Hello. Andreas Pflug wrote: > Looking at 1.7 Beta, I wonder if this version is really mature enough > to justify a beta release. Apart from bug fixes there are two major > features added: Scripting and the midi wizard.
What you haven't seen is that almost all of Mixxx's under-hood MIDI code has been rewritten since 1.6.1 for greater stability, expandability and maintainability. This is the reason for the regressions, and we felt that introducing such in a point release would be unexpected and unprofessional. > - I didn't succeed in getting the scripting engine to do work. As a > regression from 1.6.1, my Hercules RMX doesn't work, and the js > functions just return nothing. There is tangible proof that the scripting system works, is powerful, and well-received: http://mixxxblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/midi-scripting-and-stanton-scs3d-videos.html The MIDI Scripting wiki page aims to cover the basics, but please ask if something is missing and we'll be sure to add it. (Valuable user feedback has already caused us to add some items since the beta release.) Someone is nearly always in IRC (#mixxx on freenode) willing to offer help with any questions you might have. Since the beta, I have personally worked with three non-programmer users in getting their controllers working with scripting and all have been successful. (They are still tweaking and tuning, but they have all been able to get started with implementation.) In addition, Garth (jumpkick on IRC,) has been steadily working on fixing the Hercules regressions as well as adding useful new features via scripting to the Hercules controllers he has access to, which include the RMX. The latest versions of the RMX mapping and scripts can be found in the 1.7 branch. You're encouraged to try them and discuss your reactions and/or suggestions here or in IRC. And/or offer patches. http://mixxx.org/wiki/doku.php/hercules#hercules_rmx_tested > I believe 1.7 will only have a poor and hardly usable midi learning > wizard, barely worth mentioning in the release notes. I, and others, beg to differ. We have been getting requests for some type of MIDI learning for quite some time. Since we were rewriting the MIDI code anyway, we figured it was worthwhile to add one for this release. As well, even just among the developers, the wizard has--in its current state--been quite helpful in getting us started on new or rebuilding old mappings, shaving a significant amount of time and error from writing the mappings from scratch. I speak from personal experience with the SCS.1m. With the wizard, I was able to go from nothing directly to scripting the advanced features in 5 minutes. > I think it's a mistake not to fix this NOW, not later. You'll be > throwing away too much. There has been some discussion about this very topic in months past. Nobody likes the internal control system. That's a given. But at least for the time being, adding new features, with an eye towards eventual replacement of the control system, has proven to be the best course of action where the users are concerned. We are steadily progressing on minimizing Mixxx's subcomponents' dependencies on the particulars of the control system with the eventual goal of being able to remove it completely and replace it with something carefully designed. It's rather like a heavily-traveled 6-lane bridge needing complete replacement: you can't just knock it down and start fresh, as much as you'd like to, because that would cause chaos for the users of that bridge (not to mention considerable labor needs.) So you replace it piece by piece, closing maybe a lane at a time until suddenly, the job is finished and there was minimal inconvenience to the users. They also reaped the benefits of the incremental replacements as they went. So consider a regression as you would a lane closure: it's inconvenient and annoying, but it will reopen relatively quickly, and when it does, it will be better than ever before and worth the wait. > I can't see where I should start now, > apparently the best candidate would be 1.6.1 (for me). And a prolonged > migration period from svn to bzr is plain horrible. Apparently I > invested time in a dead trunk, following the official instructions. Not at all. Your work is not lost, as we will be merging the 1.7 branch into trunk right after the 1.7.0 final release. (Granted we should have been keeping it in sync it all along, but we were just learning the Bazaar system when the branch was created.) So right now, the rule of thumb is as follows: bug fixes go in the 1.7 BZR branch, new features go in SVN trunk, since the 1.7 branch has been feature-frozen since its creation. (After the merge, SVN trunk & branches will be migrated to BZR and SVN will be decommissioned.) > Hm, this is not a beta to me, but an early alpha. It's not only Hercules > being broken, but I failed to get it working too. That suggests more a documentation problem than a software one. Again, please ask for any information you need and we will gladly provide it. (FAQs don't become FAQs unless they're asked. ;) ) >>> Next, the control creation code should be refactored ... And you are enthusiastically encouraged to begin that process in trunk! I'm sure once you break the ice on that, many will come to assist, since that would remove a huge ball and chain from Mixxx's progress, as you correctly determine. I would caution you though that until all the other parts of Mixxx have been rewritten to minimize their use of the existing control system, you may find yourself having to rewrite all of those components as well. > The midi xml description is > still more complicated than necessary (and buggy, try a comment like > <!---------- ...), See now, that's why we released a beta. Users are able to find stuff developers never think to check for. Please file a bug report with that information so we can track it and get it fixed! https://bugs.launchpad.net/mixxx > Methinks creating a viable control system framework isn't that hard (I'd > do it probably over a weekend, seriously). Again, feel free to begin at any time from trunk. > Summed up, I believe 1.7 won't deliver substantial advantage over 1.6, And you are of course welcome to continue to use 1.6.1 if that suits you better. Thank you very much for taking the time to provide us with your insights. They will only serve to make Mixxx better. Welcome to our community and we look forward to your participation and contributions! Sincerely, Sean M. Pappalardo "D.J. Pegasus" <<--------------------------------------------------------------------------------->> This E-Mail message has been scanned for viruses and cleared by >>SmartMail<< from Smarter Technology, Inc. <<--------------------------------------------------------------------------------->> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanners deliver under ANY circumstances! Your production scanning environment may not be a perfect world - but thanks to Kodak, there's a perfect scanner to get the job done! With the NEW KODAK i700 Series Scanner you'll get full speed at 300 dpi even with all image processing features enabled. http://p.sf.net/sfu/kodak-com _______________________________________________ Mixxx-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mixxx-devel
