Feature request: Adjust part length from the start of a part

edited April 2019 in Feature Requests

I’d love to be able to adjust part lengths from the start the same way we can adjust the length of a part from the end. When arranging a song, this is a huge time saver. GarageBand is a good example of an iOS DAW that implements this.

Song sections very often repeat the same parts, but often a part will come in earlier or later. For example, the bass line might come in at bar four of verse 1, but at bar one of verse 2.

Without this feature, you could split and mute or delete the beginning of a part. But then if it turns out it’s not quite right, it’s kind of painful to make fine adjustments.

A possible implementation: Add a third drag handle to go with the the existing handles for adjusting the length from the end and the part position.

Comments

  • edited April 2019

    i like idea of third (left) handle a lot ! That would be very handy !

    Question is what with content inside resized part -

    1/ leave it at same place, so after resizing to left, there will be empty area inside part at beginning, or
    2/ move them (so they will start still at beginning of part)

    I would prefer option 1/ - because 2/ would be basically same like just resize to right and then move resized part to left - achievable with current 2 handles.

  • It’s a good suggestion. There was a third handle at one point which kind of did the same thing, but ultimately it was removed to simplify the UI. If there’s a lot of demand, I’m sure Blip might re-evaluate the situation.

  • edited April 2019

    @dendy said:
    i like idea of third (left) handle a lot ! That would be very handy !

    Question is what with content inside resized part -
    1/ leave it at same place, so after resizing to left, there will be empty area inside part at beginning, or
    2/ move them (so they will start still at beginning of part)

    @dendy, If I understand what you’re suggesting, yeah, I’d prefer option 1 too.

    It would behave exactly like adjusting the end of a part except from the start.

    If you try resizing a midi region in iOS GarageBand, it would work just like that, except using a third handle.

  • edited April 2019

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  • edited April 2019

    Oh Interesting. I don’t know how I didn’t notice this before, but the handles for moving a part vs moving a selection in the sample editor don’t match up.

    The handle for moving a part (or midi notes) is a left pointing arrow. But for moving a sample selection the handle has two arrows—left and right. Which makes much more sense for something you can move in either direction.

    Even if this feature request was never implemented, it would make a lot more sense to make the handles for moving anything match the scheme in the sample editor. It’s kind of a weird inconsistency in a UI that’s clearly been so beautifully and thoughtfully designed.


  • @bwrobinett said:
    Oh Interesting. I don’t know how I didn’t notice this before, but the handles for moving a part vs moving a selection in the sample editor don’t match up.

    The handle for moving a part (or midi notes) is a left pointing arrow. But for moving a sample selection the handle has two arrows—left and right. Which makes much more sense for something you can move in either direction.

    Even if this feature request was never implemented, it would make a lot more sense to make the handles for moving anything match the scheme in the sample editor. It’s kind of a weird inconsistency in a UI that’s clearly been so beautifully and thoughtfully designed.

    Yep. That was the third handle Stiksi mentioned being removed in beta. None of us used it in the song editor so it was removed for simplicity. Last I understood, it would be reevaluated when audio tracks are ready for prime time.

  • I would definitely like to see this implemented. I’ve only been using this for about a month but this is one of the first things I wished I could do but couldn’t. It’s not so much about extending the length in the other direction as it is SHORTENING the length from the front end of a part. So if I have two duplicate four bar loops next to each other, and I want the first one to not start until bar 3, it’s a simple matter of shortening the length from the front until bar 3. Rather than splitting the part and muting the first half. It’s one tap and a drag versus about 4 taps.

  • edited July 2019

    @dendy said:
    i like idea of third (left) handle a lot ! That would be very handy !

    Question is what with content inside resized part -

    1/ leave it at same place, so after resizing to left, there will be empty area inside part at beginning, or
    2/ move them (so they will start still at beginning of part)

    I would prefer option 1/ - because 2/ would be basically same like just resize to right and then move resized part to left - achievable with current 2 handles.

    Why not implement both options ??? In addition, if I understood correctly, the second option implies the “slip” function, which, for example, is implemented in mobile and desktop FL Studio, Cubase, Logic !!!! This feature (especially in parts multi-edit mode) gives a huge potential for obtaining fast and creative arrangements, especially for mobile daws !!!!

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