mr.ergonomics wrote:Angstrom, I did not like smart snap too much at the beginning. I was for an option, I had to change my workflow completely because of it. But I can say I have adapted and I'm as fast as before. I have found workarounds for all my problems. When I want the note to snap to the grid I just move the note one grid line left/right to get snapping back for example.
May I ask what your current annoyance with smart snap is?
I have a few issues which crop up,
First - note creation by clicking is much much slower with the new system, I have many gifs uploaded and sent many mails to Ableton about this. Double click to create notes in L8 : instant. In L9 there's a weird little dance the note and my cursor does. Sometimes notes aren't even created. It is a lot, lot, lot slower than the old note method. It feels buggy as hell in use.
Example: big animated gif
>>>link<<< Look at the note being created, flickering like that. Awful. Never mind the freaky CPU jumps, who knows what causes that!?
secondand most important : because the off-grid behaviour can activate accidentally and so will be un-noticed by me, it's only a lot later that I'll be zoomed in and see off-grid notes. That will be after I have duplicated that clip all across my timeline. Examples of ways to accidentally trigger snap-off: Move notes upwards diagonally. Move a selected group of notes accidentally forwards a smidgeon (not a grid division), and then say "ah shit", and move them back to the line. They will be off grid
third: the method of trying to get them to be on-grid: move them across a grid line. This fails because if I have contiguous notes, D3, D3, D3, D3 and I accidentally move one then "dragging it across a line" to trigger snapping this action will momentarily
delete the following note. Of course it's temporary deletion, but it's note deletion. You see - It now requires an ACTION to make notes be on time, from their new default of being
OFF time! Which leads me to.
fourth It is ass-backwards. I'd say musical timing convention is on time, or in computer terms "
snap unless conditions are followed", while the L9 snap is "
no snap unless conditions are followed". I'd say that for musical timing we think of "on time" (or on grid) as the basis, most music is on the grid of time, and that
off-grid is a decision made, or a modifier to that basis. I often use the Alt-drag modifier in Live 8 AND Live 9, because this makes perfect sense. On time, unless I specifically say otherwise.
fifth No option for the basics!
Now, sure some people will love this Smart-Snap and that's great. But personally I like the basics of on-time notes.
Always snap and use alt-drag. This is perfect for me. In L9 I have had many songs where I have discovered off-time notes because of this magical note position system which is trying to GUESS where I want my notes, and getting it wrong. Yet I can't turn it off!
on-grid notes are not even an option
The competition know that you can't just leave magical note-positioning as the ONLY option, and remove the basics of snapping. However, Ableton seem convinced they know better as to where my notes ought to land.
I just want the option of On-time notes as a basis. Is that so weird?
However - the L9 ass-backwards flickery snapping is merely laughable, when considered in scope next to the browser. That thing makes me rage quit. It is so against my methods of working.