Some really simple GUI features to make tune creation nicer

[e-theory]

I love Live. I like it how it is. It doesn't need fancy side-chain compressors or whatever to make it any better. Save you money people and buy some plug-ins - that is what they are for. Live is the BEST, nicest looking, slickest to use and most well thought out workflow-based solution available for making music, period.

Instead of joining the winging masses I would like to ask for two simple additions to be made to the GUI, to complement the already fantastic layout of the program - for better organization of song composition. At the moment I find that At a certain number of channels, I start to find the side-by-side stacking of channels homogenizes the view a little too much, so these additions would help out a lot:

1.) The ability to add spacers between tracks, which are visible in both the Arrangement View and Session View, these spacers should be just like empty tracks - they could be resized, and swapped with Audio/MIDI tracks within both views. This would allow the user to layout their views in a way that best suits the groupings of channels they are working with, making organization of large songs easier.

2.) The ability to name a collection of tracks. I think this feature would be best described like a modification to the way the Live GUI represents Instrument racks. It would be like an instrument rack in the GUI sense for tracks, in that you could define a track group, name it, and it would appear as a name at the bottom of the Session View and to the right of the Arrangement View, as a "box" that you can drop tracks into for grouping purposes.

I will add a couple of images in the next few days to better display what I am talking about.

Interested in your and Ableton's thoughts about these.

cheers,

Luke

[JoeSchubert]

here here...i too am LOVING almost ALL of Live 6

[e-theory]

OK, here goes:

* Current session view:



* Adding the Track group names at the bottom and track spacer between tracks.



As you can see - the organization is MUCH nicer for navigation of large projects ( and as you can also tell I left my artist pants at home today.... ).

* I like the way that you can have the names of the samples appear in the piano roll editor for impulse:



* I want the ability with a MIDI clip, to have exactly the same thing, and the ability to name each and every note myself - being laid out exactly the same way as above. This would make using soft samplers SO MUCH EASIER!!!! I would always know where my bassdrum, snare or exploding chicken sound was!!

[Idonotlikebroccoli]

I agree. that second picture looks hella nice.

[malenko]

Here! Here! I second that idea, would work a treat

[dr.wackler]

these spacers should be just like empty tracks

At first I thought "Then why don't you just use empty tracks?" (that's what I do: empty track, delete track name, remove stop buttons, reduce track width),
but then I saw your mockup. Absolutely convincing!

+1

[Sharkcellar]

nice idea.

[Machinate]

I'm sorry, but I don't like the idea of using spacers, but I do like the idea of visually grouping.

Instead, may I suggest two slightly different feature requests:

1: Adding a thicker line between chosen tracks.

or, my favourite:

2: Right-click: select colour of track
- just like you can with clips at the moment.

this will allow us to visually group tracks without killing our real estate.

[Sharkcellar]

I do like the thicker line idea over the space. A space would simply make for more side-scroling.

[D_Dialect]

yes user choosen colour channels is better, simpler

[e-theory]

I'm sorry, but I don't like the idea of using spacers, but I do like the idea of visually grouping.

Instead, may I suggest two slightly different feature requests:

1: Adding a thicker line between chosen tracks.

This is a great idea - in fact it is just an extension of what I am presenting here. If you could simply click on the left or right of a track with the right mouse button and slide it across - automatically creating the "spacer" - that would be even better and more intuitive. That way you could keep the left mouse button for making tracks wider and then use the right mouse button to determine the spacing between them - sweet!

2: Right-click: select colour of track
- just like you can with clips at the moment.

this will allow us to visually group tracks without killing our real estate.

I agree with the colours, but disagree completely about the real-estate. Colours alone are not enough - you need a REALLY clear visual queue about which grouping you give to your channels. Mixers in real life work like this with busses. If you think about it - humans are visual creatures, we group, we sort, we space things out all the time. The scrolling part is simply an minor inconvenience. The main thing is the organizational help this idea gives you. Finding things in this was is just easier by definition If you are really worried about the real-estate, then just make the "spacers" small enough to perform their purpose, but not too large to give you scrolling RSI.

[friend_kami]

+1 on OP, but i would like to add the ability to show/hide the contents of the group, aswell as queing groups in scenes, instead of separate tracks.

[condra]

+1

+ more contrast in arrangement view PLEASE!

[herfenara]

+1!

[diego vega]

I thought of this same exact ideas last night, glad I searched


+1