[LAD] [ANN] Qtractor 0.5.5 - The Foxtrot Uniform swings out!

Here it goes. Mostly a LV2 1.0.0 compliance release with some fixes from the stash and fewer candies from the jar. On the darker/brighter side (your choice) there's news on the LV2 atom(ic) fall-out now being officially over. A new dawn has commenced, quite as every day follows every night may I add. Dang! I'd better stop right here and save you all from that boring trivialities. Let's go with the plain, interesting facts: Qtractor 0.5.5 (foxtrot uniform) swings out! Release highlights: * LV2 Atom/MIDI support (NEW) * LV2 Worker/Schedule support (NEW) * LV2 Presets support (NEW) * LV2 Time/position support (NEW) * LV2 Programs/instrument support (NEW) * MIDI plugin event timing on tempo changes (FIX) * Loop-recording/takes audio sync (FIX) * Quick start guide and user manual (NEW) * Russian and Italian translations (NEW) Website: http://qtractor.sourceforge.net Project page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/qtractor Downloads: - source tarball: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.5.tar.gz - source package (openSUSE 12.1): http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.5-4.rncbc.suse121.sr… - binary packages (openSUSE 12.1): http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.5-4.rncbc.suse121.i5… http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.5-4.rncbc.suse121.x8… - brand new (quick start guide &) user manual: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.x-user-manual.pdf Weblog (upstream support): http://www.rncbc.org License: Qtractor is free, open-source software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 or later. Change-log: - Auto-monitored MIDI tracks were missing their pass-through to their respective MIDI output bus plugin chains, now fixed and letting any multi-timbral instrument plugin to get a peek from auto-monitoring. - New user option/preference to whether to open a plugin's editor (GUI) by default, when available (cf. View/Options.../Plugins/Editor). - Clicking and/or dragging for rubber-band selection on main track-view canvas doesn't change the edit-head and -tail positions anymore. - Backward and Forward transport commands now have an additional stop at first clip start point. - LV2 Atom/MIDI buffering support is finally entering the scene; LV2 Worker/Schedule support is also included in a bold attempt to convey non-MIDI event transfers between plugin and its UI. - MIDI Clip editor (aka. piano-roll) and MIDI Tools fix: avoid note-on events of zero velocity, which conventionally equates to a dangling note-off event and dropped into oblivion sooner or later. There's no more need for Shift/Ctrl keyboard modifier to change in one single step all the MIDI events that are currently selected (now consistent with drag-move). - LV2 Presets support now entering effective operational status; a new local option has been added (cf. View/Options.../Plugins/Paths/LV2 Presets directory; default is ~/.lv2). - Dropped XInitThreads() head call as it was never useful but on those early days of JUCE VST plugins. - Italian (it) translation added (by Massimo Callegari, thanks). - Clip fade-in/out dragging now follows snap-to-beat setting. - Late modern eye-candy indulgence: alternate shaded stripes, on every other bar as in a "zebra" background option for the main tracks and MIDI clip editor views (cf. View/Snap/Zebra). - LV2 Time/position information is now being supported through special designated plugin input ports (after suggestion by Filipe Coelho aka. falktx). Additionally, the time/position information report has been corrected and complemented for VST plugins. - Audio vs. MIDI time drift correction has been slightly improved against rogue tempo changes across looping cycles. - Honor tempo/timing on MIDI instrument plugins. Happy regression fix on getting MIDI note-offs at looping ends back in business; all the necessary bumming for MIDI plugins to play nice in face of tempo changes and whenever playback is started from anywhere but the beginning of the time-line (ie. frame zero); thanks to rvega aka. Rafael Vega, for the heads-up). - Audio clip wave-forms were being displayed in inverted phase (ie. upside-down) all this time ever since day one. What a shame! - LV2 Programs interface is getting initial experimental status, to let LV2 instrument plugins get on par with the DSSI and VST crowd for MIDI bank/program instrument inventory and selection support (a sidetrack complot with Filipe Coelho aka. falktx, thanks:). - Dropped the old but entirely useless LV2 URI-unmap feature, now being superseded by official LV2 URID (un)mapper. - Russian (ru) translation added (by Alexandre Prokoudine, thanks). - SLV2 deprecation process started, effective now at configure time. - Added include <unistd.h> to shut up gcc 4.7 build failures (patch by Alessio Treglia, closing bug #3514794). - Another approach avoiding recursive observer widget updates. Also applies to mixer, monitor and track state buttons. - Update to latest LV2 state extension (by David Robillard, thanks). - Loop-recording/take number displayed on clip title, respectively. - Make(ing) -jN parallel builds now available for the masses. - A one buffer period slack on audio engine's loop turn-around logic might just have fixed an illusive report on loop-recording/takes going progressively out-of-sync, most notably when recording under large audio buffer period sizes (>= 1024 frames/buffer). - Editing MIDI while playback is rolling, doesn't mute the track any more, adding a point to the live editing experience. - Finer granularity for direct access parameter mouse wheel changes. - Dropped a dumb optimization for short full-cached multiple linked/ref-counted audio clips which were incidentally out-of-sync after rewind/backward playback. Once again and uncertain to be the last take on this, got fixed (probably related to some oddity reported by Louigi Verona, thanks). Enjoy! -- rncbc aka. Rui Nuno Capela