As a bit of background, I've been a loyal FL Studio user since about version 2.5. I absolutely love Image-Line, and I generally direct any aspiring producer I can to FL as I firmly feel that it's the most efficient production environment on the market right now. In just about every use-case that I can think of, there is almost always an elegant solution in FL.
Baring a few stability and CPU use problems, Patcher is a huge step forward in workflow because it finally allows artists and sound designers to save complete and reusable instrument presets with complex FX chains. Essentially, combining mixer presets, channel presets / generators, and customized macros all in one preset is an amazing thing. There is nothing not to love about this functionality.
Unfortunately, there is one area that I feel both Patcher and FL Studio in general falls short on - which, if changed intelligently, could drastically improve workflow and introduce a wide range of new creative possibilities for producers that rely heavily on complex modulation. Much of this revolves around the current process of linking and properly scaling multiple parameters from internal and third party plugins to a single control.
My proposed changes (below) are a rough and dirty attempt to improve upon what I perceive to be a clumsy implementation of parameter linking and input mapping.
Editors Window:
1. Every new instance of patcher is auto-populated with six default "special" knobs, or what I've called Macros. The reason they are "special" is because they are always persistent and remain locked to the top of Patcher's main window for easy access and tweakability as you continue to refine a sound. The idea is similar to performance controls that come with many soft synths, I.E. Alchemy, Massive, etc. These wouldn't interfere with or replace dashboard controls, the only difference is that they are persistent and allow for quick multi-linking.
2. Ideally, you can toggle macro visibility by clicking on the button next to the "x" on the top right. This would hypothetically collapse or hide the top section of Patcher to free up real estate if screen space is at a premium.
3. Each macro has a button that will "arm" it. Once a macro has been armed, you are then free to tweak any number of parameters on any plugin inside of patcher that you would like to link to that macro. This essentially would function identically to the "Multilink to controllers" feature in FL itself, except it would just link directly to the armed control instead of popping up a series of remote control dialogs. With this change, you can now easily chain-link very large numbers of parameters - from any number of plugins - to a single control, in seconds.
Macro Controls / Mapping Editor Window:
1. A new tab was introduced to the patcher interface, dedicated to editing and refining the mappings created from macro multi-linking. Basically my vision here is a version of the remote control settings window, but on crack.
2. Each parameter link would auto populate inside of this window and allow you to customize its mapping to its assigned macro. I've included quick minimum and maximum sliders as I believe this is the most common tweak that most people would like to perform on the standard input mapping formula. There are also quick linear and exponential toggles that would remap accordingly within the min/max range. This would be extremely helpful when dealing with FM synthesis as it can be very touchy (hence my screenshot of FM8).
3. To remove a link, simply click the x on the right of the listed assignment.
4. To filter links by macro, you can toggle the display by selecting any combination of numbers next to "Filter:". This would help with large amounts of links.
5. Alternatively, if you would prefer to use your own mapping formula for any input, you can select the formula toggle, and it would then use this rather than the quick minimum / maximum sliders (see the first link on the screenshot for an example).
In summary:
And that's it. As UI/UX is my profession, I also want to mention that these were put together rather quickly (about an hour) - and they aren't without flaws. For instance, having more than six macros on top would be awesome if it could be done somehow. I'd also love to see something like this built in to FL itself - not just patcher, I.E. an enhanced version of the dashboard with the same parameter linking feature set.
So in conclusion, if you feel like this could be useful to your workflow - please speak up!
Edit2: Fixed screenshot order / phrasing.
My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
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Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
DAYYUUMMMM!!!
IL Should hire you as their prima...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
looks pretty cool
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
It looks nice, but I can't seem to follow the U...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
This does look rather sexy.
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Most user ideas (including my own) suck - but I...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
damn thats actually impressive,awesome ideas
f...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Thanks guys! I know they aren't perfect - there...
Last edited by Futuremotion on Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
its like a blend of reason's rack system and NI...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
I reckon this is exactly what patcher needs, al...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
For a minute or two I thought this was an offic...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Patcher is still far from doing everything it s...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Gol,
I'm not sure I understand what you mean b...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Also, to get an idea of why I included multi-li...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Patcher does need a way to "activate" a bunch o...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Futuremotion, you're making me want to finish u...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
I understand where you're coming from in terms ...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Futuremotion wrote:How are the Reverb / Distort...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
the bottom line:
patcher is the future. keep...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
nucleon wrote:Futuremotion wrote:How are the Re...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Nice looking UI, I am definitely hoping for so...
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Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
I love this idea. Reminds me of NI Massive's m...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
I'm really really digging this and would essent...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Lets look at a simple scenario - say I have a ...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
gol wrote:
(envelopes is what we do best).
H...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Can't believe that Gol isn't keen on this! Thi...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
nucleon wrote:Futuremotion wrote:How are the Re...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Futuremotion wrote:A plugin implementation woul...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
nucleon wrote:A plugin can have multiple parame...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Futuremotion wrote:Great tip, I didn't know tha...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
nucleon wrote:Futuremotion wrote:Great tip, I d...
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- Site Admin
- Sat Dec 08, 2012 7:23 am
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Futuremotion wrote:If you guys could get some f...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
By "multilink" I am referring to steps 1-4 of t...
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- Site Admin
- Sat Dec 08, 2012 7:51 am
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
What nucleon said about right-clicking should h...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Maybe there will be some multi-link in the futu...
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- Site Admin
- Sat Dec 08, 2012 8:21 am
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
gol wrote:to me all that's needed is a multilin...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
I'm really glad this thread was written. I was ...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Dr. Varney's topic about a change in mixer desi...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
honestly, its a really cool idea. u designed an...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
+1 for quickly assignable macros inside Patcher...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Great idea!
Humble of you to propose 6 Macros. ...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
As long as we do not lose Control Surface as st...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
While we're at it, can we have a plug-in view t...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
bleakapathy wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 12:06 am
W...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Tysk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 12:48 am
bleakapa...
Re: My Vision for Patcher (Mockups Included)
Naw homiee i look at da patcher ask a desk. Not...