v0.12.2 One more bugfix release

This release

• fixes one more possible crash with python 3.10
• marks python3-xdg as a new dependency (thanks to qtlis, see #141)

v0.12.1 Bug fixes releases

this release fix 2 bugs.

• Utility-scripts not working because scripts were not installed by the makefile (convert Ardour session to a ray session, convert session to NSM file format, etc...)
• One possible crash with python3.10 (see #140)

v0.12.0 December 2021

This is a new release with a lot of new features in many parts of the program.

Features:

Main Program

• Add Startup dialog which let you open a recent session. This way, just lanch RaySession and press Enter to load the last session.
• Add optional systray icon, activated only when a session is loaded, but user can also decide to use it always or never.
• Open Session dialog largely improved, user can now see clients, notes and snapshots in the session to load. We can also see session folder size and date, and if session contains scripts. It is also now possible to rename, duplicate or save as template a not loaded session, or to load in the current session a client from another session.
• add long jack naming checkbox in add executable dialog.
• add utility scripts to menubar:
  • convert an ardour session to a Ray session (containing this ardour session)
  • Convert the current session to the NSM file format
  • Convert Ray-Hack clients to NSM, for Jack-Mixer and Hydrogen
• Add recent sessions to menubar and to systray icon.
• List applications found with the key X-NSM-Capable=true in their .desktop file
• ray_control: trashed_client remove_keep_files option added.
• Add :monitor: NSM capability, a client can now be aware of other clients events.

Patchbay

• Add prevent overlap default option, with this, when a box is moved on front of other ones, theses other boxes are moved elsewhere (near).
• double click on patchbay box to show/hide optional-gui, if this box is recognized as a client box
• Add 'Find a box' (Ctrl+F) filter bar, to highlight boxes matching with a given pattern
• Add 'Find patchbay boxes' in client menu, it highlights boxes of the client (if recognized with their name)
• Add box wrap button if box is fat.
• Limit patchbay port width, truncking port name in the middle, the max width can be changed in canvas options dialog
• Ports in portgroups can now be larger if their name requires that
• Specific decorations for pipewire Monitor clients

Behavior changes:

• Applications templates are not listed each time user call Add Application dialog, because now the program looks into all .desktop files and it can be long. User can update them with Refresh Applications push button.
• Patchbay is now shown by default.
• Keep Focus while opening clients option is now de-activated by default, its shortcut has been changed to Ctrl+H.
• In the patchbay, if zoom is lower than 40%, a mouse click and drag anywhere in a box moves this box.
• Session file is now automatically saved in case of consequent changes: session renamed, client prefix changed, client definitely removed.
• Sessions in a session directory are not listed anymore, mostly for faster listing.

Bug Fixes:

• Display true client names if "use graceful names" canvas option is unchecked
• Remove the vertical white line on the left, in fullscreen patchbay
• No more possibility to see boxes with no ports
• Fix connections moving with a delay in case of fast box move.
• Fix too long or empty Midi-Bridge port names with pipewire option jack.filter_name=true
• fix crashes with recent versions of python or python-qt
• consider '/' as box title divisor only if it seems to be a client of session, and this way prevent some pipewire titles to be wrongly splitted
• fix crashes because of recursives error while moving a patchbay box.
• fix crash with Ray-Net (Network Session) save client template action
• sooperlooper_nsm now follows given jack_client_name (with option, to prevent connections loses)

New Template:

• seq192

v0.11.1 Bugs fix release

This is mainly a GUI bug fix release.

Bug Fixes:

• fix GUI crash when showing snapshots without config for info dialog
• fix missing icons and applications infos in "Add Application" dialog under Fedora
• fix patchbay context menu displayed at wrong place under Wayland
• grey background for all QGroupBox, because some qt styles doesn't separate them from the rest of window (grrr...), and it becomes not understandable).
• patchbay: ardour "physical_audio_input_monitor_enable" becomes "physical monitor" with graceful names enable, same for midi

Improvements:

• Manual : style review and patchbay section added
• Patchbay boxes allow 3 or 4 lines title, because PipeWire uses sometimes veryyyy long group names for hardware boxes

v0.11.0 Welcome Patchbay !

The most important new feature in this release is the apparition of the JACK patchbay. It is not displayed by default at first startup, click on Control Button, or use View menu, and Show JACK Patchbay. You also can press Ctrl+J to show/hide the patchbay.

The patchbay has been forked from Carla, with some improvements.
For the moment, there are only 3 advantages to have the patchbay directly in RaySession's GUI

• Boxes positions are memorized and replaced per session
• Boxes have icons of the corresponding NSM client
• of course: only one window for two things you generally need in a session

Note that :

• The session frame is now "responsive design" to be reduced in width and allow more space to the patchbay.
• messages were moved from the right to the bottom left (under the session frame)

The list below concerns the improvements of patchbay:

• Most important probably: portgroups and stereo detection. Ports are automatically grouped into a portgroup if they seems to form a stereo pair. This allows faster connections, and also a more readable canvas, with less and less useless text. This improve has been proposed for PR to Carla. Portgroups can be also set by JACK metadatas, and without limitation of number of ports.
• wrap/unwrap boxes: you can hide all ports of a box, very useful for big groups as Ardour or Hydrogen boxes. Hide what you don't need let's you see better what you need !
• hardware boxes have specific decorations
• Port order follows JACK metadata "port-order"
• Boxes have their application icon if possible. Box header is a little higher, but it allows box to be consequently shorter in width in case group name is long.
• connect menu by right click: by right click on a port, you can directly connect the port to any connectable port of the canvas. Connect a port doesn't close the context menu, so you can connect to many ports quickly. It also works for portgroups.
• Clipboard: cut/copy connections of a port to another port, in port context menu. Also works for portgroups.
• filter ports: by right click in the background, you can display only Audio ports, or only MIDI ports, or all ports of course.
• when you click and drag to connect 2 ports, you also can connect with right click (while keeping left mouse button down), this way you can connect quickly one port to many others.
• with click and drag on a port, you can also move to a port with same mode (input/output), it will cut and copy connections from the first port to the second one. To prevent wrong movements, it works only if the second port has no connections
• Beziers connections lines have been reviewed to be more visible when the ports are close in abscissa and distant in ordinate
• canvas option window is a tool dialog where options take effect on place
• graceful names (default option): port names are shortened with custom rules, it doesn't uses JACK aliases. Allow boxes to be less large.
• elastic canvas (default option): the scene is automatically resized to the contents, so the view is directly optimized when group is added or moved
• option to group or not hardware A2J ports
• Box moves are animated when they are moved to their session position, when the port type filter change, or when they are joined/splitted
• Double-click anywhere in patchbay to toggle fullscreen patchbay

Regressions:

• No option to use straight lines instead of bezier lines, I find it very ugly and unusable
• No option to animate box apparition
• No theme support, only color scheme

v0.10.1 first 2021 release

0.10.1 / 2021-02-04

• Manual:
  Add a complete offline and online manual accessible from the help tab of the menu bar. It opens RaySession's manual in your web browser.
  Note that english is not my mother language, corrections are welcome.

• Bug Fixes:
  Client label is now grayed out when client is added stopped
  Jack config memory script won't prevent anymore to load the session if ALSA device is set to 'none'
  French translation fixes (thanks to Olivier Humbert)

• New Template:
  Rakarrack-plus

v0.10.0 Autumn 2020 Release

0.10.0 / 2020-11-10

This version implements a lot of dialog redesign, especially the Application dialog where you can get many informations about the application you will launch. There is also the creation of the session notes dialog, and a new option checked by default that remember optional GUIs visibility state. Your old configuration of which dialog were hidden and which options were checked is forgotten, sorry for that (6 dialogs and 5 options, it shouldn't be too annoying ;) ).

New Features

• Add option "Remember optional GUI states" which recalls the optional GUIs visibility state
• Add Application dialog largely improved with access to all possible informations about the templates
• Session Notes dialog where you can edit...session notes
• 'duplicate', 'save session as template' and 'rename session' moved to a menu at top left of the session frame
• provide log files in ~/.config/RaySession/logs/
• improve open session dialog behavior between filter bar and treelist
• add "Make Reappear all hidden dialogs" action
• add RayNet client protocol, which is used only for Network Sessions
• change icon for optional GUI visible/hidden (shamelessly pricked idea at Agordejo)
• ray_control : add_client_template not started option added
• clients now remember their template origin
• "save as template" button becomes "Update the Template" in save as template (session/client) dialog if template exists
• Jack config script now saves all pulse2jack configurations, even the more complex ones

API change

• raysession's --session argument has been replaced with --start-session because --session was taken by Qt, -s still works fine

Bug Fixes

• Now translated in french for french speaking users out of France
• Add all default Qt translations
• raysession should connect to a running daemon without GUI, even after a GUI crash (GUI crash should not happen of course ;) )
• ray_control start now starts with the good session root if it is not the default one (~/Ray Sessions)
• remove Hydrogen NSM template because RayHack template is safer for now
• Sequencer64 template has a -m option to work fine with JACK connections

New Templates

• Xtuner
• Mamba

v0.9.2 Strong bug fix release

This release fixes a strong bug which was affecting some users.
The list of application templates was empty if there were no existing user client template.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

v0.9.1 Package Bug Fix Release

This Bug fix release is only here because there was a binary file added by error (src/control/ray_control.bin).
See v0.9.0 changelog to see the new features.

v0.9.0 Summer 2020 Release

New Features:

• CLI: Control almost all GUI actions and more with the CLI ray_control.
• Session scripts: allow user to edit shell scripts at session load, save and close.
• JACK config session script: script that saves and recalls the JACK configuration for the session.
  Add this from session templates in "New Session" window.
• RayHack: New client protocol which is an alternative to ray-proxy.
  This allows to launch directly the process and to edit its properties even if process is stopped.
  I know this feature will be considered as heretic by someones, this is not strong, I know it doesn't changes things too much.
  Obviously NSM protocol is highly preferred, this protocol is a workaround only, nothing more.
• Factory client templates are installed in /etc/xdg/raysession to allow packagers to add some templates.
• Always prefer NSM template if NSM compatibility is found in executable binary (thanks to Nils Hilbricht for this)
• Get client label, icon and description from their .desktop file.

Subfolder combobox removed in New Session Dialog
Daemon option "Save from client" has been removed. Please affect a global keyboard shortcut (Meta+Ctrl+S) to ray_control save instead.