Grimm
Does the length of the slider affect the smoothness of how it does the effect?
Example: If I made a bpm slider that was the full height of the screen (600 pixels), and only used the 8% pitch option, would this affect how smoothly Atomix would change the pitch? Instead of the usual 130.0 - 130.2 - 103.5 - etc, would it go 130.0 - 130.1 - 130.2 - etc?
Example: If I made a bpm slider that was the full height of the screen (600 pixels), and only used the 8% pitch option, would this affect how smoothly Atomix would change the pitch? Instead of the usual 130.0 - 130.2 - 103.5 - etc, would it go 130.0 - 130.1 - 130.2 - etc?
Posted Sun 07 Apr 02 @ 7:01 pm
mixalis
I think the steps are the same even if the slider has full height.
Posted Sun 07 Apr 02 @ 9:59 pm
Grimm
I just tried a small test on one of the skins I have and set the BPM slider to almost the full height of the screen. When I used it, the BPM moved incrementally, instead of jumping .2 or .3 all the time. I guess this means that a smoother and more precise comtrol of the sliders can be had with more pixels. :)
Now I guess I need to work harder on my 1280x1024 skin. :D
Now I guess I need to work harder on my 1280x1024 skin. :D
Posted Tue 09 Apr 02 @ 10:34 pm
Tommy_2Tall
This sure was interesting!
Now we've got some serious re-thinking to do, remodeling our favorite skins to 1280*1024 with gigantic pitch- and most of all cross-fader-sliders for increased control... :o)
Now I understand why I liked some skins better than others: with small (EQ-)crossfader-sliders the level of control is decreased and your mix wouln't sound as smooth...
*hmm* but a crossfader that's only 100px long can be useful sometimes as well (mostly for short, precise fades within a second or so)....
I personally would prefer a VERY wide set of EQ-crossfaders as well as the main crossfader...
sort of like JN's Silver 2nd Edition but the crossfader a bit longer and the EQ-crossfaders just as long (as I tend to play around quiet a bit with them, being a novice to this whole mixing-thing :)
I really should get starting on a 1280x1024-skin myself cause I just got my head full of ideas :)
Now we've got some serious re-thinking to do, remodeling our favorite skins to 1280*1024 with gigantic pitch- and most of all cross-fader-sliders for increased control... :o)
Now I understand why I liked some skins better than others: with small (EQ-)crossfader-sliders the level of control is decreased and your mix wouln't sound as smooth...
*hmm* but a crossfader that's only 100px long can be useful sometimes as well (mostly for short, precise fades within a second or so)....
I personally would prefer a VERY wide set of EQ-crossfaders as well as the main crossfader...
sort of like JN's Silver 2nd Edition but the crossfader a bit longer and the EQ-crossfaders just as long (as I tend to play around quiet a bit with them, being a novice to this whole mixing-thing :)
I really should get starting on a 1280x1024-skin myself cause I just got my head full of ideas :)
Posted Wed 10 Apr 02 @ 10:17 am
Grimm
I'm so close to finishing my 1280x1024 skin. :)
But before I can release it I need to get the ok from another skin maker since I borrowed some elements from thier skin, although I altered most. ;)
One thing about the sliders, the BPM slider is easiest to make smooth. I believe that most users set thier BPM level to +-8%, which translates into a total of 161 possible settings. On a 1024x768, having a slider longer then 160 pixels will take up too much screen real-estate. But on a 1280x1024 skin, its very doable. My BPM slider is set at 222 pixel. ;)
The EQ and Crossfader slider though may be somewhat of a problem. I dont know what values are used to affect the volumes of each band, but since is volume related, they go from at least 0% to 100%. If you want full movement from the EQ, that would mean that each band would have to be a minimum of 200 pixels, to give the values of 0% (Cut), 100% (Centered) and 200% (Maximum). Likewise the Crossfader, cept that each side of the fader from the middle would be from 0-100%. At least thats my guess. I've just started to work on the EQ sliders for my skin, and altough thier no where near 200 pixels (for now), they sould at least give better control over the eq's.
But before I can release it I need to get the ok from another skin maker since I borrowed some elements from thier skin, although I altered most. ;)
One thing about the sliders, the BPM slider is easiest to make smooth. I believe that most users set thier BPM level to +-8%, which translates into a total of 161 possible settings. On a 1024x768, having a slider longer then 160 pixels will take up too much screen real-estate. But on a 1280x1024 skin, its very doable. My BPM slider is set at 222 pixel. ;)
The EQ and Crossfader slider though may be somewhat of a problem. I dont know what values are used to affect the volumes of each band, but since is volume related, they go from at least 0% to 100%. If you want full movement from the EQ, that would mean that each band would have to be a minimum of 200 pixels, to give the values of 0% (Cut), 100% (Centered) and 200% (Maximum). Likewise the Crossfader, cept that each side of the fader from the middle would be from 0-100%. At least thats my guess. I've just started to work on the EQ sliders for my skin, and altough thier no where near 200 pixels (for now), they sould at least give better control over the eq's.
Posted Wed 10 Apr 02 @ 10:57 am
Tommy_2Tall
Following your example with a 200px main crossfader and using the Full crossfader behaviour it would mean that you can only set the volume for the incoming track in whole percent-numbers as it goes from 0% to 100% on both channels in 100px = 1% per pixel... 1% of volumechange makes a lot of (audible) difference in a pumping club :)
I know it will take a lot of place but if you use mainly the main + EQ crossfaders the precision of those sliders are a must as the shortcuts for EQ-crossfaders are kinda rough and you'll end up dragging the sliders a lot... so I'll probably make the crossfaders big enough to allow half's as well (something in the area of 400px, 600px if you would want 0.3333% but that a bit too big even for my plans :)
But before we start doing huge crossfaders (and possibly equally huge asses of ourselves by publishing such monstrous creations) I'd like a confirmation from the team that this is actually effective...
Will out calculations here hold water if put to the test?
Is there a limitation to how precise the faders can be?
Does Atomix round of the numbers to some degree or will it be an exact relation between length of the sliders and the precision they show?
Empirical research is a good start but it would be nice to have some actual facts to base our future creations on. :)
I know it will take a lot of place but if you use mainly the main + EQ crossfaders the precision of those sliders are a must as the shortcuts for EQ-crossfaders are kinda rough and you'll end up dragging the sliders a lot... so I'll probably make the crossfaders big enough to allow half's as well (something in the area of 400px, 600px if you would want 0.3333% but that a bit too big even for my plans :)
But before we start doing huge crossfaders (and possibly equally huge asses of ourselves by publishing such monstrous creations) I'd like a confirmation from the team that this is actually effective...
Will out calculations here hold water if put to the test?
Is there a limitation to how precise the faders can be?
Does Atomix round of the numbers to some degree or will it be an exact relation between length of the sliders and the precision they show?
Empirical research is a good start but it would be nice to have some actual facts to base our future creations on. :)
Posted Wed 10 Apr 02 @ 12:04 pm
Tommy_2Tall
I sure hope someone on the Atomix-team sees this thread..
*nudge nudge*
We'd like some facts :o)
*nudge nudge*
We'd like some facts :o)
Posted Thu 11 Apr 02 @ 7:55 am
Grimm
Hey Tommy_2Tall. I just finished my 1280x1024 skin and made some very interesting discoveries on how some of the sliders and buttons work.
First, its seems that all the EQ sliders, Deck Volume, Pitch Slider, and Crossfade work more smoothly when given a large slide area. However, the Gain Slide, and Pitch Reset button seem set in thier ways. The Gain still jumps .4 to .5 for every pixel movement, and the Pitch Reset jumps its usual .4 to .5 as well, even though the Pitch Control now moves in increments of .1, and even finer! My only guess on the Gain is that since there is no set limit for the value, it can't move a percentage, so it moves a set amount. Hopefully in a future version, skinners can have more control over the values of each pixel, so that we can force the Gain slide to move .2 or even 1.0 for every pixel.
Second, the Beat Window is limited to a length of 1024 pixels, even if you have graphics larger then that. It will truncate anything after 1024 pixels, so no extra large beat windows for skins. I did not hit a height limit as my beat window is rather short, but I dont believe the length has any relation to the height, so a taller Beat Window wouldn't mean a longer one.
Aside from those 2 main problems I encountered, all else seems to work just fine and normal, as long as you script everything correctly that is. ;)
It took me almost as long to script the skin as it did to layout the whole graphics.
First, its seems that all the EQ sliders, Deck Volume, Pitch Slider, and Crossfade work more smoothly when given a large slide area. However, the Gain Slide, and Pitch Reset button seem set in thier ways. The Gain still jumps .4 to .5 for every pixel movement, and the Pitch Reset jumps its usual .4 to .5 as well, even though the Pitch Control now moves in increments of .1, and even finer! My only guess on the Gain is that since there is no set limit for the value, it can't move a percentage, so it moves a set amount. Hopefully in a future version, skinners can have more control over the values of each pixel, so that we can force the Gain slide to move .2 or even 1.0 for every pixel.
Second, the Beat Window is limited to a length of 1024 pixels, even if you have graphics larger then that. It will truncate anything after 1024 pixels, so no extra large beat windows for skins. I did not hit a height limit as my beat window is rather short, but I dont believe the length has any relation to the height, so a taller Beat Window wouldn't mean a longer one.
Aside from those 2 main problems I encountered, all else seems to work just fine and normal, as long as you script everything correctly that is. ;)
It took me almost as long to script the skin as it did to layout the whole graphics.
Posted Fri 12 Apr 02 @ 2:54 am
Tommy_2Tall
That's SO cool!
I'll probably spend all the weekend infront of my new, yet to be started, skin. :)
So far I've only got a general idea how I want it so I'll just sit myself down and make a background-plate and splash out some huge high-precision sliders whereever I can fit them..
*hmm* I just checked out the new Darkfun Basic skin and realized that we're going our own little way.. that one has NO sliders and we'll be aiming at big sliders that basically make the whole skin with their high precision. :o)
I know.. their not analog sliders but it's hi-res controls when compared to the other sliders :)
I'll probably spend all the weekend infront of my new, yet to be started, skin. :)
So far I've only got a general idea how I want it so I'll just sit myself down and make a background-plate and splash out some huge high-precision sliders whereever I can fit them..
*hmm* I just checked out the new Darkfun Basic skin and realized that we're going our own little way.. that one has NO sliders and we'll be aiming at big sliders that basically make the whole skin with their high precision. :o)
I know.. their not analog sliders but it's hi-res controls when compared to the other sliders :)
Posted Fri 12 Apr 02 @ 10:06 am
Tommy_2Tall
I don't see it... didn't get published or what?
Posted Mon 15 Apr 02 @ 5:31 pm
Tommy_2Tall
I've tested it thoroughly now and all I can say is SWEEEET! :)
The faders worked just as we assumed they would and it's really easy to work with.
I have been working on my own skin for 3-4 nights now and I haven't gotten that far yet but I know that the faders will be considered HUGE, maybe even too big to use so I'll be making ,1280x1024, 1024x768, 800x600 and possibly 640x480 versions while I'm at it..
and it will take some time to do: I have a schematic over the two high-res versions ready and I'll adjust it slightly for the low-res version(s) and THEN I'll start constructing the actual graphics from scratch in a 3D-program...
I have a feeling it will be a bit Silver'ish as I really like that layout and those buttons are pretty much what I'm capable of doing in a 3D/CAD-program :o)
The faders worked just as we assumed they would and it's really easy to work with.
I have been working on my own skin for 3-4 nights now and I haven't gotten that far yet but I know that the faders will be considered HUGE, maybe even too big to use so I'll be making ,1280x1024, 1024x768, 800x600 and possibly 640x480 versions while I'm at it..
and it will take some time to do: I have a schematic over the two high-res versions ready and I'll adjust it slightly for the low-res version(s) and THEN I'll start constructing the actual graphics from scratch in a 3D-program...
I have a feeling it will be a bit Silver'ish as I really like that layout and those buttons are pretty much what I'm capable of doing in a 3D/CAD-program :o)
Posted Wed 17 Apr 02 @ 9:33 am