Hive 2 is coming!

[Urs]

maybe those sould get the same 'love'?

I'm sure they will!

[grommon]

Huge u-he fan, any ideas on when the beta will surface?

[Urs]

Huge u-he fan, any ideas on when the beta will surface?

We hope around Superbooth.

[zklaus]

Not finished in terms of contrasts and stuff, but a rough glimpse at what we're going for:



Thoughts?

(we've got until, say, early April to change things...)

This looks really cool, very nice looking.

[MrM777]

Hi Urs,

I think you're on the right track here. I like it a lot better than v1. The so called "military hardware" color scheme makes it look robust, almost dependable. Meanwhile the hexagon's colors balance that, evoking a promise of fun and flexibility. Very elegant and easy on the eyes overall.

If there is anything I'd suggest you work on, it would be better use of space, as some other members suggested. But above all please think deeply about the dials:

Some dials are used way more than others and in different ways. As a sound designer, I like it when dials are sized in accordance with their role and usage frequency.

I usually like to scrub the Cutoff in a very fine movements looking for sonic interest. Which is why I always welcome bigger dials there.

When I look at the filter sections in your mockup, I notice how the small Cutoff dials are almost identical in size to the KeyTrack scaler. How often would you use KT scale compared to the Cutoff? You may also notice how much space the KT is eating away in that section.

Another thing about dials within synths anywhere: It might look fun to shape them like their real world counterparts, but there is something crucial most designers overlook: We move them around with a good ol' mouse!

Imagine if you were asked to program a Moog, but prohibited from using your fingers as a caveat: "Use anything stick shaped but no fingers"...how much fun would that be?

So my suggestion here is: Think deeply about the most elegant design for a "Dial" that feels natural and comfortable to use under a mouse pointer. If you're interested I can expand on this with you in private.

Wishing you continued success!

[Rivanni]

The pastel shades and all backgrounds in grey make depressive. Hive 1 interface had energy and encouraged me to tweak it, but this looks like a tool for my grandmother I feel I don't want to open it more often that I'd need to.

Like the idea of color coding the FX, but it's too much. The rectangular display in the diagonal shaped LFO sections are ugly, Hive1 had a knob that fitted into this corner. OSC & FILT looks a bit overwhelming while the rest of the screen feels more empty.

Second that.

I dislike the fact that de AMP2 and MOD2 are switched places. Because both envelopes look similar I predict that I will often adjust the wrong slider here.

I like the new layout of the top half though and the new hexagon section is also an improvement.

[DrGonzo]

Superbooth you say... that would be fantastic! And great design BTW.

/C

[Dasheesh]

Not finished in terms of contrasts and stuff, but a rough glimpse at what we're going for:



Thoughts?

(we've got until, say, early April to change things...)

boomshaka that's gorgeous. those muted pastels are EXACTLY what i love.

[enCiphered]

The GUI elements are from Zebra 2.8 ? Or is this a prototype design?

[Stefken]

Some dials are used way more than others and in different ways. As a sound designer, I like it when dials are sized in accordance with their role and usage frequency.

I usually like to scrub the Cutoff in a very fine movements looking for sonic interest. Which is why I always welcome bigger dials there.

When I look at the filter sections in your mockup, I notice how the small Cutoff dials are almost identical in size to the KeyTrack scaler. How often would you use KT scale compared to the Cutoff?

I concur. What is pretty much the first knob people will twiddle with on a hardware subtractive synth?
And here it is a small dial with very little graphic interest in terms of position, size, separation, graphical properties, ...

[Butwug]

I concur. What is pretty much the first knob people will twiddle with on a hardware subtractive synth?
And here it is a small dial with very little graphic interest in terms of position, size, separation, graphical properties, ...

Never felt like I needed the cutoff knob to be bigger or different than the rest of the knobs. Just putting a shortcut for minor adjustments is sufficient. Like cntrl+cursor movement or mouse wheel doing micro adjustments is plenty. Plus, isn’t the knob just a visual. You can put a huge knob that only does macro adjustments, or a tiny knob that does more accurate micro adjustments

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

...when I said Wavetable Editor, I meant the existing wavetable screen from Hive with the position, loop, etc. Wavetable options screen I guess? What do we call that? Didn't mean building a full blown editor.

Now that I'm home and not looking at it on my phone screen, I see the Wavetable section is basically unchanged except instead of saying WT1, there's an icon and a 1. I'm not sure that the icon is more clear. I missed it completely while looking on my phone. Overall, the greenish tint and text don't do it for me either, but I could see it as being very easy on the eyes.

[EvilDragon]

For an example of what I consider professional look no further than the Spartan Gray skin by satYatunes:

Oh, please no... there is no visual differentiation. I don't like that skin at all. If I had to work with that skin I would go in and change the backgrounds of the different modules and make them color coded so that there was visual separation.

Satya does great work but that skin could've been much better. It is too uniform, to a fault, making it look drab and uninspiring. It appears as looking cool, but I'd find it much less usable in practice.

[Urs]

The GUI elements are from Zebra 2.8 ? Or is this a prototype design?

It's the current state of Hive 2.0 design. We've taken the feedback from the screenshots we posted a year or two ago, and combined those into a design which keeps the hexagon.

We've removed some of the excess space from Hive's original skin, in order to create space for addtional modulation sources. Those modulation sources are work in progress, but the UI widgets are close to being final. We also visualize the ModMatrix modifiers (curve, slew etc.) below the target slots.

Everything else is more or less the same.

[Stefken]

Plus, isn’t the knob just a visual.

The whole graphical user interface is 'just' a visual so you might just as well refrain from doing anything interesting, right ?? Just like music is just notes in a sequence so who cares what notes you play, right.