Some notes about 32Cv4

[Sthauge]

Just for the information:

KDE is extremely configurable. For the god and the bad. I had to adjust a parameter in systems settings that's called "Prevent focus stealing"(translated from Norwegian) to "medium" to avoid that floating windows was hidden behind the mixer. I'm on KDE Plasma 5.9.4 and KDE framework 5.31.0

Steinar :-)

[jonetsu]

Thanks Robin and Steinar for the hints on KDE. I"ll look it up.

UPDATE: I've set the 'Window Stealing' to 'medium' (it was 'low') but still, clicking on Mixbus32C will make the plugin disappear. If the Mixbus product intention is to have the plugins stay on top I think KDE should be part of the software testing and adjustments made or directions given on how to achieve that effect. Since KDE is quite popular.

However, if one does not click on Mixbus but simply hovers the mouse for instance over the EQ buttons or the main fader, it is possible to make changes using the mouse wheel while the plugin is still being shown. So it becomes only an issue to place/move the plugin window appropriately to make EQ or other changes that do not require clicking on Mixbus.

The KDE quirk parameter Robin mentioned does not seem to exist anymore in KDE. A parameter search did not find anything.

[Sthauge]

UPDATE: I checked it one more time. I see that I also disabled "Click raises active window"(or something like that). You are right, there are some strange behavior here. If I open a plugin, it stays as an overlay window as it should, even if I click the Mixbus mixer and everything is seems to be ok. But if I move the window to some other place on the screen, it hides when I click the Mixbus mixer. So for me it is ok when I do not move the plugin window. This seems like a bug in KDE or a "very hidden" parameter that I may have overlooked.

If I find some more information, I'll post it.

Steinar :-)

[Sthauge]

This seems do do the trick(see attached files) with KDE. Beware that this changes your window behavior, so it might be strange in other situations than using mixbus.

Thank you for asking, now my system also treat the floating windows correct ;-)

Steinar :-)

[x42]

I think KDE should be part of the software testing and adjustments made or directions given on how to achieve that effect.

...and for gnome/metacity and for xfce/xfwm and awesomewm... it won't happen.
As mentioned earlier, KDE is extremely configurable, so that's a non-starter to begin with.

We program against specifications. The relevant ones here are the freedesktop.org ones which define human-interface-guidelines very similar to the ones put forward by Apple or Microsoft for their respective desktop environments. Pretty much all WMs follow these specs by default, except KDE (you could join the KDE team and rant that the specs are wrong, but well).

Plugin windows are marked as utility-window transient for the main application window (check with `xwininfo -wm -tree`). Search the web for "kde transient utility window" or (kwin..). Mixbus is by no means alone with this problem. In fact some KDE users actually prefer to keep a dedicated desktop for transient tasks. YMMV. Another option is to check out KXStudio, it apparently comes with a KDE pre-configured to keep transient windows on top (but I have not verified this myself).

If you find a solution, it'd be great if you could share it for posterity. Cheers!

[x42]

The KDE quirk parameter Robin mentioned does not seem to exist anymore in KDE. A parameter search did not find anything.

It's in the Mixbus Preferences (not KDE prefs). under Preferences > Appearance > Quirks

[jonetsu]

This seems do do the trick(see attached files) with KDE. Beware that this changes your window behavior, so it might be strange in other situations than using mixbus. Thank you for asking, now my system also treat the floating windows correct ;-)

Well, thanks - this seems to do it to a large extent. I would modify this config just by adjusting in the 3rd screen shot, the Inactive Inner Window Left Button from 'Activate' to 'Activate and Pass Click' whcih results in a one-click operation in the case like below when the plugin has the focus and one would want to switch of the EQ on the mixbuss. 'Active and Pass Click' makes this a one-step operation instead of two.

   

However, switching from mixer to edit view will make the plugin disappear.

[Lexridge]

I gave up on KDE several years ago when KDE4 came out. They had dropped all support for TwinView displays which really killed my work flow. Not only that, but KDE just became so fscking bloated it became a memory hog unto itself. So I tried Gnome 3, and it sucked even worse! I ended up settling on the Mate Desktop Environment and have never looked back since. It is a fork of Gnome 2. It is compact, fast, not so fancy that the desktop gets into your way, but not as basic either as some of the other smaller footprint ones. The stuff Robin was saying about KDE's non-compliance makes me very happy I made that choice long ago.

[allank]

I have found that XFCE4 is great for a DAW machine..
Lightweight enough to not suck up resources.. Integrated enough so you don't have to spend time configuring everything..(I spent years on Fluxbox)

I use Gnome 3 on a work machine, it's not that bad anymore, but is very resource heavy..

[madmaxmiller]

I have found that XFCE4 is great for a DAW machine..
Lightweight enough to not suck up resources.. Integrated enough so you don't have to spend time configuring everything..(I spent years on Fluxbox)

XFCE4 is cool. I use it throughout. The only thing which sucks is that there's no proper menu editor which lets you create submenus and drag&drop items around. Manually editing the XML is a bit tiring...

MMM