We need a project load dialog

[James Steele]

Yes... yes... now that I've just *dabbled* with other DAWs (DP is, of course, my favorite)... we really need this.

dploadprogress.jpg (72.26 KiB) Viewed 365 times

[stubbsonic]

I like the meme-like construction of your image-- where DP is the punchline.

[James Steele]

I like the meme-like construction of your image-- where DP is the punchline.

Yeah... well believe me... I am a big supporter of MOTU. I don't think I should have to say that having created and ran this forum and paid for the hosting for decades out of my own pocket. I know they have a lot going on... but they need some prodding.

I can tell you that personally I'm getting a bit frustrated. A lot of this has come about after I purchased a used Avid S3 control surface and discovered deficiencies in DP's EUCON implementation that absolutely prohibits me from being able to develop an optimum workflow with this control surface. Just one example: if you wish to add a plugin to an insert with the S3, there is no plugin hierarchy. I have well over 1,000 plugins installed. To add a plugin to a insert with my S3 it would mean paging through 1,000+ (okay... confession time, more like 1,500+) plug ins SIXTEEN AT A TIME(the number of encoders/displays) to find the plugin I want to insert! Every other DAW... Pro Tools (no surprise, they own EUCON), Logic, Cubase all take you to a first level where you can first choose the type of plug or page through the manufacturers and THEN find the plugin. You don't get dumped into a directory of EVERY SINGLE INSTALLED PLUGIN. That's just one.

Add to that, I've started to acquire some outboard hardware. I have a Warm Audio LA-2A, an AudioScape 76F, and I have an AudioScape Buss Compressor (SSL G Buss clone) on the way. DP's hardware inserts are flakey. You can set them up, but there's an issue with pinging the hardware and getting the correct latency offset. Sometimes the latency on the Master Fader will be returned instead of the correct round trip latency to your hardware and back. You have to do it a couple times. Add to that, if you close a session and then reopen it, the audio doesn't pass through the hardware insert plugin anymore. At least not for me. You have to open the plug-in and then "tickle it" by changing the input and output to something else and then changing it back and THEN it will properly pass audio. And then you probably need to ping for latency again. And THEN you're good for a while until you close that session. When you open it again, you'll have to open each hardware insert plugin and reset the input and output.

Believe me... I do NOT like mentioning these issues, but it's becoming a source of frustration to me. And if I want to incorporate the S3 and outboard hardware seamlessly into my workflow... well... DP just isn't up to the task right now. Whereas every gripe I mentioned above... none of the other DAWs seem to have this problem. But I want to use DP!!!

[James Steele]

I like the meme-like construction of your image-- where DP is the punchline.

But to this point, I don't think in 2024, I should have to sit and stare at a spinning colored ball for a minute or so hoping that my greyed-out waveforms are going to turn solid and my project is going to load. Some sort of visual feedback would be reassuring. On top of it, I'd like the option that Pro Tools has to "Cancel" the loading of a project. I have, on occasion, loaded the wrong project by mistake and having to sit there and wait until it fully opens before I can bail out and open the project I intended is a bit of an annoyance. A minor one, for sure, but still an annoyance.

[mikehalloran]

It's been so long that I've noticed the spinning ball that I quite forgot we still get it. So I loaded a recent project and yep, still there and still spinning.

[bayswater]

Do you want a load dialog because you’re not confident the project is actually loading? Otherwise, I don’t understand why it matters.

[James Steele]

Do you want a load dialog because you’re not confident the project is actually loading? Otherwise, I don’t understand why it matters.

Yes

[stubbsonic]

The lack of a status bar hasn't bothered me, in part because they are almost always not very meaningful.

"7% ... 8% ... 8.5% .... done".

Or

"2% ... 40%... 95% ..... 95% .....95%..... 96%.... under a minute.... .... " nine minutes later... "done."

I agree about the cancel option. But I probably wouldn't use it much.

[Michael Canavan]

Honestly James, having access to 7-8 DAWs here the thing I wish the most for DP is the ability to open up a Template without saving it somewhere. All other DAWs I have use RAM to save the new project until you quit or save it. My DP files are a mess with project starts that went nowhere.At least every couple months I'm clearing out a bunch of false starts.

[James Steele]

I'm not going to say it's entirely *rational* but first of all I like some visual feedback as to what's going on. On top of it, if it displayed the name of the plug-in as it's loading, it might help provide clues if there is a crash. Pro Tools sort of does this. Also, yes... the ability to Cancel out. DP projects can still take a long time to load. I like to use the "Open Recent" menu and I have a larger monitor so I'm using mouse acceleration. It doesn't happen often, but I sometimes select the wrong project and then I have to sit and wait while the wrong project loads before I can bail out. I'd like to be able to bail out immediately.

I dunno... maybe all those other DAW developers are just idiots for having a progress dialog? However, like I said, first of all it helps it not *feel* like it's taking forever and again, sometimes it can provide useful feedback if something goes wrong during project loading.

My two cents. And yes, there are always more important things. I'd like a reliable hardware insert plugin and better EUCON support so I could add a plugin to an insert from my S3 without being required to page through 1,500+ plugins, sixteen at a time, looking for the one I want to add. (Moral of the story... it's completely pointless to try to insert a plug in DP with a EUCON control surface.)

[James Steele]

Oh yeah... and one of my other little admittedly minor, cosmetic quibbles in addition to the lack of a project load dialog is why DP is the only Mac DAW I know of whose splash screen randomly appears or doesn't appear on launch.

And yes... I know that after a crash, often the only way you know DP is ready is that the menu bar at the top finally populates, but this also happens to me when DP hasn't crashed. The DP splash screen just sort of appears sometimes and sometimes not. It's just weird, that's all.

[stubbsonic]

Doesn't inspire confidence. I do look forward to the day when a DP release comes out, and I get to say: "Finally."