Interface design for softsynths...

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 7:50 am

here's a really wacky one:

I'm not sure if I like this or not, since I haven't used the device yet. Perhaps this could be a case of artistic value over functionality...on the other hand it could also make for some very creative interaction. It's definitely a device made to be abused and it has loads of character (I like the pussycat

)

[ This Message was edited by: King of Snake on 2003-02-24 07:57 ]

Ben Walker · Post by **Ben Walker** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 9:17 am

In this case, they actually issued a 'standard' version of the GUI after many people commented on the over-wackiness of the interface.
I love this delay, but I always choose the standard GUI over the wacky one.
But I think the wacky one probably helped spread the word about the delay.

Incidentally, I think the Ohmforce web site is pretty awful from a usability perspective, but it is fun, and in keeping with the interfaces of their effects.

Ben

wavelength · Post by **wavelength** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 4:59 pm

i guess they could get some points for originality!

but, altogether a very gimmicky (anime!?) and vague surface. it is easy to see why they had to release another version.

"i was grooving to this gorgeous lead-line in a track and i could totally hear the little anime characters on the delay!"

if the sonic quality/functionality stood out from the pack, then word would get out even if the GUI was more basic... Lexicon never needed anime to sell.

although i can very much appreciate the desire to want to stand out visually in this very competetive software market.

[ This Message was edited by: wavelength on 2003-02-24 17:04 ]

[ This Message was edited by: wavelength on 2003-02-24 17:07 ]

maket · Post by **maket** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 5:57 pm

about Europa: all need to do is just change interface colors for my opinion

and probably make more visible frames of sections and simple fonts as "Arial" for example.

Post by **hubird** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 6:40 pm

'all need to do is...'
indeed! three (settling) hits, Maket!

_________________
Let There Be Music!

[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2003-02-24 18:48 ]

wavelength · Post by **wavelength** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 2:06 am

On 2003-02-24 17:57, maket wrote:
about Europa: all need to do is just change interface colors for my opinion
and probably make more visible frames of sections and simple fonts as "Arial" for example.

the colour is entirely subjective, but the section borders could be made more pronounced if this is really a problem for people... although it seems quite clear. the font that I used was, in fact, the plain-old "Arial" that you are requesting(?)... are you suggesting to change this to something different? maybe i'm not understanding you correctly. i stuck with Arial because it retains its clarity even when quite small.

anyways, this is off-topic for this thread as we are having a general discussion about device GUI design in this thread.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 9:16 am

The STS gui needs and overhaul!

Personally I think it should be full screen.
Currently it is tedious and difficult to work with.

Creamware please stop trying to mimic classic synthesizers and samplers and come up with new ones.

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 6:59 pm

Braincell, why shall we learn every 6 months a new gui with knobs, menus and options hidden to a new place? I am so happy that I at last can use my STS4000 without looking every 5 minutes into the manual.
Isn't it big enough for you? With a 17" and 1024x768 I can see all what's important and have an overview on more than 1 window.
Maybe you have good ideas for a new gui, but every overhaul is a break where we can't make music, isn't it?

Greetz, Thomas

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 6:11 pm

Sometimes things have to change to improve. Otherwise we just have stagnation.
If something is shit, I'd rather they change and improve it. No one is going to buy a powersampler anymore because every other softsampler is better.
I don't think we'll ever see an update for it anyway, because CW know they can't compete against the likes of Native Instruments, Steinberg, Emagic, and big boys like Akai.

Anyway, this topic is not (just) for complaining about STS

but about sharing views about interface design. If you think something is shit, tell us why, show a picture, etc...

[ This Message was edited by: King of Snake on 2003-02-27 18:15 ]

wavelength · Post by **wavelength** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 12:00 am

http://www.clavia.se/pictures/News/G2/s ... ot_big.jpg

just wanted to read peoples' opinions about this industry-leading product's GUI...

Post by **garyb** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 1:24 am

aaiiggghh!!!

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 2:11 am

The colours are a bit bright for my taste, but overall I don;t mind the design. Of course in that example it looks as if it's simply a "list" of every module with no particular thought to how it's arranged, so I wouldn't be too harsh about it.

With this, and some of the other examples posted, it's easy to say "look how bad this is and it's still popular".

In that case the point isn't that people don't care about GUIs, it's that some of these devices are popular *in spite of* the GUI.

btw, I rather like the Solaris GUI. Whichever company did that could certainly do something interesting with the Europa

Ben Walker · Post by **Ben Walker** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 3:41 am

John has a link to this company on his site:
<A HREF="http://www.sr-interface.com" target=blank>sr-interface</A>

I don't know if they designed the Solaris itself, but they did the 3d rendering of the Solaris that sits at the top of the Zarg site, and they are also responsible for some very nice Pulsar deigns like the D-Mute and the HUI Drums. Click on the 'Book' button on the site to see some other designs.

Ben

wavelength · Post by **wavelength** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 5:04 am

Spirit was hinting that I should do something more with my "europa" GUI, because he knows that I helped John with his "Solaris" GUI... and he likes the Solaris better.

the 3D thing was done after the fact (by the sr-interface people(s)), for fun.

the d-mute stuff does look quite nice though, eh?

[ This Message was edited by: wavelength on 2003-03-05 05:05 ]

sr-interface · Post by **sr-interface** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 6:23 am

hi evryone

My first post in planetz

thanks for your comment!

Yes i made the 3d render of the solaris, and i made the 3d render of de prophet (but he didn't put it in his web site).

if you want information on my work, don't hesitate...

Sebastien

aMo · Post by **aMo** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 11:52 am

The d-mute compressor looks really nice..

Particularly the LED's.. really nice!

sr-interface · Post by **sr-interface** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 12:24 pm

I think it's probably because the panel is more big than the other interfaces.
yes i know "a litlle too big..."

In generaly the interface is too "thin", and it very hard to make something "expressive" in a very short size...

johnbowen · Post by **johnbowen** » Fri Mar 21, 2003 10:46 pm

Hi,
I just wanted to clarify on the surface design of the Solaris.

It first started out as an enhanced Orion Custom... 
<IMG SRC="http://www.johnbowen.com/nss-folder/pic ... ain_75.jpg">

and then I added more and more pages, knobs, etc., and got rid of the rounded look 
<IMG SRC="http://www.johnbowen.com/nss-folder/pic ... rface1.jpg">

Eventually I decided to change the color as well, and I went through many different looks, ending up with the final look like so: 

<IMG SRC="http://www.johnbowen.com/nss-folder/pic ... tan_75.jpg">

This also has the Solaris logo designed by Stephen Hummel, and the John Bowen Synth Design logo by another friend, John Heisch, which weren't on the initial Solaris surface).

Then Stephen, who had suggested I change the knob colors to be all the same (I had kept the multi-color knob look of the Orion), offered to make it stand out more by using a "wood look texture" seen here: 
<IMG SRC="http://www.johnbowen.com/nss-folder/pic ... Finally, Stephen made the brushed metal texture that was the most popular among the beta testers, and is used in the final look.

After I posted the 2D screen shot on my site, Sebastien contacted me about doing some surface work, and ended up providing me with a 3D rendering of the 2D Solaris surface (just captured from the Web site) as an example of his work. (He also made several versions of the Prophet in 3D; I'll have to post it some day).

So, Sebastien did not do any design of the surface, just the 3D conversion of the screen shot. The knobs, graphics, etc., are standard CW library that I put together, and Stephen contributed the metal texture (and some great presets!).

Actually, if I had been able to hire Sabastien to do the complete surface design, the solaris would look much, much better, I believe!

Sorry for the bandwidth use...

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Sat Mar 22, 2003 7:39 am

Hmmm, okay " I'll be back " with *plenty* of pics if I can upload them to my garbage site !!

Those who aren't on broadband may suffer badly tho !;-)

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sat Mar 22, 2003 8:32 am

from the aesthetic point of view the final version of Solaris looks great, but I found the 'color coding' of knobs a good feature.
It makes clear at first glance what belongs where. The method could even be elaborated to some deeper extend.

my 2 cents, Tom