UI/UX pass: working help, unsaved-changes prompt, clear hierarchy, Default Streaming default

[soficis]

Summary

A UI/UX pass from a heuristic review of the running app. UI-only: the renderer chain, RendererPipeline and applyPlan() stage order are untouched. Stacked on #9 (feat/tensor-inference).

Bugs

• The keyboard shortcuts dialog ("?" / Ctrl+/) was never added to the desktop, so it never appeared and swallowed the next click. It now opens as a DialogWindow, and key names show as letters instead of numbers.
• The stray "8212" under the batch area (an em dash built with the integer juce::String constructor) is gone.
• The Clear confirmation no longer contradicts itself or shows an internal ticket id: "Remove all N stems from this session? This can't be undone."
• The status badge failed contrast (white on grey, about 2.8:1). It now uses dark text where needed, and READY replaces IDLE.

Unsaved work

• Closing with unsaved changes asks Save / Don't Save / Cancel. The header shows * while the session differs from the last save or load.

Defaults

• New sessions default to the Default Streaming master preset instead of Udio Optimized. Sessions saved without a preset also load as Default Streaming.

Hierarchy and empty state

• Buttons come in four styles: primary, secondary, quiet and danger. Import is the one primary action until stems exist. Save, Load, Models and Settings are quiet links, and Clear is styled as destructive. Disabled buttons are outlined, not filled.
• Actions that need stems (and the transport) are disabled until stems are imported.
• The empty waveform is a bordered drop zone that highlights on drag and opens Import on click.

Controls and wording

• Vocal Model and the model name appear only when AI Stem Separation is on, and models get plain names (for example "BS-RoFormer (best quality, GPU recommended)").
• Renderer and Active chain moved into Advanced. Combos are wider, with tooltips for Master, Platform, Renderer and Mode.
• Accessibility titles on combos, sliders, transport buttons and meters.

Less noise

• Meters read -- with no signal instead of -70.0.
• The batch strip shows only while a batch has items. Nothing fed it before, so it only ever showed placeholders.
• The log is collapsible, collapsed by default, and opens on failure. Dialog-open lines are no longer logged, and the idle progress bar is hidden.
• The header profile dropdown, which was never populated, is hidden. The deck's Profile combo is the single profile control.

Dialogs and layout

• Settings has Export, GPU acceleration and Audio output sections, and removing the GPU runtime now asks first.
• The Model Browser opens at 760x560, so its buttons are no longer clipped.
• At the 960x640 minimum window size, the settings row wraps instead of clipping Platform, and action buttons use a compact font instead of wrapping.

Testing

• Windows Release: ctest 270/270 pass (two GPU tensor probes skip without the hardware). This includes the golden and regression tests, which are unchanged by the new default preset.
• New unit tests: ControlDeck stem gating, separation visibility, meter formatting, layout at 940 and 1500 px; TaskCenterPanel batch strip, log and idle progress visibility; session isModified(); the default preset.
• Checked in the running app: the shortcuts dialog; the * marker and quit prompt (Cancel stays, Don't Save quits, no false * at startup); the GPU-removal confirmation (Cancel keeps the runtime); meters, log and progress in the idle state; layout at 960x640.

Not verified

• Save → choose a file → quit.
• The drag-over highlight.
• Click-to-import: only the code wiring was checked.
• Mix + Master becoming the primary button once stems are loaded.

Known gaps (already there, not addressed)

• No live batch progress: nothing updates the batch strip during a run.
• No undo: Ctrl+Z only logs "no undo history".

🤖 Generated with Claude Code