I saw the recent post on loop libraries, and since I'd asked about that before I looked around at other questions and requests for enhancements to Mixcraft in the next version. There seem to be quite a few and they're scattered around, so, I thought maybe it would be possible to sticky a thread that could contain all requests? Not only would it keep everything in one place, but it might also help with people that have questions about current features. If so, I'd like to start with a couple of things. I know these are repeats, but...
1) End user loop library management, possibly in an Explorer style format. Something that would allow you to simply drop in folders of loops and have them accessible in the same way as the current MC loops. The Add Sound feature is nice, and it would be good to have as an option, but the ability to add your own loops to the library would be great.
2) The ability to save track effects presets. I know you can duplicate a track with it's effects in place, but being able to start a new project and instantly add your preset effects to a vocal track (for instance) would be a big plus. This would save me a ton of extra work.
Wish list items for Mixcraft 5?
Moderators: Acoustica Greg, Acoustica Eric, Acoustica Dan, rsaintjohn
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JustOneOldMan
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I already made a topic for this, so I'm copying all the answers from there to this topic.
1. The ability to link and knob or lever to a Midi control
2. More LOOPS!
3. A button in the piano roll that moves and resizes all notes to fit to the nearest beat or note of choice
4. (Whenever technology allows this...), the ability to automatically beat match a MP3 or Wav file to your chosen beat.
1) Loop library import
2) Easier loop library management
3) More loops
4) Infinitely variable loop movement within a track
(instead of stepped)
5) More VST compatibility
6) ReWire
7) And the list goes on
I can live with most things in MixC but I would really like a Track Merge function so that when I've programmed a midi drum track I can combine all the parts I've split/dropped in so I can have track global control over the notes/volumes/velocities.
1) Mixer <<<<<<<<<<
2) pitch control for each track
3) parametric EQ
4) Better reverb for VOCALS!
5) Reverse effect
6) Auto scan Peak Detection
A MIXER !!! so each track can go to a mixer and you can do so much , even if you dont record vocals.
For Example: (heres one of the million things)
lets say on your guitar you have this Reverb along with some other stuff , now lets say you want that reverb and chorus on some other instrument. well on a mixer you can create a send track that has those effects and you can assign how ever many instruments you want to that channel while you can have a seperate channel for each instrument. hope you get what im saying!
Also A pitch control , you know how you can control volume and pan for each track....well imagine controlling the pitch. you people might not use this feature alot but i do on many hip hop songs.
I haven't had the app long enough to know is they already exist, but how about Track folders and MIDI file export?
A resource performance meter to show how much the processor and/or HD is being utilized during operation. Since I tend to use a lot of VI's, it would be nice to keep an eye on how much resources the system is being used.
I would like to see a key stroke dedicated for tap tempo. I find it hard to find the perfect groove by typing in a number value then listening then retyping another number. Tap tempo would be the saving grace for me.
If there's not already the ability to Fit Improvisation to Time Signature that would be also a nice option.
Basically play in free form, go back and tap in the meter, and have Mixcraft adjust the tempo map to have the measures/notes line up.
One thing I would LOVE to have in MC 5 is the ability to trigger loops from your keyboard/MIDI keyboard, like in Live. And full MIDI controll with any knobs on a USB keyboard.
When I save a project as a MixCraft file I would like to have the option of saving each track as an individual wav file
I've been playing with the Mixcraft 4 demo for about three weeks now and have decided to hold off until version 5.
Don't get me wrong, this is a great application, and I do plan on owning it sooner or later based on what I've seen so far. With the addition of MIDI file export, a synth rack, and maybe track folders, I think this tool would be a great replacement for Sonar when it comes to MIDI composition. Based on what Acoustica has been able to provide so far, I would believe that the next version will see some excellent MIDI enhancements.
...that's most of them. If I missed one or three, and you want them, just post in this topic.
1. The ability to link and knob or lever to a Midi control
2. More LOOPS!
3. A button in the piano roll that moves and resizes all notes to fit to the nearest beat or note of choice
4. (Whenever technology allows this...), the ability to automatically beat match a MP3 or Wav file to your chosen beat.
1) Loop library import
2) Easier loop library management
3) More loops
4) Infinitely variable loop movement within a track
(instead of stepped)
5) More VST compatibility
6) ReWire
7) And the list goes on
I can live with most things in MixC but I would really like a Track Merge function so that when I've programmed a midi drum track I can combine all the parts I've split/dropped in so I can have track global control over the notes/volumes/velocities.
1) Mixer <<<<<<<<<<
2) pitch control for each track
3) parametric EQ
4) Better reverb for VOCALS!
5) Reverse effect
6) Auto scan Peak Detection
A MIXER !!! so each track can go to a mixer and you can do so much , even if you dont record vocals.
For Example: (heres one of the million things)
lets say on your guitar you have this Reverb along with some other stuff , now lets say you want that reverb and chorus on some other instrument. well on a mixer you can create a send track that has those effects and you can assign how ever many instruments you want to that channel while you can have a seperate channel for each instrument. hope you get what im saying!
Also A pitch control , you know how you can control volume and pan for each track....well imagine controlling the pitch. you people might not use this feature alot but i do on many hip hop songs.
I haven't had the app long enough to know is they already exist, but how about Track folders and MIDI file export?
A resource performance meter to show how much the processor and/or HD is being utilized during operation. Since I tend to use a lot of VI's, it would be nice to keep an eye on how much resources the system is being used.
I would like to see a key stroke dedicated for tap tempo. I find it hard to find the perfect groove by typing in a number value then listening then retyping another number. Tap tempo would be the saving grace for me.
If there's not already the ability to Fit Improvisation to Time Signature that would be also a nice option.
Basically play in free form, go back and tap in the meter, and have Mixcraft adjust the tempo map to have the measures/notes line up.
One thing I would LOVE to have in MC 5 is the ability to trigger loops from your keyboard/MIDI keyboard, like in Live. And full MIDI controll with any knobs on a USB keyboard.
When I save a project as a MixCraft file I would like to have the option of saving each track as an individual wav file
I've been playing with the Mixcraft 4 demo for about three weeks now and have decided to hold off until version 5.
Don't get me wrong, this is a great application, and I do plan on owning it sooner or later based on what I've seen so far. With the addition of MIDI file export, a synth rack, and maybe track folders, I think this tool would be a great replacement for Sonar when it comes to MIDI composition. Based on what Acoustica has been able to provide so far, I would believe that the next version will see some excellent MIDI enhancements.
...that's most of them. If I missed one or three, and you want them, just post in this topic.
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Threeleggedyoyo
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JustOneOldMan
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Threelegged: As an FL Studio user myself it sounds like FL Studio is what you're looking for, but I think you said you already had it in another post. Is there a reason you don't like using FL Studio for these things?
Not trying to be an ass, just curious. I like FL Studio for some things and I'm a big fan of the "multiple tool" theory. I can't kick about your question, though, because some of my wishlist items for MC come from FLS and Acid.
Not trying to be an ass, just curious. I like FL Studio for some things and I'm a big fan of the "multiple tool" theory. I can't kick about your question, though, because some of my wishlist items for MC come from FLS and Acid.
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Threeleggedyoyo
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Nope, you're not being a jerk, and yeah I have it. I DO like Fruityloops, but I also have some problems with it. They may or may not be because of the program or just my inability to use it properly, but here they are -JustOneOldMan wrote:Threelegged: As an FL Studio user myself it sounds like FL Studio is what you're looking for, but I think you said you already had it in another post. Is there a reason you don't like using FL Studio for these things?
Not trying to be an ass, just curious. I like FL Studio for some things and I'm a big fan of the "multiple tool" theory. I can't kick about your question, though, because some of my wishlist items for MC come from FLS and Acid.
1) The layout makes triplets impossible.
2) The piano roll has an odd tendency to hold notes forever. I think this
might change if I dropped some money for something better than the Express version, or knew what I was doing better.
3) I don't want to drop more money on a better version. They lost my business when the money I spent on Express didn't carry over to the next upgrade. But I want polyphony, control over note length, etc.
4) I haven't really used Fruityloops to record WAVs from guitars and such (can you?), but that being my primary interest I never felt comfortable in Fruityloops. I wanted Mixcraft because I was attracted to being able to do both programming and recording cleanly in the same program in a simple way. Often I start with drums and after recording the bass or whatever I think "oh it'd be nice to move the kick over a little."
Doing it in multiple programs meant I had to remember exactly what I wanted while I closed my main project, went back to Fruityloops, and tried to do it by memory. Eww.
5) The Fruityloops layout has always felt kind of claustrophobic to me. I feel like I can't get a true overview of the whole song I'm working on like I can in typical WAV sequencers.
---
So... yeah. It looks like shortcircuit has solved these woes pretty nicely, plus most of the VSTs from Fruityloops are available in Mixcraft. Also I resampled my whole WAV library from Fruityloops to use it in shortcircuit. w00t
It looks like there is supposed to be a way to use Fruityloops in conjunction with Mixcraft. If you could tell me some of the ins and outs of that I'd be interested. Maybe you know how to overcome some of the other Fruityloops problems, too. Although at this point Mixcraft has pretty much solved them for me.
Oh, and back to our original topic - I like the swing meter in Fruityloops. That needs to be in Mixcraft, too.
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JustOneOldMan
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To answer one of your questions, you can use FLS to record guitars (or just about anything).
I know what you mean about the FLS layout, though. It keeps a lot of people from using it, or at least using it all. I don't know much about Express, I have the Producer edition. Mixcraft caught my attention when I was looking for something a little less expensive for a friend and researching the <$100 products. Liked it's simplicity and what it could do so much I bought a copy, and have been actually using it more than FLS and Acid lately.
There are things I'd like to see added in MC, but I wouldn't like to see it become an FLS or Acid, if that makes sense. It's simple and easy to use, does most of the things I want it to do, and it's inexpensive so lots of people can get into a music hobby. Not to leave out the commercial musicians who don't want all the clutter of the other apps.
Glad to hear you found a solution to your drum question...
I know what you mean about the FLS layout, though. It keeps a lot of people from using it, or at least using it all. I don't know much about Express, I have the Producer edition. Mixcraft caught my attention when I was looking for something a little less expensive for a friend and researching the <$100 products. Liked it's simplicity and what it could do so much I bought a copy, and have been actually using it more than FLS and Acid lately.
There are things I'd like to see added in MC, but I wouldn't like to see it become an FLS or Acid, if that makes sense. It's simple and easy to use, does most of the things I want it to do, and it's inexpensive so lots of people can get into a music hobby. Not to leave out the commercial musicians who don't want all the clutter of the other apps.
Glad to hear you found a solution to your drum question...
These are some SERIOUS Mixcraft 5 features that will totally turn the Mixcraft world around. Some of the following are new features (Some of which were mentioned already by other posters) and the others are existing Mixcraft 4 issues that needs to be addressed immediately.
Send/Return Assigns
send/return assigns for each track - Someone already mentioned this, but I'm saying it again because that is just how much of a "Must Have" it is.
Allowing Individual Tracks to be sent out for external processing
There should be an option to assign each individual track to send to outboard gear for external effects processing.
For example, you have a rack full of hardware effects and you want to send a couple of your tracks through these effect units in order to process them in real time. Let's say you want your piano track to go through a delay unit, your vocal track to go through a harmonizer unit, and your guitar to go through a phaser unit.
The ideal way to do this would be first to for the user to have a sound card or audio interface with multiple ins and outs. The next step calls for a new Mixcraft 5 feature that would allow you to send each individual track out to the desired line outs. Next you would make a new piano, vocal, and guitar track and arm them for recording, because these are the tracks that the returning sounds will come to after running through the FX units.
Unfortunately, the only way to do that now is to solo one track at a time and go through that same process. When doing a session, you can't rely on processing one track at a time, because it slows down the whole recording process.
This feature is a SERIOUS must have and cannot be ignored. Every producer needs this feature in his setup.
Selection Issue
The "Selection" method on the sound workspace should be like how it was in MC2 for sure. For example, let's say that there is only a particular area of a track that you want to hear, but when you use the cursor to drag and make a selection of that area and press play, the whole project plays instead. It's very annoying. I know Mixcraft 4 has a new way of selecting and playing only a certain spot of a track, but MC2's way of doing this was alot more straight forward and easier for beginners.
MIDI/Virtual Instrument Recording Issue
When you arm a virtual instrument track for recording, hit record, and start playing via MIDI, nothing plays. In addition to that, all of the buttons located on the master bar and on the armed track(s) becomes disabled (The buttons turn grey and unclickable in other words). The result is that you can't stop the recording (Although it's not actually working, but yet it's showing that it is currently recording), and you have to press Ctrl + Alt + Del in order to exit out of the application. This is wierd.
Virtual Mixing Console
There should be a virtual mixing console of some sort. It should be located on the bottom of the screen featured in a tab with those other options. This is not truly a "Must Have", but alot of people could use this feature.
Some people want to fade off their projects at the end and such. There is a hardware USB MIDI mixing console (I forgot the brand, but I think it's Behringer) that would work perfectly for this feature, as it would control the virtual mixing console in mixcraft without having to use the mouse. Plus it is fully electronic, so the faders can slide by themselves if you want them to. I'm telling you, it would work great with a new Mixcraft Virtual Mixing console.
Mixcraft 5 Appearance
The overall colors of Mixcraft are cool and should stay, but the design of the track headers and overall buttons should be like Mixcraft 2's. There is nothing at all wrong with the design, but MC2's just gave more of a simple, straight to the point appearance. Maybe the ability to switch between current and classic Mixcraft views would be a cool add. You know because some people may like the current view while others want it oldschool.
Mixcraft 5's Beatcraft Integration
I was thinking that being as you guys at Acoustica aren't working on Beatcraft any longer, maybe you should integrate it into Mixcraft 5 and make some use out of it. I mean, it will be just like how other DAW software's have they're drum machine/sequencer integrated into their multitracking softwares.
Beatcraft should be featured in a tab on the bottom of the screen and when you click on the tab, it will open as a full screen view. The color of Beatcraft should be redone to match Mixcraft's so it will give the appearance of a fully integrated unit.
As far as features go, I wouldn't change anything about Beatcraft at all besides a more accurate pitch shifting option, which is shown as the "Rate" slider in the "Advance Step Controls" dialog. For instance, if you have a drum sound that is in a "C" key, and you change the rate up, it will skip the "sharp" keys, altogether. This issue of Beatcraft needs to be fixed. Also, there should be a "Detune" slider as well.
When saving the beatcraft projects however, I think the way it was done before should remain the same, even though it would be a part of MC5.
When rendering the tracks you created with Beatcraft, there should be an option to load the files directly into the desired track in Mixcraft.
Also, there is another issue that I don't like about Beatcraft. If you have some files missing, you have to manually search for them. There should be an automatic search, like the one from MC2 (MC4 might have it too, but I've never even tried it or thought about it for that matter)
But seriously, why let Beatcraft go to waste and not just fully integrate it with MC5 or one of the next Mixcraft 4 versions? You can still have the original Beatcraft standalone software for sale as well, because maybe not everyone wants to use Beatcraft with Mixcraft ya know. Just something to think about.
Conclusion
I promise with all of these features and price ratio, there wouldn't be a single software DAW that would be able to touch Mixcraft. Not even ProTools or Cubase. Hope you guys at Acoustica take these features and issues into account.[/u]
Send/Return Assigns
send/return assigns for each track - Someone already mentioned this, but I'm saying it again because that is just how much of a "Must Have" it is.
Allowing Individual Tracks to be sent out for external processing
There should be an option to assign each individual track to send to outboard gear for external effects processing.
For example, you have a rack full of hardware effects and you want to send a couple of your tracks through these effect units in order to process them in real time. Let's say you want your piano track to go through a delay unit, your vocal track to go through a harmonizer unit, and your guitar to go through a phaser unit.
The ideal way to do this would be first to for the user to have a sound card or audio interface with multiple ins and outs. The next step calls for a new Mixcraft 5 feature that would allow you to send each individual track out to the desired line outs. Next you would make a new piano, vocal, and guitar track and arm them for recording, because these are the tracks that the returning sounds will come to after running through the FX units.
Unfortunately, the only way to do that now is to solo one track at a time and go through that same process. When doing a session, you can't rely on processing one track at a time, because it slows down the whole recording process.
This feature is a SERIOUS must have and cannot be ignored. Every producer needs this feature in his setup.
Selection Issue
The "Selection" method on the sound workspace should be like how it was in MC2 for sure. For example, let's say that there is only a particular area of a track that you want to hear, but when you use the cursor to drag and make a selection of that area and press play, the whole project plays instead. It's very annoying. I know Mixcraft 4 has a new way of selecting and playing only a certain spot of a track, but MC2's way of doing this was alot more straight forward and easier for beginners.
MIDI/Virtual Instrument Recording Issue
When you arm a virtual instrument track for recording, hit record, and start playing via MIDI, nothing plays. In addition to that, all of the buttons located on the master bar and on the armed track(s) becomes disabled (The buttons turn grey and unclickable in other words). The result is that you can't stop the recording (Although it's not actually working, but yet it's showing that it is currently recording), and you have to press Ctrl + Alt + Del in order to exit out of the application. This is wierd.
Virtual Mixing Console
There should be a virtual mixing console of some sort. It should be located on the bottom of the screen featured in a tab with those other options. This is not truly a "Must Have", but alot of people could use this feature.
Some people want to fade off their projects at the end and such. There is a hardware USB MIDI mixing console (I forgot the brand, but I think it's Behringer) that would work perfectly for this feature, as it would control the virtual mixing console in mixcraft without having to use the mouse. Plus it is fully electronic, so the faders can slide by themselves if you want them to. I'm telling you, it would work great with a new Mixcraft Virtual Mixing console.
Mixcraft 5 Appearance
The overall colors of Mixcraft are cool and should stay, but the design of the track headers and overall buttons should be like Mixcraft 2's. There is nothing at all wrong with the design, but MC2's just gave more of a simple, straight to the point appearance. Maybe the ability to switch between current and classic Mixcraft views would be a cool add. You know because some people may like the current view while others want it oldschool.
Mixcraft 5's Beatcraft Integration
I was thinking that being as you guys at Acoustica aren't working on Beatcraft any longer, maybe you should integrate it into Mixcraft 5 and make some use out of it. I mean, it will be just like how other DAW software's have they're drum machine/sequencer integrated into their multitracking softwares.
Beatcraft should be featured in a tab on the bottom of the screen and when you click on the tab, it will open as a full screen view. The color of Beatcraft should be redone to match Mixcraft's so it will give the appearance of a fully integrated unit.
As far as features go, I wouldn't change anything about Beatcraft at all besides a more accurate pitch shifting option, which is shown as the "Rate" slider in the "Advance Step Controls" dialog. For instance, if you have a drum sound that is in a "C" key, and you change the rate up, it will skip the "sharp" keys, altogether. This issue of Beatcraft needs to be fixed. Also, there should be a "Detune" slider as well.
When saving the beatcraft projects however, I think the way it was done before should remain the same, even though it would be a part of MC5.
When rendering the tracks you created with Beatcraft, there should be an option to load the files directly into the desired track in Mixcraft.
Also, there is another issue that I don't like about Beatcraft. If you have some files missing, you have to manually search for them. There should be an automatic search, like the one from MC2 (MC4 might have it too, but I've never even tried it or thought about it for that matter)
But seriously, why let Beatcraft go to waste and not just fully integrate it with MC5 or one of the next Mixcraft 4 versions? You can still have the original Beatcraft standalone software for sale as well, because maybe not everyone wants to use Beatcraft with Mixcraft ya know. Just something to think about.
Conclusion
I promise with all of these features and price ratio, there wouldn't be a single software DAW that would be able to touch Mixcraft. Not even ProTools or Cubase. Hope you guys at Acoustica take these features and issues into account.[/u]
Last edited by rick d on Sat Sep 20, 2008 5:58 am, edited 8 times in total.
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JustOneOldMan
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Many people look forward to version 5. I know they are looking at alot of requests and doing their best to resolve all issues they can at a time. Pretty stressful, but those mentioned features are a definite must-have for 5, without a doubt. If other DAW software's have those features, then MC5 should too, otherwise people would still have to somewhat look elsewhere for certain features.JustOneOldMan wrote:All sounds like good stuff, rick, looking forward to 5. Thanks for posting this. Bummer about Beatcraft, though, I just bought it to play with...
As far as Beatcraft goes, I wouldn't say it's a bummer. It's good the way it is and really doesn't need all of the serious upgrades like Mixcraft does, so you did good by buying it. I highly recommend it, but it's just the pitch issue that sux. I still say the Acoustica gang should integrate into MC5 though and put it to greater use. It's time to advance things a little and give people more of what they want.
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JustOneOldMan
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My favorite drum system is still ReDrum in Reason 4, but I always like to try different software. I've only played with Beatcraft a little, but I like it and it works well. It seems like when I create a loop with it I have to do a little manual editing on the last few milliseconds of some of the loops to make them perfect, but it still does a nice job. And it's much faster than bringing up Reason (or FL Studio) just to do a drum track/loop. The only thing faster is a drum synth on the keyboard.rick d wrote:As far as Beatcraft goes, I wouldn't say it's a bummer. It's good the way it is and really doesn't need all of the serious upgrades like Mixcraft does, so you did good by buying it. I highly recommend it, but it's just the pitch issue that sux. I still say the Acoustica gang should integrate into MC5 though and put it to greater use. It's time to advance things a little and give people more of what they want.
Anyway, not at all sorry I bought it, nice little package...
Okay so here is a couple I thought of.
1. In conjunction with a post I put up, a weld/unweld feature for sections of midi data or even audio waves. This feature would allow you to perform fade in or fade outs over the entire sections that are welded together.
2. A metronome that you could set up a lead in. This would be great. This way you can set the track to start recording at a certain measure, hit record, and the track will not start recording until the 1 or 2 measure lead in of the metronome is done. I hope this is not a feature already and I just have no idea on how t set it up. I've looked in the metronome preference but didn't see any options there.
1. In conjunction with a post I put up, a weld/unweld feature for sections of midi data or even audio waves. This feature would allow you to perform fade in or fade outs over the entire sections that are welded together.
2. A metronome that you could set up a lead in. This would be great. This way you can set the track to start recording at a certain measure, hit record, and the track will not start recording until the 1 or 2 measure lead in of the metronome is done. I hope this is not a feature already and I just have no idea on how t set it up. I've looked in the metronome preference but didn't see any options there.
bsheen wrote:Okay so here is a couple I thought of.
1. In conjunction with a post I put up, a weld/unweld feature for sections of midi data or even audio waves. This feature would allow you to perform fade in or fade outs over the entire sections that are welded together.
2. A metronome that you could set up a lead in. This would be great. This way you can set the track to start recording at a certain measure, hit record, and the track will not start recording until the 1 or 2 measure lead in of the metronome is done. I hope this is not a feature already and I just have no idea on how t set it up. I've looked in the metronome preference but didn't see any options there.
Nice features bsheen. This would be cool to include.
Yea, they are somewhat bland.Trogador wrote:I think integrating Beatcraft into Mixcraft 5 is a great idea. The drums and precussion instruments in MC4 are a bit...stale, compared to those in Beatcraft.
Lots of creativity can be boosted with the mixcraft/beatcraft integration. ALOT of time can be saved too. Currently you have to do alot of work arounds, which sux.
MC4 already has alot of great features incorporated in it, and the features make version 4 a big leap from previous MC versions. If they want to do another serious leap for MC5, the beatcraft integration along with the features requested on this page would be "IT".
I bet Acoustica would make a killing off of MC5 if they take all of these ideas into account. Getting back down to earth though, you can't force them to use the ideas if they don't want them, so all we Mixcraft-heads can do is wait around and see what gives.