Is 2C's Aether REALLY worth it? (the answer is: yes, certainly)

[aMUSEd]

Thanks for the feedback. We are offering a new GUI in the new version as mentioned previously.

I love the interface - don't throw it away just because a vocal group of people complain about it

[elxsound]

I've just beginned demoing it and find it not very intuitive. The presets are not exactly great as well.
It would make sense to cathegorize them in a way like "Small Rooms/Chambers", "Medium Rooms/Chambers", "Scoring Stages", "Halls", etc.

You mean you don't find it intuitive.

I found it intuitive. I found the layout was very easy to understand. I did not need to break out the manual to understand it (except for the Link button, which I did not understand at first).

I personally have found the presets to be a great starting point. Seriously, just play with the following 3 knobs: Time, Input Gain and Dry/Wet. Adjusting just those 3 when browsing through the presets should help one get an idea of how a certain preset could work for you... it also helps to keep things simple for someone that does not find the interface intuitive.

It has been mentioned several times that they did not do the "standard" presets, and instead focused more on the creative side for presets, which probably helped them stand out enough to win the awards they already have as it showcased quite a bit of flexibility, but in this thread alone I see more and more that the people who didn't like Aether seemed to simply want that familiarity of finding things categorized like you mentioned (small rooms/chambers, etc...).

I'm also guessing that the lack of those standard presets is what's leading some to believe Aether is not capable of recreating convincing simulated spaces... that can't be more untrue of a statement.

What I can agree with is the criticism of the browser. I've come to find it workable over time, but it is probably my least favorite point. If there is ever a time that the browser will be revisited I would love suggest a browser similar to Zebra 2 or even something similar to Kore 2. There really are quite a few presets and a faster way to browse (like Zebra's expandable folders) IMO would be a very welcome change.

[Andrew Souter]

Regarding the tabbed/paged GUI idea: we don't generally like the idea for Aether. We may explore this idea for future products. (I mean here using more tabs than we do already, by breaking the main page into several sub-pages.)

Since personally designing the various variations of the original GUI over the past year, I have come to understand how some people's taste does not agree with the "3D-ness", shading, etc. and possibly the fun-factor of the Space Type Sketches. We have addressed these things with the new skin, as we have been helped by a leading GUI designer in Paris on this.

The general layout however, I still think is quite good. Yes we expose a lot of controls on the main page. And because of this, maybe it seems overwhelming at first glance. But if you read the current PDF ( http://www.2caudio.com/products/aether/ ... Manual.pdf ), you will understand the logic of its organization. One of the more important things to realize as a beginner is that "Size does matter" on our GUI. Thus important and marco type controls are LARGE. The largest things on the GUI are: The Space Display, the Freq Display, the Time Knob, and ER, LR, and IN Gain knobs, and finally the Mix knob. In 1.5.0 both the Space Type Display and The Freq display can function as a macro control that can change a bunch of parameters with one control.

Understanding these things, the beginner can for example set ER Link mode to Both, set Freq Link to ALL (in 1.5), set a rough desired reverb time, and simply try different combinations of the 33 Space Types, and (we hope 100+) Freq Profiles. Thus clicking on only TWO controls and trying different (over 3000 possible) combinations is enough to get great results. The absolute beginner can effectively ignore most of the other controls until he needs/want to explore them more and be more involved with the process. So-- start big, go small over time, when and if you need more control.

At the same time all of the other controls are exposed and immediately available for custom tweaking once the user is more familiar with the product. Furthermore, advanced users do not have to develop carpal tunnel by boroughing through many pages to find hidden controls and settings. Once you spend time with Aether you will get a sense of how things work together synergistically, and will likely appreciate having access to everything on a single page.

Finally the browser page is always an option too. Here you can simply "pick a preset" and make some quick adjustments and be done with it. We add a control or two on this page in 1.5 as well to make it even more of an "easy page"...

Generally speaking, it is my opinion on average that reverb programming in the past is for the most part a bit of an esoteric art and a science, and really the vast majority of users do not program presets completely from scratch. We DO attempt to change this to some extent with Aether by trying to offer a GUI/layout that encourages people to play with it. This is a large part of the rational of the design. We want you to have fun, and in the process learn something without even realizing it. If you happen to be a person who is confused by the detail of the main page, ask yourself if you are more or less involved then in previous competitive products you worked with. Likely you are already farther along than you realize in becoming more proficient in making your own presets. If that is true, we are happy and think we have done our job well. We want to encourage creativity, not just emulation...

EM called Aether "An engineer's wet dream". We like that. We want to design products that we want to use ourselves. We want to offer maximum control to the power users, but we attempt to offer a clear path for users of all levels to augment their understanding of the subtleties of our process via some of the design and layout guidelines described in the pdf.

And as always we do actively engage everyone here too and learn from your feedback and attempt to integrate it into our vision whenever possible. We thank you for that.

[Andrew Souter]

What I can agree with is the criticism of the browser. I've come to find it workable over time, but it is probably my least favorite point. If there is ever a time that the browser will be revisited I would love suggest a browser similar to Zebra 2 or even something similar to Kore 2. There really are quite a few presets and a faster way to browse (like Zebra's expandable folders) IMO would be a very welcome change.

We do have improvements in mind for the browser that are along the lines of the comments mentioned here. These will likely occur in the 1.6 version, after 1.5.

In GUI issues we have been a little limited also in that we still use the VST GUI SDK which is a little out of date. We intend to replace all GUI code with our own internal code at some point, and at that point we are limited only by our own imagination with regard to what is possible and or realistic to implement on the GUI-side.

The 1.5. update focusses on audio-quality and new features, as after-all that is the primary function of the product, and roughly none of our customers' audience/fans/clients are likely ever to see our GUI, right? So audio and functionality takes precedence, and GUI improvements are secondary (though we happen to offer an awesome new GUI option as a free bonus!). Yes we are doing quite well in terms of audio quality, and functionality already, but we want to see if we can take it even further in the new update...

OK back to work for me now...

[JeffSanders]

Thanks for the feedback. We are offering a new GUI in the new version as mentioned previously.

I love the interface - don't throw it away just because a vocal group of people complain about it

Seconded. I happen to love the sort of mystical, maybe sci-fi vibe of it. It adds to the whole "Aether" experience. Although I agree that the new interface looks sweet. Not sure if it'll take over as my default though.

[Doug B]

This was an early version:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... aether+gui

It's evolved some since then, but the general look/feel is the same...

Thanks Andrew. So it's basically less 3d in that skin? It looks good, but I like both the original and this new skin. Choice is good!

Cheers

Doug

[BertilAlving]

This was an early version:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... aether+gui

It's evolved some since then, but the general look/feel is the same...

This new design (with grouped knobs) gives you also a very clear picture about the relationship between all the knobs. I think it's excellent, please don't change this layout solution!

[Andrew Souter]

This new design (with grouped knobs) gives you also a very clear picture about the relationship between all the knobs. I think it's excellent, please don't change this layout solution!

Yes, we agree. It is not changed. In fact, it is expanded a little to accommodate additional controls.

[Andrew Souter]

Here is what the final GUI layout looks like:



http://www.2caudio.com/products/aether/ ... ewSkin.png

Colors are subject to change, and will likely maintain our three-color scheme for ER (early reflections), LR (late reflections), and IN (input/master) sections... Everything is the same color here for mock-up purposes only...

a few control labels intentionally left blank... (top secret... )

there are a few other minor tweaks to do, but you get the idea...

thoughts?

[ZINO]

It's great.

So... when can we have it?

[heavensdaw]

I really love it! everthing where it was but now it's so much better to look at.. clear, sleek and stylish work.. me likes!

when? don't be a tease Andrew!

Hd

[djanthonyw]

Nevermind.

[4damind]

Miles better! This is the right way.

Here is what the final GUI layout looks like:



http://www.2caudio.com/products/aether/ ... ewSkin.png

Colors are subject to change, and will likely maintain our three-color scheme for ER (early reflections), LR (late reflections), and IN (input/master) sections... Everything is the same color here for mock-up purposes only...

a few control labels intentionally left blank... (top secret... )

there are a few other minor tweaks to do, but you get the idea...

thoughts?

[djanthonyw]

So when do we get to demo 1.5?

[Andrew Souter]

We are just ironing out a few remaining bugs in some of the new features... eta shortly.