Old News

This page contains some older news items which have been retired from the main news page.

13 September 2004 • Version 1.2 update

Songs can be played back in real time to MIDI devices or exported to standard MIDI files.
Doggiebox and external devices can trigger each other remotely via MIDI Machine Control.
Drum kit format has been revised to improve responsiveness when loading songs or changing kits.
Externally-linked sound files are supported, making it possible to distribute smaller-sized kits.
Text-based instrument summaries are copied to clipboard in kit editor to aid in drum management.
Other bug fixes and improvements.

05 April 2004 • Version 1.1.1 maintenance release

Updated the Italian localization.
Fixed some bugs which caused it to be impossible to change tempo or time signature under some circumstances.
Added support for AVR sound file format.

16 March 2004 • Version 1.1 unveiled

After several months of on-and-off development, we finally have a reasonably significant update with some juicy new features. Updates are free for registered users. Download! What's new:

A much improved section and playlist structuring model has been introduced, with corresponding menu commands and key shortcuts, as well as support for cut/copy/paste and drag 'n drop.
The song editor window has been redesigned for better usability: a) the drum kit drawer has been moved into the main window and is much larger; b) the song name, details and kit are no longer accessed via a separate dialog sheet.
The Preferences dialog has been simplified. The default drum kit picker is gone; instead, Doggiebox now automatically remembers the most recently chosen kit.
Added a new preference for "begin new line at each section", which will create line breaks in the pattern editor for better visual navigation.
Changes to the master tempo and master level sliders are now Undoable, and the master tempo slider can now be reset to 100% by double-clicking it.
Using keyboard shortcuts for selecting drums in the song editor finally works.
Cosmetic improvements to pattern editor.
Fixed bug where the duration of exported audio would be truncated in some circumstances when "Allow final sounds to decay completely" was turned on.
Other miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements.
Mac OS X 10.2 is now required, and 10.3 is recommended.

18 Dec 2003 • Version 1.0.6 maintenance release

This new build provides a couple of minor improvements.

Added an Italian language localization, courtesy of Vella Bruno.
Fixed a bug where the Export progress dialog could not be canceled.
Fixed a couple of other potential conflicts with earlier versions of Mac OS X.

10 Nov 2003 • Version 1.0.5 is here!

This latest update brings a couple of new features and a number of bug fixes. Notably, several issues that were causing crashes for people should be eliminated.

Added a new preferences option, "Allow final sounds to decay completely". The default setting is on, which maintains the standard behaviour where Doggiebox intelligently lets sounds (e.g. crash cymbals) decay at the end of song. However, if you are exporting patterns for use as loops, you can now turn this off to achieve output of precise duration.
Added support for cut/copy/pasting of drums (with all attributes, e.g. sound, name, and icon) in the drum kit editor.
Improved the play/stop button so that response during playback is now instant, instead of sometimes briefly hanging.
Improved handling of the licence registration key so that it is now automatically recognised for all user accounts on the computer.
Fixed a bug that caused Doggiebox to truncate the last beat of each bar by a fraction of a second. While imperceivable under normal circumstances, this was causing problems for people exporting files to use as loops, etc.
Fixed a bug where drum kit reconciliation did not work properly under Mac OS 10.3.
Fixed a bug where the position indicator would sometimes stop moving in mid-song during playback.
Fixed a bug where selecting a different drum kit while editing a song would sometimes affect only some of the drums.
Fixed a font dependency that could cause mysterious non-behaviour under some circumstances.
Other minor fixes for Mac OS 10.1 compatibility (the playback indicator now works instead of crashing; a hang after exporting should be eliminated).
Changed the keyboard shortcut for Preferences from cmd-; to cmd-, in respect of Apple human interface guidelines.
Added a few additional sounds to Ben's Premier Kit.

23 Sep 2003 • Version 1.0.4 brings improvements and fixes

Four months following the last release, it's about time for a new version! Here's what's new:

New features in the drum kit editor:

Support for dragging and dropping sound files to and from the Finder, as well as saving to disk in any chosen format.
Volume slider control for adjusting the nominal level for each drum sound.
Support for dragging and dropping drum images to and from the Finder, or directly from graphics applications, as well as copy/paste using the clipboard, and saving to disk in TIFF format.

Improvements to the song editor:

Fixed a bug where some Undo functions would not work in a newly created song.
Fixed a bug where importing or exporting sounds would fail when the filename contained non-standard characters.
Fixed a bug where it was impossible to delete the first section marker in the list.
Added a collapse-to-mono toggle button.
Improved responsiveness of user interface and position indicator after stopping playback.
Improved the alert messages when a drum kit is missing or unavailable -- no longer says "Cannot find '(null)'".

You can download version 1.0.4 now.

12 Sep 2003 • Third 1.0.4 beta

Yep uh huh, it's time for another beta (1A18). Not much new in this one beyond cosmetic tweaks and a couple of incomplete features from the last build. With luck, this will go final pretty shortly.

14 Aug 2003 • Second 1.0.4 beta

It's time for yet another beta (1A17), folks; this one adds a bunch of usability to the drum kit editor, including drag-and-drop support for manipulating drum sounds and images!

23 July 2003 • First 1.0.4 beta

After about two months without news, there's finally a new beta build available for registered users. This one doesn't actually jump by leaps and bounds over 1.0.3, but fixes a few bugs and streamlines a couple of things. A list of improvements is included in the archive.

For those who don't subscribe to MacWorld magazine, you may wish to take a peek at your local newsstand to see the favourable mini-review that Doggiebox earned in the August issue of Rick LePage's Mac Gems column!

23 May 2003 • Version 1.0.3, new file library, and more

Here's what's new in version 1.0.3, posted today:

Added long-awaited Undo support for various song editing operations.
Added new Erase functionality: hold the Option key while mousing over the pattern editor, and click (or drag) to immediately remove any drums beneath the cursor.
File references (saved in preferences and song files) are now stored using alias records instead of absolute paths. As a result, Doggiebox should be less prone to lose track of drum kits that have been moved or renamed. (Song file format has been updated.)

In addition to the new version, we are pleased to announce that the beginnings of a drum kit & sound file library is now online. Download and try out some other drum kits to change the sound of your tunes!

Additionally, the FAQ has been updated with a few entries, and the entire Doggiebox documentation is now online as well.

11 April 2003 • Version 1.0.2 posted

A maintenance release 1.0.2 is now available for download! Here's what's new since version 1.0.1:

Added a master volume slider for controlling the output level (useful to eliminate clipping on exported tracks).
Considerably improved the accuracy and performance of the playback position indicator.
Improved the export dialog to remember the most recently chosen file format.
Added menu commands for playing and exporting the current selection.
Added support for two new sound file formats: FastTracker 2 import and Portable Voice Format import/export.
Fixed a bug where pops or clicks were sometimes heard when using custom drum kits.
Fixed a bug where sometimes no sounds would be audible until a song was saved and re-opened (mostly occurred when creating new songs).
Fixed a compatibility problem using exported files with BIAS Deck/Peak.
Fixed a problem where sound files with uppercase filename extensions were not recognized.

02 March 2003 • new web site and new release!

It's about time -- version 1.0.1, a build worthy of the "official one point oh release" title, is finally ready! And along with it, a brand-new web site redesign.

Changes in this release include:

Added command-H key equivalent to hide the application.
Fixed bug where tempo icons were sometimes being drawn upside-down in the pattern properties sheet.
Brought the user's guide up to date.
Implemented registration incentives for non-licensed users.

Also, we have decided to extend the introductory license pricing for the duration of the 1.0.x version cycle. Download now, and then register!

30 Jan 2003 • Build 1A7 is up

Version 1.0g (build 1A7), likely to be the last of the "pre-release" series, is posted. There are a fair number of improvements in this build, including:

At long last, there are document icons! Many thanks to Scott Bremner for graphic design.
The preferences dialog has been revamped, with several new options.
There is now support for multi-line bar layout, with a user-specified number of bars per line.
It is now possible to choose whether to create a new untitled song on startup.
It is now possible to disable the playback position indicator.
The behaviour of selection highlighting and the insertion point has been changed slightly, to more closely match the behaviour of a text editor: when one or more bars are selected, the insertion point disappears.
Added recognition for AIFF sound files ending in ".aif" (in addition to ".aiff").
The drum kit editor will now post an alert when trying to import a sound of an unsuitable sample rate.
Drums are now assigned a default sound and icon in the absence of any being defined in the drum kit editor.
Fixed bug where drum sounds would not play back when auditioned in the drum kit editor.
Registration key system introduced, along with a revised About box and application icon.

News older than this (pertaining to early beta builds) are now history; see the revision history for those details.