Poly-Ana: Coming soon from Admiral Quality.

[fake]

"unlearned", you can't say things like that on KVR, it's too polite!

I understand the essence behind the design but think it is flawed for the following reasons.

Unless my monitor can display in 3D then having a 3D type "essence" on a 2D display looks very wrong. My monitor is placed in front of me so what ever I display should look "straight". If it was 3D then great all I would need to do is move my head, but it's not.
If I was using a hardware synth then the perspective would also be the same as I would not be using it at an angle and looking straight on.

Nice idea but for me it don't work and looks odd on a 2D screen, I can't think of any other synth that has this essence or perspective so perhaps there may be a hint there.

fake

[grymmjack]

very well done graphics, unfortunately though I concur they aren't very usable. Is the shot you posted the final AQ? If so, definitely not for me.

I would say this:

The graphics are superb, but they forsake usability a great deal. For instance some of the larger "propeller" type pots, while very retro and hip to look at block a lot of the available choices, as well as some of the iconic selected choices for the control. This makes it cumbersome. Also using these propellerhead type pots on smaller controls like pan, in a miniature state, seems like a poor choice because since you are emulating hardware the human fingers would have difficulty grasping this (using the keyboard keys as a scale to reference this fact).

It's very commendable to attempt what you have done with this interface but the flaws outweigh it's 'cool' factor. Look for example at the controls to the left of the keyboard keys, these are skewed/distorted to emulate a perspective obviously, but how usable is this perspective? One of the biggest mistakes I think alot of audio plugin UIs make is sticking too much to hardware paradigm -- to forsake the flexibility and elegance afforded by modern software UI capabilities/architecture is shooting yourself in the foot.

If this is a zoomed out view, like the MS-20 or something and you click to zoom in, it could be a little nicer, but then you have the whole "scrolling is cumbersome" issue. You've done a good job I think with the layout, but I'm no synth expert

I'd say you deserve massive props for your graphic skills and the meticulous attention to detail and realism is stunning, but I think you may have gotten a bit off course with the end goal. Is the end goal to make a virtual hardware that is stuck in dimensional space at the angle/proportion you've chosen, or to make a great instrument that will sound as great as it looks and plays in use?

I would say the gigantic teat-like pots with the labels is pretty keen to look at but have to concur it's hard to read. It does however beg to be fondled like a big nipple I can imagine the tactile sensation -- cold steel on flesh so you've achieved the realism effect quite well for visuals. I've never seen a more obnoxious pot though, besides on Pressure with it's eyeballs Your toggle flip switches own though. Envelope controls that aren't faders bother me, unless there is some graphical representation that the pots adjust to show the envelope, faders should be used IMO.

Constructive criticism coming from someone who never owned a real analog synth, and only knows what it takes to make decent UI, so consider the source here AQ.

What does this monster sound like?

[Foxglove]

Constructive Critisism is great; going off and starting a thread called "Worst GUI Ever" is low...almost too low to a point that it reeks with envy and jealousy...

Whatever....have you actually read the comments in this thread from numerous other people saying the same thing?

I've read a lot of constructive criticism such as what Sascha Franck and kevink wrote;

You should read what kevink said a few pages before, AdmiralQuality. The big metal source selector knobs are really pointless. In case you got rid of them you'd probably also get rid of at least 50% of the "GUI too big" complainers. These knobs waste half of the GUI for what? For nothing, really.
As said, look what kevink suggested ("slot machine" alike selectors) and you might be able to keep the retro look while at the same time making the interface 1000% more userfriendly, both by ergonomical and visual aspects.

Personally, I think your graphic skills are just great, but I prefer functionality over form any day.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I like tasty GUIs a LOT. But I don't need software to look like hardware at all. IMO there's no point in that, especially in case it's causing troubles (in this particular case even before the thing gets released).
I like the Logic and U-He GUIs most of all. Smart looks, highly functional, easy to fool around with.
But then, this is just my opinion. There seem to be quite some hardware-lookalike fans around.

I've also read a couple of posts from KVRers who just bitch piss and moan...but I'm not mentioning any names

[foosnark]

Seems a damn shame to waste such a pretty GUI, and *potentially* a great-sounding synth, due to what amounts to a dick-waving contest over resolution. I don't see why anyone would intentionally drive customers away over that.

It's not going to run on my laptop, which is stuck way back in the stone age (i.e. 2004) at 1024x768, so it's not an option.

[munchkin]

I like the GUI but it's too big. That will be very annoying on a 17" monitor.

thats your problem, if you dont like it, dont buy it

I may just buy a 36" monitor for this synth. It's all or nothing for me.

[ianweb123]

..but I think you may have gotten a bit off course with the end goal...

AQ has put up the preview so that opinions are forthcoming, but ultimately its up to AQ how we wants this to look. Personally I feel that it is always worth trying out some new GUI stuff (as you might have guessed). FWIW i find the perspective idea uncomfortable on the senses (Klanglabs had also had some knobs with perspective which didn't work for me), but I am encouraged that AQ is following his concept through, however I get the impression that AQ is as excited about the sound of his plug-ins so perhaps the emphasis on the GUI might be a little out of place.

Also KvR is becoming more and more polarised as time goes on, although it can make for an entertaining spectacle to the reader, some of the extreme views can become a little tiring, IMHO.

[grymmjack]

..but I think you may have gotten a bit off course with the end goal...

AQ has put up the preview so that opinions are forthcoming, but ultimately its up to AQ how we wants this to look. Personally I feel that it is always worth trying out some new GUI stuff (as you might have guessed). FWIW i find the perspective idea uncomfortable on the senses (Klanglabs had also had some knobs with perspective which didn't work for me), but I am encouraged that AQ is following his concept through, however I get the impression that AQ is as excited about the sound of his plug-ins so perhaps the emphasis on the GUI might be a little out of place.

Also KvR is becoming more and more polarised as time goes on, although it can make for an entertaining spectacle to the reader, some of the extreme views can become a little tiring, IMHO.

Surely if this thing sounds great, and is affordable, the GUI is a non issue. I would like to try it just to see how he implements the persepctive controls.. The three way toggle switches that move left/right are obvious click drag left/right, but the pots that are skewed seem immediately ambiguous to me -- should i click and drag left and right like the 3 ways (which is another potential pitfall using controls that work in contrary ways makes it one more question we have to ask ourselves before we use it -- should i drag up and down or left and right?) probably he has done it both ways if he is smart

I want to hear it. I'm already curious -- something that breaks convention visually has to sound different, and IMO different = good.

[Kriminal]

Surely if this thing sounds great, and is affordable, the GUI is a non issue.

thats ok if you just use presets, but anyone who is serious about sound design and wants to mess with a synth will think quite the opposite.

[grymmjack]

..but I think you may have gotten a bit off course with the end goal...

FWIW i find the perspective idea uncomfortable on the senses (Klanglabs had also had some knobs with perspective which didn't work for me)

I think the colors are much more invasive/intense than the perspective personally. The red is very bright with the white labels, it makes it very harsh on the eyes. Additionally the lighting on the panel itself is a singular shade, with no gradiation -- if this is made of metal (and I assume it is supposed to be) it would have gradiation from the directional and ambient lighting. It looks as if the controls were created in a 3D environment, and the background was made in a 2D environment.

I can make some guesses as to the reasoning for the flat/single color/non-lit background panel -- the controls that are drawn without transparency (ie: BMP) can be animated once as long as the background colors are consistent wherever the controls are placed. A single color background, I just feel it's contrary to the realism of the 3D controls themselves. A less intense background color would make this a bit less harsh on my eyeballs and a gradient would make it more realistic as well as more aesthetically pleasing/convincing. There is something odd about the top part of the wooden bookends too but I can't put my finger on a better way to do it

Regardless of all of this though, it's one of the better/nicer UI's where graphical quality is concerned even if it suffers some usability problems.

[grymmjack]

Surely if this thing sounds great, and is affordable, the GUI is a non issue.

thats ok if you just use presets, but anyone who is serious about sound design and wants to mess with a synth will think quite the opposite.

Is there a flaw with the layout (aside from the size of the labels)? I'm not a preset creator I am a preset user as you correctly assumed. It seems like a logical layout? What would you change about it? How would you order things instead?

[spaceman]

the butler did it

[spaceman]

the problem I'm having with the GUI is that I can't read a single f**king thing on those dials on my 1920x1200 23" screen.. and I'm sure the only one at all using such resolutions

otherwise it's a crafty piece of work

[bduffy]

I'm at 1900x1200, 23" and I'm OK with most things, except for the info at the lower left, some of it is unreadable. I should check it out on my 17" CRT at home, though.

[spaceman]

I'm at 1900x1200, 23" and I'm OK with most things, except for the info at the lower left, some of it is unreadable. I should check it out on my 17" CRT at home, though.

if you look at them long enough and try to think instead of see then you eventually figure them out (apart from quite a few which are just a blur.. I'm talking about the silver dials).. far from pleasant to work in my opinion, and my eyes are good

[grymmjack]

the problem I'm having with the GUI is that I can't read a single f**king thing on those dials on my 1920x1200 23" screen.. and I'm sure the only one at all using such resolutions

otherwise it's a crafty piece of work

1280x1024 here and it's not so bad. 1920 = dualies yea?