Pro Tools has improved a lot over the last 2 years, but...

[cmbourget]

Pro Tools has improved a lot over the last 2 years, and it's great to see. The internal renderer, announced yesterday, will make a big difference, at least on Windows. But, still under Windows, there's one thing that delays it, and it's sad: it's impossible to take the mixer (and some other important windows) out of the main space. Here, for example, where Nuendo is mainly used (but we love Pro Tools for its specific strengths), we have 4 screens. But, if we're only talking about the mixer, we can't reasonably use them. I was thinking of going back to Pro Tools, but there's this blockage.

I'd personally add two other irritants: 1) memory management (for the version without Avid hadware - I'm with Apollo X 16 for Atmos projects), because never can Pro Tools endure the loads that Nuendo endures (I'd say double) and 2) translation of manuals into other languages (for me French), abandoned since version 12, from memory.

Hope for the future?

[Tweakhead]

Originally Posted by cmbourget

it's impossible to take the mixer (and some other important windows) out of the main space.

I don't quite grasp what you mean by this.
You can't just close the Mix Window ?
Screenshot perhaps ?

[BScout]

Originally Posted by Tweakhead

I don't quite grasp what you mean by this.
You can't just close the Mix Window ?
Screenshot perhaps ?

On Windows, the application first creates a windowed space and then the sub-windows (like Mix or Edit) can only be moved within that space. So if you have multiple screens, you have to first stretch that main application window across all the screens.

It isn't like this on Macs where each subwindow floats independently.

If you'd like to read about it, it's called a Multiple-document interface (MDI) and Windows established it early on as to how their GUI works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multip...ment_interface

There are pros/cons to both approaches (the other approach is the one that Macs use called Single-document interface (SDI).)
Today, companies use their own GUI frameworks to side-step this (for instance Adobe -- especially to make programs work the same on both platforms) but Avid still uses Microsoft's framework for drawing screens.

[Tweakhead]

wow. I had no idea.
well, are you able to use Window Configurations in PC world ? (or does it not even exist?)
and if so somehow minimize the Mix Window to get it out of the way, and save that Config in your template ?
or perhaps, make an "All Tracks" Folder, and collapse the folder until you need to see things in the Mix Window again. At least then you'd only be dealing with one object in your Mix Window.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by Tweakhead

wow. I had no idea.
well, are you able to use Window Configurations in PC world ? (or does it not even exist?)
and if so somehow minimize the Mix Window to get it out of the way, and save that Config in your template ?
or perhaps, make an "All Tracks" Folder, and collapse the folder until you need to see things in the Mix Window again. At least then you'd only be dealing with one object in your Mix Window.

The parent window is the problem. It is always there. Showing and hiding any other Pro Tools child window (mix, edit, transport, automation, etc) on PC reveals the empty parent window. Doing the same on Mac reveals whatever app is open behind it.

It is surprising how frustrating it is for workflow, and checking emails, SFX databases, DADman... even just simple finder/explorer navigation because as soon as you click anything Pro Tools related on PC it brings the whole parent window to the foreground and obscures whatever other applications you might have open.

[DontLetMeDrown]

Yup. Hate this crap. Would love to see it fixed. Maybe in 10 years at the speed Avid moves

[JingleDjango]

Sounds like a consequence of the way Windows handles open applications, no? On a mac the convention is that applications may be open without any open windows. On Windows, the convention has always been to terminate an application when the last open window is closed. I'm not a Windows user (anymore) but it sounds as though this is the strategy Avid chose to prevent the application from terminating prematurely, or prompting the user with 'save before quit' dialogs constantly.

How do other Windows apps negotiate this?

[Tweakhead]

Still not clear what's going on. I never use PCs.
So does every app in windows take up the entire screen when it's active ? . . . Or only Pro Tools does this ?
I'd like to see a screenshot of this with Pro Tools vs another app.
If it's every app, then it's not a Pro Tools problem.

[smurfyou]

It has been an issue for such a long time on Windows and is one of the biggest most aggravating gripes I have. It will probably never change. I don't see Avid rewriting with a different GUI package.

[smurfyou]

Originally Posted by Tweakhead

Still not clear what's going on. I never use PCs.
So does every app in windows take up the entire screen when it's active ? . . . Or only Pro Tools does this ?
I'd like to see a screenshot of this with Pro Tools vs another app.
If it's every app, then it's not a Pro Tools problem.

Its an issue with multiple displays. So back in the olden times when PT was developed for Win98 everyone had one display. No biggie.

Imagine you have 2 displays, perhaps separated to allow for a center channel. Or one front and center for Edit and Mix is off to the side if you have a control surface. To have separate Mix and Edit screens on Windows PT you have to resize the parent window across both screens. Thus occluding every other thing you might want to use. Because they have to live in this parent window, no matter how they're resized or positioned.

It is definitely a PT problem. Other programs accept the fact that users have multiple displays and use a framework to allow for that.