AudioPad 1.1.1: Image Assignment Fixes, Multi-Select & 50× Memory Reduction

AudioPad 1.1.1 is a major stability, performance, and usability update addressing issue #12. This release fixes critical image assignment and persistence bugs, introduces multi-selection batch image management, prevents resource overload on large soundboard categories, makes the Media Grid View configurable, and refines the Stream Deck tile display.

Highlights

• Image Persistence & Vanishing Fix: Assigned sound images no longer vanish after one second and reliably persist across application restarts.
• 50× Memory & CPU Optimization: Slashed RAM consumption from ~2 GB down to ~42 MB on large soundboards, with near-zero idle CPU overhead.
• Multi-Select & Batch Image Controls: Hold Ctrl (or Cmd) and click to select multiple sounds, then assign or clear images in bulk using a floating action bar or right-click context menu.
• Configurable Default View Mode: AudioPad now launches into Media Grid View by default, and you can customize your preferred default view in Settings.
• Stream Deck Tile Polish: Fixed text clipping on empty soundboard tiles and added word-wrapping with enhanced text shadows for crisp legibility over cover art.

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Performance: 50× Memory Reduction & Zero Lag

In previous versions, assigning cover images to large categories (50+ sounds) caused severe UI stutter and spiked resource consumption. This occurred because multi-megabyte uncompressed images were converted into giant Base64 strings duplicated across sound objects (resulting in 300MB+ stored in memory and config.json), and the frontend polled the native IPC bridge with JSON.stringify() on every tick.

Before vs. After Optimization

Metric	Before v1.1.1	After v1.1.1	Impact
Total Process Memory (RAM)	~1,993.6 MB (~2.0 GB)	42.6 MB	~50× reduction (98% less RAM)
WebView2 UI RAM	~1,840.5 MB	38.4 MB	~48× reduction
CPU Usage (Idle / Polling)	23.8% continuous spikes	0.3%	~80× less CPU overhead
Stored Image Size	5–10 MB per sound	~15–25 KB	~300× reduction per card
IPC Polling Strategy	1-second full JSON stringify	4-second hash signature	Eliminated bridge bottlenecks

Before: Memory & CPU Overload (~2 GB RAM)

Prior to v1.1.1, loading 50+ sounds with images inflated Task Manager memory to nearly 2 GB, while continuous JSON serialization drove CPU usage past 23%:

After: Streamlined & Fast (42.6 MB RAM)

With client-side canvas compression (optimizeImage) downscaling images to crisp 300×300 thumbnails and lightweight signature-based state checks, resource usage dropped to just 42.6 MB and 0.3% CPU:

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Added

• Multi-Select Sounds (Ctrl + Click): Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on macOS) and left-click sounds to select multiple items across the Media Grid, Stream Deck, and Table views. Selected cards are highlighted with a blue glowing focus outline.
• Floating Selection Action Bar: When sounds are selected, a quick-action toolbar appears showing the selection count along with Assign Image, Remove Images, and Deselect All buttons.
• Batch Context Menu Actions: Right-clicking any selected card displays batch management options:
  • Assign Image to Selected (X sounds)...
  • Remove Images from Selected (X sounds)
• Batch Removal in Modal: Added a dedicated Remove Images button inside the Multi-Image assignment dialog.
• Configurable Default View Mode: Added a new setting under Settings → Default Layout & View Mode → Default Soundboard View Mode. Choose whether AudioPad opens in Media Grid View, Stream Deck Macro Pads, or Soundpad High-Density Table.

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Improved

• Media Grid as Default: AudioPad now launches into the modern Media Grid View out-of-the-box instead of Stream Deck tiles.
• Thumbnail Compression (optimizeImage): Imported sound images are automatically downscaled via HTML5 Canvas into compact WebP/PNG thumbnails (~15–25 KB), keeping your library fast and config.json compact.
• Stream Deck Text Legibility: Sound names now use word-break: break-word and high-contrast text shadowing so titles remain readable regardless of custom background images.

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Fixed

• Image Vanishing Bug (#12): Fixed a bug where assigning an image caused it to render for 1 second and then vanish. A guard in Data::set() now ensures global sound pointer tables (Globals::gSounds) are only cleared and repointed when modifying the active data instance rather than transient configuration copies.
• Persistent Image Disk Serialization: Updated Data::setSoundImage and Data::setSoundsImage to directly mutate tab sound collections, ensuring cover art reliably saves to disk when gConfig.save() runs.
• Special & Non-ASCII Filename Preservation: Enhanced path resolution in Window::getTabContent with case-insensitivity, slash normalization (\ vs /), and fallback name matching. Custom hotkeys, favorites, and images now persist properly across restarts for MP3/WAV files with Polish or accented characters.
• Image Removal Failure: Fixed an issue where clicking "Remove Image" on a single sound caused the image to reappear after 1 second due to desynchronized configuration references.
• Stream Deck Tile Clipping: Removed an overlapping placeholder music note icon on unassigned Stream Deck tiles and vertically centered the sound title container, eliminating title clipping and truncation.

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Testing & Verification

To verify these fixes in your own setup:

1. Test Image Persistence: Right-click any sound (including files with special characters or in Mono/Stereo formats) → Assign Image.... The image will remain immediately and persist after restarting AudioPad.
2. Test Multi-Select: Hold Ctrl and select 3 sounds. Use the floating action bar to assign or remove images across all 3 sounds simultaneously.
3. Test Large Soundboards: Load a category with 50+ sounds and assign images to all of them. Task Manager will remain smooth at ~40–50 MB RAM with minimal CPU load.
4. Test View Mode Setting: Navigate to Settings, change your default view mode, and restart AudioPad to confirm your preferred layout loads automatically.