Should Cubase ditch MDI for a cleaner window layout?
Keep the current single MDI (Multiple Document Interface) where windows cannot be detached from the main window and repositioned independently and maximixed on separate monitors
Allow users to detach windows and position them where they want and maximize them on separate monitors, keeping floating dialogs like plug-ins that can also be moved anywhere.
0voters
Rephrasing the poll. Cubase is currently a one window host. (if any doubt, the best host around, minus this quirk)
You cannot maximize Cubase across monitors. Period. Other DAWs can do this because the windows can be detached and become a separate window from the main host that you can place on any monitor you wish. All while having the ability to float dialogs such as plug-ins that can be moved anywhere on any monitor.
With Cubase you have to stretch the parent window out across all monitors and manually position every child window carefully and never maximize anything or it will mess up your layout.
There is no downside to being able to completely detach a window and maximize it on a monitor. It detracts nothing from Cubase.
So much for an unbiased rant, but I just don’t understand the opposition to this.
AFAIK, this only applies to certain windows. Any window with an “Always on Top” option can be detached (mixer and transport panel are the first two that come to mind).
I believe you’re misreading the other thread.
A good chunk of people (myself included) want something akin to Halion 4 (which I believe will probably be implemented with Cubase 7).
As long as the interface still allows for the use of multiple monitors simultaneously, I’m good.
You’ve just responded about Cubase where I was talking about “other hosts” in the quoted text (for context).
You can’t detach the mixers or any editor in Cubase currently. They live in floaty land inside the main Cubase window, in which nothing can be maximized with multiple monitors, not even the main window.
The way I read it, everyone voting “No” (the majority) in the other thread, is voting to keep Cubase the same as it is for window management.
Ah yes, true, but then it can’t be maximized. The mixer is an important enough window, as are the editors, where they should be able to have their own monitor and be maximized to that monitor.
It should be possible to have the option to maximize an “Always on top” window. I don’t see a reason why everyone can’t get what they want here. I would definitely like the editors on different screens.
You will find that most studios that have multiple monitors ALSO have a large and expensive digital mix console and so the clutter may not matter so much to them.
Maybe the real issue is a version for them and a version for the project/band/composer studio, the latter having a more modern screen layout.
The mixer could definitely do with a make-over too.
Also in most of the multi-monitored studios local to me they will have far simpler setups than I see described here. They will keep the mixer and the other elements as per a single monitor (ie: the left hand monitor) and just have the tracks visible in the other so most of the time it looks like one very long monitor.
So I guess it’s right that Cubase is a one monitor DAW to an extent but then sometimes it is up to the user to utilise what he has within the present tech limitations despite what reservations he has with the software.
For instance, if I used more than the one monitor I’d also want a mouse for each of them.
