ChipdiscoDJ v0.21 public release (Page 5 of 7)

Right - check the same link again to get an updated version. I've mostly fixed up the GUI now (though there's a bit of free space I've yet to fill gracefully - considering a few things...) and you can try the tempo master/slave buttons, marked '!', and the 'v' and 'b' keys for independent pattern reset. See how you get on and remind me if I've forgotten anything.

When I get home tonight, possibly after a few pints, I'll try to sort out the MIDI CCs and then sign an applet version for widespread use...but I'll await your reply and input before going all-out public with it!

All the best

Yeah, I'm having trouble making my mind up about the GUI... Really, the whole thing could do with being half the height - the infodisplay and the coloured channel bars aren't really necessary, but I like them and it gives the playlist space to strech out (I do have hacky scrollbuttons when the playlist length exceeds the height of the box, but that whole system *occasionally* flakes out...). I played with having the buttons vertically, like you said, but it didn't feel right. Having said that, nothing feels 'right' on software DJing, especially if - like me - you spent some miserable years in your youth DJing off CDs in nightclubs on Numark rackmounts with horizontal transport sections. But I guess *that* layout wasn't brill either...

Oh, and you're spot on about the tempo master/slave arrows - I simply couldn't be arsed to make the buttons and I had an exclamation mark one spare I've got a range of nice < and > arrow symbols I could use, but they all look too confusingly like play buttons, and since I don't have anything so luxurious as a tooltip system in this app, I can't just type the controls' explanations in there. And I want to avoid having text labels for stuff. So that's under consideration too!

Actually, I thought you might have said the crossfader was now too thin - but you didn't, so that's cool. It was unnecessarily big before; either a user is using a MIDI control for that or - if they're using a laptop touchpad - if they're drunk enough to miss the new crossfader they're probably drunk enough to have made a mess of the old one.

Tempo reset - I just had a look at v0.2 and I can't see one there, but I think I had a key/CC for it. There'll still be a key/CC for it, but it might change... Was there really a GUI button for that? Did I add it for a build I sent you and then take it out, or something? It's possible...

Playlist size - I'd quite like to shorten the height of the entire thing, to make it even more laptop friendly - perhaps even for beefy netbooks that are capable of running it, if such things exist. So do you reckon you'd quickly fill the playlist at the size it is now? I think it can take around 25 items before scrolling now... Even if the scrolling doesn't always work, you can remove old stuff from the top of the list by double right-clicking (I might have to change that for people whose Macs are still configured to Middle Ages). How many songs do you think you'll want loaded for your forthcoming set, anyway? Knowing that will help me decide whether to prioritise fixing the scrolling stuff ahead of other things.

Many thanks for the kind words, btw - yeah, I'm much happier with the general look of it now. The old buttons were a mammoth hassle to work with, even though the library I used for them is *supposed* to make things easier. Lots of unexplained null pointer exceptions which trigger epic bughunts when it could be one of thirty instances, each with about 20 lines of fiddly config calls. So I did my own button system from scratch and arsed myself to open Photoshop - took a fraction of the time and now everything's looking better I might eventually do something about those shabby buttons beneath the playlist, but other stuff's more important.

So is it usable for you yet? I'll still fix the keys/MIDI tonight and tomorrow, but I want to be sure you'll be able to use it for your set even if something goes wrong on my end

THIS.

Hehe, save m3u does work Click it...then paste into a textfile and save as *.m3u! It was the most cross-platform way of doing it that also worked in all web browsers. Processing and Java have some stupid limitations on some platforms when it comes to specifying filetypes in a save dialogue, although the load dialogues work perfectly well. I need to document it better, but then I need to document the whole thing better.

Unmute all - the code for this is half done, in a Milkytracker/Renoise style solo/unmute-all/etc thing. It's a little bit of a brainteaser, plus I have to consider single button mice/touchpads (I was going to use right-click for soloing the selected channel, then double-right-click for unmuting all, or something). I'll work on that...

Right, I'm off to run sound for a noise gig - I'll try to surreptitiously keep working on CDDJ while pretending to ride the mixing desk, otherwise expect another (near-final?) update in the early hours GMT.

Looking forward to hearing / seeing it in action on Sunday!

Okay man, check http://crayolon.net/chipdisco, where you can grab a linux build and a nanoKontrol scenedata set file that should be set up properly (it's very like the factory default, but some buttons have been changed from momentary to toggle). The page also has keyboard controls listed, which are hopefully up to date. I need to tidy up that page; it's a right mess.

Anyway, I'm pretty much burned for the night but I'll be able to fix things tomorrow afternoon, so if you get a chance to try it and you find problems, just let me know. I'm sure we'll get things sorted in time for Sunday

Syphus mate you are the MAN. I actually have a nanokontrol 2 which has maybe a dozen or so extra buttons, I am playing with a few different mappings. Im currently having a great deal of fun working on my set for Sunday and learning CCDJ at the same time!

Im also making mental notes of all kinds of interesting things people could do to make MODs for live use...