Tweet
I set myself the task of putting together a piano layout using Momentary Switches. This was the result...
I tried something altogether fancier to begin with but moved away from that pretty quickly. This approach gave me access to the most notes (which, for me, would be the best result). I was delighted to be able to get all the way from C1 to E8 on a single screen. Bingo!
It doesn't work at the moment because I found some issues with note on/ note off which I've mentioned elsewhere and which I'm sure will be sorted. So, I'm confident that this could work.
I'm posting it here today because in course of making it, I found a few other things.
1) Editing Layouts. I should have mentioned this before in my previous posts - in Layout Edit mode the background is VERY difficult to read. There's almost no distinction between cells, borders and the background. Even when you add something you still have to look closely. Thinking about it, I'm not sure why - if all we're doing is merging, splitting, adding and clearing - the layout edit screen needs to be so dark. It would be more useful if it were patently obvious where all the boundaries are. Making the different aspects easily visible in Layout Edit Mode is the key aspect here.
2) Background Colour. I wanted the black notes - sharps and flats - to be black (as they are on every keyboard). However, they can't be because the background is black. So I settled for this shade of grey that's just about distinctive enough to stand out from the background. However, I found myself wanting to be able to change the background colour - for example, to #6e6edf. Customisable Grid backgrounds would add personality and distinctiveness to Metagrid Pro. Something to consider?
3) Copying and Pasting I'm not sure if when you're copying something, you need to see the button edit screen appearing. I can see situations where it might be needed, but I think the majority of the time all you want is to be able to copy something to a different cell on the screen. You don't need the Button Edit screen and having it there is making is making what you're trying to do more difficult.
4) Adding and Clearing. These buttons are every bit as relevant to Object Mode as they are to Layout Mode. You should be able to add and delete a button or a fader in Object Mode. It's not unique to Layout Mode.
5) Bugs. 1) When I was changing the text on the buttons I found that I could switch across to other buttons and AN edit would stick. This approach had an impact on what text field was updated - was it on the on or the off state? In the end the only reliable method was to close the keyboard and move on to the next button. There's ambiguity in the current process that could lead to errors. 2) If I changed the text colour in some OFF states to black, what showed up was grey.
I tried something altogether fancier to begin with but moved away from that pretty quickly. This approach gave me access to the most notes (which, for me, would be the best result). I was delighted to be able to get all the way from C1 to E8 on a single screen. Bingo!
It doesn't work at the moment because I found some issues with note on/ note off which I've mentioned elsewhere and which I'm sure will be sorted. So, I'm confident that this could work.
I'm posting it here today because in course of making it, I found a few other things.
1) Editing Layouts. I should have mentioned this before in my previous posts - in Layout Edit mode the background is VERY difficult to read. There's almost no distinction between cells, borders and the background. Even when you add something you still have to look closely. Thinking about it, I'm not sure why - if all we're doing is merging, splitting, adding and clearing - the layout edit screen needs to be so dark. It would be more useful if it were patently obvious where all the boundaries are. Making the different aspects easily visible in Layout Edit Mode is the key aspect here.
2) Background Colour. I wanted the black notes - sharps and flats - to be black (as they are on every keyboard). However, they can't be because the background is black. So I settled for this shade of grey that's just about distinctive enough to stand out from the background. However, I found myself wanting to be able to change the background colour - for example, to #6e6edf. Customisable Grid backgrounds would add personality and distinctiveness to Metagrid Pro. Something to consider?
3) Copying and Pasting I'm not sure if when you're copying something, you need to see the button edit screen appearing. I can see situations where it might be needed, but I think the majority of the time all you want is to be able to copy something to a different cell on the screen. You don't need the Button Edit screen and having it there is making is making what you're trying to do more difficult.
4) Adding and Clearing. These buttons are every bit as relevant to Object Mode as they are to Layout Mode. You should be able to add and delete a button or a fader in Object Mode. It's not unique to Layout Mode.
5) Bugs. 1) When I was changing the text on the buttons I found that I could switch across to other buttons and AN edit would stick. This approach had an impact on what text field was updated - was it on the on or the off state? In the end the only reliable method was to close the keyboard and move on to the next button. There's ambiguity in the current process that could lead to errors. 2) If I changed the text colour in some OFF states to black, what showed up was grey.
Comment