What to do with updates, especially timing? PT, SF, RX, etc, for anticipating problems...
Hi there,
I'm putting this topic in the "Getting Started" category because the context of the question is generally applicable, and being informed about it might apply at all times as well as when starting out with SoundFlow.
Now! Many of us who are Pro Tools users understand something about the need for "compatibility." In general, this just means waiting. We have to wait until PT is compatible with the OS. We have to wait until our 3rd party plugins are compatible with PT, which means waiting until the plugins are compatible with the OS also.
After adding SoundFlow to the mix, I've run into brand new compatibility issues, the most recent being RX 10.2+. In the Support and How To categories, there have been quite a bunch of topics and questions regarding the change by iZotope of UI elements and so on.
It suddenly occurred to me that while waiting for PT, RX, and MacOS to be intercompatible, I also have to wait for SF to be compatible with these changes. At the very least, it means "stable setup" has gained additional dimensions and timelines to consider.
There is advice for those RX issues that "some scripts may have to be updated," so I'm wondering about how best users ought to deal with such issues. Any and all advice on these areas would be valuable to have spelled out. When you have some time, @Kitch, your two bits on this subject would be well received!
One area SF might clarify is a clue or two about the relationship between Avid and SoundFlow. For example, I guess that SF might have access to "developer previews," such as other 3rd parties might have access to. SF and Avid both have multiple users who are not in simple lockstep with one another.
That said, in my professional work, I depend on compatibility. I make my living via audio editing and mixing, so I cannot afford much downtime, especially due to thinking, "Hey, I can update RX 10.2," when in fact it turned out it was a bad idea. For the added features in my update for RX, I lost productivity in my PT editing and SF automating.
I realize, as I mentioned above, "waiting" is the name of the game here. I jumped the gun thinking the race was on, but SF macros changing to do an update in RX was just my first real experience of such a function of the apps changing with an incompatible update. Therefore, "official advice" on how or when to update would be appreciated!
I acknowledge that if I take any advice, doing so is my own responsibility.
Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2022-12-14 21:20:10.653Z2022-12-14 21:41:50.888ZHi Brenden,
Generally, SoundFlow actions/macros fall into two different categories. The content that we provide for you out of the box that should just work - and then macro actions where users will be able to get access to build their own stuff directly interacting with the raw, underlying UI elements.
When iZotope makes a sweeping change like they did, and users have used raw access methods to access those UI elements, then there's nothing we on SoundFlow's side can do. If your script/macro said to find a UI element that exists in a specific hierarchy and that hierarchy has changed, then you'd need to remake that macro.For Pro Tools, SoundFlow has for many years provided version-independent "abstractions" - such as "the selected track" in Pro Tools. We take care of those abstractions and maintain them over time from Pro Tools to Pro Tools release, such that users won't have to rebuild scripts/macros in those cases where they go through our abstractions. But SF is powerful - so you can also go around the abstractions and build scripts that have raw access (those would then sometimes need updating).
Increasingly, more and more areas are covered via our abstractions though - and this means us taking care of mapping changes between versions so you don't have to.If you only use content provided officially by SoundFlow, then you should generally see everything just work across version updates. If you're building your own stuff with raw UI element automation, then things may change from time to time when you do updates of 3rd party software. Same goes for 3rd party scripts installed from the Store.
We've recently begun work to make the UI abstractions work in more apps. We'll probably talk more about this in public posts once those features surface in public builds.
We generally support all new Pro Tools versions on the day of their release. This is thanks to the partnership we have with Avid. Hopefully, we can extend partnerships like this to other apps in the future.
Brenden @nednednerbThank you Christian,
Your answers are helpful and clarifying, especially regarding the things outside of SF's control, such as changes made in RX, as well as the "abstractions" that you do control. Changing an abstraction for a later version seems like what a user does when the order of UI elements changes: they update their custom script. For the end user, the abstraction keeps producing the same end result, where their edited script keeps its overall intention and result.
I might trust the "day of release" compatibility you mention because I want to keep my system as compatible as possible. However, it is standard practice and the user's job to test updates before moving to them.
If anyone else is reading this and is about to install a new version of PT or RX, you can test it by renaming the existing app ("Pro Tools" --> "Pro Tools -old") before installing the new version. If you want to revert, you just uninstall the new one and rename your old one back to the original.
Expanding SoundFlow's partnerships sounds like a fantastic idea. I also think that these functions and languages should be a focus for developers all over the world, so that they can make things easier to use and more productive. Between users with varying cognitive and sensory needs, there are users like many of us on here with productivity needs.
While those with normal vision and hearing are more likely to use audio-video software, it is clear that the world of potential users is far more complex. The default setup makes it easy for users to get started, such as the 1600+ ready-made macros for PT, but the potential use for technology like SoundFlow is expansive. My workflow will never go without it now.