| From "Richard Ash" <
richard@...>
| Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:28:55 -0000 (GMT)
| Subject: [Audacity-devel] EXPERIMENTAL_MODULES
> Gale Andrews wrote:
> > | From Vaughan Johnson <
vaughan@...>
> >> For the other, only "Software Playthrough" seems correct to me, and the
> >> others unclear ("playback while recording") could mean the same thing as
> >> overdub).
> >
> > Agree with that, though I think "Monitored Recording" has rather more
> > chance of being understood by unprepared novices. But see below.
> >
> >> But I don't think that one necessarily should be in the menu.
> >> I wouldn't expect people change it often, and it's rather a geeky
> >> detail.
> >
> > Anyone who does a combination of USB turntable recording and
> > "stereo mix" recording would be repeatedly turning it on and off
> > On the whole I think it's better left in (off by default
> > as now). It's referred to as "software playthrough" in most USB
> > turntable and many other USB device instructions, so on those
> > grounds at any rate might be better left as named now?
>
> Software Playthrough is I think a term taken from OS X, rather than
> actually invented by us. I agree that some users see it quite a bit if
> they have input devices that are in capable of hardware monitoring. I feel
> strongly that it's description shouldn't contain the word "play" or
> "playback" because that implies playing something that has already been
> recorded, which is not what we are doing.
>
> I think Monitor is the right word, because that is what it is for. There
> is in Experimental.h a define to make monitoring happen all the time that
> playback isn't, which is off because we end up with a record cursor on
> screen. If that gets fixed, then monitoring isn't tied to recording or
> playback. Even as it stands, you can hear what the input is doing without
> recording it - you just have to enable Software Playthrough and then
> right-click on the record VU meters and select "Monitor Input". As well as
> the VUs working, the sound is played through.
>
> On that basis "Monitor Input" might be a candidate, although it's not a
> good one because it doesn't say whether you are monitoring audibly or
> visibly. (Hardware systems rarely have this problem, because the monitor
> switch usually controls both audio out and the VU meters. They get away
> with using the word Monitor as well).
I do think some phrase with "monitor(ing)" is more understandable
for novices (especially in a menu where you don't have space to explain it);
plus it corresponds to "Start Monitoring" in the menu of the VU recording
meter, as Richard said.
"Software playthrough" however does already meet your requirement that
the words "play" and "playback" aren't used, and to those that are
knowledgeable, "software" suggests this playthrough will have delay.
I note that if you Google "software playthrough", about 85 of the first
100 results refer to Audacity and/or USB turntables, so from that
perspective I do worry a bit about a change to a completely different
term. How about "Software Monitoring"? It seems to be accepted as a
term by some interface manufacturers (M-Audio, Edirol) and is used in
Logic Pro. It's near enough to "software playthrough" to avoid most of the
problems with a complete name change, and (maybe) implies that the
monitoring is audible. Or perhaps I am making too much of the problems
of a name change. Either way, I think I'm siding with Richard that now might
be the time to change "Software Playthrough" to some variant of "monitor(ing)"
I still don't like "Overdub" because it is verb as well as a noun; much
rather it was "Overdubbing".
When we have decided, we must match the short wording in the menu
with that in Preferences. And probably the preference description for
"Software Playthrough" ("play new track while recording it") should change,
given you don't have to record when it's checked. USB turntable afficionados
certainly get fooled by that when they want to play their LPs through the
computer without recording.
Gale
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