Audio Feature Requests

[Stowe Nelson]

Hi all--

I was emailing with Lucas earlier and he suggested that it might be helpful to start a discussion about feature requests for audio folks since his experience is primarily lighting-based.  I know I am so excited to have a simple CAD program to work with as my drafting usually only requires checking speaker coverages and creating an easy to read plot for my load-in crew.  I've drafted a single show so far so just some very simple thoughts on symbols in particular, knowing that more changes are coming from the Drafty team.

1. It would be great to have the ability to add custom coverages to the generic speaker boxes.  I see so many random speakers in my travels that could not/should not be included in a Drafty symbol library any time soon (random boxes from the mid-70s, brands I've never heard of, etc.).  But I can usually find coverage data for them and that's what matters to me--more often than not, the size and shape is not as important as the coverage pattern.  So even a square box with adjustable coverages has the potential to be very useful.

2. I'd love to be able to edit symbol text & name--either by symbol or via the symbol key.  For example, today I was drafting a pair of EAW JFX88s--a very similar speaker to an EAW JF80 for my purposes on this show (practical speaker in an offstage room).  In the event that a symbol does not exist but a similar size/coverage model does, the ability to change the name and symbol text of the symbol would be great.  It would not need to track into the database or carry over to other files--just the ability to change the labels for greater clarity in a single plot would be very useful.

3. I expect others will have requests about other speakers that might want to be added to the symbol library but two came up in my drafting today: the EAW JFX line and the QSC HPR line.  And maybe a generic sub square?

4. And the final most minuscule thing about title blocks: possible that some information be permanently entered/saved?  Thinking specifically of address, phone number, etc.  Also, all Drafty users seem to default to the "Lighting Designer" line in the title block--if being "Sound Designer" instead could track, that would be awesome!

Again, very excited about this program and hearing what other audio folk have to say!

-S

[Lucas]

These are all great suggestions. But quickly your #2 can be done now. The syntax is a little odd but when you select a speaker there is a field called 'Key' which allows you to override on a per-instance basis the name in the Symbol key.

#1 and #4 are already on our list. I'll take a look and see about boosting priority. #3 I will work on adding those symbols.

Thanks for the feedback!

[sam kusnetz]

ooh i agree about the generic subwoofer; great idea.

i'm terribly sorry, stowe, that you're forced to use JFX speakers often enough to need a symbol for them. i've got a symbol of a little burning pile of tinder that i like to use...

sk

[Brad Berridge]

I agree with all of this. Good points Stowe. Doing speaker coverage is the biggest thing for me. Very important. 

[Lucas]

Hey Stowe,

It may not be obvious from the changelog so I wanted to mention in this thread directly that all your feature requests here have been added in today’s release. For the title block template navigate to the Border layer and click the ‘Edit’ button next to ‘Defaults’.

Also, of general audio interest we released our first version of a Signal Flow tool. Shift-C or Shift-[Audio] will make a ‘Processor Object’ and you then click and drag the ports as needed to connect speakers. Alt/Opt-C or Alt/Opt-[Audio} will make a Mic Input object for saud drawings.

As this is in active development and a very new tool any and all feedback and feature requests are welcome such that we can make the best audio paperwork tool possible.

Thanks for all your input thus far.

Lucas Krech

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On Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 8:21:29 PM UTC-5, Stowe Nelson wrote:

[Stowe Nelson]

Lucas--

This is so terrific.  I haven't had a chance to dig into it yet but I have a pile of drafting waiting for me later this week and can't wait to try it all out.

Thanks!

-S

On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 11:41 AM, Lucas Krech <des...@lucaskrech.com> wrote:

Hey Stowe,

It may not be obvious from the changelog so I wanted to mention in this thread directly that all your feature requests here have been added in today’s release. For the title block template navigate to the Border layer and click the ‘Edit’ button next to ‘Defaults’.

Also, of general audio interest we released our first version of a Signal Flow tool. Shift-C or Shift-[Audio] will make a ‘Processor Object’ and you then click and drag the ports as needed to connect speakers. Alt/Opt-C or Alt/Opt-[Audio} will make a Mic Input object for saud drawings.

As this is in active development and a very new tool any and all feedback and feature requests are welcome such that we can make the best audio paperwork tool possible.

Thanks for all your input thus far.

Lucas Krech

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Drafty: https://drafty-app.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drafty_app

Tumblr: http://draftyapp.tumblr.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DraftyApp/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0urrqCVj85zq7IcUuXltSg

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Stowe Nelson
Sound Designer
e: stowe...@gmail.com
p: (704) 718-0183

w: http://wingspace.com/stowe/

[Harry Platt]

This Software is the best start towards something that is actually useful to Sound Designers needing to easily and simply convey their designs while not spending an arm and a leg on the traditional CAD options.

I've looked in the FAQ and user guide, but don't see much information on how to use the Rack Drawings Plate. Are there plans for different RU sized "Racks" and then "Units"? I think theres a lot of potential for speeding along the process of producing paperwork like this, but it doesn't seem like this has had much focus yet beyond the Plate Layer for it. 

I know there aren't a lot of really great options for this kind of drawing, and I was very excited to see that was a focus of Drafty. I currently use Vectorworks to complete this process, but it can be tedious to add detail to things. And the initial investment of time to have a "drag & drop" ease of building a rack on paper isn't ideal, and also leaves things to be desired from the symbol Library I've started to build (ease of navigating and using symbol templates). Just as an example, the best piece of software I've seen for this is a program called StarDraw, which tends to be overly powerful for a lot of our applications, and Stardraw is really niche software designed for Install/Architectural purposes much more than theatre, its also prohibitively expensive for anyone who isn't producing a set of drawings at least once or twice a month. I would love to see Drafty offer something more suited to the work flow of how a show is built for the theatre, and at a much better price.

Looking forward for the changes to come, 

Harry Platt

Freelance Sound Designer/Technician

[Drafty App User Group]

Thanks for the feedback!

We are in development of a Rack Builder Tool. But do not currently have a set date for release. We hope to see it live to the public in one or two revision cycles.