User Default Song Settings additionally to System Default Song Settings

Synthesia is a living project. You can help by sharing your ideas.
Search the forum before posting your idea. :D

No explicit, hateful, or hurtful language. Nothing illegal.
Post Reply
AllNotesCount
Posts: 25

Post by AllNotesCount »

Hi!

I appreciate the option to go back to the system default song settings, e.g. in the case that I initially change an instrument by accident.

But additionally, I'd wish to have a "second default setup" for each song, which the user could store by himself then, after he has made his own initial setup of colours, sound volume etc. for a song.

Some reasons for this request:
I always start with a personal setup for each song. But sometimes I change that setup for specific reasons, like e.g.:
1) I want to figure out the chords, and for that reason I want to see all instruments at once (e.g. because the piano does't play throughout the whole song)
2) I want to use some instruments as partial playback with my band, in order to complete those instruments that are missing among my band members (e.g. the drummer is ill)
3) I want to demonstrate something specific to my band members (e.g. the notes of the string ensemble, in order to decide together, if the keyboarder or better the guitarists should play that part in our session)
4) I want to practice another instrument than I usually do
5) I want to check out closer the sound of a specific instrument's part (e.g. the bassline should be the only instrument with volume for that purpose).
6) etc.

The more complex those temporarily intended changes are, the less I remember my initial setup for that song (and also the more clicks I have to make to go back to my initial setup). The option to "go back to personal standard by click" would be nice then.
And even when I change only one thing, I might forget to change it back (e.g. when I made a change to demonstrate something special to my band members). Then also such a "go back to personal standard by click" would be nice to make sure that everything is optimized again for my regular purposes, whatever I might have changed some while before.
User avatar
jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

Would having an Undo function with a deep history work?
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Does "deep history" mean a history that persists between app sessions?

Coincidentally, many years ago I made a tiny utility that would keep an eye on the positions of your desktop icons so when Windows inevitably destroyed those positions (via a dodgy Windows update, video driver update, game crash, docking/undocking a laptop, etc.), it could restore all of them in a single click. It had both a short-lived typical "undo" list and a way to keep "known good" history points around forever.

I still use it to this day and that "short regular history" + "individual history slices given a name" seems to cover... well, every use case I've ever run into. That might not be a bad solution to re-use in this case.
AllNotesCount
Posts: 25

Post by AllNotesCount »

Sounds good! - Especially the history points thing.
That might even make possible one step further (as a potential additional step for later stages): Different settings for different cases, e.g. the user could
- use Point 1 for a song setup that he has optimized for his piano original notes training sessions of this song
- use Point 2 for a song setup that he has optimized for his piano improvisation training sessions of this song
- use Point 3 for a song setup that he has optimized for his keyboard/synthesizer training sessions of this song
- use Point 4 for a song setup that he has optimized for his drum training sessions of this song
- and so on, whatever else the specific user finds appropriate
Post Reply