So here is something I have thought of for a very long time. I am a musical person and I relate to tempo and notes better than I relate to seconds.
I would love an alternative syntax for setting timing where I could enter the note/tempo and then have the tempo linked to the cuelist rate control. What I mean by linked is that suppose we defined a cuelist to have a projected bpm that we assign. If I'm doing a fast song, I would set it at perhaps 128bpm. Then, like a DJ, I could use the rate wheel as a pitch control to sync.
(Twelve Years of Raves and Electonica what would you expect).
By defining the base bpm, a shift + or - in percentage could then be equated to the pitch change it accomplishes.
Then, a programmer could set times like writing music of a page. If I'm doing trance, I would program my timing in hole notes, another list in half notes, quarter notes, eight notes and then combine them as in music.
A suggestion for the syntax would be /1/.8/ which would be a way of saying whole note and eight note. Another example could be /1/.2/.4/ which would be a whole, half, and quarter note length. Yet another example would be /4/.2/ which would mean 4 whole notes and one half note. Obviously the . is not a decimal here but a signifier that the number that follows is a fractional note. The use of the / on both sides would be what defines the switch to a note system from a time system.
The great thing about this, is that it is self-correcting syntax. A user that types in something wrong would get an error once they hit enter which would restore the previous value and system.
Of course this works in the cuelist window, but I am thinking more from the editor window. Also, additional buttons at the top of the editor and cuelist window could allow for switching.
There might not be a whole lot of musician lighting programmers out there but I am sure there are enough where this feature would be invaluable.
