Voxengo Marquis Compressor VST 1.4 released

[bduffy]

So Kingston: you're saying the "placebo effect" is that people will buy more of a plugin that looks sexy over a more drab plugin, whether it's actually the better plugin or not? You know this to be true? (not being contrary, just curious).

You only need to scroll back this very thread for *several* examples.

It would in fact be a *very* interesting experiment (and an eye opener for many) if a single, say compressor or an EQ algorithm would be released under a different name with utilitarian looks, and as another one claiming vintage modelling and spiffy looking fashion GUI.

Make your own deductions on what people will comment on the sound of those two.

Right...I mean, this whole analog-thing is so subtle and subjective anyway. I know I want to strangle myself when I hear "warm" or "punchy" now...just mix the f**king song!

You're probably right. I just think a little more colour and different font choice went a long way with the Anaflux suite, while maintaining his look. And should we never have nice GUI's?

[Kingston]

should we never have nice GUI's?

*subjective territory breached*

I think they're nice already.

[bduffy]

should we never have nice GUI's?

*subjective territory breached*

I think they're nice already.

I meant the really sexy designer shit, like URS, Native Instruments, Minimonsta, Ozone, etc. Should products not be too sexy-looking? or just Voenxgo shouldn't be, so that we may appreciate with our ears?

[Kingston]

My take is that if ergonomics are good, all is well. I'm not adverse to designer fashion GUIs, I just think that should be secondary to usability. There are very few that manage both simultaneously, but I'm sure many would disagree.

[bduffy]

My take is that if ergonomics are good, all is well. I'm not adverse to designer fashion GUIs, I just think that should be secondary to usability. There are very few that manage both simultaneously, but I'm sure many would disagree.

No, I think that's true, pretty much. The funny thing is, for me, that Voxengo plugins have some usability issues, mostly too much abbreviation and esoteric naming.

[pdxindy]

I do not think style is a pointless consideration. Plenty of people buy guitars with lovely wood inlay work and a majority of people buy their car with its looks being of major importance. People like things that look aesthetic, or even to them, beautiful.

If a plug-in GUI looks skillfully crafted, many people will take that as evidence (correctly or not) that it is skillfully crafted in other ways too. So it is in the developers best interest to have a well designed, professional looking gui. A professional design does not mean 3d, vintage look, brushed metal etc. I does mean effective, functional, text that isn't blurry or hard to read, and so on. It means consideration for people who do not have the best eyesight, or who might have shaky hands and can they click on that button that is so small. It means consideration for how it will look on various monitor resolutions.

A lot of little things add up to a better user experience where the minimal amount of effort is needed to deal with the plug-in and the maximum is there for the creative work, in this case audio.

Personally, a clean, simple, utilitarian GUI for a plug-in is just fine, even prefered. The Voxengo GUI's do not need a redesign, just some adjustment and polish to improve useability a bit and make them look sharper (some of the text has aliasing problems for example).

[bduffy]

What can I say? I pretty much agree with pdxindy.

[Kingston]

Me too.

but I still enjoy the voxengo workflow (yes, workflow, the most important thing). I don't understand what he/she means by font aliasing (there is none in my books) or the need for more polish.

Looks clean to me.

[jmh]

Font aliasing, it's one of those things everybody and his cousin talks about here nowadays after someone mentioned a while ago in regard to some other plugin

[Kingston]

Good job assmunch. I hope you're happy now.

[sounddesigner]

I'm not crazy about voxengo's gui's, but i would only want a change if it did'nt take too much of Alekseys time and energy (he's not a big company). There are more developers popping up on the scene daily, and more great plugins are hitting the market all the time,so i think a developers main concern should be quality in sound rather than fancy clothes for their plugins,that is if they truly wish to remain strong competition out here.I mainly want more great sounding plugins and improvements in sound quality and features added to existing plugins.Nice looking gui's is the icing on the cake and are nice to look at, but if it's at the expense of progress in sound quality for future plugins and existing plugs- then the gui's don't look so good no matter how fancy there made.The next voxengo plugin can be a string and nodes, if it sounds great like marquis my purchase is made.

[jmh]

Good job assmunch. I hope you're happy now.

'twasn't me though

But we can count on 'font aliasing' being the term to be used for a long time, whenever there's anything to comment about regarding text in a plugin's GUI =)

[cptgone]

to me the important thing about a GUI isn't the looks but the functionality. a compressor that gives one more visual feedback and has an intuitive lay out can beat much better compressors, esp. in the hands of a beginner.

[multree]

I find myself falling for placebos all the time... I want something that sounds good of course but let's face it everything sounds the same for me anyway so gimme the nicest looking shit and I'm happy