First VU refresh problem AKA crazy LATK stuff

jorge · 7 May 2005

Here's how I'd do it: [old link]

Nu Audio Science · 7 May 2005

Ah so were the multiple redraws clashing or something, I still have a problem with using more modules than i need to (Because you had to in SE) ?

Is it good practice to use just one redraw module for multiple controls like this ?

Sorry for all the questions but im really loving these draw modules 🙂

edit* Another small question 🙂 As you can see from this OSM i am using a lot of similar stuff in layers, Would it be good practice to take any math calculations and things that are just repeated and createtem once and feed to each module ? Also what is that to child that slipped in there ?

Sorry again for all the questions but i promise to put them in a FAQ in the CHM 😉

Tom7777 · 7 May 2005

I was a user of SE before SM and i found that it takes a while to change programs as they work in a different way completely. I was never on any forum before SM though so you would not have known of my SE work as it was never public, i could always do all the stuff people thought was amazing with it though but i stopped using SE at some point because it fas far too simple a program and there was loads of stuff i could not do becuase there were no modules to do so basically. Synthmaker is amazing because it actually lets me create any ideas i have. 🙂

unkargherth · 7 May 2005

Sorry if i misunderstood, but if you wanna make a more or less near real Level Meter, thatsnot what the above schematic does

AFAIK, a lvl meter sould in fact response to level changes, over (at least) 3 fixed position band of colors , not by moving the bands

again, sorry, if my rant is out of scope

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

It isn't finished yet, And its only the display not the input output system. I'm guessing you are talking about the yello and red being constantly on and moving up and down the VU. I was gonna take care of this the same way i changed the color of the knob in my first knob (See examples) , This technique allows me to decide precisely at what level the yello and then red actually appear on the VU, I will try and get it finished tonite and show here, If this is the wrong way of doing it please tell me because im very very new. I'll get this finished but i guess if Unk says its wrong who am i to argue 🙂

unkargherth · 8 May 2005

check this one

Not graphically nice as yours, but it it works and also autoresizes

Also the "Another VU" thread in this forum for an speedometer like VU

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

Cheers Unk Should i not bother trying with my technique, Is it too far out ?

Very nice VU dude but im gonna have to try and finish mine just out of blind curriousity now (Your way is very very smooth)

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

Also with yours being seperate LEDS couldn't they be reconfigured quite quickly to represent the LEDs surrounding a knob ? Very very cool design dude 😉

unkargherth · 8 May 2005

Nu Audio Science wrote: Also with yours being seperate LEDS couldn't they be reconfigured quite quickly to represent the LEDs surrounding a knob ?

Not sure what you are asking for. If you connect directly a fader or kno to the lvl meter, it works as expected. But if you're asking for positioning the leds around a knob, in circular way, it doesn't work. I'm using the position in bar to compare againsti input value fro switch on" or "off the led. So if position changes, all get lost

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

Aah

I just updated my one, I put in the technique i was speaking of but beware i ghave done it really quick so its a mess and not very accurate 🙂 Its still crap compared to yours though.

Same link as before 😉

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

You know thinking about it i think my method could be trimmed down even further by using this technique on the alpha channel instead of color, This would have the side effect of making it easier to set up and being more accurate. It would also mean i could have a color picker for each color, Your way is obviously more advanced though 😉

I think yours is obviously the way forward for VUs but mine may be a good way to achieve the LEDs around the knob thing ?

unkargherth · 8 May 2005

Well. On Leds Around The Knob thing, ( lets call it LATK from now) i think the shouldn't be so complex. In fact, in LATK you don't really need diferent colors ( yellow for warning zone, red for near end) cause you already know the position). Only a Increasing alpha blend for one color should sufice. And, thinking in 0.5 centered knobs ( panning for example ) a bipolar version should be easier if you use only one color

Personal opinion: beign minimalist with my interfaces, LATK should be LED knob, ie, a colection of leds with no KNOB inside

Anyway, for a basic seeting, if you wanna follow the crude "logarithmic fixed approximation", use 12 arc segments, with 6 first in green , 4 following in yellow and last two in red,with an alpha of 128 when switched off and increase the alpha to 255 when they're on

for the arcs, first starting angleshould be 135 and then add 23 for the next until 12. Sweep should be 22. This should give you a nice 1 separtion between leds

195,

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

Your an absolute Gem, I was gonna have a go at trying that today and you have already worked it out 🙂

unkargherth · 8 May 2005

Is that (crude basic version) what you are talking NAS?

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

http://uk.geocities.com/flexinoodle/gui/LATK.zip

Exactly what i was talking about, Whew your quick dude 🙂 I just stuck a redraw in it here 😉

Now all it needs is slightly bigger arc in a darker color grey or black underneath and it will look excellent 🙂

unkargherth · 8 May 2005

Mmmm.... redraw was already there, inside de "Leds" module. but posibly yours is better, as it also redraws the knob..

..this is giving me a new idea... let think a couple of hours and i post it here

Shifrin · 8 May 2005

There sure are some interesting things in this thread, nice one guys 🙂

Shif.

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

Yeah i was getting redraw problems but i used the technique Jorge showed last night whereby you put the redraw component outside of all the modules and it works better, He covers it in a thread last night somewhere 🙂

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

Just had a thought, If we copied all the LATKs and put a slightly bigger version underneath in a darker color i think it would look better than using a dark arc, It should have the effect of little plastic rims lol You could use a dark grey for the rims and still use a black arc ?

Mess around time methinks 🙂

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

Unk did you know that the LATKs are slightly off center ? Everytime i create a knob it is slightly offset ? Not a problem just wondered if you knew 🙂

edit* OK i just changed the color of one of the LATKs and they all changed, How cool is that Is that the paste synchronised function ? (I've been wondering what its for)

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

http://uk.geocities.com/flexinoodle/gui/LATK.zip

If anybody gets a chance can they have a look at this and see if they can find why i cant change the length of the line on top of the knob.

Cheers

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

All draw modules no BMPs or PNGs even got a nice shadow and it can be zoomed into any level 🙂

I'll post in examples once i work out whats stopping me changing the size of the black line.

Oh same link above 😉

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

Just looking at the LATKs and realised you have done an even number 12 instead of eleven, I hadn't even noticed before lol , I'll have to redo it, They have to be odd numbers so you have an odd 1 left over for the position five in the middle 🙁

Tom7777 · 8 May 2005

Looks good NAS, A bit like one of the knobs from a korg synth.

Nu Audio Science · 8 May 2005

The LATKs are down to Unkargherth not me though, I just designed the knob and surround 😉

FYI LATKs = Lights around the knob 🙂

Tom7777 · 8 May 2005

Ahh ok, well done to everyone involved then 🙂

unkargherth · 8 May 2005

Wow!!! Very nice NAS

Idea. I think this topic is becoming suficiently "pro", to take it out from Help/Tutorials

So i created this topic and i propose continue there

stefan · 9 May 2005

wtf, beautiful shit! 🙂

Nu Audio Science · 9 May 2005

Cheers Stef 🙂

Nu Audio Science · 9 May 2005

http://uk.geocities.com/flexinoodle/gui/LATKu.zip

I'm trying to do a version of this for Unkargherth that doesn't have a knob in the middle, Seemed an easy thing to do but, When i try to change the mouse area to be the full size of the LATKs i cant, I tried changing the height width and the scale but nothing, Any ideas ?

unkargherth · 10 May 2005

I've made a knobless knob a days ago and the trick should be include teh leds in the mouse area and erase the knob bitmap and knob tick, while maintaining the KNob control. Simply as that

Nu Audio Science · 10 May 2005

Yeah i did that but the mouse area is still exactly the same as when the knob was there, Just the size of the knob that is now gone ?

Tom7777 · 10 May 2005

Um maybe leave everything the same and set the alpha to 0 so it looks like its not there. That might work 🙂 Then make the knob larger in size so it will go behind the other part too.

sonicfire · 15 May 2005

unkargherth wrote: Is that (crude basic version) what you are talking NAS?

how have you done these "rings" (circular leds) around the knob??? this is what i dont understand for years now 😮

Nu Audio Science · 15 May 2005

Open the LATK osm and have a look, You will find a more upto date version in the projects part of the forum under Definitive Knob 🙂

unkargherth · 15 May 2005

I'm the guilty of this circular leds

Basically implmented as a collection of near-continuous small arcs that change color ( off-color to on-color) depending on the ratio value of the knob

malc · 16 May 2005

Hi NAS,

Does this do what you want? [old link]

I think the reason you might have been having problems is down to the way that mouse messages are clipped to the parent module. In your example the mouse area is inside the Knob Dial module which itself is inside the Shadow Knob module which is then on the main module panel.

Mouse messages are only received by a module if they fall within the module's active area. The Knob Dial is 4x4 squares in size so it doesn't matter how big you set the mouse area, you'll only receive messages in that 4x4 square.

Might be clearer in a diagram:

Here your Knob Dial area is shown as 'A'. This equates to the yellow dotted area in the main knob (also labeled 'A'). To make the mouse area bigger you need to resize the modules concerned as well as change the inputs to the Mouse Area component, which is exactly what I did. The knob dial module needs to be 8x7 in size to get the effect you want.

Nu Audio Science · 16 May 2005

Cheers 😉