Johns wish list

[John Vere]

Making the tutorials makes me dig into all corners of Cakewalk. Places I don’t always use routinely. 
 

The Event List. It’s sort of super clunky to use in regards to selecting a track. I was thinking a mini track view side window like the PVR 

How about removing all the old menu items left behind from old version and only keeping say 2 at the most.  I counted 9 ways to insert an instrument track. And now there are 2 different dialogue boxes that will appear depending on which method you choose. 
How hard would it be to say link inserting from the synth rack to the new improved dialogue box. 
Most of the software I use will only have one menu and one dialogue box per feature or action. 
 

 

[Starship Krupa]

On 11/9/2021 at 6:49 PM, John Vere said:

How about removing all the old menu items left behind from old version and only keeping say 2 at the most.  I counted 9 ways to insert an instrument track. And now there are 2 different dialogue boxes that will appear depending on which method you choose. 
How hard would it be to say link inserting from the synth rack to the new improved dialogue box. 
Most of the software I use will only have one menu and one dialogue box per feature or action. 

Aye, this. A peeve of mine for sure.

It really hurts usability because when we're learning how to do something, we figure out how to do something and then tuck that information away for future use.

If there are multiple ways to do the same thing, scattered across multiple menus, we can have all of those multiple paths cluttering up our memory. If we've half-forgotten something, then next time do it via the different steps, those two mess with each other. Even once we have it down, our brain is still asking, "how do we do it this time?"

Adding instruments is the prime example, and then you have the thing where the spiffy newer dialog spawns the "Windows 98 called and wants its dialog box back" window.

One of my favorite ways to add synths is the "Insert Soft Synth" command way up in the Global menu, because it's the only way I know of to add only a synth track, without an accompanying MIDI track (or as a simple instrument). I'd like to have that available as a Custom Module and keystroke command.

[scook]

14 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

One of my favorite ways to add synths is the "Insert Soft Synth" command way up in the Global menu, because it's the only way I know of to add only a synth track, without an accompanying MIDI track (or as a simple instrument). I'd like to have that available as a Custom Module and keystroke command.

Most options on the main menu have pre-defined accelerator keys and Insert Soft Synth is one of them.

[sjoens]

Edited to remove dumb question.

Edited November 16, 2021 by sjoens

[Bill Phillips]

8 hours ago, scook said:

Most options on the main menu have pre-defined accelerator keys and Insert Soft Synth is one of them.

Yes.  Multiple options is probably a good thing because it's more flexible and supports multiple workshops. Currently I use keyboard shortcuts when they're available and add them when I can.

[John Vere]

Ya but I got ragged on by a few people who tried to follow my insert instruments tutorial saying it was”overwhelming “. Please show us one way. “ 

As most of us long time users know we each will learn a certain way to perform a task and for the most part ignore all the other options. Sometimes sticking with a workflow we created in Sonar 6. 
 

Lately the developers have been adding a lot of “new ways “.  The new dialogues need some work to 100% replace the old ones for sure. But why not follow thru with this plan? 
 

So to make a tutorial for a new user I have had to go past “my way” and explore the options. It’s been a huge learning curve for me and I’m slowly becoming almost at the level of totally understand the parts of Cakewalk I never bothered with in the past. It has totally changed my workflow when I create and work on a new project now. 

You can’t just show new users your workflow to do something. Then  you’re in trouble if you try to explain the complications of the 9 other ways you could also do this. 
 

Yesterday I was writing out my narrative for the control bar. I think I discovered 20 + things I didn’t know existed before. I also found yet more duplicated menus. 
My favourite is the Export module sits right underneath the File menu that also has the same function. 

[scook]

You know if they removed legacy methods, those that stick

42 minutes ago, John Vere said:

with a workflow we created in Sonar 6

may by continually stymied by having to learn new ways of doing things. This may just as frustrating to existing users as having multiple ways of doing things is to new users.

 

There are several ways to add instruments to a project. It would be surprising if all of them were not used in the field. Some users may employ more than one method.

For example, if my mouse is near the browser, I might use drag and drop from the browser. If it is near the track headers I might use the context menu or directly click on the add tracks menu. I rarely use the main menu insert soft synth option though, however; others are on record preferring this option.

I agree, creating tutorials for new users need to be simple. Detailing multiple methods may be overwhelming.

Still once the concepts are understood, learning different ways to do the same thing has its advantages.

 

The export module, introduced with SONAR Platinum, has several simplified export dialogs. It also is a convenient way to see how long a project or selection is. The module has been extended to include export to BandLab. For new users, I am not sure if I would even bother to discuss the new advanced export dialog. At least not in the initial discussion about exporting a project.

 

[John Vere]

The funny thing is the export dialogue is one of the few that they totally updated and deleted the old dialogue. And yes, immediately someone complained. I really like the new dialogue and they fixed one issue right away that I’ll be testing shortly here, the export tracks through mix track length