[LAU] A Project To Upgrade seq24

[oli_kester]

Hi Jeremy, sorry for the delayed reply. Thanks for taking the time to consider all the features.

>Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 17:01:02 +0100 
>From: Jeremy Jongepier <jeremy at autostatic.com> 
>To: linux-audio-user at lists.linuxaudio.org 
>Subject: Re: [LAU] A Project To Upgrade seq24 
> 
>Hello Oliver, 
> 
>On 12/09/2015 09:17 PM, oli_kester wrote: 
>> Hi Seq24 users, 
>> 
>> For my final year university project, I am taking on an overhaul of seq24. 
> 
>Great! seq24 is my favorite software step sequencer and looking 
>critically at it wouldn't hurt I guess. 
> 
>Below is an excerpt from my project proposal - the list of features I 
>would like to implement - 
>> 
>> [quote] 
>> 
>> << Basic (simple changes that should be quick to address) >> 
>> - Swap default on midi autoconnect to second value (add to config file) 
> 
>Could you tell what you mean by this? 

I think this is me describing the manual alsa ports setting in the config file, but really badly! Was quickly jotted down while working on a track about 6 months ago. I mean making manual alsa ports the default behaviour. 

> 
>> - Label keys correctly on loops past bank 1 
> 
>There simply aren't enough single characters to label all possible 1024 
>loops so I'm curious how you plan to fix this. Also this means you have 
>to expand the Sequence toggle keys part in Options - Keyboard. 
> 

Why not just have the keyboard only work for loop triggering on the currently selected loop set? i.e. the one currently shown in the seq24 main window. You could still use midi to trigger the others perhaps.

>> 
>> << Medium (bug fixes, smaller new features) >> 
>> - Don't take scene change inputs when renaming loops 
> 
>Not sure what this means. 

If you put [ or ] or press any of the keys referring to a filled loop slot when typing in the set name field, it still takes the keys as loop triggering of changing the set page. This behaviour appears to be fixed in the subatomicglue version suggested to me by Xavier

http://www.subatomicglue.com/seq24/

> 
>> - Fix glitch with overlaps in loops 
> 
>Which glitch? 
> 

This is a bit unspecific, isn't it? Will require me revisiting some old seq24 sessions to figure out what it means. Might be in song mode or live mode :S

I *think* it means that when you enter a long repeating loop in song mode - but in separate mouse draw strokes - it won't continue notes that overlap. There will be a noticeable cut. It's tricky to get loops drawn wider than your screen is. Perhaps they should be merged automatically.

>> - Toggle loops in song mode 
> 
>Isn't that what live mode is for? ;) 
> 

It is, but why not not be able to add one-shots or extra layers exactly when you feel them while playing the song? Having to pause and switch to 'live' mode wont work live, and it's near impossible to manage loads of layers just live mode (at least for me, maybe with MIDI control perhaps?). I want to be able to record and layer pattern switching in live mode to fill out the song view. 

>> - Midi send if halfway through note (can be enabled / disabled in preferences) 
> 
>Could you explain this feature? 
> 

So if a loop has a note that starts outside the pattern, it isn't triggered. I think they should begin playing as soon as part of the note is hit by the playhead.

>> - Draw whole notes instead of cutting off early in song mode loops 
> 
>You mean in the Song Editor window or in the main window? 
> 

In song mode when you split loops, it's frequent that notes will be cut in half, becoming stuck on or not playing at all. Only allow whole notes to be drawn/cut.

>> - Fix bug where certain slots cannot contain loops 
> 
>Fixing erratic behavior is always good. Is there a bug report of this issue? 
> 

No, I didn't file a bug report. Should have really! 

It happens quite often so I should be able to reproduce - seems to be after lots of dragging loops between different slots. It's fixed after a program restart.

>> << Challenging (significant new features) >> 
>> - Add Box select in song editor (REAPER style) 
> 
>Isn't that what live mode is for? ;) 

??

When editing individual loops you can box select notes. I mean applying this behaviour to whole loops in the song view so you can bulk edit/delete them.

> 
>> - Add redo in song mode 
> 
>Never missed this feature. I don't recall having used the Undo funtion 
>either. 
> 

You must be seriously good at getting your ideas down! I'm jealous :P

>> - Add Record in song mode 
> 
>Isn't that what live mode is for? ;) No honestly, with things like this 
>you're blurring the difference between Live and Song mode. Why not 
>completely remove these modes? 

Removing the modes? Interesting proposition. Or maybe just have an on/off switch for song mode playback? So live mode is always on :)

This is something I'll seriously consider.

> 
>> - Allow splitting of song loops at mouse pointer 
> 
>Not sure why you would want to do this.
> 

At the moment you can only split loops in halves. What if you want 3/4 of a loop? Will be mighty handy for long loops (e.g. chord progressions)

>> - Window title should just have the song name 
> 
>Preferably not, this would break my WM setup. 
> 

Any way you could edit the WM config? I think it's a bit silly having the absolute file path in the window header - of the top of my head no other Linux Audio apps seem to do it.

>> - Fix jack sync bug/reset button 
> 
>Yes, please! The current solution was a quick fix and this needs be 
>solved in a proper way. Torben Hohn once wrote a patch for this but he 
>couldn't find it back anymore :( 
> 

I'm pleased to head someone else has had a look at this, as I imagine it being a bitch to pin down the cause - I'll have a dig for fixes when I start working and please forward it on if you do find it somehow :)

>> - Add a double / half timing switch for live performance 
> 
>Not really sure what you mean here, or I simply never missed such a 
>feature ;) 
> 

This is an idea someone suggested to me, apparently jazz musicians use it or something. Temporarily playing everything twice as fast or slow - you stay in time as the tempo is effectively the same. Might achieve this more practically through adding pattern shrinking / expanding in the loop editor. 

>Some other suggestions: 
>- port it to Qt 

Oh I'd love to have this done, but it could swallow my whole project time... Although don't really know how much work porting between GUI systems involves - any ideas? If it's achievable in a few weeks then it's on the cards :)

>- add JACK MIDI support 

Yep - adding to my list!

>- make BPM counter reflect the current JACK sync BPM setting 

Yep - and dynamically too please!

>- make the main window really resizable, they are now but the patterns 
>are a fixed size 

Hmmm maybe! I have tried resizing the window before, but I find the default size nice and tidy. This fits into the single window debate too.

Cheers for the help

Oliver