Editing preset lists

[cormallen]

Hi there,

I've just spent an extraordinarily frustrating hour trying to edit a preset list.  Since the only function available is 'put preset X into slot Y', any time you need to reorder you pretty much have to build up the list from scratch again.

Here are my thoughts on how it could be improved:

1.  On the iPad, the preset slots in the display are huge, so we can only
see 9 of them on screen at a time.  Most of this space is taken up with a
huge picture of the algorithm family.  Really, all we need is the
preset name, and the algo name (possibly in the appropriate colour for
the algo family) – there's no reason we couldn't fit 40 or so preset on
screen at the same time, without anything being cramped or difficult to
select.

2.  Better still, why not just use a list, rather than a grid?  Then you
could avoid paging with the scroll bar, and just scroll continuously.

3.  Why not have drag-to-reorder?  Dragging a preset around in the list
could reorder presets in much the same way that Apps can be rearranged
on the screens of an iPad. (Or, if you prefer a list view, then in the
same way that favourite phone numbers can be rearranged).

4.  Similarly, why not allow presets to be dragged from the left-hand list
of available presets into the Preset List.  (And if you want to be
smart, dragging it on top of an existing preset could replace the old
entry, whilst dragging it between two existing presets could do an insert).

5.  There's no delete option for a preset in the list.

A lot of this comes down to the following: the iPad and iPhone have very familiar ways to deal with exactly the sort of UI issues raised by editing preset lists.  Not using something that behaves in the same manner is unnecessarily confusing.  It feels like it was done to look flashy, not to work well.

Sorry if this come across as a bit ranty; I do love my H9 very much, but this one aspect really could use a rethink!

Harry

[gkellum]

Are you aware of the Copy, Paste, Swap, Insert, and Delete functions under the More menu in the preset list grid screen? You mentioned there no being a delete, but there is one there along with other functions that make reorganizing presets easier. 

cormallen:

3.  Why not have drag-to-reorder?  Dragging a preset around in the list could reorder presets in much the same way that Apps can be rearranged on the screens of an iPad. (Or, if you prefer a list view, then in the same way that favourite phone numbers can be rearranged).

We might add a drag to reorder as well at some point. We added the copy, paste, and swap functions first because that sort of interaction model works well on all devices including phones. Drag to reorder will be a bit clumsy on phones with the small screen particularly if you're trying to drag say preset 5 to position 25 which is several pages over.

cormallen:

4.  Similarly, why not allow presets to be dragged from the left-hand list of available presets into the Preset List.  (And if you want to be smart, dragging it on top of an existing preset could replace the old entry, whilst dragging it between two existing presets could do an insert).

That functionality is there under the "Edit List" button on iPads and desktop versions of the app.

[cormallen]

Ah, no – I hadn't seen those menu options, mostly because they're NOT available from the Edit List page, which is where I was looking for them (and where they clearly should live –  I am trying to edit the list, after all).

Harry

[Billy Foppiano]

Whoa!

How do you get the display into an ipad?I went and check and saw no ipad apps…

Cheers,

Billy

[AAgnello]

Search for "H9 Control" in the app store.

[musikmachen.de]

Hi there,

yes I second that a drag and drop feature similar to organizing your icons on the iPad would be perfect.

Setlist changes might happen very short noticed and it would just make life much easier and the procedure much faster

I for example have a nice list of presets that I worked on during rehearsals. The final setlist might be in a different order so I would wish for that feature to rearrange my setlist in no time.

Cheers

[underwood]

I have to agree with cormallen, the UI of the H9 Control App isn't very user friendly. I'm using the windows version with two 27" monitors and I only can see 9 of my 50 presets at a time. Why can't I change the view mode to a list or eaven resize the window to full screen to see a bigger grid?

Why can I only change pages with the mouse wheel when I put the mouse on the scrollbar on the bottom? (on all windows programs it's on the right side and I can do a mouse wheel scroll without putting the mouse on it!) Have you sit on table and collected ideas how you could irritate the user most?

Same user interface for pc, tablet and phone didn't work for windows 8, why should it work for your control app?

Have you heard of drag and drop? The workflow for moving presets in the preset list or from one to a other preset list is very time consuming. Comparing two preset lists is impossible or can I run more than one instance of H9 on windows?

Windows user have a right mouse button, why didn't you put the "More" menue there? I know, not irritating enoug!

Check other iOS Apps, Springpad for excample, how to manage, move lists!

Doesn't the old Factor Lib Program work with the latest firmware? It can't find the ModFactor.

[roysemmens]

I made my first list and thanks to this posting and the remarks was able to edit it quickly on the ipad I use. There is another “delete” that I found before I knew what I was doing; tap to select the preset and then drag / throw it off the side of the screen and it goes away like stopping an app on the ipad/iphone. I was able to edit the list to 25 also which is plenty for a performance.

I do agree with the “listing idea” presented in the first post as a great upgrade. Or at the very least shrinking the size of the “buttons” to half size so I could have maybe 12 displayed on the screen at a time. 

Thank you to the staff for the information about the more tab. I made the same mistake of trying to use the edit tab. 

[bansta]

The H9 Control GUI is very odd. The whole workflow is very odd. Who can explain it to me, why sometime I being asked about a target place for saving of the edited patch, sometimes not?

[bohan]

bansta wrote:

The H9 Control GUI is very odd. The whole workflow is very odd. Who can explain it to me, why sometimes I being asked about a target place for saving of the edited patch, sometimes not?

When you have an H9 connected, it asks you a target to save, otherwise no target. Also, When you edit the preset in the Preset List page, it will save the preset to the position you clicked on the list without asking you where to save.

However, we heard you and we are changing this. You will need to choose a target everytime you save a preset when your stompbox is connected, no matter in the Preset page or the Preset List page.

[matthazemusic]

gkellum wrote:

Are you aware of the Copy, Paste, Swap, Insert, and Delete functions under the More menu in the preset list grid screen? You mentioned there no being a delete, but there is one there along with other functions that make reorganizing presets easier. 

cormallen:

3.  Why not have drag-to-reorder?  Dragging a preset around in the list could reorder presets in much the same way that Apps can be rearranged on the screens of an iPad. (Or, if you prefer a list view, then in the same way that favourite phone numbers can be rearranged).

 

 

We might add a drag to reorder as well at some point. We added the copy, paste, and swap functions first because that sort of interaction model works well on all devices including phones. Drag to reorder will be a bit clumsy on phones with the small screen particularly if you’re trying to drag say preset 5 to position 25 which is several pages over.

Regarding the “clumsy” aspect, it isn’t so bad with apps going through different screens as long as it’s only 1 or 2, but I see what you mean about position 5-25. Therefore, add the new function of drag, but keep the list option for greater distances available as well. That would make for the best of both functions 😉 

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