Mixer: Feedback on reworked Ui

• Nov 13, 2018 - 19:50
Reported version
3.0
Priority
P1 - High
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S5 - Suggestion
Reproducibility
Always
Status
closed
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project

OS: openSUSE Leap 15.0, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.0.0, revision: ef48b60

The reworking mixer-ui should be resizeable (as for example the inspector or play panel).


Comments

It is resizable, but has a large minimum size. AnatolyOS has been guiding me on look-and-feel issues, so it may be good to consult with him before there are any further design changes.

I see. But by using MuseScore with a 15'' screen notebook it takes a lot of space on the desktop. So maybe it's more the point of user view, if the option of decreasing the window as before would improve the workflow (for example by editing the score and still have the mixer open).

In reply to by blackears

Minimum size is determined by what you put into your screen. I suggest that you could remove the volume and pan sliders in the detailed section. They dont really add anything when you already have the main controls.
In your original design you suggested that the detailed section could be hidden. That would reducer the footprint considerably. Is that still on your agenda?

Hiding the details panel does make sense, and Marc S suggested it too. I've been getting a lot of suggestions for design changes (mostly from Anatoly) and would like to make sure that someone is coordinating all of this so that I'm not getting conflicting suggestions for changes.

Part of the reason for having the volume slider in the details area is so that users can enter explicit values in the spin box. It's also there because it was grandfathered in from the old design.

I like the ability to set explicit values in the details section, and I know a lot of others have asked for this. But, I suppose you don't need the slider and the spin box. You could probably save space in the details section by removing the sliders, moving volume and pan to the same line as the drumkit checkbox. Which, come to think of it, maybe should be moved up next to the patch selector? To be honest, while I understand the basic idea behind the drumkit option, I'm not really really sure how to use it effectively. Mostly it seems it is already set correctly based on the instrument, and flipping this checkbox just gets people in trouble. But I assume there is a valid use case

In reply to by blackears

FWIW here is one more suggestion, which is to remove the Master Volume.
It seems to be there just too make this look, like a mixer board - not because there is a real need for it.
I can't see myself opening the mixer just to set the volume, when I have the Pc's volume control right at hand.

True, but that of course shouldn't be the case; it's a workaround for a bug better fixed directly (have there been recent reports of this). To me a stronger argument for keeping it is that you might want to change the volume of MuseScore relative to other programs. Of course, there is also the control in View / Synthesizer, but to me the Mixer is the more natural place to go.

Regarding the volume bug in the play panel - I was looking at the play panel's code and it looks to me like it's range is too large. It uses a logarithm to convert from decibels to gain, but it overshoots and maps gain onto a [0 2] interval instead of [0 1] which is what the audio engine is able to handle - hence the cracking.

As for adding the master gain, I was asked to add this to the mixer so that all the volume controls could be together in one convenient place. This is why I would like a coordinated plan for further design changes to the mixer - at the moment I'm getting a lot of conflicting suggestions from multiple people.

In reply to by blackears

Title Mixer should be resizable Mixer: Feedback on reworked Ui
Severity S3 - Major S5 - Suggestion

You are the designer/developer here, so I think you must take this upon yorself.
Do a wrapup and decide which changes you want to make if any.
Whatever you do be sure to adress the reported bugs, if you recognize them as such.
See:
https://musescore.org/en/node/278347
https://musescore.org/en/node/278377
https://musescore.org/en/node/278346

The recommendations from this thread seems quite clear:
Follow Marc's suggestions on reorganizing the detailed part, and if you are up to it, make it possible to hide it altogether.

Status PR created needs info

I know there are changes still pending and/or being worked on - but is there a reason to keep this particular issue open? The PR is merged already. Other possible changes have their own issues, or so I would hope?