The mini inspector would really be the thing for working with minimized tracks. Let's hope someone sees this.

I've also been busy in the meanwhile. Here is the latest version of my mock-up:




I've unfolded FX Chains. This let's you see what is in an FX Chain. I think this is both much neater than the little box that opens in X1 and more functional. With the bigger FX Bin there is no issue with readability  of names. I suppose it needs a little button to open/close the chain but as it is it would be a right click context menu. This is already better than the way it is in X1 IMO.

I've added an indentation for Tracks in Track Folders. (With a little linking line like in previous versions of Sonar). I've done this slightly differently than how Sonar used to do it: I've made the track icons and track names align with the Track Folder icons and names. I think this looks neater than it did in old Sonar but it is still clear that items are in a folder due to the indentation. The Folder names and icons etc are indented compared to regular tracks making them easy to find when you have All tracks in a project minimised. I think that overall this is both clearer than X1 and neater and clearer than old Sonar.

I've shaved off some more pixels from a minimised Track. (You can see it in the Track Folder). It is now 21 pixels tall compared to 25 pixel in X1. That means that in the space that X1 uses for 32 tracks (800 pixels), you could put 38 Tracks with my design. (+ 2 pixels to spare. ;-)).


Btw, if you want to compare between my design and the existing X1 design (with similar items loaded) you can open the following to links in adjacent tabs and use CTRL-TAB and CTRL-SHIFT-TAB to switch between the two (At least in Firefox):

http://puretone.nl/pics/A..._Sends_V17_cropped.png
http://puretone.nl/pics/X1_Original.png


I'm going to play with the brilliant Mini Inspector idea next.


UnderTow

Jekyll Vance


Well, the next proposal is just a thought experiment, though I hope somebody may like it.
What if we make more use of this empty area above the tracks? 
Let's place there a thing that can be called mini track inspector. It will allow us to keep tracks minimized and "big" track inspector closed most of the time.
In essence mini-inspector is a separate widget tab, that is constantly visible on top of all tracks, that shows information only for the active track (its widget content may be customized via widget tab manager)
You can switch between time display (which is more appropriate when you are working in the clips pane) and mini-inspector (which is useful when you are working with tracks' parameters in the track pane) with dedicated button.



Useful or not?

Isn't there something like that already where clicking on a track will expand it?  The advantage is that it increases the size vertically of both the Track Pane as well as the clips in the Clips Pane.

One thing that could probably be useful is a global Edit Filter that works for all tracks. It could take the place of the widget selection menu thingy...

UnderTow

groove 3 videos

.
 
Where can these free Groove 3 videos be found?  Thanks.

Jekyll Vance


Well, the next proposal is just a thought experiment, though I hope somebody may like it.
What if we make more use of this empty area above the tracks? 
Let's place there a thing that can be called mini track inspector. It will allow us to keep tracks minimized and "big" track inspector closed most of the time.
In essence mini-inspector is a separate widget tab, that is constantly visible on top of all tracks, that shows information only for the active track (its widget content may be customized via widget tab manager)
You can switch between time display (which is more appropriate when you are working in the clips pane) and mini-inspector (which is useful when you are working with tracks' parameters in the track pane) with dedicated button. 



Useful or not?

 
Very useful - nice idea.
 
I'm also with you on losing the pan knob and going back to a (coloured) slider.
 
 
 
 
 

Mod Bod
Yes, it will expand, but then you will have to double click once more to de-expand it. You can of course do it if you need maximized strip to view waveform in details etc. When adjusting parameters on several tracks you'll find yourself constantly double-clicking icons. With mini-inspector you only have to select track with one mouse click and this gives you instant access to track controls without constanly maximizing/minimizing tracks 

UnderTow 
You design looks much better than default X1 in terms of widget layout, but I still see too many unused space) FX is too far apart from other widgets
Agreed on FX Chains. No need for special button, it must fold/unfold on double-click (and track folders must also behave that way!). I guess FX chains must have slightly different name or button color than regular effects to distinguish them.  
On/off buttons also seem important to me: in X1 they're just ugly. I want back nifty colored rectangle indicators from 8.5 (I liked them bright green). They must have different color than FX names. Also thicker level draggers from 8.5 IMHO looked much better. But in X1 they pumped up everything, except draggers))
Per-track auto-echo switch is certainly a good idea. Sometimes there are tracks that mustn't be monitored while we need auto-echo on others.
Also agreed on folder/track indentation, it must be present. Maybe your approach is even better than in 8.5, but not sure.
Bringing sends display back to widgets also makes sense. Honestly, I'd like to bring back everything they removed from widgets, including all these midi options now put exclusively to track inspector.

What exactly do you mean by global Edit Filter?  


SteveStrummerUK
Thank you. By the way, sends' and arpeggiator's rotaries are also in my blacklist) 

Jekyll Vance

UnderTow 
You design looks much better than default X1 in terms of widget layout, but I still see too many unused space) FX is too far apart from other widgets

Thanks and yes there is still space but don't forget that you can move the track header / track pane divider to move the FX bin closer. Do you think the FX Bin needs to be any bigger than this? It is already quite a bit wider than in old Sonar.

When I do a bigger mock-up I'll have things a bit more compact. And maybe a version with and one without icons. (And one with large Icons).

Agreed on FX Chains. No need for special button, it must fold/unfold on double-click (and track folders must also behave that way!). I guess FX chains must have slightly different name or button color than regular effects to distinguish them.

Yes they have a "Layered" icon for FX Chains and in my next post you will see a "layered" glowing On/Off button. :-) The Name of the FX Chain (and chained plugins) will be indented which should also make things clearer.

On/off buttons also seem important to me: in X1 they're just ugly. I want back nifty colored rectangle indicators from 8.5 (I liked them bright green). They must have different color than FX names.

Glowing buttons in the next mock-up. :-) (They are the same colour as the text but I think that looks quite neat and keeps with the X1 style).

Also thicker level draggers from 8.5 IMHO looked much better. But in X1 they pumped up everything, except draggers))

Good point. I can't actually test my mock-up in use. I don't know how hard those volume sliders are to grab... Then again, the drag region doesn't have to be exactly the same as the graphic. The whole area above the actual volume line could be draggable.

Per-track auto-echo switch is certainly a good idea. Sometimes there are tracks that mustn't be monitored while we need auto-echo on others.

It isn't per track in X1? I only really put that there because I had a space to fill. If I have a better idea for that spot it will be replaced.

Also agreed on folder/track indentation, it must be present. Maybe your approach is even better than in 8.5, but not sure.

I think it should be clearer once I do a bigger mock-up with many tracks.

Bringing sends display back to widgets also makes sense. Honestly, I'd like to bring back everything they removed from widgets, including all these midi options now put exclusively to track inspector.

Indeed. Removing functionality that existed in the name of uncluttering when they could have just changed the default setting is a bit silly IMO. There are even three empty lines in the Track Control Manager!

What exactly do you mean by global Edit Filter?

In X1 there is an Edit Filter on every track. (It determines what you are editing in the Track Pane. Clips, Envelopes, Inline PRV etc. I think it would be a good idea to have a global one too. If you switch the global menu, all tracks change. For flexibility they should then add a lock option for individual tracks so that if there is a track which you always want to keep on Volume envelope (for instance) you can. Anyway, just an idea...

UnderTow

Another Mock-up. This time with Glowing FX On/Off buttons and a Mini Inspector. The Mini Inspector might need different stuff though. I just quickly put some things in there for now to show case Jekyll Vance's idea within my design.

I also made small track icons with no background. I think this looks neater.

At some point I will make a bigger mock-up with more tracks so that things become clearer. And at some point I will have to tackle MIDI and Instrument tracks but it all takes time to isolate each element, edit it and then integrate it into the mock-up etc...



UnderTow

Now this is what I expected for SONAR 10.  
+++1
Would fantasize again.