Hi Everyone,

Another step closer to beta; reViSIT v0.89.2, as scheduled, features ...

• Protracker (MOD) and compatible module file support
  I've trudged through a ream of different format specs to hopefully implement one of the most compatible MOD loaders around - Protracker, Soundtracker, Noisetracker, StarTrekker (not 8-Chn), FastTracker II, and many more. If you find an incompatible MOD, email me a copy and I'll see about adding it to the list.
• "No Click" feature
  It's not really a special "technology" in reViSiT - it's just a matter of replacing all Note Cuts with very fast Note Fades. This has very little impact on performance in practice. I've also reduced the clicks appearing in IT/S3M sample loops, so reViSiT is now silky smooth. Of course, any clicks in the sample itself will be left untouched, so anyone with a "glitch aesthetic" out there has no cause to worry!
• Other bug fixes and minor changes
  No one has reported it yet, but there was a potentially serious bug in the open/save file dialog which prevented it showing after the first appearance. This is fixed, as are a couple of import anomalies and the ominous sticking of the shift key during pattern selection, among others.

Check the readme.txt or release notes, for details of all the changes and please do report back with any comments, queries or problems you might have.

If you have already applied to the Alpha programme, you will have an email containing the details of the download. If you haven't applied, go to http://www.nashnet.co.uk/english/revisit/download.htm and sign up for the download.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to pose them on the forum - or to me directly by email, via revisit@nashnet.co.uk. For more information, see the reViSiT website @ http://revisit.nashnet.co.uk.

Enjoy!

All the best,
Chris

- Weird stuff in the instrumentscreen, playing (controlling) instruments now requires me to manually press F8 each time, or else you won't hear new notes in certain situations. Midi-delay @ 0 didn't fix it.. (back to the drawingboard ^_^ )

Can you be more precise about these "certain situations"? Is it the same problem as before, or different? Does the pattern/song playback sound OK?

- Did you strip the 'new' ALT-D style? (beat -> major highlight -> double length) Because it's now beat -> doublebeat etc. again!

"Strip"? When did I add it, exactly?

* display elapsed time after any playing command, this was *so* handy in IT2 and so very practical while working for visuals or time-based concepts. And yes, the host displays time, but afaik not the elapsed time, and in 999 out of 1000 times I'm not using the host to playback but rev's own F5, F6 or F7.

You mean display elapsed time DURING playback? Maybe, but reViSiT is designed to work with a host, and the host should provide ample time information, as you point out. reViSiT is not designed to be a standalone tracker. However, an extended "pattern follow" feature will eventually cover this kind of scenario, allowing you to move to a time in the host and for reViSiT to move and display the appropriate tracker row automatically.

In any case, if you need one minute of music (for visuals, etc.) or so, you can just move to 01:00 in the host and hit the host's play button, then listen to reViSiT and see what's going on. Or use the info page and hit 'g'.

* show numbers for current position, pattern, row somewhere while playing. it's way easier than to anticipate on what you notice during playback, e.g. where to find the things you hear.

You mean like we already have on the toolbar...?

Chris

Can you be more precise about these "certain situations"? Is it the same problem as before, or different? Does the pattern/song playback sound OK?

Pattern-playback is ok, it's purely the playing around in the instrumentscreen. First few notes are ok, but then notes refuse to be triggered again.. orso.. I can't tell yet what its consistent flaws are.. need to toy around some more.

Then this is not the same bug at all! I think NNA's might be interfering with the MIDI. I'm going to disable envelopes, NNA's and DCT's for MIDI Instruments. That kind of thing will generally be handled in the MIDI device anyway.

"Strip"? When did I add it, exactly?

You did weeks ago! In an earlier version it worked like this! First ALT-D did a minor highlight, 2nd ALT-D did a major highlight, following ALT-D's did doubling! Really! I swear!

Alt-D was introduced in v0.85.3, where it worked as in IT2 - Major highlight, then doubling. In v0.86.5, this was changed to Minor highlight, then doubling. In late April, there was a discussion on the forum about changing this, eventually settling on Minor, then Major, then doubling. It has not, however, been implemented in a subsequent release yet. I have now implemented it, in what is to be v0.89.3.

One thing that bothers me a bit (but I mentioned it before) is this whole idea of loose components. A pattern editor for notes, one ore more VSTi's for instruments, the host for tempo/time, another window in that host for tempo-change, host-[play] if you actually want to hear tempochanges, a floating revisit window for pattern/pos display. This way one keeps TAB'ing or clicking around with a screen full of things. In many cases you can't really be without a mouse.. I think workflow is much more streamlined when you don't need to TAB around all the time. So, maybe displaying elapsed time, pat/pos etc. on the tracking window isn't according to the book.. but if it actually adds value by speeding-up workflow, do books matter?

I will consider an elapsed time feature, but your comments have wider implications than this little addition...

I agree that tabbing and forced mousing are very bad things for workflow, but there are two points here I'd like to make. reViSiT will always try to make the workflow smoother, but it is only a select part of your workspace. The idea is that reViSiT compliments the host, not that the host is a necessary evil needed to run reViSiT. The tabbing and mousing, in your case, is necessitated by your host, not by reViSiT. I'd like to say that you should just go out and find a better host - one with better keyboard support, but most suffer the same problem (though some argue Tracktion has a better workflow model). It is because DAW's try to do too much and cater for too many audiences - they end up being the "jack of all trades and master of none". Now, you like the way reViSiT works, so your argument is to take some of those competences into the reViSiT working area. However, inevitably, we will get to the point where reViSiT is doing too much, and corners start getting cut. It is important not to lose sight of reViSiT's focus - to avoid unnecessary complication, screen clutter, etc.

Secondly, your problem is not having the numerous different screens for different tasks - this is in fact a major advantage. Your problem is having no way to get between them efficiently. Within reViSiT, all different screens are one unique shortcut away (normally an F-key). In a host, especially where you are hosting interfaces designed by other manufacturers, it is impossible to dolly out unique shortcuts to each component - aside from the logistical problems of deciding which gets which; there simply aren't enough keys on the keyboard! Cubase is quite good here, in that you can customise most of the key commands (File -> Key Commands...). But, it occurs to me that the subsequent problem lies around making sure the host's keys are different from the plug-in's - so that they can both be available at the same time. For example, F3 in reViSiT would take you to the Sample List in reViSiT, whereas (for example) Ctrl-F3 might take you to the Mixer in the host.

I am going to look and see if I can keep a range of keys "reserved" (unused) in reViSiT (probably F-key's or numerals with some modifier - ctrl, alt, shift, or a combination), and ensure that they are passed (or actively sent) to the host. The user can then reconfigure commands in the host to respond to these keys, so that the user will be able to go directly from reViSiT to a specific function of the host. Getting back to reViSiT from the host is trickier but already available for anyone using Manual Keyboard mode - Ctrl-Alt-R will bring reViSiT to the fore, whilst in the host (and this could conceivably be extended to offer direct shortcuts to main reViSiT pages). In your case you could set up direct reViSiT to Tempo Track shortcuts, etc. and still easily get back to reViSiT.

I'll look at adding this set of "Reserved Host Keys" for v0.89.3. I don't know how much it will help, as many of the components you describe (tempo track, VSTi editors, etc.) are mouse-driven anyway, but it might make some difference - for example, you could connect one of the keys in reViSiT to Cubase's "Play from Selection Start" and if you set the selection to the start of the track, you'll have a "Play with Host" control inside reViSiT. More crucially, Cubase has extensive macro support, which can be assigned keys, so the possibilities are endless (combine a "Return to Zero" and a "Start" in a single key - all in "Key Commands"). Additionally, Cubase allows you to save keyboard setups and macros (in a single file), so one could be distributed on the reViSiT site.

Regards,
Chris