Signal meters dB indication

[unfa]

I've noticed that the signal level meters we have now can't be used to provide any measurment, because they lack any dB(FS?) indication. Here's my idea to solve this.

Follows mouse, so no extra screen space is used when not needed.

The selected level is indicated by white lines inside the meter, outside a 1-pixel wide dotted line
The background is 50% black with 2 pixels margin from the text, ending on the dotted line. The text should be 2 pixels from the meter (so the black baground touches it).

Also: what is the relationship between the fader dB scale and the meter's scale?
Are they the same? That'd simplify things I guess...

PS: I've found an issue that's related: #1022

[StakeoutPunch]

Great idea, but at least for terms of consistency I think there should be actual meters beside the bar. That way users can simply look at the mixer and not have to do any further input. This way if I wish to see relative distance to 0dB I would have to make sure my mouse is in the same spot for each channel I wanted to check, for example.

The only other thing I'd like to add is that the mixer bars should be taller to allow for more accurate reading of levels - there are only so many pixels!

[badosu]

So, I am a begginer to lmms and am using tutorials from other DAWs. I noticed that the lack of dB measurements on the mixer is very important.

I am a programmer as well, so if someone can give me any pointers on how to implement this I can give it a shot and send a PR.

[tresf]

@badosu, a related topic is here: #1271

The most relevant part is here:

@diizy wrote on 2014-11-07

I think the most pressing need is to convert the peak meters as well as
the faders to dBV scale instead of linear.

Then we could add small lines to the graphics every 10 dBV so it'd be
easier to judge the levels...

This is getting more to LMMS 2.0 stuff again, but I'm planning a
redesign of all volume knobs and widgets. Get rid of the silly "show
volume in dBV" settings option and instead just always show all values
in both linear amp and dBV. The knob/fader movement should just always
be in dBV scale.

[badosu]

@tresf Does this mean that it is already a WIP, a set of ideas for this feature or both?

Would something like this be merged on the master branch or anywhere else (e.g. 2.0 branch)?

[tresf]

Vesa (@diizy) would know for sure, but it is safe to say that this hasn't been started yet.

The 2.0 initiative is an ambitious target but plans to rewrite a good portion of the software, so if you would like to see this prior to 2.0, it may be worth investigating for the 1.2 release, but I don't want to speak out of place, so I'll let Vesa chime in here. 👍

-Tres

[diizy]

On 12/24/2014 10:44 PM, Amadeus Folego wrote:

So, I am a begginer to lmms and am using tutorials from other DAW's
and noticed that the lack of dB's measurements on the mixer is
important as well.

I am a programmer as well, so if someone can give me any pointers on
how to implement this I can give it a shot and send a PR.

The feature is already there. You just have to enabled "show volume in
dBV" in settings.

As for making the faders actually work in dBV scale, that's
something that is staged for 2.0 so shouldn't be attempted now (it'll
break backwards compat so, like all backwards-compat-breaking changes,
it must be saved up to 2.0).

(On a sidenote, I really have to write that roadmap so new guys also
know what's up and what's going on)

That said, there's plenty of other stuff we can use help with right now.
Some of our regulars will surely show up with some ideas about things to
work on...

[diizy]

On 12/24/2014 11:12 PM, Tres Finocchiaro wrote:

Vesa (@diizy https://github.com/diizy) would know for sure, but it
is safe to say that this hasn't been started yet.

The 2.0 initiative is an ambitious target but plans to rewrite a good
portion of the software, so if you would like to see this prior to 2.0,

Not a good idea to do before 2.0, since it will break backwards-compat.
2.0 is designated as the "compat break allowed" release, so we should
concentrate any breakage-inducing changes there.

[badosu]

@diizy Now that I noticed it, thank you very much, I am embarassed for not noticing it first.

Anyway, now I am able to proceed on some stuff, and hope that the future GUI changes make this more obvious.

@diizy @tresf Thank you for all the effort put on this great piece of software, if there's any simple implementation that needs to be done (so I can get familiarized with the stack), let me know.

[tresf]

if there's any simple implementation that needs to be done (so I can get familiarized with the stack), let me know.

We just had a two hard crashes for 1.1 come in today:
https://github.com/LMMS/lmms/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+milestone%3A1.1.0+

And moving forward with bugs, this is a good place to start: (bugs marked for 1.2)
https://github.com/LMMS/lmms/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+milestone%3A1.2.0

As far as future map type stuff, Vesa is probably a better coordinator of that work. He has a thread dedicated to it, but most of it is very specific to the core of the engine, which is currently out of my expertise. 👍

[tresf]

As part of a pruning effort, this enhancement request is archived into a dedicated "Better Workflow" checklist here #4877.