benjaminfrog
Max Output Level: -81 dBFS
- Total Posts : 477
- Joined: 11/5/2006
- Location: Minneapolis
- Status: offline
FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Good: Having the FX bin automatically resize to accommodate the number of effects is a really cool idea.
The Bad: The contrast between enabled and disabled effects isn't great enough to be able to tell the difference easily.
The Ugly: Those clunky, chunky buttons are way less sexy than than the way effects used to appear in the effects bin.
I like the concept behind FX Stacks, but I hope Cakewalk will reevaluate the graphical choices they made, both in terms of ease of use and aesthetics.
SONAR Platinum Windows 10 Pro x64 ASRock Z97 Pro4 i7-4790K 4.0GHz 32GB RAM Intel® HD Graphics 4600 RME Fireface UFX http://www.sewardsound.com/
|
jb101
Max Output Level: -46 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2946
- Joined: 12/4/2011
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 4:13 AM
(permalink)
I wondered if the buttons were to make selections easier for touch screen users.
I don't use a touch screen, personally, but that appears to be the way things are going.
|
SteveStrummerUK
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 31112
- Joined: 10/28/2006
- Location: Worcester, England.
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 8:40 AM
(permalink)
☄ Helpfulby hockeyjx January 21, 15 2:50 PM
benjaminfrog
The Bad: The contrast between enabled and disabled effects isn't great enough to be able to tell the difference easily.
This is my only niggle with the new FX Stack. Here's how they currently look with my colour-coded Console Strips:  I think something like this would be a vast improvement, simply by using a 'negative' of the inactive effects:  The same 'negative' scheme, only with the default strip colours:  And taking this one stage further for those of us who really struggle with low-contrast grey-on-grey:  Or maybe even the ability to use custom colours; here we'd have 'green' for on, 'red' for off: 
|
FCCfirstclass
Max Output Level: -71 dBFS
- Total Posts : 969
- Joined: 11/15/2003
- Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 9:05 AM
(permalink)
IMHO, just the thing the new Duckbar 2015 would cover.
Win 10 Pro x64, 32Gb DDR3 ram, Sonar Platinum, Cubase 9.5, Mackie MCU Pro, Cakewalk VS 100, Roland Octa-Capture, A 800 Pro, Carver M-1.5t amp & C4000 pre amp, various mics, drums and brass instruments. And away we go!
|
.
post edited by Caa2 - April 08, 17 6:44 PM
|
BlixYZ
Max Output Level: -74 dBFS
- Total Posts : 805
- Joined: 12/31/2010
- Location: Barrington, NJ
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 9:09 AM
(permalink)
YES. This is a small, but meaningful detail. I COULD NOT tell if my fx were on or off.
I love the "negative" suggestion.
+1 to you all.
James W BlixYZ Recording Studio BlixYZ Records Audient ASP800 thru Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Mackie Control Universal + C4 Yamaha HS50's plus Matching Sub, Tannoy 501a Blue Baby Bottle, AT 4050, Neumann TLM 103, etc. UA 610, Focusrite/ART/Neve 2CH. Windows 10
|
benjaminfrog
Max Output Level: -81 dBFS
- Total Posts : 477
- Joined: 11/5/2006
- Location: Minneapolis
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 9:31 AM
(permalink)
SONAR Platinum Windows 10 Pro x64 ASRock Z97 Pro4 i7-4790K 4.0GHz 32GB RAM Intel® HD Graphics 4600 RME Fireface UFX http://www.sewardsound.com/
|
Anderton
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 14070
- Joined: 11/6/2003
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 10:11 AM
(permalink)
Another +1 on the "negative" option or equivalent. The current setup is too dependent on the monitor's brightness and contrast settings.
|
benjaminfrog
Max Output Level: -81 dBFS
- Total Posts : 477
- Joined: 11/5/2006
- Location: Minneapolis
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 10:12 AM
(permalink)
SONAR Platinum Windows 10 Pro x64 ASRock Z97 Pro4 i7-4790K 4.0GHz 32GB RAM Intel® HD Graphics 4600 RME Fireface UFX http://www.sewardsound.com/
|
Greeny
Max Output Level: -87 dBFS
- Total Posts : 181
- Joined: 9/26/2014
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 11:37 AM
(permalink)
Looks alright to me but if changing it can help others why not.
|
panup
Max Output Level: -50 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2538
- Joined: 5/23/2006
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 12:31 AM
(permalink)
Duckbar will take care of this. :) ..but before that I have to finish the very special "even more gray" (and thus more professional) theme. Preview:  I hope you enjoy using this.
|
denverdrummer
Max Output Level: -85 dBFS
- Total Posts : 278
- Joined: 1/10/2011
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 12:50 AM
(permalink)
Another +1 for the contrast change.
But I will say this is going to be my favorite new feature in Sonar Platinum. Even more than the FX bin, I hated how it would only show you two sends at a time, and you had to pay attention to the numbers on the sends if you scrolled down, to know which one you were working with. This was LONG overdue, and if it were the only change made, I'd still pay for the upgrade.
Win 10 Pro 64 bit, Dell Inspiron 15, core i7, 16GB RAM, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mackie MR5 Mark 1 speakers
|
RogerH
Max Output Level: -78 dBFS
- Total Posts : 608
- Joined: 9/10/2007
- Location: Norway
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 1:09 PM
(permalink)
denverdrummer
Another +1 for the contrast change.
But I will say this is going to be my favorite new feature in Sonar Platinum. Even more than the FX bin, I hated how it would only show you two sends at a time, and you had to pay attention to the numbers on the sends if you scrolled down, to know which one you were working with. This was LONG overdue, and if it were the only change made, I'd still pay for the upgrade.
+1
A song from my band: Terramater My soundcloud pageSonar Platinum Windows 7 Professional (SP1) 64Bit Intel Core i7 Quad Processor i7-2600K 3,4GHz MSI P67A-C45 (MOBO) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9 (2x4GB) Seagate Barracuda® 7200.12 1TB Seagate Barracuda® XT 2TB
[font="arial, sans-se
|
tlw
Max Output Level: -49.5 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2567
- Joined: 10/11/2008
- Location: West Midlands, UK
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 21, 15 1:19 PM
(permalink)
I'm finding it near impossible to tell whether plugins in the PC fx modules (as well as the channel bin) are on or off. As soon as focus as shifted to anything else they all turn into ehat look like identical grey bars irrespective of status.
As for it being a monitor contrast issue, my screen is colour and contrast profiled for photographic and graphics work, and I'm not about to change that.
Sonar Platinum 64bit, Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit, I7 3770K Ivybridge, 16GB Ram, Gigabyte Z77-D3H m/board, ATI 7750 graphics+ 1GB RAM, 2xIntel 520 series 220GB SSDs, 1 TB Samsung F3 + 1 TB WD HDDs, Seasonic fanless 460W psu, RME Fireface UFX, Focusrite Octopre. Assorted real synths, guitars, mandolins, diatonic accordions, percussion, fx and other stuff.
|
Zo
Max Output Level: -25 dBFS
- Total Posts : 5036
- Joined: 1/25/2008
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 22, 15 9:24 PM
(permalink)
i like the contrast of the new tools bar short cut , this could be a start ... or sends text back ground ....a color customsiation for that would be the greatest move
For sale (PM me) : transfert ilok includedEventide Ultrachannel make offersSoftube Summit EQIK Neve 1081 , Neve precision Comp/LimEastWest GoshtwriterSoundforge Pro 12
|
smallstonefan
Max Output Level: -48 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2724
- Joined: 11/20/2003
- Location: Papillion, Nebraska
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 22, 15 11:02 PM
(permalink)
+1 on the difficulty of seeing if a plugin is on or off. Just exported a mix with Arc 2 turned on and thought the final file sounded too good. :) Went back in and found Arc was on, but it is hard to tell.
|
Zo
Max Output Level: -25 dBFS
- Total Posts : 5036
- Joined: 1/25/2008
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 22, 15 11:32 PM
(permalink)
smallstonefan
+1 on the difficulty of seeing if a plugin is on or off. Just exported a mix with Arc 2 turned on and thought the final file sounded too good. :) Went back in and found Arc was on, but it is hard to tell.
do a send from your master to an ARC'ed bus .. feeding your monitors ...bounce the master (master out is your heaphones) or vice versa (master out ARC bus, send = headphones)
For sale (PM me) : transfert ilok includedEventide Ultrachannel make offersSoftube Summit EQIK Neve 1081 , Neve precision Comp/LimEastWest GoshtwriterSoundforge Pro 12
|
lawajava
Max Output Level: -55 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2040
- Joined: 5/31/2012
- Location: Seattle
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 1:20 AM
(permalink)
tlw
I'm finding it near impossible to tell whether plugins in the PC fx modules (as well as the channel bin) are on or off. As soon as focus as shifted to anything else they all turn into ehat look like identical grey bars irrespective of status.
As for it being a monitor contrast issue, my screen is colour and contrast profiled for photographic and graphics work, and I'm not about to change that.
Agreed, the contrast is too minimal as is. I can live with it, but look forward to a revision to make it more intuitive.
Two internal 2TB SSDs laptop stuffed with Larry's deals and awesome tools. Studio One is the cat's meow as a DAW now that I've migrated off of Sonar. Using BandLab Cakewalk just to grab old files when migrating songs.
|
BRuys
Max Output Level: -87 dBFS
- Total Posts : 192
- Joined: 4/26/2011
- Location: New Zealand
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 2:20 AM
(permalink)
Another +1 for doing something about the contrast. I have a high colour gamut 30" pro monitor, and I still have to do a double-take to determine if they are on or off. This needs improvement!
|
soens
Max Output Level: -23.5 dBFS
- Total Posts : 5154
- Joined: 9/16/2005
- Location: Location: Location
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 5:20 AM
(permalink)
 VS.  I really don't like the big clunky buttons. They just add to the confusion for me. The new way makes it hard to see the mono/stereo 32/64bit dots as well.
post edited by soens - January 23, 15 6:13 AM
|
Pastacrow
Max Output Level: -88 dBFS
- Total Posts : 105
- Joined: 12/10/2010
- Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 5:32 AM
(permalink)
For once I'm happy to agree with something 'negative'!!!
Sonar Platinum (Lifetime!) + Samplitude Pro X3 Suite + Presonus Studio One 3(previously Cakewalk & Pro Audio 3,5,6,8,9 | Sonar 2,3,5,6,8,8.5 | Sonar Producer X1,X2,X3E )Intel Core i7-4790 / 3.6 / 16 GB RAM240 GB SSD / 2.0 TB HD / 2GB Nvidia GTX750ti / Windows 8.1 x 64bit UAD Apollo Twin USB / Roland Octacapture
|
smallstonefan
Max Output Level: -48 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2724
- Joined: 11/20/2003
- Location: Papillion, Nebraska
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 7:22 AM
(permalink)
Zo
smallstonefan
+1 on the difficulty of seeing if a plugin is on or off. Just exported a mix with Arc 2 turned on and thought the final file sounded too good. :) Went back in and found Arc was on, but it is hard to tell.
do a send from your master to an ARC'ed bus .. feeding your monitors ...bounce the master (master out is your heaphones) or vice versa (master out ARC bus, send = headphones)
Hey Zo, I always use Ctrl+A to select all and then export. What's the process for just exporting the master? Do I do the same thing, but select the bus in the export dialog box?
|
panup
Max Output Level: -50 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2538
- Joined: 5/23/2006
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 7:52 AM
(permalink)
☄ Helpfulby SteveStrummerUK September 22, 15 4:40 AM
soens
VS.
I really don't like the big clunky buttons. They just add to the confusion for me.
The new way makes it hard to see the mono/stereo 32/64bit dots as well.
I did not see mono/stereo dots until you mentioned about them. Bad GUI design. :(
|
dcumpian
Max Output Level: -34 dBFS
- Total Posts : 4124
- Joined: 11/3/2005
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 8:33 AM
(permalink)
They should be lit like the buttons in the control bar.
Regards,
Dan
Mixing is all about control. My music: http://dancumpian.bandcamp.com/ or https://soundcloud.com/dcumpian Studiocat Advanced Studio DAW (Intel i5 3550 @ 3.7GHz, Z77 motherboard, 16GB Ram, lots of HDDs), Sonar Plat, Mackie 1604, PreSonus Audiobox 44VSL, ESI 4x4 Midi Interface, Ibanez Bass, Custom Fender Mexi-Strat, NI S88, Roland JV-2080 & MDB-1, Komplete, Omnisphere, Lots o' plugins.
|
wizard71
Max Output Level: -74 dBFS
- Total Posts : 836
- Joined: 2/12/2012
- Location: UK
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 8:39 AM
(permalink)
I agree this needs to be changed.
http://www.youtube.com/SpaceTimeAceshttps://soundcloud.com/space-time-acesSonar Platinum - Win 8.1 x64 - Haswell 4770k - ASrock Z87 pro3 - 32gb ram - Fractal design R4 case - 3x HDD 1 USB 2.0 external 1x cr M4 ssd for samples - Octa-capture - Sontronics Aria - Sontronics STC-1s - BX8 monitors - ARC 2 system - Kawai CA63 piano - Kawai MP6 Stage piano - Fender custom Telecaster FMT - Yamaha LL6 - Fender P bass
|
smallstonefan
Max Output Level: -48 dBFS
- Total Posts : 2724
- Joined: 11/20/2003
- Location: Papillion, Nebraska
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 8:56 AM
(permalink)
I like the size of the buttons (I use a touch screen), but let's get those bad boys lit so we know what is on and off.
|
brconflict
Max Output Level: -56.5 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1891
- Joined: 10/5/2012
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 9:51 AM
(permalink)
Darken the buttons and set the Active plug-in text to the quintessential skylight blue.The buttons "seemingly' make it easier for mouse clicking.
Brian Sonar Platinum, Steinberg Wavelab Pro 9, MOTU 24CoreIO w/ low-slew OP-AMP mods and BLA external clock, True P8, Audient ASP008, API 512c, Chandler Germ500, Summit 2ba-221, GAP Pre-73, Peluso 22251, Peluso 2247LE, Mackie HR824, Polk Audio SRS-SDA 2.3tl w/upgraded Soniccraft crossovers and Goertz cables, powered by Pass-X350. All wiring Star-Quad XLR or Monster Cable. Power by Monster Power Signature AVS2000 voltage stabilizer and Signature Pro Power 5100 PowerCenter on a 20A isolation shielded circuit.
|
Zo
Max Output Level: -25 dBFS
- Total Posts : 5036
- Joined: 1/25/2008
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 11:12 AM
(permalink)
May i suggest those solutions options ...if the want the same format , the shortcut type is the quiker to implement 
For sale (PM me) : transfert ilok includedEventide Ultrachannel make offersSoftube Summit EQIK Neve 1081 , Neve precision Comp/LimEastWest GoshtwriterSoundforge Pro 12
|
WallyG
Max Output Level: -74 dBFS
- Total Posts : 833
- Joined: 5/3/2013
- Location: Arizona
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 11:14 AM
(permalink)
wizard71
I agree this needs to be changed.
I'll add a pretty please...
Roland Jupiter 80, Roland D50, Roland Integra 7, Roland BK-7m, Yamaha Montage 6, ARP Odyssey, Excelsior Continental Artist, Roland FR-8X, 1967 Fender Jaguar, Fender Strat, Fender 1965 Twin Reverb reissue, Selmer Trumpet, Akai EWI, Studio One 4 Professional, Melodyne Studio 4, Behringer X-Touch, RME Fireface UCX, MOTU MIDI Express XT - ADK Pro Audio Hex Xtreme 6 Core i7 4.5GHz, 64GB, 480GB SS, 3 X 3TB Hard Drives, Win 10, 2 X 27" & 1X 46" Monitors, My WEB site - www.gontowski.com/music
|
dwardzala
Max Output Level: -61 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1470
- Joined: 5/26/2008
- Status: offline
Re: FX Stacks: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 23, 15 11:22 AM
(permalink)
panup
soens
VS.
I really don't like the big clunky buttons. They just add to the confusion for me.
The new way makes it hard to see the mono/stereo 32/64bit dots as well.
I did not see mono/stereo dots until you mentioned about them.
Bad GUI design. :(
+1
DaveMain Studio- Core i5 @2.67GHz, 16Gb Ram, (2) 500Gb HDs, (1) 360 Gb HD MotU Ultralite AVB, Axiom 49 Midi Controller, Akai MPD18 Midi Controller Win10 x64 Home Sonar 2017.06 Platinum (and X3e, X2c, X1d) Mobile Studio - Sager NP8677 (i7-6700HQ @2.67MHz, 16G Ram, 250G SSD, 1T HD) M-Box Mini v. 2 Win 10 x64 Home Sonar 2016.10 Platinum Check out my original music: https://soundcloud.com/d-wardzala/sets/d-wardzala-original-music
|