Mutable inputs or beware of the green dot

Reinhard

Hi,

it took me **some** time to figure this out:

If you connect any output to a mutable input (like a gate actor), the input **not only changes to the kind of input** it receives, but as well **takes the range** **offered** **as default** and will never change until reconnected. You can't even change it by clicking on properties.

Take a counter actor (and here comes the bug report I was intended to write at first: why does it come up with min/max set to 0/100 instead of min/max? Would have never encountered this issue if so), then take a gate actor. Do not connect and check the properties of gate in. Min/max = min/max. Fine. Change max of counter to 20\. Connect output to gate. Check properties of gate in again. Min/max = 0/20\. Fine - mutable input. Change max at counter to anything else, check gate again, min/max will stay on 0/20 forever.

Mutable with inherent scale, I would say.

best

r

DusX

Yes, I would say that this is an issue that needs to be addressed.
I will add a support ticket for this issue right now.

Cheers

mark

Dear @Reinhard,

Well, leaving out the issue of the counter automatically changing it's output range (bad design idea on my part -- sorry!) -- the mutable input behaves as I would expect. The mutation happens _only at the moment you connect the link_. It does not continuously update as you change the limits -- in this case, the counter's output. Let me give you an example where this would be important.

1) Connect OSC Listener to Gate input. Range of output and input are both MIN/MAX

2) Click on 'value' output of OSC Listener. Change to min = 0, max = 1\. The 'gate' input ranges are still MIN/MAX

3) Click on 'gate' input of Gate actor. Change range to min = -50, max = 50.

You now have an OSC Listener that reads an input of 0-1, but that is scaled to a range of -50 to +50 at the Gate input. If I were to subsequently change the range of the OSC Listener output to, let's say, 0.1 - 0.9 (because there is noise at the extremes) then you wouldn't want the Gate input to suddenly change to 0.1 to 0.9\. To me, that would very often lead to unintended consequences.

So the changing of the Counter output "behind your back" is definitely not the right design decision, I believe the functionality of the mutable inputs and outputs behaves as it should.

Best Wishes,

Mark

Reinhard

Dear @Mark,

thank you very much for your detailed answer. I had a vague notion that there is a reason for this, why I didn't had the courage to file this as a bug report.

And thanks for bringing back some basic scaling knowledge to my mind. For me a gate was a gate was a gate.

There soon will come a massive calculator clean up to my patches...

best

r