Re: Knob styles (was: AU host properties)
Re: Knob styles (was: AU host properties)
- Subject: Re: Knob styles (was: AU host properties)
- From: Chris Reed <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 13:50:36 -0500
On Thursday, May 22, 2003, at 10:00 US/Central, James Chandler Jr wrote:
Anyway, I think that this applies pretty well to software "knob"
interfaces as well, which is how this discussion began. A brand new
computer user would see a knob and intuitively have the reaction
"circular
control, move in circles." But anyone who's used a computer regularly
would get completely fed up with trying to make circular motions with
a
mouse, and so in that case as well, I think that a "fresh"
perspective on
the interface issue would lead to the more undesirable approach.
Hi Marc
Can one assume the typical "experienced" computer user will control
"circular control" knobs by actually moving the mouse in circles?
This may be what the new user will intuitively do, but "circular
control" knobs where the thumb always points to the mouse cursor, are
very forgiving how they are manipulated.
That is opposite my experience with circular controls. I have a really
hard time using them because positioning the mouse at the right angle
quickly is difficult. And they're so not fun if, for example, you want
to sweep the filter cutoff back and forth. Try recording a smooth
automation filter sweep with a circular knob. Doing it with a trackpad
is even more fun!
For quick adjustments on "circular control" knobs, I just click on the
knob and flick the mouse linearly outward in the direction I want the
knob to point.
For more careful "listening" adjustments, I click, flick outward in
the general desired direction, then drag the mouse vertical,
horizontal, or some diagonal straight or curved path, until the sound
or textbox or whatever is where it should be. No need to use tiny
circular motions to manipulate a "circular control" knob...
It sounds like you're changing the value to some other value and then
back to where you really want it to be. This is exactly the very
annoying experience I've had sometimes when recording automation on
knobs that use circular control... some unwanted intermediate values
are recorded because I had to move the mouse around some to get the
value where I wanted it. With a linear control, you generally know the
value won't change on the first click, only when you start moving.
cheers
-chris
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