Infact, I am even going to say that the "Duration" parameter needs renaming, it is bits like this that confuse the hell out of people
"set the end point of the pattern to decide how long the pattern plays, but that doesn't affect the duration of the pattern" lol
How long something plays and the word duration, exact same meaning, two different properties.
So it needs changing to something else.
C : Scene length
D : Scene loop
E : Scene size
F : Remove it entirely and only have it available via the scene cell long press, then have a default pattern init size in prefs, then duration only applies to the scene and is not confusing, however, the pattern bar as you have termed it should only ever change pattern length, not scene duration, having things that have a dual purpose like that are what i am constantly having to fight against as "BM3s UI sucks, Its confusing" at other sites/networks.
Personally I would go for F and add any missing pattern controls for song patterns along the bottom of song view where the three dots currently are.
I think a simplification like this would be a huge UI confusion barrier broken.
@tk32 said: @BitterGums I definitely need to re-write/re-word everything to make it easier to understand
Polyrhythms have always been possible in SONG mode, but there has been a misconception in the past (myself included) that SCENES mode only works in whole-bar units (which is not true). If you can find a way to set your pattern's DURATION to a value that is between whole bars (such as the the 5-beats/001:1:0 in my screenshots) then SCENES mode will honour that setting and loop every 5 beats.
Like I said - I think this will make more sense once I've figured out how to explain it properly and do a little more research into the finer points. The thing that confuses me most is how the horizontal bar has 2 different modes:
most of the time it is grey - which means it only controls the END POINT for this instance of the pattern. Other times it is COLOURED (matching the bank colour) and when this happens you can adjust the end marker to set completely custom DURATION settings.
Got it. Right. i noticed all of this after experimenting with adjusting for odd beat lengths in both Song and Scene mode yesterday. Always thought it was only 1 bar increments in Scenes. And ..I know that Coloured/Grey bar is sorta confusing but you're providing a lot of insight to users and it's fairly easy once you're actually in there working with it. ...especially useful since the Intua manual has null. keep up the great work.
And yeah after all the semantics perhaps 'Loop Length' is better. or anything relating to 'length'. 'Duration' does make it a bit more confusing. Could sound like it's getting into time stretch territory.
If duration does get renamed, I think my favourite suggestion so far is SCENE LENGTH
...and I do think it's important to preserve this parameter (whatever we call it) as anyone who assembles scenes on-the-fly will want their arsenal of 4- and 8-bar loops to slot in seemlessly while the track is still playing (and not have to stop their jam in order to adjust the scene's length).
I mean't remove it from song view, you can still get to it in multiple other places, it isn't even relevant to song view ?
Why would you stop a jam, just long press the scene cell or open the pattern helper, it is already in both of those places where it is relevant.
Comments
I am only talking about the three dots in the song view, it is redundant, that panel is available elsewhere in all the places it is useful.
Infact, I am even going to say that the "Duration" parameter needs renaming, it is bits like this that confuse the hell out of people
"set the end point of the pattern to decide how long the pattern plays, but that doesn't affect the duration of the pattern" lol
How long something plays and the word duration, exact same meaning, two different properties.
So it needs changing to something else.
So.. based on its function, you could either rename it
A. Default length
B. Loop length (scenes mode only)
Any other suggestions?
C : Scene length
D : Scene loop
E : Scene size
F : Remove it entirely and only have it available via the scene cell long press, then have a default pattern init size in prefs, then duration only applies to the scene and is not confusing, however, the pattern bar as you have termed it should only ever change pattern length, not scene duration, having things that have a dual purpose like that are what i am constantly having to fight against as "BM3s UI sucks, Its confusing" at other sites/networks.
Personally I would go for F and add any missing pattern controls for song patterns along the bottom of song view where the three dots currently are.
I think a simplification like this would be a huge UI confusion barrier broken.
Got it. Right. i noticed all of this after experimenting with adjusting for odd beat lengths in both Song and Scene mode yesterday. Always thought it was only 1 bar increments in Scenes. And ..I know that Coloured/Grey bar is sorta confusing but you're providing a lot of insight to users and it's fairly easy once you're actually in there working with it. ...especially useful since the Intua manual has null. keep up the great work.
And yeah after all the semantics perhaps 'Loop Length' is better. or anything relating to 'length'. 'Duration' does make it a bit more confusing. Could sound like it's getting into time stretch territory.
Thanks @BitterGums
If duration does get renamed, I think my favourite suggestion so far is SCENE LENGTH
...and I do think it's important to preserve this parameter (whatever we call it) as anyone who assembles scenes on-the-fly will want their arsenal of 4- and 8-bar loops to slot in seemlessly while the track is still playing (and not have to stop their jam in order to adjust the scene's length).
I mean't remove it from song view, you can still get to it in multiple other places, it isn't even relevant to song view ?
Why would you stop a jam, just long press the scene cell or open the pattern helper, it is already in both of those places where it is relevant.