Loop on/off identifier

DickyDutch

I’ve used version 3.6 several times now including the previous beta version for live gigs using my iPad and I’m finding is that it’s sometimes difficult to see whether a loop is on or off especially with long songs containing short loops. I was wondering whether somewhere on the screen a large illuminated button could be provided that would show the loop on off status?

peter

Could be good idea for version 3.7. I will make a note.

Damir

peter

Could be good idea for version 3.7. I will make a note.

SUGGESTION

I would be very happy with the STOP/START BUTTON TO HAVE A LARGE BRIGHT LOOP CIRCLE APPEAR AROUND THE TRIANGLE and PAUSE INDICATOR whenever a loop exists in play or stop mode, it just appears whenever any loop is present on the playhead.

This would be easily seen as the button is a large space and it would not use any further screen realestate which is getting clattered.

peter

The start stop button was also my first idea 😉

MasterAnt

Absolutely agree we need something lit or flashing, that you can see easily from afar, showing you that you're currently looping.

MasterAnt

Good to have the loop assignable now highlighting in v3.6.3. However that means to use this, I can't have speed changes as my assignables. Don't have spare pedal switches for speed changes. Hmm. What to do....!? Does this solution work for everyone else? It's certainly a good start.

peter

Yeah, that's the downside but it did not feel right to have that indicated on the play button as that would suggest you could change the loop with the play button.

Only other alternative I see is to add a loop button over the lyrics area like the crossfade button.

MasterAnt

peter I gave this a lot of thought. Mostly I hit my head against the wall and came up with nothing. Then I took a step back and thought that the loop controls work quite nicely and look good on the left, being closely related to PLAY. Maybe it's the speed controls that should move. Have you considered doing on the right what you do on the left, which is to put assignables where the lyrics scroll speed is? Song speed and lyric scroll speed are quite similar. I'm sure a lot of users don't use lyric scroll speed controls. (Personally I don't use volume or text size (per song) either.)

Damir

MasterAnt I like the loop select and permanent loop buttons as well and agree that option to have text size button area as assignable buttons as you can always pinch on screen to resize text i use that more than the buttons as its quicker to adjust text size also i agree i don't really ever use the speed control on right side as all my lyrics are time-coded so i could use that area for more useful purposes.The only thing using pinch only to change text size is you would not get numeric indication of you text size, perhaps as you pinch to change the text a window pops up to indicate numerically of your new setting value that would free up the buttons for on stage more useful operation.
I would prefer to have SPEED/tempo of the song on those buttons and PITCH change on the text size buttons or any combination thats possible that gives users the choice of how they want to work.
I never use those two areas on stage as i have done my text resize and time-codes in prep so those areas are a total waste when performing which is a real shame as there are things i could really use yet they are buried in a drop down menu that hides your lyrics while performing, this is poor use of interface.

OBSERVATION
I found that in stop mode when you select permanent loop and the button turns yellow if you then select another loop and the original loop disconnects the permanent loop the actual button still remains highlighted , it should also be switched to get rid of the yellow colour to truly represent the loop condition.

peter

Having way more configuration options for the UI is my goal for version 4. In version 3 I will only commit to small tweaks to the UI.

MasterAnt

Maybe for now changing "text size" to be "pitch" and "scroll speed" to be "song speed" in an assignments menu would be a small change?

I'm all for upgrading to v4 for the right reasons in 2024. Just hoping to get the loops more functional without losing other functionality before then.

Damir

MasterAnt Maybe for now changing "text size" to be "pitch" and "scroll speed" to be "song speed" in an assignments menu would be a small change?

I'm all for upgrading to v4 for the right reasons in 2024. Just hoping to get the loops more functional without losing other functionality before then.

I totally agree, we have the basics now we just need to implemented it in a way it aids us on stage the best possible way without changing the interface drastically.
Loops, pitch and speed are three major features that make ST3 stand out they need to be easily accessible on the interface and presented in a way they pop out and slap you in the face.