KVR Audio

ENV1 · Post by **ENV1** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:07 pm

bftucker wrote:ENV1:

Obviously two different paint schemes.

Mine resembles the first. Maybe they switched to black "end caps" because of the paint problem I have and, when they did, changed the color of the main body as well.

You mean the left section where the bender is?

I bet that this pitch-black is not original/factory, they probably either removed the original paint coating because of wear and the plastic below was all black or they painted or taped it over because the printings are all gone too.

As for the casing(s), there are some more pics of the programmer and the synth on greatsynthesizers which look reasonably neutral and unfalsified to me. Could you perhaps take a look at those and let me know if any of them is close enough to the actual look of the units that it could be used as a reference image?

Link: http://greatsynthesizers.com/test/roland-jx-8p/

RexXx · Post by **RexXx** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:13 pm

ENV1 wrote:So whats the right one.

Every JX8P I remember looks like the first pic from greatsynthesizer.com.
Some more pics (incl. buttons): http://www.amazona.de/blue-box-roland-jx8p/

About the gui size.
To big could be a problem for users with Notebooks (1366x768) or Macbooks Pro (1280x800)

AdmiralQuality · Post by **AdmiralQuality** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:16 pm

There might well have been some different revisions of the '8P that had different color schemes. Not sure, offhand.

All the ones I've seen have been the same shade of metallic grey (with yes, just a hint of brownness) in both the panels and the side-caps. And they match the PG-800 programmer as well. But to the eye, you'd never mistake this for metal. It LOOKS like the plastic that it is.

Other things that could account for the brown cast in some images: As already mentioned, camera white balance, particularly when lit with tungsten bulbs. And living in a smoker's studio will orange up gear very badly as well.

DrewDale · Post by **DrewDale** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:28 pm

RexXx wrote: About the gui size.
To big could be a problem for users with Notebooks (1366x768) or Macbooks Pro (1280x800)

I Agree, I would think no larger than the current GUI would be best.

ENV1 · Post by **ENV1** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:43 pm

Right now the UI is 1000x800

If i remove the frame and move some things a little closer together i might be able to shrink it to circa 930x780.

Smaller would not be possible unless i reverted to the crummy microfont labels, which suck on high-res screens.

So thats the best compromise i can offer.

ENV1 · Post by **ENV1** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:50 pm

AdmiralQuality wrote:All the ones I've seen have been the same shade of metallic grey...

Thats probably what im going to go for since i totally cant stand that bronze tone.

Heres a first try, just to see what direction the overall look would take with that tone.

(Although i have to say that i liked the black from the last screenshot muuuuuch better.)

click for fullsize

AdmiralQuality · Post by **AdmiralQuality** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:52 pm

I found the black background to be too contrasty. This is much easier on the eyes. (But then what do I know?

)

ENV1 · Post by **ENV1** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:19 pm

But IMO it looks a lot less cool than the black one.

(Wrong as it was with respect to the synths real color, i was actually very happy with the black metal finish except that it needed to be made a smidgen brighter.)

Spitfire31 · Post by **Spitfire31** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:24 pm

I could live with this last one. Easily…

/Joachim

valerian_777 · Post by **valerian_777** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:27 pm

ENV1 wrote:But IMO it looks a lot less cool than the black one.

(Wrong as it was with respect to the synths real color, i was actually very happy with the black metal finish except that it needed to be made a smidgen brighter.)

Exactly my thoughts too.

ENV1 · Post by **ENV1** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:34 pm

Spitfire31 wrote:I could live with this last one. Easily…

/Joachim

I'll let Martin have the last word on this.

His SE version was rather bright, the new version more dark, so i say lets see what he ultimately had in mind.

Whatever it is, thats what its going to be.

Spitfire31 · Post by **Spitfire31** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:39 pm

valerian_777 wrote:
ENV1 wrote:But IMO it looks a lot less cool than the black one.

(Wrong as it was with respect to the synths real color, i was actually very happy with the black metal finish except that it needed to be made a smidgen brighter.)
Exactly my thoughts too.

I have no problem agreeing that the coal black version was cooler, per se. But it's not an independent work of art. It's a working environment.

We're going to spend hours staring at it and there's no doubt that an image with moderate contrast is more restful to look at in the long run.

/Joachim

PAK · Post by **PAK** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:51 pm

From memory, the original is grey with a slight hint of brown. The reason for all the red tinted photographs is most people have no idea how to set white balance in a camera. I suppose it's possible the materials used could be subject to some surface break-down (including colour changes) after 30 years though.

AdmiralQuality wrote:I actually liked it better when it was grey-er. It looks like Darth Vader's JX-8P now. $0.02

The problem with this stuff is it's not just personal preference, but also the display and gamma curve used. I'm curious, if you look at this picture here, what's the lowest square you actually see?
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php

Also, can you see the checkered pattern right up to RGB 254 if you check the white saturation?
( http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/white.php )

If you can see them it's just personal preference. If you can't then we're not looking at the same image

It's really common that people set LCD's for darker black (so the picture "pops") without realizing they're squashing out black detail.

Spitfire31 · Post by **Spitfire31** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:55 pm

PAK wrote:It's really common that people set LCD's for darker black (so the picture "pops") without realizing they're squashing out black detail.

No doubt. But we (I'm a photographer…) can't design pictures on the assumption that some people can't adjust their monitors properly.

/Joachim

ENV1 · Post by **ENV1** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:13 pm

Spitfire31 wrote:We're going to spend hours staring at it and there's no doubt that an image with moderate contrast is more restful to look at in the long run.

This is certainly true.

But to be perfectly honest, the longer i look at the bright version the more i hate it. I just went to the bathroom and the kitchen for a snack and when i returned i was like 'aw man, you cant be serious'. This is always a clear sign to me that im starting to lose it because i was sitting in front of the screen too long.

Anyhow, maybe the best compromise between something that looks halfways aestethically pleasing AND endurable would be to go back to the 101-ish grey i had in one of the earlier shots. At least there is some color in that, and with the right texture its actually quite OK to look at too. The guy that designed the UI for UVIs UVX-10P kind of ended up doing the same thing, probably for the very same reason.

But like i said, i will wait for Martins input before i continue with this. Otherwise ill be running in circles...

PG8X (inspired by the JX8P): new beta version uploaded