Toontrack Superior Drummer 3.1.3 update

[Guy Rowland]

No huge headline new features, but a ton of tweaks. I've highlighted my YAY fix in bold for fun.

Release notes for Superior Drummer 3.1.3

General:
Slider/knob value displays (popups) are now shown directly when you click on the control – you no longer have to change the value to see it.
Tooltips have been added to the choices in the Select Parts preset dialog.
MIDI playback is no longer stopped when the "Audio engine inactive" message appears.
When locating a missing user sample, the same directory is tried for other samples, instead of a dialog always being shown for each.

Settings:
A new settings page "Keyboard Shortcuts" lets you enable/disable and rebind shortcuts. The shortcuts system is also completely rewritten and should work much better in general, especially when running as a plug-in in a DAW.
On Mac, the default keyboard shortcuts for Copy, Cut, Paste, Select All, Undo and Redo now use the Cmd key instead of Option (Alt).
The "Reset All" buttons will now ask for confirmation before resetting the settings on the current page.
Added a new setting for the path to user presets.
Changed the text "Edit Path" to "Change Path".
"Change Path" for Additional Libraries has been moved from a button into a menu, which also contains info on how change a working path.

E-Drums:
Added "Single Choke Mode" as an option to the e-drum presets, which sends an aftertouch 0 directly after each aftertouch > 63. That fixes problems with certain Alesis and Millenium kits.
Updated the presets for ATV and TD-17. Also added the "Single Choke Mode" flag to the Alesis Nitro and Millenium presets.
Some GUI redesign.
Snare zones and hi-hat pedal have been split into two separate tabs.
The min/max CC values can now be edited for the hi-hat calibration.
All CCs that are selected now affect the hi-hat openness gauge and the calibration.

Auto-Save:
Enabling auto-save now saves immediately.
The auto-saves are now sorted by creation time (newest first) in the menus.
The host name in an auto-save file name will never be "Unknown" now but instead the host application name in those cases.

Song Track:
Time signatures can now be copied between different tracks.
Time signatures can now be imported from MIDI files.
There are now always two paste entries in the block menu: paste at playhead and paste on selected blocks.
Bounce:
Changed behavior for bounce in stereo-reversed mode. Stereo files are now reversed.

Grid Editor:
The grid editor GUI has been optimized for speed.
The grid editor can now stay open when there are no blocks on the song track. If a note is added, a song block is inserted.
A single click in the grid editor no longer selects a block.
Shift and Cmd/Ctrl now work the same way when selecting notes.
Improved the drawing of CC curves.
Note preview is now triggered when notes are moved with Ctrl/Alt + Up/Down.
Added Copy/Cut/Paste to the CC and aftertouch editors.
The Select menu previews what will be selected while hovering menu items (under "Note Values").
Automatic scrolling to the playhead during playback is now disabled while any mouse button is pressed.
Added tooltips (showing values) to the nodes in the velocity editor.
Rearranged the values editor menu a bit and renamed the aftertouch menu options to "Choke ...".
Paste now follows the quantize relative/absolute rules, just as when dragging notes.
"Show Note Length" is now automatically turned on for articulations that react to note off.

Drums Tab:
Added parameters and controls for MHE settings.
Added a warning button in the envelope box if both the release and mute tail are triggered by aftertouch or note off. A help dialog is shown if the button is clicked.
Renamed the "Mute Tail Trigger" box to "Choke/Mute Trigger.".
Every instrument now reacts to mouse clicks in the entire area within its selection outline, even where the background shines through, for example in the center of a tambourine or a triangle.
The entire box view is now automatically hidden if no boxes are visible.
A box view preset "None" has been added.
The piano roll (MIDI Mapping Keys) no longer automatically gets hidden when a box view preset is applied.
In the MIDI Mapping Keys view, alt-click can now be used to select an instrument.
A warning icon/button is now shown on instruments that don't have any MIDI mapping.
Adding a Future Hit instrument now always steals note 2 or note 3 regardless what was mapped to that note.
"Add Suggested Note" in the MIDI Mapping box is now only offered on unmapped articulations or where there is an obvious good note to add.
Added extra info to the "Add Suggested Note" menu item in the MIDI Mapping box if stealing a note from another drum or articulation.
In Search for Instrument, you can now click anywhere in the instrument's preview square to play it – not only on the instrument graphics.

Grooves Tab:
Browsing to a leaf folder will now turn off all default automatic sorting and instead sort by name since it makes more sense to show files in name order there.
Starting a drag will automatically scroll down to show the "User MIDI" folder so it is easier to access it, and when the drag is completed, the view will return to its original position.
You can use left/right arrow keys to browse through folders and move between result view and folder view.
An error message is now shown when MIDI is dropped on inaccessible folders.
An error message is now shown when empty MIDI files/blocks are dropped on user MIDI folders.

Mixer:
The right-click menu for a hidden channel now contains "Show Channel.".
The drawing of EQ (spectrum), compressors and gate has been optimized.
Added a dual mono/stereo switch to the limiter pedal.
Tracker:
The Find Tempo view no longer has a close button because it was ambiguous, so the view can now only be closed by the "Cancel" and "Update Tempo Map" buttons.
Added an auto-scroll button.
GUI performance has been improved as well as some minor changes to the overall GUI.

Macro Controls:
When a parameter gets assigned to a macro, the macro knob value is now updated instead of staying at zero.
Added a function to set the min or max value of a macro parameter binding to match the current value of the parameter.
Macro knob tooltips now include the current percentage value of the knob.

Standalone:
Enabled MIDI devices are now remembered even if they are later unavailable for some sessions, so that they will be automatically enabled the next time they are available when the standalone is started.

Major Bug Fixes

General:
Follow Host being off was not loaded from projects. YAY!
Clicking "Authorize Offline" when authorizing SD3 could cause a crash.
Choosing "File > New Project" while having external windows caused a crash.
Cancelling the "replace dialog" for presets caused a crash.
If metronome sound files can't be read from where they should have been installed, SD3 no longer crashes, but an error message is shown.
Fixed a crash that could happen when playing MIDI after having loaded a SD2 preset containing X-drums.
Fixed a crash when a sound library could not be loaded properly. An error message is displayed instead.
Fixed a couple crashes/potential crashes related to having removed "added instruments.".
No longer crashes when reaching the maximum number of mics allowed. Added a help dialog when failing to create new mics.
MIDI Out should now work in the AU version.
Fixed a crash that could happen if you loaded a project when no libraries were installed/available.
Dragging MIDI into SD3 while the MIDI database was being loading could cause a crash.
In Ableton Live, SD3 should no longer become suspended (silenced) when its GUI is not open, there's no MIDI input and it has been silent for a few seconds. That could be a problem if you were using Follow Host to play MIDI from the SD3 song track and had a few bars of silence at the beginning.

Song Track:
Added checks for CC and aftertouch around playhead when looping back and when moving the playhead while playing the song track, so that for example hi-hat openness and cymbals mutes are played back correctly.
For recording to song track and for MIDI Out, mouse-down on instruments generated a Note Off event directly after the Note On, and mouse-up generated a Note On with velocity 0 plus a Note Off. (Now mouse-down generates a Note On and mouse-up generates a Note Off.).
For time signatures like 3/4, 5/4 and 7/4, the time bar would never have grid lines at only quarter notes, even when that would be the most suitable depending on the zoom level.

Grid Editor:
Trying to preview an instrument with no MIDI mapping should no longer cause a crash.
Instruments having been added or removed should no longer lead to a crash in the grid editor.
A MIDI note 0 (which is invisible/unsupported in SD3) on the song track should no longer cause crashes in the grid editor.
Right-clicking a row that uses CC, the hi-hat row for example, and selecting "Show Note Length" caused a crash.
Editing loops with aftertouch did not work as intended.

Drums Tab:
Having three stacks and removing the second one could cause a crash.
Having the MIDI Monitor open, SD3 could hang on certain incoming MIDI events.
Right-clicking an instrument in a stack and selecting a new sound from the menu should no longer lead to a crash.

Grooves Tab:
Opening SD3 with all database files missing caused a crash.
Choosing "Sync Folder" on user MIDI while in Web Shop MIDI could cause a crash.
Adding more than 9999 user MIDI files caused a crash on Mac.
Fixed several crashes in the Groove Parts view in Grooves.
Very large (> 2 GB) databases were interpreted as faulty and couldn't be read.

Tracker:
Selecting an unmapped instrument in the target dialog should no longer lead to a crash.
Creating MIDI events from unmapped notes no longer crashes.
Various other crashes have been fixed.

Standalone:
ASIO will now use the reported buffer size from the audio driver instead of forcing the buffer size from the buffer size selector, which is never visible for ASIO.

Minor Bug Fixes

General:
Bouncing some drums with Processed Tuning would render a mixture of processed and unprocessed hits.
Cymbal mutes using mute tails would sound bad for pitched cymbals with Processed Tuning if the change in pitch was considerable.
The metronome was a bit jittery for sample rates other than 44.1 kHz.
The "Do you want to save changes" dialog could show up when loading a new project or quitting, although no changes were made.
Closing any external window also removed the last undo event.
In Pro Tools with Follow Host on, the tempo in SD3 was not correct if the tempo was configured in Pro Tools using something other than a quarter note as a "beat.".
The time for the "Audio engine inactive" message to appear has been increased from 2 to 4 seconds. It should also disappear faster.
If a Drums and Mixer Preset in an EZX was resaved as a user preset, the original preset would still be ticked in the menu.
Trigger articulations could incorrectly be triggered when a Note Off was received if the bottom of the velocity curve had been raised.
Better handling of bad/faulty incoming MIDI.
Moving an external drag outside the plug-in window didn't hide the drag symbol.
Macro knobs could become unresponsive when changing presets or undoing.
Setting default size did not consider the DPI factor.
Loading a project with a Tap2Find loop and then changing libraries could cause a crash.
Percussion pads now get the right names when loaded in an EZD2 preset.
On Mac, an external window that has been minimized to the Dock is now properly closed when you reattach the view.
Bouncing would fail if output channels had been renamed to contain illegal filename characters.
Bouncing at different sample rates than 44.1 kHz could cause a crash in certain circumstances.
Selecting parts from a preset could end up loading the wrong preset.
The Return/Enter key didn't trigger the default button in alert and authorization dialogs.
Fixed a potential crash (race condition) at startup.

E-Drums:
Applying an e-drum transform on MIDI did not shift the aftertouch messages.
Some Note Offs would be transformed incorrectly.
The tooltip in the velocity editor now shows 1 instead of 0 as the minimum "In" value, since 0 is never transformed.

Song Track:
Starting playback could sometimes move the playhead to the wrong position.
The loop button and time signature are now updated when another song track is selected.
Inserting an empty block (from the Track menu) now inserts a block that is always two bars long, instead of 8 quarter notes, and it is inserted at the nearest bar instead of exactly at the playhead.
Importing tempo from a MIDI file could not be undone.
Exporting MIDI with channel aftertouch did not work properly.
"Remove Notes" did not always remove the selected instrument entirely.
Time signatures could get lost when exporting MIDI.
Time signatures would not always be transferred when dragging MIDI loops to an empty track.

Edit Play Style:
The Amount knob was not properly disabled when an instrument without MIDI mapping was selected.
When you move the Power Hand or Opening Hit sign, it should no longer sometimes flicker back to the previously selected instrument as you reach the edge of a new one.
Future Hit pad immediate notes are now correctly velocity-transformed when they are moved by dragging the Power Hand sign to a regular instrument.

Grid Editor:
An instrument row where the main articulation is empty is now hidden even if the instrument has stacks.
Unmapped instruments were not properly greyed out.
When CC/AT events are inserted at MIDI block end time, the block is now expanded (as was always the case for notes) instead of the events being removed. Also, existing CC/AT events at block end time are no longer shown.
Clicking on the left side of a note at the beginning of a block no longer selects the preceding block.
The size of the clickable area in the piano roll has been adjusted.
Some visual errors in the time bar have been fixed.
Velocity/randomize/dynamics sliders were enabled even when nothing was selected the first time you entered the grid editor.
"Select All" on the song track no longer causes the grid editor to scroll to the last selected block.
Moving the mouse over the CC/AT editor showed a random faulty tooltip.
Having more than one CC node selected made it impossible to deselect nodes by clicking empty space.
Cutting a block, removing the second part of it and then adding notes in that area brought back the old notes along with the new ones.
Drawing short notes in small spaces between MIDI blocks can no longer cause the first block to overlap the second.
Improved the displayed value for auto-quantize. Now it can handle 3/4 time signatures and values above 1/1.
Fixed some bugs with the displayed Auto-Quantize value in the menu for odd and multiple time signatures.
Clicking on an instrument or articulation name in the grid editor now sends a Note Off when the mouse is released.
Clicking on a note in the grid editor now previews it with the length of the note.
Clicking on a Future Hit pad note did not always preview the correct articulation.
Various bug fixes for Future Hit and percussion pad editing.

Drums Tab:
The play animation in the articulation menu had some visual bugs.
Added Note Off when the mouse button is released on preview pads.
Previewing a stack with the mouse would only play up to the max velocity for the main drum, even if other drums had higher velocity gate settings.
MIDI Mapping Keys GUI performance was slow and could cause frame rate drops. It also triggered the incoming MIDI animation on both Note On and Off, meaning it blinked too much.
Envelope presets are now saved with the SD3 user presets instead of among the SD2 presets.
The MIDI monitor did not display channel aftertouch correctly.
"Add Suggested Note" did not update the other rows in the MIDI Mapping box, leading to that there could be several rows with the same note number (seemingly).
Clicking on an articulation in the articulation selection menu now sends a note off when the mouse is released.
Clicking a Future Hit pad now previews the first immediate articulation, so that sound is heard right away.
You can now preview a Future Hit pad by clicking "Future Hit Stack" or "All Articulations" in the articulation menu.
Recording by clicking in the articulation menu for a Future Hit pad didn't result in the right articulations and velocities being recorded.
The menus in the MIDI Mapping box now show up at mouse-over instead of only being shown on the selected row.
Grooves Tab:
The first browser column has been made wider because some library names got truncated.
User MIDI folders didn't sync properly when Web Shop MIDI was activated.
Creating a folder in the user MIDI section selected the new folder but didn't update the search results.
On Mac, it wasn't possible to select an e-drum preset for a user MIDI folder that had a backslash in the path.
E-drum transforms that apply in the browser now also transform aftertouch.
The drum selection is no longer visible in Tap2Find.

Mixer:
The pre/post look in Bus Send views is now updated when undo is used.
Stereo reverse in the mixer did not flip the channel strip LEDs.
Effects did not get redrawn if placed in an external window and the mixer was not showing.
In effect windows, the channel name could overwrite other text.
Various other pixel fixes in effect windows.

Tracker:
Find Tempo is now disabled in the tempo map right-click menu when there's no audio in Tracker.
Grid and time bar graphics were not properly updated when tempo nodes were removed.
Nudging one millisecond moved more than that.
Inverting selection did not care about manually added transients.
Going between Export and normal view could result in the grid background being shown even if turned off.
Auto-scroll did not go all the way back when the playhead was moved to the start and Snap to Grid was on.
The metronome would sometimes miss the first beat.
Exporting MIDI from Tracker would always insert tempo nodes from the Tracker tempo map no matter what was selected in the Tempo menu in Export.
The scrollbar graphics were not properly updated when a different library was loaded.
At certain zoom levels, the timebar was inconsistent regarding where decimals were shown.
The Edit button in the "target" popup could get stuck in off mode.

Settings:
Not all settings were reset to default by the "Reset All" buttons.
Release notes for Superior Drummer 3 sound library update 1.1.3

Changes:
E-drum hi-hat performance has been improved by loading Open Tip 1-4 in the default, Clean and George Massenburg presets.
Hi-hat Open 5 is no longer loaded by default which makes the transmuting smoother.
'Mid Center' snare articulation is now called 'Off Center'.
Two new presets, 'Levee' and 'Man of Sand', featured in Toontrack tutorials are now included.

Fixes:
Some bad samples have been removed.
Cymbal muting is now working in all presets.
Instruments are now correctly routed to the ambience channels in the 'Big Swish' preset.
Some descriptions in the instrument database (search results) have been corrected.

[EvilDragon]

Kudos to them doing such a huge bugfix update. They could've freely dubbed it 3.2 juts looking at the sheer number of bullet points in the changelog. Almost reminds me of Reaper's changelogs sometimes.