A couple (okay, a lot) of wish list items
Hello everybody! I'm really loving Drambo so far. Lots of potential for future development. Here are a few things I love to see, in no particular order.
1) Currently it is impossible to modulate Feedback on the Delay FX, Comb Filter, and Waveguide. I'd like to be able to do that from within a patch, not using Plocks. Also, I'd like to be able to modulate Decay on the Modal Resonator.
2) I wish the minimum delay time on the Delay Fx and Delay Rack were much much shorter, like 0.1 ms short.
3) I would like to see a two styles of Delay FX: one that is essentially what is already available where the pitch changes when modulating the delay time, and another that is a "digital" style where there is no pitch change.
4) Drambo needs a much better reverb. I would like to see a reverb that is modulatable, like the Make Noise Erbe Verb, or the Plateau reverb in MiRack, which sounds great and is low on CPU. I'd like to see a reverb that can do very long or infinite verbs, but I would also like a reverb that does very short room sounds and tiny spaces. It's rare to find a verb that can do both, so perhaps there should be more than one reverb module.
5) There needs to be some sort of visual feedback of the effect modulation sources are having on their targets. I think the best way to do this visually is to have a ring surrounding the knob that displays the modulation amount. The key here is being able to see the current knob position and the effect the modulation is having on it. If CPU hit is a consideration, perhaps make it possible to turn this feature off. That way we can see what our modulation is doing while we set up a patch and then turn it off when we go to play or if we need to squeeze a bit more performance out of our device.
6) In the stand-alone version it would be nice to have a DSP usage and battery life display, as well as a clock.
7) Right now the directions of the knob controlling speed on the LFO modules is backward from each other in Beat Sync and Time modes. This means any modulation of this control will only behave as intended in one mode, meaning you cannot switch between Time mode and Beat Sync mode on the fly without redoing your modulation. It makes sense to have the LFO frequency increase as you turn the knob clockwise.
8) There is a bug in the Stereo LFO, that makes it impossible to modulate the Phase. Also, the way the phase works is unintuitive. It seems that the LFOs are in phase at -1.00, 0.00, and +1.00 positions of the knob, whereas the LFOs are 180 degrees out-of-phase at -0.50 and +0.50. I would expect this knob to go from in phase at full counter-clockwise to 90 degrees out at -0.50 to 180 degrees out at 0.00, to 270 degrees at +0.50 to in phase again at +1.00. Perhaps a bug?
10) The CV and Gate sequencers are very difficult to edit. They should expand their editing window like the Graphic Shaper does. In these editing windows, it would be very helpful if the "voltage" level is displayed while adjusting a step/breakpoint. This would make adjusting modulations much easier, quicker, and more predictable.
11) I would like the Knob module to support unipolar as well as bipolar operation. I waste a lot of screen real estate with scale and offset modules after my knobs all because I want a unipolar knob. It would be simpler and faster to have a knob that does this natively.
12) There needs to be a way of locking the modules in place. I don't know how many times I've ruined a patch by accidentally removing a module while trying to adjust a knob. If the modules could be locked in place it would prevent this sort of accident. It is also sometime difficult to adjust knobs without scrolling the rack left and right instead.
13) Speaking of scrolling, my patches get really long, and that means a lot of scrolling left and right. I wish there was a better way to get around in a big patch.
14) There needs to be a count-in for recording. And adjustable volume for the click.
15) I know this has been requested before, but I really would like a CV to Midi module.
16) In the presets browser, subfolders are not alphabetized. In fact, I have no idea how they're ordered. It seems totally random. I am building a large set of presets, but organizing them is difficult.
17) I would like the option of changing the pan law of the Cross Fader module. Presently there is a significant volume loss in the center position.
18) The CV Quantizer needs a gate output that send a gate whenever a new quantization step is reached. Also, a trigger/gate input so the Quantizer would quantize only at the moment it receives a trigger (if no trigger is patched, the Quantizer should quantize continuously as it does now).
19) Likewise, the Sequencer modules should send a gate when they advance to a new step. And triggering the sequencers via a trigger/gate should be an option. The Clock signal, as presently implemented, does a poor job keeping things running together, especially at slower tempos.
20) I find the way time is expressed in the sequencers and LFOs in sync mode to be very confusing. I appreciate being able to divide beats into odd divisions, but when I want a simple rhythm, which let's face it, is most of the time, I find it very hard to do so. Might it make more sense to have a Time Sync mode where only common time diversions are available (even note divisions, dotted notes and triplets) and then have the current implementation of the Time Sync mode become a separate "Division Sync" mode where the more exotic clock divisions are available.
(For those who might be wondering, the way Time Sync works now is that when set to Beats the number on the knob represents beats, i.e., a quarter note; so, e.g., 4 beats = 1 measure in 4/4 and 6 beats = 1 1/2 measures in 4/4. But when set to 1/4 Beat, the number represents the numerator in the fraction x/16, so, e.g., "4" on the knob = 4/16 = 0.25 beats, i.e., a quarter note, and "6" on the knob = 6/16 = 0.375 beats, which happens to be a dotted eighth note. I haven't worked out the math for 1/3 Beat or 1/4 Beat Dot, and frankly, I don't want to. It makes my head hurt. Hopefully a simpler, more musically intuitive approach is forthcoming.)
21) I would love to see a better o-scope. Perhaps one with some sort of measurement markings. Right now I have been using the Graphic Shaper as a measurement tool, because it has markings. A full screen mode for the scope would be very nice. Dual trace would be even nicer. Maybe there should be a small basic scope like the current one, and a larger, more analytical scope for when you really need to dig in to what a patch is doing.
22) A sequential switch* would be very useful.
23) A toggle switch* (like the trigger button but latching) which sends 0 when off and 1 when on would be very very useful.
24) An attenuverter with offset* would be very very very useful.
(*Yes, it is possible to patch up a seq sw, a toggle sw, and an attenuverter with the tools we have now. But it takes a lot of work and makes my patches longer and more confusing than they need to be. )
Okay, this got really long. I hope I didn't ramble too much. I can't wait to see how Drambo evolves.
Comments
Good list! Discussed a lot of these with @giku! he has a huge ‘To Do’ list that he’s wading through as fast as he can :)
I bet he is totally swamped with suggestions right now. Trying to wade through that and decide what to do first and how to balance new features vs. bug fixes is I'm sure quite the challenge.
Valid points! Many of these have been requested already.
13) The Layers/Layers Mixer currently allow parallel audio paths, soon they will also allow a serial configuration which would allow for drastically reducing horizontal width and allow for much faster parameter access by switching "pages" (i.e. layers)
15) They exist by the name of CC generator and Note generator
16) They're sorted by date which I find OK but let me suggest a SEARCH function 😊
13) The serial configuration for Layers sounds like a great idea! I also think it would be good if, when expanding a patch, only the first level gets expanded. Right now everything gets expanded, even sub-patches.
15) I am aware of the CC Generator, which is great, but I don't see a Note Generator. Is that a feature still in beta? In any case, the Note Generator is what I want. Basically a CV Quantizer but with a Midi output.
16) I have created folders, one after the other, and they end up in a random order. So I still wonder if there is a bug here. A search function would be nice, but having the folders displayed in a predictable way would be nicer. For example, I am presently creating a large number of presets for the CV Quantizer for various scales in all 12 keys, and folder organization is critical. But right now it's a mess. What I'm doing is exporting each preset and doing the folder organization in Files.app. When I finish with all the data entry I will try re-importing the whole thing into Drambo and see if it keeps everything in order.
Yes I'm swamped with suggestions (its like 10 tons now :) , but its good to have this forum category, Im gonna get back to this.
Ad 7) 8) yes... its not the best solution.
How about this:
Rate works the same, regardless of sync mode. Sync param defines unit.
When sync is set to quantized unit, rate goes from 1/8,1/7 .... 1 ....... 2 3 .... 8
@Bryan
13) I like the idea of not expanding every sub rack, or at least restore the last state so whatever you had expanded will be shown like before the parent rack was last condensed.
15) You're right, sorry, Note generator is still in beta but It won't be too long I guess...
16) Both file order and search sound like very useful when working with a large number of files.
16) In the presets browser, subfolders are not alphabetized. In fact, I have no idea how they're ordered. It seems totally random. I am building a large set of presets, but organizing them is difficult.
hmmmm.. could you show me a screenshot?
The top photo is probably not the best example of what I'm talking about, as I have no idea what order I created the folders in. But in the next picture I definitely created the folders in numerical order. I also just now created a bunch of folders with letters to make sure it wasn't a problem having to do with numbers in the folder name (see picture below). These folder were created starting with the letter A and going to J or wherever I ended.
@Bryan Thank you, could you check it on the latest beta?
Okay I tried it again with the beta and it's still doing the same thing.
If I remember correctly, some time in the past, a major iOS update (might have been iOS 9 or 10) had introduced an un-sorted presentation of files and lists even though the UI widget was sent content that was originally ordered. I don't know the details but there might be another sorting option required to actually show the content as intended.
Sorry for the confusion, but it appears that Build 8 has fixed the folder alphabetization issue. (In my earlier post I was referring to Build 7.) @giku Thank you for the fix!
thank you!
Some devices sort, some doesnt regardless of iOs version. Its weird, nevertheless I added sorting to the latest build