Mixdown sections.
. - Play button missing for FLAC files.
. - Optional Note Names on MIDI notes inside MIDI editor (see: FL Studio).
. - Zoom in to the max in MIDI editor - makes events/notes show at wrong locations, misaligned, incorrect and also some events disappear, etc.
. - Double tap on Playhead bar to start playback from the tapped position quickly (see GarageBand, StaffPad).
. - Treeview of tracks in the arranger with all effects, automations, pitch-bend, etc to see all in one place as collapsible child nodes. Currently, these are located in different places -
.
Treeview of tracks in Arranger - #2 by MobileMusic - Cubasis - Steinberg Forums
. - Retain zoom factor in MIDI and Automation editors - Also, please add this feature to v2 too. -
.
Retain zoom factor in MIDI and Automation editors - #5 by LSlowak - Cubasis - Steinberg Forums
. - Track templates and copy/paste track settings - (add this feature to v2 too). For this, you may convert the Add, Delete and Duplicate track buttons into a popup where these buttons may be moved into along with the new Copy, Paste buttons and Track Heights buttons (Short, Medium, Tall). Copy/Paste should work at the entire track level and also individual event level (to copy/paste its Volume, Faders, etc) within the same project or across other projects (see LumaFusion where we can copy/paste selected settings from one clip to another clip or another project, quickly).
.
Track Templates - Cubasis - Steinberg Forums
. -
Editing Values - Ability to key in values in Mixer, Automation editor, etc similar to Audio editor where we can assign a tempo using a popup. This can be made as a simple popup like Audio editorâs popup or specific popups with dropdowns of valid range values (eg: Pan), radio buttons (eg: Mute on/off), etc. to limit input to predefined set of valid values. Sure, we can increase the height of Mixer to gain some fine control on iPads for volume in the way we slide the volume faders but not much and it is still a hassle on iPhone version where the Mixer is already short. I love the Automation editor but it is a real pain to set values precisely. Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
. - Reset automation params, double tap data point in values/scroller on the right to reset values Long tap to key in values. Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
. - What is 0Râight and 0Lâeft values for Pan in Automation editor?? How are these different from Câenter?
. - After moving the scroller on the right from default C to R in Automation editor for Pan, I was not able to go back to C again because C was not available anymore! Instead, it gave me options like 0R, 0L, etc. Again, this is the frustrating and dreadful part of using Automation editor - make editing/resetting these values EASIER.
. - Undo to remove an added audio event/track doesnât reduce project size - we need to Clear History (no such option in v2). If I drag an audio file on to an audio track and then Undo, it should delete the corresponding audio file from the project folder too (if it is not used anywhere else in the project). Currently, it doesnât delete the file and thereby increases project file size. Also, please add this optimization feature to v2 too.
. - Delete unused audio track, then delete corresponding audio file from Files app is messing up and removing unrelated audio events from other unrelated tracks upon relaunching Cubasis (maybe going by some array elements).
. -
Toolbar - switchable single toolbar using a chevron icon like StaffPad for more âvertical roomâ? The second/edit toolbar may be switched on demand using the chevron icon or maybe made visible automatically on selecting something. Or make it possible to collapse/expand the 2nd toolbar dynamically. One extra row of vertical room will really make a HUGE difference and gives us a big bang! Even more so on iPhone version.
. - Editing and undoing in Mixer results in lost history (restores incorrectly from lost/empty history).
. - Tap hold Tempo value and drag it down âover the Tempo Tap buttonâ to change tempo. Tempo goes up instead of going down. Drag it sideways âaway from the Tempo Tap buttonâ - it works. This works as expected in v2 but broken in v3 and also hard/slow to drag/use in v3.
. - Mixer gradient colors - green, yellow, orange, red to show how hot the volumes are.
. - Spectrum graphs in the Mixer (see: ZenBeats).
. -
Spectrum Analyzers in effects, plugins, IAPs, etc - currently, we have to rely on just our ears for adjusting EQ, etc which is an old-fashioned way of doing things. Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
. - While duplicating/renaming a project, deleting characters in the middle of the file name in the popup deletes chars from the end of the file name. Also, long names are extending outside the popup boundaries towards left.
. - Edit file name popup - do not auto select the entire file name as it is frustrating to unselect to just edit the name. If user wants to clear out the value, there is an X button for it on the right in the field. Auto selecting text in an edit field is relevant to Windows but outdated and bad UX for touch screen iOS.
. - Keep selections as-is after undo or redo. Currently, it unselects everything after undo/redo.
. - Undo redo should scroll to the restored event/note like a text editor otherwise we wonât know what got undone where if it is outside the screen boundaries. Also, please add this feature to v2 too.
. - Undo/Redo history popup has short vague/repeating/identical names leaving us clueless what they actually are and making the history popup less useful - the popup should be made wider with more identifying history item names and changes. Use CONDENSED font if necessary to display more text.
. - After importing a file, keep the Media Bay open and do not close it (like it behaves in v2).
. - Auto Stop playback at the end of the song. Otherwise, it will keep playing into the empty oblivion - FOREVER - with no more sound!
. - I find GarageBand is optimized excellently giving us hours of use consuming just 10% of battery (like a plain text editor). Please tweak Cubasis code to perform with optimal battery use (I checked and background audio is turned off in Cubasis with just 2 AU tracks which does not compare with the battery performance of GB).
. - Duplicating a track is removing the R Automation switch from the current track.
. - Deleting a track is removing the R automation switch from the tracks below it.
. - Unplugging headphones is making MicroSonic drums play out of sync with the rest of the instruments. Plugging back the headphones plays drums in sync again.
. - Double tapping on a track with Loop play turned on adds an empty event at times, track wide.
. - Fluorescent/gradient event/track/UI colors (see: ZenBeats).
.
Please do apply the bug fixes to v2 too.
I have another user-friendly enhancement suggestion to increase productivity Iâll suggest soon (I have to write an article on it first).
Cheers!