Keyboard display in GUI

[AlexMitchellMus]

There needs to be a keyboard display in sfizz GUI.

This is important to be able to:

• Clearly see current range of regions
• Keys set to keyswitch
• Currently played MIDI notes
• Rudimentary Virtual Keyboard (mouse over key, and press key to trigger output)

Here is a mock-up of what the keyboard could look like, I have placed the keyswitch indicators above the keys, as a keyswitch can be inside a region. I have used colour to indicate current region, but we may want to think about greying out notes outside of regions?

Middle C4 has a dot positioned under. This keyboard is designed to aid users in understanding what the SFZ Script is capable of- not for playability with the mouse. In which case a Virtual Keyboard that allows Musical Typing would be better equiped to handle.
Having the keyboard full range 0-127 allows consistency between SFZ Scripts, and simplifies the GUI display - as there is no need to include up/down octave UI elements.

[AlexMitchellMus]

A simpler design, not using colour (as it will be almost impossible to show multiple regions at same time, as regions can overlap)

NOTES:

• Top dots denote keyswitches, with current active switch taller
• Dots inside key represents notes that are played, either via MIDI or mouse
• Bottom line indicates current keyswitch range
• Mouse interaction would lock to key area on LMB, velocity of note set to 64, moving mouse on Y axis changes velocity of new notes. (Movement exceeds the vertical size of the key area)

A

B

Alternative gradient to highlight middle range, and to be easier on the eyes.

C

Keyboard with octave numbers:

[paulfd]

I like II C :D I think color-coding only the keyswitches could make sense?

[AlexMitchellMus]

SFZ can have 128 keyswitches, so its quite a bit to colour code.

[jpcima]

Is it bad that colors would repeat?

[AlexMitchellMus]

@jpcima no, not at all. But we may want to allow a few settings:

• Mono (single colour- black or custom)
• Custom palette

Mainly for users with colour vision deficiency, as the colours will be important to differentiate.

My feeling is that either multicolour, or mono should be as functional.

[AlexMitchellMus]

Mixing B + C with colour, and changed the keyswitches to sticks.

D

I don't think using colour in this way is clear enough? Or possibly wrong colour palette?

[paulfd]

The rainbow is a bit distracting while not really carrying relevant information I think. Coloring the key switches directly on the keyboard also has an advantage in terms of compactness.

[AlexMitchellMus]

E

F

G

Here is a concept that uses a 'range' band on top and bottom. I think solves the issue of the range bar looking like a scroll bar.

G (with keyswitch outside of range)

[AlexMitchellMus]

G inverted

This design inverts the use of range->keyswitch display. Hence dark notes (previous keyswitch) can be used to display key range.

[AlexMitchellMus]

G inverted keyswitch examples:

Keyswitch inside range (active switch is playable inside range- other switch is grey, as it changes the region played)

White notes of octave showing keyswitches:

[AlexMitchellMus]

H Traditional Keyboard, with keyswitch bar on top.

[kinwie]

If using bar, the keyswitch displayed like a range. While keyswith can only on white keys or only on black keys or adjacten keys. It's a litte bit im-flexible imo

[AlexMitchellMus]

J V1

J V2

[paulfd]

If using bar, the keyswitch displayed like a range. While keyswith can only on white keys or only on black keys or adjacten keys. It's a litte bit im-flexible imo

This depends if we're only considering the individual sw_last, sw_up, ... or the actual keyswitch range sw_lokey and sw_hikey

[AlexMitchellMus]

K

Top of keybed with 'felt', helps see the keyswitch keys

[AlexMitchellMus]

L

Multi-Keyswitch keyboard, Down triangle signifies active keyswitch. (multiple active keyswitches to illustrate readability)

Notes:

In order to allow multi-region highlighting there would need to be two new SFZ opcodes:
sw_group=N Assign a sw to a group number
sw_label_groupN=<name> Assign a name to a group number (global?)

• sfizz would then use the group number assigned to the keyswitch to assign that group a colour.
• Colours should be set in UI section in Settings.
• There needs to be multiple palettes for people with colour blindness etc.

[AlexMitchellMus]

M Keyswitch bar all black (to help with colour readability) and outline.

[AlexMitchellMus]

N

• Unused keys are grey
• sw_last has top paddle, which also shows active switch state
• sw_last keys are also coloured with switch colour
• sw_down keys are coloured- but have no top paddle (they are momentary)
  

[AlexMitchellMus]

Current GUI design iteration:

[AlexMitchellMus]

Continued in #1