On 10 Sep 2005 at 14:04, Darcy James Argue wrote: > On 10 Sep 2005, at 10:10 AM, Colin Broom wrote:
> > Even if the panning system was changed to a percentage, Finale > > would still have to change it using MIDI values "under the hood", > > so my argument is that percentages would in this case be less > > precise rather than more. > > Well, no, it would not be "less precise," as all MIDI values map onto > percentages. . . That's certainly true, but it's not the case that all percentages map onto MIDI values. So, what would you do -- have limitations on the valid percentages, or have some percentages introduce no change in the MIDI value? > . . . But again, we're dealing with non-audible differences > here. It really makes no difference whether a flute is panned to > MIDI value 12 or 13 -- the important thing is the distance from the > center (i.e., roughly 80% left). To me that's just meaningless. I don't know what "80% left" means. It just doesn't mean *anything* to me at all. 80% of *what*? What is the whole that you're representing as a fraction? That is a conceptual flaw that simple signed numbers on a number line do *not* have (i.e., -64 to 64). Percentages are an abstraction on top of the signed numbers, meaning that -32 is -50% (I assume), and I just don't see what the need is for that additional level of abstraction, converting the 64 numbers on either side of the center to percentages. I just don't see what is accomplished there. But, again, I'm not averse to it as an *optional* way of displaying and setting the pan values. However, the problem with this is that it works very well for the pan controller in the mixer, but not very well at all for setting pan in the expression dialog, for instance, where doing this consistently would introduce an additional level of complexity in a UI that is very simple, since all controllers have possible values of 1-128 (well, technically, 0-127). Introducing percentages in the mixer then makes the expression dialog inconsistent, or requires a more complex UI. It's not that's it's impossible to implement, but I don't see why it's necessary. However desirable it might be in the mixer for those who are familiar with % pan in other applications or on meatspace mixing boards, I'm not sure it's worth the inconsistency. -- David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton David Fenton Associates http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
