[LAA] Qtractor 0.5.6 - The Golf Tango release!

Hi there,

Maybe some of you agree with me, that this has been the longest since
last dot release and the new one with the least brand new features count
being introduced. Aha no big deal I say, the uber-procrastinator is just
roaring its ugly head once more, specially after a beloved summer
vacation season. Whatever.

   Qtractor 0.5.6 (golf tango) is now released!

One of the interesting dots, if not the most, is that LV2 State Files
interface implementation, once in a gruesome SNAFU support status, is
now officially over. For the laymen it means that any files, referenced
by those LV2 plug-ins which implement the LV2 State Files interface,
will get righteously bundled to an archive/zip session file (suffix or
extension .qtz), all other cases remain untouched. That should add up
some notches on the session portability and archival ranks and purposes.
Besides, LV2 1.0.0 compliance status is now closed business. I hope.

Moving on, slowly forward...

Release highlights:

* LV2 State Files support (NEW)
* Unused files clean-up removal (NEW)
* Edit/Insert empty range (NEW)
* MIME Document types and icons (NEW)
* Improved plug-in state resilience (FIX)
* French and Japanese translations (NEW)

Website:

   http://qtractor.sourceforge.net

Project page:

   http://sourceforge.net/projects/qtractor

Downloads:

- source tarball:
   http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.6.tar.gz

- source package (openSUSE 12.2):

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.6-2.rncbc.suse122.src.rpm

- binary packages (openSUSE 12.2):

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.6-2.rncbc.suse122.i586.rpm

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.6-2.rncbc.suse122.x86_64.rpm

- quick start guide & user manual:
   http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qtractor/qtractor-0.5.x-user-manual.pdf

Weblog (upstream support):

   http://www.rncbc.org

License:

   Qtractor is free, open-source software, distributed under the terms
of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 or later.

Change-log:

- The dedicated audio outputs setting for instrument plugins was not in
effect as default global option for new MIDI tracks, now fixed,
hopefully (thanks to danboid aka. Daniel MacDonald persistence).
- An immediate Files widget cleanup option is now made available, as to
select and remove all unused file entries.
- MIDI track (un)solo/mute reset clip event sequence fixing; definite
regression to MIDI track's occasional muting bug while clip editing and
playback is rolling.
- Apologies due on this one: shift/ctrl keyboard modifiers are back in
business to change MIDI events currently selected in one single step
while on MIDI clip editor (aka. piano-roll). Sorry.
- Japanese (ja) translation added (by Takashi Sakamoto).
- General time-scale bar, beat and tempo rounding fixing.
- Keyboard shortcuts configuration (Help/Shortcuts...) now checks and
warns for already assigned key sequences.
- The View/Snap menu is now listed as fully accessible actions, making
each snap-per-beat setting assignable to a keyboard shortcut (after a
feature request by danboid aka. Daniel MacDonald, thanks).
- Fixed MIDI resize tool, now applying symmetric proportional changes to
pitch-bend event values [-8191, +8191].
- Fixed re-loading of LV2 Presets that are newly created/saved during
current session; actually delete and remove a LV2 Preset if found in the
file-system (as suggested by Jiri Prochaszka aka. Anchakor, thanks again).
- Preset drop-down list is now sorted, on plugin properties dialog.
- After a long absence, edit(blue) cursor vertical lines are back on the
MIDI clip editor views (aka. piano-roll).
- LV2 1.0.0 compliance phase II: LV2 State Files support completed.
- Updated to newer LV2 External UI extension support (now maintained by
Filipe Coelho aka. falktx).
- Brand new editing tool: empty range insertion, split/moving clips or
events forward the specified edit-head/tail interval, defaults to next
measure or bar (cf. menu Edit/Insert/Range, Track Range).
- Don't show the waiting cursor anymore when loading any plugins which
might have a nice native editor (GUI) and options are set to show it.
- MIDI clip editor now hopefully rid of random but persistent muting, a
slight regression to editing while playback is rolling.
- A MIDI file player's bug, evident while transport rolling in looped
mode, has been fixed with yet another oneliner patch (kind by Jiri
Prochaszka aka. Anchakor, thanks again).
- LV2 plugins with a Qt4 GUI (guess what or whom?) are now guaranteed to
some reasonable window type like Qt::Widget but not Qt::Dialog nor
Qt::Popup, preventing those from standing always on top while on some
window managers or desktop environments (a simple addition by Jiri
Prochaszka aka. Anchakor, thanks).
- MIME type icons support for session (*.qtr *.qtr), template (*.qtt)
and zip/archive (*.qtz) are now being introduced.
- LV2 State Files feature support is shamelessly getting real trial, now
letting files referenced in LV2 plugin states to be seamlessly included
when saving to a zip/archive file bundle (.qtz suffix). Added some
virtual destructor stubs to shut up gcc 4.7 warnings.
- Improved plugin state resilience, now finally with parameter name
matching, specifically targeted on loading old sessions or plugin preset
files (.qtx), preserving old saved plugin states as much as possible in
face of rogue or discrete parameter index renumbering, due naturally on
any plugin's life cycle ie. upgrades etc.;)
- Added some more snap-to-beat divisors (Beat/14, /21 and /28) due on
feature request ticket, while dropping highest, probably useless one
(Beat/128).
- New French (fr) translation added (by Yann Collette, thanks).
- Slight late optimization on vertical zebra/grid lines drawing.

Enjoy!

-- 
rncbc aka Rui Nuno Capela
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