Re: AU interface consistency
Re: AU interface consistency
- Subject: Re: AU interface consistency
- From: email@hidden
- Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 13:05:39 -0400
I meant to mention that Reason has very few 1U rack devices. (Perhaps
you've only read
the specs?)
The user interfaces for the devices are very rich with knobs and
sliders for each function.
Given the return to "knobby" interfaces and a desire to escape the
"preset hell" of the
90s it seems that simplicity is going to lose out to control at the
moment.
And Reason (not to harp on too much but I think you might be dismissing
its usability a
little too quickly) goes to great lengths to auto-route the wiring in
the rack with logical
defaults but not tying a users hands to try weird and wonderful
routings.
This is an interesting discussion.
Robert.
On Tuesday, October 1, 2002, at 11:33 AM, Andy wrote:
On Tuesday, October 1, 2002, at 01:14 am, email@hidden wrote:
I have to say that I think Reason's virtual rack is a very tidy
solution to this problem. It allows for a variety of disparate
devices to sit happily together, includes a standard scheme for
wiring it all together and provides lots of consistent controls. The
fit to
CoreAudio/CoreMidi just looks a little too perfect to me :-)
Couldn't something similar be provided by Apple? Rather than just
throwing windows up
all over the place like Cubase et al? Tidy yet not overly
constricting.
Please please NO!
Reason does indeed /look/ gorgeous but ... have you actually tried
doing any serious work with it? (sorry to cause any offence here, it
is not intended as a slate on Reason) Ok I know some folks do get
much done on these softwares, but you must be seriously committed to
get any work done at any kind or reasonable speed.
Rack mount devices are and were bad enough when they're in the
studio.! Small knobs for big fingers, tiny 16 x 4 LCDs ! Appallingly
designed user interface in those tiny LCDs. Selecting from large menus
of options is useless in such devices. I could list 100s of reasons
why this approach is not a good idea. I'm old enough to remember the
good old days when every parameter on a synth or other device had it's
own knob or button ! Even then things got /very/ confusing! But at
least you could visualize the overall setup. I love graphics and
beauty, I also love simplicity and ease of use.
I believe simplicity is primary, beauty is secondary.
Computer music making has brought about an entirely new set of
problems for user interface. It is not good enough to attempt to
emulate past mistakes that have been made by the hardware industry!
Bear in mind that the only reason we ever saw 1U rack devices with
their awful UIs was because it was CHEAP TO MAKE! We simply could not
put a 1000 dials and switches on a device, that would also be
ridiculous.
As for patching, well, you only need to look behind your rack to see
what a mess cables make!
I believe what we really need is some /radical/ new thought in this
area ... dials and knobs have their place, but more importantly, how
can we replace them when they are not really needed? How can we
replace the mouse ? We still need external mixing devices to do
serious mixing work, 1 mouse is not enough fingers ;-)
I say all this from the perspective of someone who not only develops
software but also professionally makes music and is always frustrated
by the amount of time it takes to set software up to work correctly.
Very often, by the time I've got the software ready to work, I've
forgotten what it was I wanted to do! Seriously we need some change
and it's about time we got it! Do not be afraid to make radical
decisions with user interface, do not be afraid of the UI guidelines.
All rules can be and mostly will end up being broken! There will be
no progress if we simply throw up our hands and say, "oh no! that's
not in the human interface guidelines rules!". After all, at the end
of the day if you get it totally wrong, no-one will use your software.
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