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Totally agree with this. I make music on an iPad with zero external gear and I've come to embrace this limitation as a deliberate choice that make me think more

Totally agree with this. I make music on an iPad with zero external gear and I've come to embrace this limitation as a deliberate choice that make me think more creatively about how to achieve what I want. Even down to the DAW I use -NanoStudio 2 - it lack's some pretty essential features like AUFX automation, but it's so well thought out in terms of how you use it on a touch screen that I'd rather work to its limitations than use something like Cubasis which really gets in your way in terms of interaction design.

biztos 6y ago
I just checked out that DAW and I’m curious as a newbie — why are skeuomorphic “dials” considered good UX? They seem like the worst idea ever and yet I see them all over the DAW/synth landscape. What am I missing?
- filoeleven 6y ago
  They are controlled like sliders (swipe up/down to adjust) and contain the same information, but are much more compact.
  - biztos 6y ago
    Aha! I was trying to position my finger over the dial and turn it. Thanks for clarifying.
    - drcongo 6y ago
      Ha, I couldn't work out what _isn't_ a good UX about them until you posted this. It's worth noting a couple of extra things about them too, while taking up much less space than a slider they operate in the same way - this often means you can get a lot more range / precision than if you'd tried to fit it in a slider as your touch can slide way outside the bounds of the control itself. The other is that there's a convention in touch-interface audio apps that double tapping the dial will return it to its default state, whatever value that might be. This arguably could be done with a slider, but I've not come across that on any of the apps I use.
      - filoeleven 6y ago
        Huh, didn’t know about the double-tap, I’ll have to try that. You’re right about range and precision too. With knobs, the interface creator can fine-tune the precision without it being surprising. A knob that changes oscillator waveforms can have large, comfortable slices between each waveform, while an envelope length can be more fine-grained. One could build in coarse/fine adjustments based on swipe speed, but that seems a lot harder to get right. I’m still quite hopeful about what VR synths and controls can bring. Synthspace may be the thing that makes me get a VR headset, and if someone ever ports VCV Rack to VR I’ll be there in an instant. https://www.patreon.com/synthspace https://www.patreon.com/synthspace
    - filoeleven 6y ago
      It’s a hidden interface mapping for sure—you have to know about it before it makes any sense. It might help if a “ghost slider” appeared when you first press on it, but that could also clutter things up. As I said in a reply below, I think the touch interface on flat glass is a stepping stone to VR synths where the skeuomorphism is more natural: grab the knob and spin it, just like hardware!

biztos 6y ago

I just checked out that DAW and I’m curious as a newbie — why are skeuomorphic “dials” considered good UX? They seem like the worst idea ever and yet I see them all over the DAW/synth landscape. What am I missing?

filoeleven 6y ago
They are controlled like sliders (swipe up/down to adjust) and contain the same information, but are much more compact.
- biztos 6y ago
  Aha! I was trying to position my finger over the dial and turn it. Thanks for clarifying.
  - drcongo 6y ago
    Ha, I couldn't work out what _isn't_ a good UX about them until you posted this. It's worth noting a couple of extra things about them too, while taking up much less space than a slider they operate in the same way - this often means you can get a lot more range / precision than if you'd tried to fit it in a slider as your touch can slide way outside the bounds of the control itself. The other is that there's a convention in touch-interface audio apps that double tapping the dial will return it to its default state, whatever value that might be. This arguably could be done with a slider, but I've not come across that on any of the apps I use.
    - filoeleven 6y ago
      Huh, didn’t know about the double-tap, I’ll have to try that. You’re right about range and precision too. With knobs, the interface creator can fine-tune the precision without it being surprising. A knob that changes oscillator waveforms can have large, comfortable slices between each waveform, while an envelope length can be more fine-grained. One could build in coarse/fine adjustments based on swipe speed, but that seems a lot harder to get right. I’m still quite hopeful about what VR synths and controls can bring. Synthspace may be the thing that makes me get a VR headset, and if someone ever ports VCV Rack to VR I’ll be there in an instant. https://www.patreon.com/synthspace https://www.patreon.com/synthspace
  - filoeleven 6y ago
    It’s a hidden interface mapping for sure—you have to know about it before it makes any sense. It might help if a “ghost slider” appeared when you first press on it, but that could also clutter things up. As I said in a reply below, I think the touch interface on flat glass is a stepping stone to VR synths where the skeuomorphism is more natural: grab the knob and spin it, just like hardware!