(feature request) much larger pattern sequencer

[Nine-H]

One issue that I consistently run into when trying to move a project from loops to a complete track is the extremely claustrophobic pattern sequencer. Only being able to see four rows at the same time and having an extremely tiny scrollbar and controls to contend with quickly kills my momentum. I think it would make sense to move the song editor to the left hand side of the pattern editor: it affords much more vertical screen real estate and gives the user much more context during arrangement.

Here is a quick and dirty mockup to illustrate what I mean:

I think the button layout could also be improved by using the extra vertical screen real estate to also layout the available patterns for the user to switch between and then putting buttons to change the arrangement inline with the list, something like:

PATTERNS
0
1
2
3
4
5
[      ADD      ]
SONG
0 | 3 [+][-][DEL]
1 | 2 [+][-][DEL]
2 | 2 [+][-][DEL]
3 | 1 [+][-][DEL]
4 | 1 [+][-][DEL]
5 | 2 [+][-][DEL]
6 | 4 [+][-][DEL]
7 | 5 [+][-][DEL]
[      ADD      ]
...
[      DUP      ]
REPEAT  00 [+][-]

I think this would make song arrangement much more discoverable and intuitive for people that are new to tracker music.

[coderofsalvation]

I too feel the claustrophobia.
I think we're talking about two issues:

1. tiny pattern sequencer (which might make sense for tiny screens only)
2. pattern-numbers are nonmeaningful / hard to work with.

Regarding 2: I wish I could give them colors, that would make it already easier for me.
I'm not sure whether placing them next to the pattern editor would prevent/increase confusion for new users.
Since we're discussing alternative views, there are also trackers who choose a horizontal patterneditor:

and various hardware grooveboxes completely hide a song-editor, they simply offer configuring 'next pattern' (a number) and pattern repeat (a number).
Lets keep this issue open for brainstorming

[Nine-H]

that's a good point about differentiating patterns. when I did the monospace text layout I kept thinking it'd be cool to be able to name the patterns the same way instruments and samples can be named. guess the question is how flexible are the modtracker formats when it comes to adding additional metadata.

I want to keep doing mockups, I posted this because I did it months ago but never finished it, and I enjoyed reading your feedback about FX in the context menu.

I feel like there's a lot of extra interface chrome in the top panel, which looks weird in widescreen, and steals vertical space I'd prefer to have for pattern editing. I also want to explore putting the instrument and sample selectors on the side and how a side panel would interact with the instrument and sample editor panes.

I think I prefer vertical to horizontal, but it's something I'll keep in mind while designing.