Good morning all. Happy Sunday.
 
So now that we have the handy dandy plugin window recycling (the new feature that opens all VSTs in the same window instead of letting them annoyingly pile up like in the past) I was wondering... were the Baker's thoughtful enough to provide a quick way to open and close this window with a keybinding? I figure now (if you have the plug window recycling enabled) it would be an extremely useful and easy to code in feature.
 
Essentially just like hitting D toggles the Multi Dock open/closed.
 
The problem in the past was there was no single VST window so a toggle binding would not really work. Of course those who disable the recycling thing would not be able to use it.
 
I guess make it so that windows that have either been pinned or docked in the MultiDock be excluded from the toggling (and when you do either of those things they are already extracted from that single plugin window anyway so probably not a problem to work around).
 
The closest thing I found in the default bindings list (in the manual) is Close Floating Window (Ctrl F4) but then it's gone and you can't "toggle" it back into view.
 
So if this does exist already I would like to know. If not this can be immediately moved to the Feature Request area (whenever any of the hosts feel like it... or not... whatevs).
 
An additional thing that might be cool is in the VST Window maybe have have a drop down "picker" type menu that lists all the plugins currently in the project which can then be selected from and load the plug into the window.
 
Since there are likely to be multiple instances of the same plug on multiple tracks maybe make it a hierarchy type picker.
 
So when you first click the dropdown you see just names of all the plugins in the project. If there is more than one instance you hover and get a secondary dropdow that lists all the instances of that plugin by track or clip name. Might get hairy logical working around how to set this up to deal with plugs inside FX Chains but I'm sure the Bakers could figure something out.
 
BUT the official Feature Request... if this becomes one is about a simple Toggle Plugin Window open/closed. Preferably as a default binding but if not at least an option in the Preferences Keyboard Shortcut editor thing.
 
Cheers!

You can do it by setting X-Ray opacity to 0 in Preferences > Customization > Display, and assigning a key binding to "X-Ray all FX/Synths." I use Alt-X.

Anderton
You can do it by setting X-Ray opacity to 0 in Preferences > Customization > Display, and assigning a key binding to "X-Ray all FX/Synths." I use Alt-X.

Interesting. I'm guessing that would affect pinned windows as well (which isn't a big problem for me because I don't often pin things).
 
However what does that do to Docked VSTs? I'm assuming it leaves them alone.
 
Anyway, good to know. Still might be nice to just have a specific toggle for that window so users are free to use the X-Ray options on other stuff (and so it does not affect pinned Plugs). Again that wouldn't really affect me because I don't really use X-Ray at this point.
 
Thanks.

Seems easier to just go to the track and select the plugin I want especially as the plugin list gets longer as the project gets bigger.

Beepster

Anderton
You can do it by setting X-Ray opacity to 0 in Preferences > Customization > Display, and assigning a key binding to "X-Ray all FX/Synths." I use Alt-X.

Interesting. I'm guessing that would affect pinned windows as well (which isn't a big problem for me because I don't often pin things).

 
With the key binding I referenced, you can show/hide any visible effects and synths, pinned or unpinned.
 

However what does that do to Docked VSTs? I'm assuming it leaves them alone.

 
Yes.
 

Still might be nice to just have a specific toggle for that window so users are free to use the X-Ray options on other stuff (and so it does not affect pinned Plugs). Again that wouldn't really affect me because I don't really use X-Ray at this point.

The only advantage of having a separate option is if you want a key command to make the windows disappear entirely, and use X-Ray to make them more transparent but not disappear entirely. X-Ray was implemented to do what you want, but with the added flexibility of setting the window transparency. It's a great feature.

mudgel
Seems easier to just go to the track and select the plugin I want especially as the plugin list gets longer as the project gets bigger.

I've honestly always found that a massive pain, especially in large projects (but this is why I mentioned list the specific plugs and if it appears on multiple tracks then a sub menu to choose the specific instance). I've been meaning to post a request for a simple dropdown somewhere like the Global menus or something or some kind of easily accessible pop up that allows you to view all plugs and open their GUIs. Actually now that I think about it being able to disable/freeze/bypass/etc individual and groups of plugs in such a window with playback rolling would be freaking brilliant for a/b'ing stuff. I don't know about anyone else but that would make my (DAW) life a heckuva a lot easier. Maybe a sorting mechanism that doesn't affect the project but allows you to group any instances you want together in little directories or scenes so if I want to... let's say have specific plugs (but not all) on all my solo guit effects AND a bass track and some specific bus all grouped for a bypass action or a/b'ing with say second instances of those plugs (I often leave two instances of a plug set differently on a track to a/b things then delete the one I don't want).
 
Whatever... that's probably crazy (as usual) but would be brilliant. I've actually always wanted some kind of full project map of all tracks, routing and whatever as well so that's an extension/byproduct of that line of thought.
 
However really the request here is just getting a toggle for the new VST window which is of course much simpler and nearly as flighty and insane.
 
lol

Beepster
However really the request here is just getting a toggle for the new VST window which is of course much simpler and nearly as flighty and insane.

Try X-Ray at 0 opacity. If I understand you correctly it does what you want.

Anderton
 
With the key binding I referenced, you can show/hide any visible effects and synths, pinned or unpinned.
 

 
That's kind of a reason to want it tied directly (and specifically) to the new VST window. That way if you have something pinned you can toggle the VST Window without affecting things that are pinned. Like let's say you are doing tweaks on two specific plugs and you want to bounce back and forth between them quickly you could pin one and load the second in the recycler window. Then you just hit the recycle window toggle to expose the pinned plug and then again to get at the plug in the recycler window.
 
I know probably a small thing but I could think of a ton of ways that would speed things up for me and it's likely really easy to implement.
 
Then maybe the Pinned window could be tied to X-Ray (but the Recycler window would have to be excluded from the X-Ray function) and it could turn into a three way toggle so you can bounce between the recycler window, the pinned plug AND whatever is behind it. Toss in the multidock and you could really rip through some stuff without screwing around with/screwing up your screensets.
 
Just
 

The only advantage of having a separate option is if you want a key command to make the windows disappear entirely, and use X-Ray to make them more transparent but not disappear entirely. X-Ray was implemented to do what you want, but with the added flexibility of setting the window transparency. It's a great feature.

Indeed and should remain as such. This would just be a nice extra thing independent of X-Ray specifically for the new Recycle window. I'm actually really loving this new feature but I think a show/hide toggle would really bring it's convenience up a few (in my household very large) notches.
 
Anyhoo... of course not a complaint. At this point a request so this can get dumped into the FR forum whenever.
 
Cheers and thanks again for the workaround.

Oh, I see...you want the windows to stack so that nuking one window reveals the one that was pinned previously...right? But window recycling doesn't work that way - the new effect window replaces the old effect window, they don't stack. I think this would require a pretty substantial rework, as SONAR would have to keep track of the history so you could step through the various effects replacements. It would also need to keep track of which effects belonged to which racks/FX bins because now, an effect from one track can replace an effect from a different track. So if you "undid" it might go back to an effect in a different track...

Anderton
Oh, I see...you want the windows to stack so that nuking one window reveals the one that was pinned previously...right? But window recycling doesn't work that way - the new effect window replaces the old effect window, they don't stack. I think this would require a pretty substantial rework, as SONAR would have to keep track of the history so you could step through the various effects replacements. It would also need to keep track of which effects belonged to which racks/FX bins because now, an effect from one track can replace an effect from a different track. So if you "undid" it might go back to an effect in a different track...

Eh... yeah that's kind of where my wacky brain meandered to with my longer rants... but not really. I should not have convoluted the thread with all that crap.
 
However in my last reply I was more talking about a possible workflow using all the existing features IF a toggle binding option was added to the VST Recycler Window.
 
Think of it like this.
 
Steps...
 
1) I click on Guitar Track 1's instance of TH2 (which opens it in the recycler window) and use the "Pin" option so it stays open on the screen (thus yanking it out of the recycler window)
 
2) I click on Guitar Track 2's instance of TH2 (which opens it in the recycler window)
 
If I could quickly toggle the recycler window (like we can with the MultiDock) I can easily move between the two instances of TH2 to tweak each of them so the two guitar sims compliment each other.
 
or let's say I have an instance of TH2 and some other VST effect in the FX Bin like the Sonitus EQ. Again I could pin the instance of TH2, click on the instance of Sonitus to load it in the recycler window and show/hide the Sonitus (thus revealing the TH2 underneath so I can tweak it)
 
 
That's a simple version but it keeps you from having to hunt around and click on things in the FX Bins or Synth Rack or whatever to get at GUIs and all the other crap that comes with the "old" way of having to micro manage your open plugin windows.
 
Of course this would apply to synth/instrument GUIs and could work in all sorts of beneficial ways for clever folks.
 
I actually do this type of thing already but I have to use the Multi-Dock for the toggle (and now I can try out the X-Ray thing) but that's not ideal for many reasons (that I won't bore you with).
 
Anyway... all that crap I was talking about submenus and maps and stuff was superfluous. Just a simple toggle for the new recycler window would just make things quicker for many things (for me anyway).
 
Cheers and as always thanks for even reading my ramblings.
 
lol