Moosic
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Track Icons and Interface
Hello all. I recently upgraded from the ancient Music Creator 2 to MC5. I'm loving all the new features, toys, and optimizations, but I'm not a big fan of the bloated interface and the track icons in the track view. In the older versions of MC, the collapsed version of a track was maybe a 3rd the size of a collapsed version of a track in MC5. I don't really need a giant icon to tell me what instrument the track has either  . I think I've looked about everywhere in the options and the help files but I can't find much. Is there any way to revert to a 'classic' version of the MC interface, or even just make the tracks a bit slimmer? I wouldn't mind so much but I frequently use a lot of tracks in my projects and would like to reduce the amount of vertical scrolling I do so I can see more of my project at once. I'm also kinda missing having a ton of buttons at my disposal in the toolbar but I can live without those since I have most of the keyboard shortcuts memorized. Cheers!
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Beagle
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/10/30 07:30:04
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you can't reduce the size of the tracks below what you're seeing. that's the way they chose to create MC5 thinking it's better for beginners.
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Guitarhacker
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/10/31 18:15:04
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I was thinking there is a large or small size selector for the icons.
You'll appreciate the big icons as you get older.
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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Beagle
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/10/31 18:34:09
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Guitarhacker
I was thinking there is a large or small size selector for the icons.
You'll appreciate the big icons as you get older.
not for MC5. it worked that way for MC4, but MC5 is fixed.
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Guitarhacker
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/10/31 21:27:13
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I was thinking that I had done that in 4..... I do like the bigger icons since it is easier to see exactly what is in the track..... but they don't have a steel guitar icon.....yet.
Is there a way to add icons?
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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57Gregy
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/10/31 21:59:52
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Is there a way to add icons? A few years ago RobertB thought it could be done but at the time I didn't try it. Tonight I checked the SHS 6 help files and you can. To Create a Track Icon Create or edit a graphics file in .bmp format, preferably 128 by 128 pixels. You can use any image as a track icon. You can use any size image, but for best results scale the image to 128 pixels square. Images must be in the .bmp format. Save the image as a .bmp file in the Track Icons directory in your SONAR program folder. Again, that's for SHS 6; look in your help files to see if MC can do it.
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57Gregy
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/10/31 22:27:27
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And it's easy!
I just made a simple drawing, edited it down to ~126X120, opened SHS 6, clicked the track and selected Load Track Icon. I can't find the Track Icon folder in Windows Explorer for some reason.
I then opened My Pictures and dragged the drawing into the Track Icons file.
Now all I need is a digital camera to take pictures of my instruments so I can load the images.
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RobertB
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/10/31 22:47:08
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Greg, you are running XP, correct? The path to your track icon folder should look like this:
Documents and Settings/[User]/Application Data/Cakewalk/Sonar Home Studio 6>Track Icons.
It's not in the program folder.
Don't try to capture too much detail in your photos. keep them simple, with clean contrasting backgrounds. Otherwise, the picture is just a blob after it has been reduced and dithered to the small, low resolution bitmap image.
It is fun to use your own icons, especially if you have any unique instruments.
My Soundclick Page SONAR Professional, X3eStudio,W7 64bit, AMD Athlon IIx4 2.8Ghz, 4GB RAM, 64bit, AKAI EIE Pro, Nektar Impact LX61,Alesis DM6,Alesis ControlPad,Yamaha MG10/2,Alesis M1Mk2 monitors,Samson Servo300,assorted guitars,Lava Lamp Shimozu-Kushiari or Bob
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Beagle
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/01 08:48:41
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but again, you can't do custome icons in MC5, but you could in MC4, I believe.
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57Gregy
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/01 13:04:24
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Thanks, Bob, I was looking in the Programs file. And I do use XP.
That's too bad, Reece. The OP stated that he doesn't need (want) the icons. If MC 5 could do it, he could just load in some blank images.
Which begs the question: if you don't load Instrument tracks, how does the program know which icon to use? If you don't use Instrument tracks, there will be no icon, right?
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Robomusic
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/01 13:12:39
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but they don't have a steel guitar icon.....yet.
Arn't most guitars made of Wood?!?!?!?
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Beagle
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/01 14:27:25
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57Gregy
Thanks, Bob, I was looking in the Programs file. And I do use XP.
That's too bad, Reece. The OP stated that he doesn't need (want) the icons. If MC 5 could do it, he could just load in some blank images.
Which begs the question: if you don't load Instrument tracks, how does the program know which icon to use? If you don't use Instrument tracks, there will be no icon, right?
no, it's not blank, you can choose from a few different ones, a guitar, a keyboard, a sax, I think, maybe a microphone. I'll have to check that when I get home, but you can't load custom ones in MC5. and it comes up with default ones if you choose an audio track. I'll check that when I get home, too.
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RobertB
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/02 16:56:28
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Actually, you can use custom icons in MC5.
It's just a matter of pasting your bmp image into the folder.
The icon folder is in Application Data, not the Program Files folder.
However, you cannot change the size of the displayed icon, as Beagle noted.
My Soundclick Page SONAR Professional, X3eStudio,W7 64bit, AMD Athlon IIx4 2.8Ghz, 4GB RAM, 64bit, AKAI EIE Pro, Nektar Impact LX61,Alesis DM6,Alesis ControlPad,Yamaha MG10/2,Alesis M1Mk2 monitors,Samson Servo300,assorted guitars,Lava Lamp Shimozu-Kushiari or Bob
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Guitarhacker
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/02 18:22:00
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I will search for a nice steel pic and convert to BMP.
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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Beagle
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/02 18:31:07
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thanks for verifying and correcting that, Bob!
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Tap
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/03 07:19:32
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I've heard about stolen guitars .... what a steal. -LOL-
MC4 - M-Audio FW410 / Behringer UCA202 - Fender Strat / Jazzmaster / DuoSonic / Washburn / Peavy Foundation M-Audio Radium 49 Roland Juno 106 / JazzChorus / Seymore Duncan Convertible - HP A1230N ( AMD Athalon 3800+ 2G Ram + 200G HD ) http://soundclick.com/cut2thechaise
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Moosic
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/03 17:35:15
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Thanks for replying guys! The icons don't really bother me if getting rid of them doesn't reduce the amount of vertical space the tracks take up anyways. They're taking up horizontal space as well but it looks like they fixed those in place too  . Anyways I managed to find this thread: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1720141 It looks like "Folders" feature might sorta do what I need, but these seem like some pretty backwards design decisions on Cakewalk's part. I don't mind the interface being the way it is by default, but the option to resize and bring back older design elements should be there. I see in that thread there was also a "Navigator Tool" once upon a time that would have helped immensely but they took that out for some reason too :/
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57Gregy
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/03 22:12:50
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If MC 5 has it, and I can't see why not, press M on the computer keyboard to bring up the Track Manager.
You can choose the tracks you want to see and uncheck the tracks you don't want. Simplifies the view a little.
This works for Track view and Console view, and they're not the same; if you're viewing tracks 1-7 in Track, that doesn't mean 1-7 will be in the console. They can be different.
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Beagle
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/04 14:03:40
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track manager was removed from MC and SHS.
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57Gregy
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Re:Track Icons and Interface
2010/11/04 14:07:08
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Beagle
track manager was removed from MC and SHS.
Sheesh. What's the world coming to...
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