GUIfight '06 edition (Poly-Ana vs the naysayers)

[shamann]

As requested somewhere in here by Admiral Quality the Poly-Ana GUI battle should be in its own thread, as that other thread was more about the beta performance of the synth. So I figured I'd oblige, since it has been a while since there's been a good GUIfight round these parts and it'd be a nice complement to the latest digital bass thread.

So, Poly-Ana!

For the uninitiated, this is Poly-Ana. I'm not sure why some folk have gotten their knickers in a twist over it. The GUI is an intrinsic part of the concept that Admiral Quality wanted to put out there, the synth would be incomplete without it.

Personally I like it. It is scary and confusing and reminds me of some kind of angry ancient monster. Completely unusable for any practical application, sure, but like we need another usable software synthesizer in the "reminiscent of analog subtractive synthesizers from the 1970s" category. We already have more than our fill of quality members of that club around. This tells us there are experiences to be had from softsynths, not just making our needed bleeps and bloops (of which this synth also does a good job, but who cares really, that's more a footnote).

This is pure, unadulterated, crazy synthesizer fetish porn. If you can't sign on to that, go buy something less lascivious, like Albino 3, which is very staid in its presentation and will get you all the sounds you could ever want from these kinds of synths. But Poly-Ana is for folk who dream of dressing up in some Rick Wakeman PVC Jesus suit and riding the Moog pole till it hurts. I'm not one of them, so I likely won't partake, but I endorse this synth for their cause.

Similarly, I have been hard on AudioRealism Bass Line Pro in the past for its GUI (especially for giving us the itty bitty widget), but seeing Poly-Ana made me realize that I wasn't clued in before. It isn't about banal pragmatism, it is about Gothic splendour, looking at your 303noodledragon and grinning stupid. And why the hell not?

For anyone who says only the sound matters, well go use Csound, since it will make every sound you need without the unpleasant artifice of the pretty pictures. Go already! But for the righteous who remain, the GUI is essential to the experience, and in the case of Poly-Ana, its GUI is where all the fun lies.

GUIfight, begin.

[diverdee]

Personally I find it beautiful, but somewhat impractical (especially at 1024x768 - the resolution I prefer).
Options like drop down boxes would be more practical, but would sadly spoil the aesthetic.
Once some of the bugs are ironed out I am definately going to have to try it, for some hands on experience.
I'm not much of a bug-tester & the demo only lasts a week, so i'll wait on a while.

[AdmiralQuality]

Can you change the poll to something meaningful? Like: Like it / Hate it? Really, that would actually be valuable market reasearch for us, but as it's worded now... I don't even know which one *I* want to click on!



EDIT: BTW, at your post shamann! Good stuff!

[shamann]

Options like drop down boxes would be more practical, but would sadly spoil the aesthetic.

I use VAZ Modular, and have always appreciated the drop down patching system for two reasons: 1) its ease of use, and 2) unlike other modulars where you can see the signal path at a glance, VAZ forces you to become intimate with the signal flow, since you following the signal path one module at a time is the only real way to get a feel for what's going on in a patch. It's a great mechanism to help you learn synth programming expertly.

But I don't think it'd work for Poly-Ana, since Admiral Quality's aesthetic choice isnt just about usability. I look at it a bit like those muscle morphs photos that float around the web. It isn't a representation of something physical to help you get along with it, as most hardware-look GUIs strive to do. It really is a hypertrophied form of something physical, for the pleasure that that imagined form might bring.

[runagate]

I honestly don't knwo whether you're being sarcastic or not, sham. Very funny, though.

I have superhuman hearing but crappy sight so I never have enough room on my screen for those giant guis sadly at the resolution I use though if they were smaller I'd not be able to see them in a different way.
Then again I use FL and as anyone who's used it knows if I owned AdQa's lovely plug I wouldn't be able to see it all!

[shamann]

Can you change the poll to something meaningful? Like: Like it / Hate it? Really, that would actually be valuable market reasearch for us, but as it's worded now... I don't even know which one *I* want to click on!

The poll was just a bit of fun, and meaningless enough to make up for the absence of fish I hope. Sadly, you can't edit polls once they are posted, else I'd do it for you.

[djwglpuppy]

I don't get get Poll... Doe sit mean that I WANT it Big, Bigger, or Biggest or theat I think it is big, bigger or biggest.... It is like stephen colbert asking people if they think George Bush is either the Best OR Greatest president (and they can only pick those)

[diverdee]

Then again I use FL and as anyone who's used it knows if I owned AdQa's lovely plug I wouldn't be able to see it all!

Why's that?
Is it something to do with the way FL displays plugins?
If so it is certainly something for AQ to be aware of - as it's possibly another 'lost' market segment - & FL is pretty bloody popular.

[AdmiralQuality]

Guys. It's pretty but it's also VERY useable. I can flick those mod source selector dials way faster than I could navigate a drop down list. Believe me, I don't see this as a trade-off. It's all good from where I'm standing. Yes they take a LITTLE more screen real estate... but compare to the competition that has virtual patch cables hanging in the way of everything (that you have to use the mouse to move! Hey, both of my hands are on the keyboard!) and with tedious TINY controls for the mod amounts. I just wanted to provide an alternative that made sense, both in a computer AND a reality paradigm.

$0.02

[shamann]

I honestly don't knwo whether you're being sarcastic or not, sham.

I think I am being both. Can't say for certain though.

Does it mean that I WANT it Big, Bigger, or Biggest or theat I think it is big, bigger or biggest

I posed your question to the Zen master, he answered Yes.

[coops2]

Hmm visually nice but certainly doesn't look usable though

Demos sound nice so best of luck AQ

[AdmiralQuality]

Oh... IS there something about FL that makes Poly-Ana difficult to use? (If so, blame tony tony chopper )

But really, if there is, please let me know.

[.jon]

original

edited (from the screengrab)

I suggest you load the pngs on browser tabs and compare them side by side.

[AdmiralQuality]

original

edited (from the screengrab)

I suggest you load the pngs on browser tabs and compare them side by side.

.jon, does your graphics card driver have a gamma control?

[shamann]

It's pretty but it's also VERY usable. I can flick those mod source selector dials way faster than I could navigate a drop down list. Believe me, I don't see this as a trade-off. It's all good from where I'm standing. Yes they take a LITTLE more screen real estate... but compare to the competition that has virtual patch cables hanging in the way of everything (that you have to use the mouse to move! Hey, both of my hands are on the keyboard!) and with tedious TINY controls for the mod amounts. I just wanted to provide an alternative that made sense, both in a computer AND a reality paradigm.

$0.02

Well, in theory, I agree with you. Those mod selectors hooked up to a MIDI knob box are quick and simple to adjust, and free you from a mouse. Which would be great for doing minor adjustments to a sound, like you might in a live setting.

But, I sat down with the demo and tried programming sounds from scratch with it, after a while I felt like I was going blind. Those labels on the Mod rotaries are legible, but only if you don't look at them too long. But when trying to navigate the GUI deeply, there are just so many widgets on screen and so many of them are big, hard to read, and look exactly like many other widgets on screen. No hyperbole involved when I say I felt a little queasy by the end of using.

But, I am a little serious above, I actually do like the base aesthetics of this thing, because it is big and crazy. I couldn't see it as being a programmer's synth as much as a player's synth, though, since the task of programming would be made much more difficult because of the aesthetic choices you made. But it is a good sounding synth and would be flexible in certain instances