This request list covers various topics.
Larger cursor “target areas” in events and stock plugins. This is actually a relatively big one for me. I often end up clicking next to a point (EQ band point in graph) or square (in event corner etc.) and either trigger the activation of something else or nothing happens. Rather than force the user to increase the overall size of the entire user interface perhaps consider making the area that responds to a mouse-click larger around the point/square. The point/square could remain the same size(?) with just the area responding to the click being larger. It would be a big help for many I bet. Let’s just say that “experienced” users may have a harder time seeing things than “new” ones.
Text and voice input with AI to execute PLE and macros. It is on the surface very rudimentary AI, but if it allows for more complex strings of commands it could be quite useful particularly when setting up projects or exports etc. By using an AI for this you might alleviate the need to string together PLEs or macros manually and gives the user a bit more flexibility. I could also see how this could possibly improve things for people with disabilities. Make this input active via a key command. See “soundflow” integration into Pro Tools using “Session Manager” for example.
Track-Markers and Folder-Markers. Markers that belong to a track or a folder, as the name implies. If they are in a folder the line that shows the marker will be drawn across all tracks in that folder, and if it’s a track marker then only over that track. Currently “global” markers are indicated across all tracks. Example use case:
- A client wants to try a different dialog edit. I give them 2 options. They want another version so I give them another two. They now have 4 alternatives plus the original. Right now I can place marker at that point in the timeline so that I can easily navigate to that section, but describing what edits I’ve done is difficult. I can color code the versions and stack them in order, and that would be fine unless I forget to do so, and in addition to that the stacking would interfere with checker-boarding. Using track versions is also not the best solution. With track markers I could note which clips belong to which version(s), making it easier to remember what was done.
Import offline-exported files into project window mixdown folder. Instead of one new track per imported file and stacked next to all other already existing tracks put newly imported tracks from the offline export into a separate new folder. When exporting a 6-act TV show with many mixes and stems it’s just easier to stay organized if they’re automatically dropped into folders. The “Pool folder” option only creates the folder in the pool, so maybe just give us a check box to automatically get a newly named and created pool folder placed in the main project window as well.
Drag-and-drop multiple mono events to interleaved multi-channel track (instead of having to convert).
Dialog to text transcription. I know you’re working on it. Don’t reinvent the wheel, just do what youknowwho does.
A/B clipboard. I would like to be able to have two clipboards into which I can copy events etc. Use case could be editing production sound where I have a copied chunk of room tone that I end up pasting into areas as I go along, but then I need to copy-paste maybe a word. After that is done, when I go back to needing to paste room tone again, I have to “find it” and copy it get it into the clipboard. It would be great if we could copy things into a selected clipboard. That way I could quickly switch from clipboard A (tone) to B and copy the word there, then paste, and then switch back to A for more pasting of room tone.
Destructive record. In Pro Tools there is “Destructive Record” which allows you to ‘punch-in’ into an actual audio file, destructively. In Nuendo, when we record over a section of a file a new audio clip/file is created on disk, and if we want it to be a single contiguous file we have to “bounce” the event(s). With destructive record we can finish our mix of our timeline and export it all offline and then import it. If we then receive mix-notes we do not have to record a section and then bounce the events - we just set it to “destructive” and record over the changed section. Once record is done the fix is done. It saves disk space and it saves a little bit of time (not a lot).
Event waveform: force redraw function. When our waveform cache is corrupted (or whatever it is), for example after a crash, if we could manually execute this command to redraw all waveforms it would let us avoid having to close the project, find the corrupted file in the finder/explorer, delete it, and then reopen the project. I’ve found that almost every time I have to do this not all waveforms at all zoom levels are correctly recreated which means I have to do it more than once.
Control Room:
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More sources. In post I have many sources I sometimes wish to audition. There are mixes, stems and “utility” outputs and they all amount to more than just 8. I see no real reason why this should be limited to 8.
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Reorder sources. Pretty self explanatory. The ability to freely reorder which “slot” each source occupies makes it easier if we are setting up templates and binding key commands to them. It is a bit frustrating to be both limited in number and then have sources “ripple” when we make room for different source since the key command that used to trigger M&E for example now triggers a different source.
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Expose inserts to key commands (bypass on/off).
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Expose Phones Mix vs Cue to key commands.
Statistics process; show full file name in the statistics window. No cropping.
Marker window/list docked into the right Zone. Right now we can have the list visible in the inspector when selecting a marker track, but it would be more convenient to expose the active marker track markers to the right because that way we could still select tracks without losing the marker view.
Website section with “Technical Alerts” informing users about known issues, with each issue in that section having a bug tracker number. This way we can search the section for verified problems as well subscribe to new posts in that section. Right now, we can have multiple users experiencing the same core issue, yet they describe it differently because the problem is exposed differently, they work differently, they think differently, and they speak different languages. We users often have to decipher what others mean in order to understand even if it is a problem in the first place, so it would be much better for us if there was a section for issues that users could search instead. It would obviously mean that Steinberg would have to make the commitment to making these publicly available, and it “should” at least be the most important ones. Given that participation by Steinberg staff in this forum is so sparse, and given that we almost never get a proactive alert of things that have gone wrong, this would be the second-best thing. Think of this as an alternative to charging more for Nuendo in order to provide more support proactive and online support. “The competition” offers both much, much more frequent forum participation and a dedicated section with issues.
GUI, general visual improvements: Rather than rehash everything I will just note a couple of things that to me seem relatively uncontroversial. I understand there are very different personal preferences on this so out of all of what I’ve posed these couple of days this is arguably the most subjective and it’s not a deal breaker to me. First, just defer to those with disabilities. If they have problems - solve them first. Second, my only note and preference is to delete or minimize space between sections in windows. These areas of nothing just seem like wasted space to me, and they make the entire interface look a bit disjointed. It’s almost as if I’m looking at docked windows. I think maybe either deleting the space so the lines are right next to each other or choosing a single line between sections rather than one line surrounding each (resulting in the two where they are adjacent) would make it look better. Lastly, remove the dividing line between the fader area and the meter in the mixer. There really seems to be no need for it, and it actually makes it harder to see what belongs together, which is a fader and its associated meter. It is possible this has improved a bit, but I would still prefer to not have this line. I also know some have argued to have a visible separation between the meter area and the fader area, but in my view the very fact that you have a meter in one are and an actual signal in the other provides clear visual separation as it is.
ADDED:
Add two separate commands for mixer window opening and closing. Right now there is only a toggle for the mixer window. For example; to access specific visibility agents that are only available on the mixer page I created a macro to focus the mixer window, trigger the agent, and then focus the project window. The problem is that this macro no longer works if I am already in the mixer window because it is already in focus. The solution to this problem is to then have two key commands. But this now applies to every function for which the mixer has to be in focus for any such macro to properly execute.
Have all visibility agents available in both project and mixer windows. This is pretty self-explanatory. There really is no good reason for why some agents are only available on one page and not the other.