ValhallaRoom 1.5.1 Released. New Electric Blue GUI

[manducator]

The designs aren't the most flashy ones but maybe that's what attracted me...
No nosense style!

[sonicpowa]

But, the interface is a serious abuse of screen space..

I really like the UI but yeah, I was counting 101 knobs/sliders/switches/menus from a synth which takes the same screen space, VRoom has only 15 or less..

But more importantly the sound is really great.

[valhallasound]

But what's with the global hook on load Sean?


Not that I don't trust you, but obviously don't want anything opened unnecessary as a rule.

I just heard from the Juce developer (the framework used for cross-platform GUI by my plugins). The response:

The plugin stuff uses a mouse wheel hook, but that's been in there for a long time (well, at least a few months), and I've never heard of any problems before. Maybe some kind of virus checker has just started catching that sort of behaviour.

Jules will look into alternate solutions, but he has no way of testing them (i.e. he has never had a virus checker generate an alert message for this code). And these solutions might cause erratic mouse behavior in different hosts. For now, I wouldn't assume that the global hook is there for nefarious purposes.

Sean Costello

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I was about to look past the childish interface, and purchase it...

I'll watch this thread, and see how things pan out

Just out of curiosity, what's happening in this thread that could change anyone's opinion about purchasing or not this plugin?. I see nothing.

The strange installation routine, and this 'global hook' issue.

But, the interface is a serious abuse of screen space...
For example, why the HUGE font for "ValhallaRoom", just delete it, save a third of the gui size, and add the name to the version number at the lower right. Also, reduce the overall font size, make the red sliders a bit narrower, and the gui would be fine.

Sound wise, it is outstanding, although cpu usage is a bit worrying...

Imho - of course.

i have, and love, shimmer and will soon drop the cash on this (it sounds great)....

i don't particularly like the gui - not really into the 'red-ness- of it....it isn't a dealbreaker for me, however i tend to agree with it being overly big for what it is trying to convey

this has become more importantly, recently, as i've had to downsize from a 23" 1900 hd screen back to my 17" 1600 laptop size/resolution

the size of the font for the title is one area where some reduction might be favourable, but the huge chunk at the bottom just to house the version number '(which could be stored anywhere) is a bit of a waste

i want to express that i love these effects and also the very forward thinking business practices of the developer; not to mention the price, which is so low as to make me feel guilty about saying anything that could be perceived as negative BUT i agree with john, that 1/3rd (or more) space could be saved without having any impact on the usability of the plug

my 0.0137475942 Euros (2 cents conversion, correct at time of posting)

[mandolarian]

The plugin stuff uses a mouse wheel hook..

For now, I wouldn't assume that the global hook is there for nefarious purposes.

Uh-huh. First we find out Apple is geo-tracking all their iOS users and now this:
One Wheel to Rule Them All.

Getting wheely worried...

[whyterabbyt]

the user should be able to decide where it is placed, simple as that

the user can, if the user bothers to learn about junction points and uses them.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

well, gui reservations aside (just issues with the size and maybe the red colour, the rest is perfectly cool), i have decided to buy.....will go perfectly well with my 'shimmer'

i'm sure you wont be at your computer on easter sunday, but if you happen to be (and you see elbow28) maybe i wont have to wait till tuesday for the keyfile...if not, no worries

[valhallasound]

i don't particularly like the gui - not really into the 'red-ness- of it....it isn't a dealbreaker for me, however i tend to agree with it being overly big for what it is trying to convey

this has become more importantly, recently, as i've had to downsize from a 23" 1900 hd screen back to my 17" 1600 laptop size/resolution

the size of the font for the title is one area where some reduction might be favourable, but the huge chunk at the bottom just to house the version number (which could be stored anywhere) is a bit of a waste

A few things:

- The open space at the bottom of the screen is where the rollover tooltips are shown. This has been an aspect of my design since FreqEcho. The space is needed to have room for larger tooltips - one of the sliders has a tooltip that uses the whole space.
- The large font for "VALHALLA ROOM" balances out the tooltips, in the sense of being a visual composition. I tried to design to a grid, and having the space on the top for the logo balances out the dark space on the bottom. Plus, it's a style that I like. I'm into typography and fonts. See Joseph Müller-Brockmann's posters for what I am influenced by.
- Overly big? OK, I'll give you that one. It was designed to be the right size on my computer screens, for my eyes, but other people have different requirements. I will look into the ability to resize the GUI in the future, although I can't promise that this will make it into ValhallaRoom.

Sean Costello

[valhallasound]

well, gui reservations aside (just issues with the size and maybe the red colour, the rest is perfectly cool), i have decided to buy.....will go perfectly well with my 'shimmer'

i'm sure you wont be at your computer on easter sunday, but if you happen to be (and you see elbow28) maybe i wont have to wait till tuesday for the keyfile...if not, no worries

Keyfile sent. Happy Easter, and enjoy ValhallaRoom!

Sean Costello

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

i don't particularly like the gui - not really into the 'red-ness- of it....it isn't a dealbreaker for me, however i tend to agree with it being overly big for what it is trying to convey

this has become more importantly, recently, as i've had to downsize from a 23" 1900 hd screen back to my 17" 1600 laptop size/resolution

the size of the font for the title is one area where some reduction might be favourable, but the huge chunk at the bottom just to house the version number (which could be stored anywhere) is a bit of a waste

A few things:

- The open space at the bottom of the screen is where the rollover tooltips are shown. This has been an aspect of my design since FreqEcho. The space is needed to have room for larger tooltips - one of the sliders has a tooltip that uses the whole space.
- The large font for "VALHALLA ROOM" balances out the tooltips, in the sense of being a visual composition. I tried to design to a grid, and having the space on the top for the logo balances out the dark space on the bottom. Plus, it's a style that I like. I'm into typography and fonts. See Joseph Müller-Brockmann's posters for what I am influenced by.
- Overly big? OK, I'll give you that one. It was designed to be the right size on my computer screens, for my eyes, but other people have different requirements. I will look into the ability to resize the GUI in the future, although I can't promise that this will make it into ValhallaRoom.

Sean Costello

retrying the demo, earlier, i remembered about the tool tips....i'd still do away with the bottom, including the tooltips (instruction manual would suffice) in preference to reducin the size of the controls (which i kinda like)

anyways, nuff moaning as these really are just insignificant details

thanks very much for being so attentive, especially in getting the keyfile to me on a holiday sunday

can't wait to hear these huge tails without the 40-second-mark silences

thanks again

[bM3w]

Great reverb, well worth the money

Although there's one minor annoyance (PC version): while the DLL files get copied to the paths defined during installation, the installer creates a folder c:/Vstplugins and puts the files for uninstallation in there. I'd actually like to have them either in another folder defined by myself or at least in the plugin folder where the DLL files go. Any chance you can change that with one of the next updates?

Oh and what was the last word on +/- buttons to step through presets? Really miss that feature...

[V'ger]

But what's with the global hook on load Sean?


Not that I don't trust you, but obviously don't want anything opened unnecessary as a rule.

I just heard from the Juce developer (the framework used for cross-platform GUI by my plugins). The response:

The plugin stuff uses a mouse wheel hook, but that's been in there for a long time (well, at least a few months), and I've never heard of any problems before. Maybe some kind of virus checker has just started catching that sort of behaviour.

Jules will look into alternate solutions, but he has no way of testing them (i.e. he has never had a virus checker generate an alert message for this code). And these solutions might cause erratic mouse behavior in different hosts. For now, I wouldn't assume that the global hook is there for nefarious purposes.

It was actually the firewall that caught this, but I set it to allow now and right, the mousewheel overs started working. But I have other VSTs where mousewheel works without any hooks being installed so it is possible. Still, does anyone really use mousewheel on knobs and sliders? It's too coarse an adjust imo.

Jethro Tull did a similar thing in the 1980's. I remember hearing remastered versions of "Aqualung" that just RUINED that song. Fortunately, the remaster quickly faded out of the public eye. Or I decided that Jethro Tull was utter crap. Get me drunk enough, and I'll break out into my imitation of Ian Anderson playing flute. Which is mostly me standing on one leg, holding an imaginary flute, and making a bunch of weird humming and chuffing noises

Classic, always pulls the ladies that one. Alternatively, you can get a ridiculous fake beard, hunch really deep with an imaginary guitar on your knees and do cute kicks left and right, lol.

All twat moves, but Jethro was never crap, ZZ was imho. JT is one of only 5 or so acts from ye time I still listen to, nothing better than to put on a few tracks from 'Heavy Horses' or 'A' full blast in the car to clear the pop dust from the ears..

Maybe JT or ZZ never took to reverb well, but some acts do as I remember making a tape for a pal with all his fave Rush tracks where I put on some of the old (but quite excellent for the time) DSP-FX reverb + other things. I then forgot all about it until I drove with him much later and said wow, this car stereo really makes Rush sound sweet.. But of course that was the nature of Rush wasn't it, their 'grand' style music suited the depth just like everything got 10x better when they started using synths f.i.

[valhallasound]

I just put up a blog post, with an overview of the ValhallaRoom GUI:

http://valhalladsp.wordpress.com/2011/0 ... -overview/

[valhallasound]

Great reverb, well worth the money

Thanks!

Although there's one minor annoyance (PC version): while the DLL files get copied to the paths defined during installation, the installer creates a folder c:/Vstplugins and puts the files for uninstallation in there.

I've changed the installer, so that the uninstaller files go in the same Valhalla DSP directory as the factory presets. On my Windows 7 machine, this directory can be found at C:\ProgramData\Valhalla DSP, LLC\ValhallaRoom. The updates are in the same 1.0.3 links as before.

Oh and what was the last word on +/- buttons to step through presets? Really miss that feature...

I'll be working on that feature this week. Not sure when it will be posted - probably early next week.

Sean Costello

[V'ger]

Btw, turns out the mouse-over wheel control works even when the global hook is denied. (XP SP3)