4 ms·

It would be very poignant of you to point that out if the interface was not trying to emulate famous and well-known real-world objects. Music people eat that u

It would be very poignant of you to point that out if the interface was not trying to emulate famous and well-known real-world objects. Music people eat that up. It's entirely the right choice, and the rest of the interface is clean. There are no problems here, just good design overall it seems.

wwweston 13y ago
> There are no problems here Speaking as a longtime user of both physical audio gear and audio software (not to mention one of the "music people"), I think there is a big problem: knobs. Knobs don't translate well to the screen. It's hard to do a twisting motion with the mouse or a finger on a touch screen. So a lot of programs just make them a kind of compact slider/fader -- you move the mouse up and down, and the knob turns. This is an interaction that can have some problematic interactions with scrolling and/or screen real-estate availability even after you've figured out how this works. And it's not exactly intuitive. And there's often just better ways to do things. For example, I'd be happy if I never saw another EQ knob again in software -- being able to visualize/tweak a spectrum envelope is a clear winner over having to twiddle knobs. Or heck, I'd rather have MAX or pd's box-value compact faders that I can enter values into (along with sliding the mouse up and down) than knobs. I know the familiar is often fun and feels accessible, I even know there are sometimes where the compact-fader thing is helpful. I just think knobs are way over used in software and it is a problem.
- calinet6 13y ago
  Yeah, I'm sure there actually are lots of UI problems, and you could generally design a UI that is better for controlling the effects and levels than the physical analogy used here. But it's hard to beat a UI that not only feels accessible, but is accessible if you've used the (often famous) hardware in real life, and not only that, teaches you how to use it so that if you ever encounter that specific pedal or this effects unit in reality, you have some clue of how it works. Maybe it's not a concern and I'm making this shit up, but it is at least a cool advantage.
deleted 13y ago
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wwweston 13y ago

> There are no problems here Speaking as a longtime user of both physical audio gear and audio software (not to mention one of the "music people"), I think there is a big problem: knobs. Knobs don't translate well to the screen. It's hard to do a twisting motion with the mouse or a finger on a touch screen. So a lot of programs just make them a kind of compact slider/fader -- you move the mouse up and down, and the knob turns. This is an interaction that can have some problematic interactions with scrolling and/or screen real-estate availability even after you've figured out how this works. And it's not exactly intuitive. And there's often just better ways to do things. For example, I'd be happy if I never saw another EQ knob again in software -- being able to visualize/tweak a spectrum envelope is a clear winner over having to twiddle knobs. Or heck, I'd rather have MAX or pd's box-value compact faders that I can enter values into (along with sliding the mouse up and down) than knobs. I know the familiar is often fun and feels accessible, I even know there are sometimes where the compact-fader thing is helpful. I just think knobs are way over used in software and it is a problem.

calinet6 13y ago
Yeah, I'm sure there actually are lots of UI problems, and you could generally design a UI that is better for controlling the effects and levels than the physical analogy used here. But it's hard to beat a UI that not only feels accessible, but is accessible if you've used the (often famous) hardware in real life, and not only that, teaches you how to use it so that if you ever encounter that specific pedal or this effects unit in reality, you have some clue of how it works. Maybe it's not a concern and I'm making this shit up, but it is at least a cool advantage.

deleted 13y ago

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