Mixcraft Suggestions!

Support and feedback for Acoustica's Mixcraft audio mixing software.

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DJmigoz
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2018 8:14 am

Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by DJmigoz »

Having the tracks automation follow when dragging the clips would be game changing
joss
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by joss »

Yes, that the automation lines follow the clips is very necessary.
Please. :(
Sorry for the translation, it may create some confusion.
I also apologize if it took me a while to respond, there is a time difference in the country where I live and it could coincide at night.
FluMusic
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by FluMusic »

i've mentioned this before somewhere...but it's so basic and just something simple that would really make such a difference....is just to have more (many more, possibly a color wheel) options for track color selections.
dePUNDIT
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by dePUNDIT »

I'm new to Mixcraft but I've been into music production a very long time. I have used many different DAWS and somehow, I'm finding Mixcraft a tad bit more intuitive than my last DAW (Reaper). Although not as CPU friendly, but still plenty more CPU friendly than most. However, there are quite a few things I think would make Mixcraft a lot better and easier to use for people migrating from other DAWS.

1. AUTO SCROLL: The auto scroll functionality in Mixcraft is not quite intuitive. When it's enabled, the play head keeps scrolling even when you're trying to edit something and this is a huge headache for me. It should be made so that while auto scroll is engaged and the project is playing, once you click in the midi editor or the arrange window, auto scroll should be suspended automatically until the project is stopped and played again.

2. LINKED CLIPS: I know that currently one can create linked clips by dragging out the end of the clip to reveal multiple copies of it. But this method only works if the clips to be linked are not scattered all over the arrangement. Most of the time, I would have different drum patterns or bass patterns or whatever sound placed at different positions all over the arrange view. I would like to be able to edit all of the same patterns at the same time by editing just one of them. As it is right now, I'd have to edit one of them and manually replace every other copy in the arrangement and this wastes a lot of valuable time. There should be a mouse action that makes it possible to create linked duplicates of clips and place them anywhere in the arrangement. Maybe Ctrl+Left Click. This would honestly save hours of project time.

3. KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS: There's currently no way to customize existing keyboard shortcuts or add new keyboard shortcuts and this doesn't workout quite well. Using keyboard shortcuts increases speed by a lot.

4. FREEZING MULTI OUTPUT INSTRUMENTS: Currently, once u freeze a multi-output instrument like Omni Sampler or Addictive Drums, all the individual outputs seize to be functional and are mixed down into one track. After freezing, volume or pan can no longer be changed for each individual output and this is a hard no no. This is mainly because a mix is always constantly evolving and as such, a pan or volume setting that sounded perfect 5 minutes ago may now need to change and if I've frozen the tracks already, this would mean that I'd have to unfreeze the tracks, make my adjustments, freeze the tracks again and repeat the process every time I want to make any changes. We can agree that this wastes both time and valuable storage space keeping in mind that there isn't currently a way to clear unused project audio from the project folder.

5. DELETE UNUSED PROJECT AUDIO: There should be an option for this either in the preferences or in the menus and it would be nice if there was a linked keyboard shortcut to it as well. Mixcraft projects are stored in their own folders and as such, I don't see why this isn't implemented.

6. COPY EXTERNAL AUDIO FILES TO PROJECT FOLDER: There should be an option to set this action as a default in the preferences or in the menus or at least a pop-up asking to copy external files on project save as this would help prevent loss of files and literally save lives. I moved a project from Reaper to Mixcraft and deleted the Reaper project folder only to realize afterwards that Mixcraft didn't copy the files to its own project folder as expected of it. I was lucky I hadn't yet emptied my recycle bin.

7. APPEARANCE & THEME: The appearance and theme of Mixcraft makes my Windows 10 PC look like I'm still running on Windows XP. I believe it can and should be made to look more modern. Also, while on the topic of appearance and themes, please I do honestly believe that circular pan knobs will always look better and more desirable than the current horizontal pan sliders in the console view.

8. ALPHA SAMPLER GLITCH: After a while of playing around with Mixcraft, sooner or later, Alpha Sampler starts to glitch out and playing notes that aren't even on my piano role at random and this would only stop when I reload the project.

9. ENABLE/DISABLE FX: There should be a button to enable/disable all the FX on a track by a single click. It would also be nice if there could be another button to make this could happen for the entire project as well. This would make it easier to do an A-B test of ur processing.

10. DISABLE MUTE/SOLO: There should be a button to disable mut or solo on the entire project at once and not have to u mute or unsolo each individual track one after the other.
mixyguy2
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by mixyguy2 »

FluMusic wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 8:08 am i've mentioned this before somewhere...but it's so basic and just something simple that would really make such a difference....is just to have more (many more, possibly a color wheel) options for track color selections.
Seconded!

dePUNDIT wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 9:42 pm 7. APPEARANCE & THEME: The appearance and theme of Mixcraft makes my Windows 10 PC look like I'm still running on Windows XP. I believe it can and should be made to look more modern. Also, while on the topic of appearance and themes, please I do honestly believe that circular pan knobs will always look better and more desirable than the current horizontal pan sliders in the console view.
Couldn't disagree more. I've tried just about every DAW out there, and now that Mixcraft has assimilated to the flat-ish, scalable look that everyone else has, it's as "modern" as anything else out there. As for circular knobs, no thanks. IMO circular knobs suck. Far easier to drag something up or down vs clicking on it just right to make it "spin." I've gotten the hang of it over time, but it still sucks.
9. ENABLE/DISABLE FX: There should be a button to enable/disable all the FX on a track by a single click.
Agreed. In fact IMO that's what the "fx" button on the track should do (per track).

I have one which might not be really feasible but I saw elsewhere: for a VI, have a quick preview button that plays a note or three of the sound without having to launch the plugin itself. This could be a real time-saver when I'm looking for a given sound and can't recall quite where or if I'd heard it before to rifle though the most likely candidates.
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Mr.Mxyzptlk
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by Mr.Mxyzptlk »

It would be great if there was a holding area where you could drag samples to when previewing from the library tab. It's such a pain when you come across something you like and you have to disrupt your workflow to make a note of it.

I also have to manually create a folder within each Mixcraft project folder, then drop all the samples in that, so that they are physically saved with the project.

I made the mistake early on of assuming that the files were automatically embedded until I changed PCs and got the dreaded 'cannot locate sample' messages.
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TrevsAudio
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by TrevsAudio »

Mr.Mxyzptlk wrote: Sat Oct 01, 2022 1:10 pm It would be great if there was a holding area where you could drag samples to when previewing from the library tab. It's such a pain when you come across something you like and you have to disrupt your workflow to make a note of it.

I also have to manually create a folder within each Mixcraft project folder, then drop all the samples in that, so that they are physically saved with the project.

I made the mistake early on of assuming that the files were automatically embedded until I changed PCs and got the dreaded 'cannot locate sample' messages.
Performance Panel? Have a look at this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g-EEd6 ... l=Mixcraft
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Mr.Mxyzptlk
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by Mr.Mxyzptlk »

trevlyns wrote: Sat Oct 01, 2022 1:36 pm
Mr.Mxyzptlk wrote: Sat Oct 01, 2022 1:10 pm It would be great if there was a holding area where you could drag samples to when previewing from the library tab. It's such a pain when you come across something you like and you have to disrupt your workflow to make a note of it.

I also have to manually create a folder within each Mixcraft project folder, then drop all the samples in that, so that they are physically saved with the project.

I made the mistake early on of assuming that the files were automatically embedded until I changed PCs and got the dreaded 'cannot locate sample' messages.
Performance Panel? Have a look at this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g-EEd6 ... l=Mixcraft
Thanks Trev. Yeah, I suppose I could use it for that but its not quite what I'm after. If there was some kind of holding area in the Project tab, for example, that would be great.
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Bobby J.L.
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by Bobby J.L. »

Allow the colors for tracks to be more vivid and bold. They are rather lackluster currently.
starwarswii
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by starwarswii »

please please PLEASE add 'automation clips/blocks' support in automation lanes! either replacing the existing 'single line' ui or adding it as an option

this is the single feature i want more than any other. it will greatly improve the experience of moving automation data around, looping it, etc. automation copy-paste is kinda messy, and isn't sufficient
it would make automation support in Mixcraft so much more flexible. other DAWs have this feature and i think it's a great addition

example image taken from someone else's post for about, from 2017. see the bottom:
https://forums.acoustica.com/viewtopic. ... ve#p103405

Image

was glad to see i wasn't the only one. i've wanted this since like mixcraft 7, should have talked about it sooner
cactus-head
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by cactus-head »

hi,

Maybe I misunderstand but there is automation for clips. At the top of the screen next to the preferences gear, there's a drop down to select the type of clip automation you want for the current active clip. By default, it is set to volume. Inside the clip itself you will see the automation line.


clip automation type selection.JPG
clip automation type selection.JPG (14.84 KiB) Viewed 81650 times
starwarswii
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by starwarswii »

what i was looking for was a 'automation' type clip, in addition to the 'midi' and 'audio' types, that would go on the automation lanes.

the 'automation for clips' feature you pointed out is different and more limited than this, as it doesn't allow automating arbitrary plugin parameters (and also doesn't snap to grid).

for an example of what i'm talking about, see FLStudio automation clips:
https://www.synapticsound.com/fl-studio ... tion-clip/
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi starwarswii,

See if this video helps: https://acoustica.com/mixcraft/videos/ ... automation

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Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
starwarswii
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by starwarswii »

thanks for the link. i watched the whole thing, to make sure i was informed about the current capabilities of Mixcraft 9, and to make sure i didn't miss anything.

the workflow for automation is a little better in version 9,
but it's still missing the key improvement that my suggestion gives: automation clips.

right now, automation data lives directly on the timeline (yes, you can automate some parameters on the clip itself, but not arbitrary ones like you can with the standard automation feature). this 'living on the timeline' part hasn't been questioned, since it's simply always been that way, but really thinking about it, it's somewhat strange to have it in this 'raw' form. midi data, audio data, and even video data are in stored in 'clips'. this makes it very easy to move them around, and loop them. this sort of flexibility is lost with automation data because it's locked to the timeline.

if you want to move automation data, you need to use the copy-paste tools which are demonstrated in the video. this works, but can quickly get messy, and leave leftover points all over the place that need to be manually cleaned up. whereas for clips, you just single-click and drag; extremely easy. if you want to loop automation data for a few more measures, again you use the copy-paste tools. whereas for clips, you just single-click the 'loop' button directly on them.

i think switching automation tracks from working with data 'directly on the timeline' to working with clips of automation data would really increase the ease of moving, copying, and looping automations. i strongly believe a clip-based solution will be more user friendly and usable than the current copy-paste approach, no matter how mature the latter gets. copy-pasting will always be at least a little finicky: there's just an 'ease' barrier that can't be crossed with it.
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Re: Mixcraft Suggestions!

Post by kentb3050@gmail.com »

Acoustica Greg wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 9:25 am
Jcalsos wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 8:56 am I don't think this already exists, but I would love a way to bake effects into a track or clip inside of Mixcraft without needing to solo it and mix down.

The primary use I would use it for would be to put a huge reverb on a clip then reverse it so it can be a reverse reverb swell.

If that's already possible, please let me know how.
Right-click to the left of a track and select "Mix to New Audio Track."
Uh can’t you just do that with a send track?
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