‼️ Audio Editor: High-Priority Fixes#417

Gain and Pan #416
Issue:
When using the gain or pan controls on a given track and releasing the drag state; the target value changes by one or two values (+/-). This makes it pretty difficult to set any intended target value for these controls. Further more the numerical UI lives user the user’s finger making it impossible to even see where you are dragging to.

Expected behavior:
Users should be able to clearly see the UI numbers when under a dragging state on these controls. Upon releasing the drag state of these controls at a target value, it should keep that target value.

“Save As” Feature #415
Issue:
More times than not, modifications to an existing audio editor project is intended as variants of that existing project. However there’s no “save as” feature, only a save feature which overwrites the existing project with modifications.

Expected behavior:
When touching and holding down on the save button, user should get the option to choose a “save as”. This prompts users for new project name to save as; upon hitting save to this prompt, the audio editor should source from this newly saved out project. This allows to users to easily make variants off an existing project.

Save vs. Exit #414
Issue:
There is no way to exit the audio editor and go back to main menu other than using the save feature. Further more, when using the save feature the audio editor closes which is rarely desired.

Expected Behavior:
There should be a dedicated way to exit the audio editor. And the save feature should not exit the audio editor.

Undo and Frozen Selection #413
Issue:
When highlighting a bit of audio for modification and performing the modification; upon using undo feature, the highlighted selection becomes frozen. It can’t be moved or resized and you must start a new highlight selection over.

Expected Behavior:
When modifying a bit of highlight audio, and then using undo feature; the highlighted selection should still be modfiable (move, resize) without having to start a whole new selection.

Sort Tracks #412
Issue:
The audio editor allows multiple tracks in a single timeline, but there is no way to sort the tracks.

Expected Behavior:
User should be able to touch/hold and then drag audio tracks up and down in the audio editor to sort them.

Devin, Thank you very much for your clear insights and suggestions!

#416 Fixed:
I have rewritten the Slider. The draggable area now extends to include the text label, making it easier to operate than before. The issue of shifting at the moment of finger release has also been resolved. Additionally, I’ve added an OSD in the top-left corner of the timeline that dynamically displays the dragged value while you are dragging. Lastly, the Slider now supports a long-press gesture—when you long-press the Gain or Pan Slider, a manual input dialog will pop up.

This fix released in v2.8.6.

Track Colors
Issue:
On top of #412, there is no way to group tracks by color.

Expected behavior:
Under each track’s tools dialog, a option to define the track’s color should be there. Users can find it beneficial to see (and eventually sort tracks) by color for better organization.

Master Effects EQ Not Persistent
Issue:
Under the master effects, when picking and/or altering a EQ; upon saving the project an reopening it, EQ is no longer applied. Further more any changes made to non-custom EQs are lost.

Expected behavior:
All Non-custom EQ opinions should carry a manual reset button and not reset user’s changes when switching between other EQs or saving project.

Projects when saving and opening should have last EQ applied and changes persist (custom or non-custom)

Lastly, unlike custom EQ which persists it’s settings across projects, non-custom EQ changes should not persist across projects, but remain unique from project to project.

Back to start
Issue:
There is no button to move your cursor to the beginning of project’s timeline. Used to quickly hear song from start upon thereafter hitting play.

Expected behavior:
Simple single button to move user’s cursor to start of timeline.

Dear Devin,

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback and for raising these three points:

Track Colors—————–
Adding track colors is quite complex under the current architecture because all tracks are drawn on a single layer. This design prioritizes performance, ensuring smooth operation even with multiple tracks, as seen in our low CPU usage.
I will explore whether it’s technically feasible to add track coloring to the current editor. If not, this feature will likely be included in the next-generation Audio Editor, which is also currently in development.Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Master Effects EQ Not Persistent—————–
This issue has already been marked on the “Audio Editor Roadmap” with a plan for fix.
Your behavior definitions for this feature have helped clarify how to implement this properly—thank you very much!

Back to Start—————–
Yet another reasonable suggestion that I would never have thought of myself. I’ve added your idea to the Audio Editor Roadmap.

Once again, thank you for your thoughtful insights and for sharing them!

I’m sorry, I’ve been having some issues in my life.
Now that I’m back, I’ll tackle these to-do lists as soon as possible.

For issue 3, thank you very much for sharing the terms “centered playhead” and “continuous scrolling playback.” They are very helpful to me.

The current scrolling behavior is consistent with how Audacity behaves on desktop. It is a selection-centered model, where the selection takes priority and the playhead is secondary.

This model works well when looping a selected region. For example, when a user selects a region to play in the multitrack view, only the playhead moves within that selected region. The user can select different areas here and there to audition them, while the entire waveform stays completely still during the process.

If we used a centered playhead approach instead, the entire waveform area would move significantly multiple times in order to keep the start of the selection aligned with the center of the screen.

I understand that centered playhead is more suitable for scenarios that are not centered around selection-based nonlinear editing. For example, in the Studio Recorder feature we are going to add, I will use the centered playhead approach to display the track waveform.

For 2. I meant to say instead of ‘while I’m playing’, ‘while I’m editing’. Sorry.
Like this ⬇️

@Good ideas — thank you for taking the time to record the video. I see exactly what you mean.

I’ve come to think there’s no single best answer here. It’s a preference, much like choosing dark mode or light mode: everyone has their own, and neither is wrong. So rather than picking one for everyone, I’ll expose these behaviours as settings you can configure yourself.

That work will happen in the new core, though, not the current one.

@Devin

Thank you for the like, and good to see you here.

This thread has been open for two years. Part of that time my energy was pulled away by things that had nothing to do with the product — health, and circumstances I couldn’t control. But that isn’t the whole reason, and I’d rather give you the real one.

SoundLab found an audience faster than I expected. That was a good thing, and it also made me timid. People had built their way of working around the app exactly as it was, including the parts I knew weren’t well designed. Changing a foundation means changing someone’s habits under their feet, so I chose again and again not to. Each time it looked like the careful call.

What I got wrong is that the cost of leaving those designs alone doesn’t stay still — it accumulates. It turns into threads like this one, open for two years. Seeing your issue still unresolved shames me.

So the answer isn’t to keep patching around the original decisions. It’s to rebuild the core, so the early designs can be corrected at the root rather than worked around — and so that where there genuinely is no single right answer, the choice goes to you instead of being my guess. v2.11.5, just released, is that foundation. I intend to get back to the pace and the enthusiasm I had when I first built SoundLab, and I don’t intend to let my Pro users down.

Thank you for still being here. That matters more than you’d think — it tells me it isn’t too late to pick this up and do it properly.

I’ll fix as much of this as the current core allows, and it may not be perfect there. In the new one, these cases are designed for from the start.

Thanks again — come by often!

When are you going to make the new core?

@Good ideas

I am already working on it. The upgrade to the new engine will be smooth: users should only be pleasantly surprised by the improved capabilities, and not surprised by anything else. That will be my highest principle.

I have reviewed all of your topics and have addressed them all.

Thank you very much for your thoughtful and enthusiastic feedback. It really helps me improve the app.

You’re welcome and thank you!