MDM: Misc panel and other options at the top

[halifax30]

In MD we have a lot of 'Miscellaneous options' which influence the operation of MD globally. These options can be found at the beginning of the menu in MD.
But in MDM these options can be found in two places: most of them are on the Misc Panel, but some of them are scattered on the panel at the top. The top panel has these options:

• Inputs
• LCD contrast
• ConfigNamesEn
• Custom Pads Names
• MIDI2 For SysEx Only
• Possibly also the several options related to 'Slots'

Looking at this purely from a user perspective, it would be more logical to place all of them on the Misc panel. Or am I missing something? Is there a reason why the options on the top panel are separated from those on the Misc Panel?
I checked the source code of MDM and I saw that the options on the Misc panel are simply called 'Misc' settings while the ones on the top panel are called 'GlobalMisc' settings. So I guess, there is a technical difference between them. But from the user perspective, they belong to the same group.

If someone confirms that there is no special reason why the options on the top panel should be separated from the ones on the Misc panel, I would be happy to change the source code of MDM and hopefully Dmitri would also accept this change.

[airflamesred]

As I understand it's just having added features over time that it does now appear a bit disjointed. That said, all on that list, i have set once and haven't touched them since.

[halifax30]

Yes, that is my feeling as well. I mean, that they were added over time.
In the meantime I discovered that these options are called 'Misc' and 'GlobalMisc' not only in the source code, but in the tooltips, as well. But from the user's perspective all of them are global. Or not? Therefore we can have one Misc panel, which only contains global settings.

On a related note, it is also confusing to have a Get and a Send button at the top. The user cannot be sure exactly what settings does it 'Send'. Obviously, it does not (cannot) send Open MIDI, FW version, MCU, even if they are in the same box as the 'Send' button. Also, as it seems to me, it does not send Slot information.

I noticed all these things because I'm a completely new MDM user. I'm just trying to make the interface as intuitive as possible, so it is understandable despite lack of documentation.

[dmitri]

Misc and GlobalMisc settings are separate for a reason. Misc settings can be set individually to any saved config in MegaDrum EEPROM. E.g. Latency can set to 11 in Config1 and to 12 in Config2. GlobalMisc settings are literally global, i.e. specific to a whole module. E.g. number of inputs (or enabled/disabled Custom Config/Inputs names) can be set only globally and it also affects how many configs can be saved in EEPROM.

[halifax30]

How would you categorize the SlotsCount, Current, and SlotName settings? Are they global? Or do they belong to a certain Configuration Slot? My guess is that they are global.
I also have trouble understanding the Current slot number. As I understand, in MD you have configurations stored in slots and you have an independent current configuration, which you are currently editing. If editing is finished, you can save ('store') your current configuration in one of the slots. In this sense, what does it mean if the 'Current' slot number is 5? Is it the slot that you loaded your configuration from the last time? After all, if I load slot 5 and change MinScan for input 4 then my current settings are different from those stored in slot 5 but (I guess, I've not tested) 'CurrentConfig' still shows 5.

[airflamesred]

Yes, you save as a config, and can name said config, in MDM or using the 'save as', save to your HD. If you make changes then 'save' or 'save as' - conventional computer style.

[dmitri]

SlotsCount and CurrentConfig are not settings but just indicators.
CurrentConfig is the last saved or loaded config.
SlotName is the name (if ConfigNamesEn are enabled) of the CurrentConfig.
If you change Inputs, ConfigNameEn or Custom Pads Names, the size of each individual config slot will change. Effectively it will invalidate any previously saved config slots and the number of config slots you can save.
Changing any settings, including Misc (but not GlobalMisc) in each individual config slot will not affect any other config slots.