Hive 2.1 Izmo skin by Plugmon

[exmatproton]

Hey where’s the dislike button

Now I see clearly why they removed that button. They need to make space for putting labels 'cause icons without labels need steep learning curve

[Dombaeb]

I already posted it in Hive 2 beta topic but I shall move my thoughts because I really like how this skin functionally designed. It can become Hive from my dreams

First of all - colors. I can understand when designer wants to make something different from project to project but there are solid reasons why "darker" synths loved by musicians. They don't make the eyes suffer. Second, there are almost no contrasts in Izmo. I think you need to split modules using colors and maybe something like different textures. It is worth mentioning that everything is good with contrasts and textures in the classic Hive skin. Third, blurry everything...

Please, don't forget that no matter how beautiful a synthesizer is looking, first of all, it should be usable for quick intuitive work and be eye-scan friendly. I'm not always looking at the synth interface straight. More often, I look at it from the side while I play the keyboard and using another free hand for tweaking. That's why contrast so important (but you know it, of course).

As I said, Izmo is very well designed and removes many annoying Hive restrictions and allows to work more fluently. Good job, be blessed!

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Hey where’s the dislike button

Now I see clearly why they removed that button. They need to make space for putting labels 'cause icons without labels need steep learning curve

[psynical]

Does anyone know why we can't see the modulation movement on the amount UI? Why is it static instead of showing how much is being modulated? Perhaps if the orange line was just desaturated showing the amount?
Something like this:

Untitled-3.jpg

Speaking of which... could we get different colors for each modulator, instead of all being orange?

[psynical]

As for Izmo, i really love the Eclipse UI, but Izmo is totally confusing and nearly unusable with so many major controls barely discernable. Icons that don't appear to be anything important are actually the only way to access significant parts of the UI. Like the little square brackets next to Sequencer or how long it took to find my Presets.
I could get used to it, of course, but it just feels too flat overall and there's no hierarchy with everything just sitting at the same level.

[psynical]

oh and sorry, the comment above about different color mods is in reference to the original skin, not Izmo.

[psynical]

A small bug:
- drag a mod onto the Distort Mix
- try to change the mod amount by clicking the circle and dragging
result: the amount can't be changed because the distortion type will change instead of mod amount.

[plugmon]

A small bug:
- drag a mod onto the Distort Mix
- try to change the mod amount by clicking the circle and dragging
result: the amount can't be changed because the distortion type will change instead of mod amount.

This is because the FX type menu and the knob are too close to each other. must be fixed, thanks.

[plugmon]

I'm guessing most people will be dark UI users that suddenly see something a bit too bright which will obviously be supper annoying.

This is a big factor. A UI never looks the same between different backgrounds.





mmm...It's like optical illusion experiment.

[anoise]

That's why it's a good idea to have a dark and a light version or a neutral color scheme.
Will there be an updated Eclipse for Hive 2.1 or is Izmo replacing it?

[plugmon]

Will there be an updated Eclipse for Hive 2.1 or is Izmo replacing it?

After IZMO's release, something must be done to Eclipse product, too.

Putting light/dark discussion aside, I'm curious about the opinions for "waveform selector".



With this selector --
Pros : It takes just 1 click to select waveforms.
Cons : For main OSC, having 2 menus to select waveforms, one of which is hidden in WT mode, is rather perplexing. Displaying many icons, it may look cluttered.

Without this selector --
Pros : Looks simple. Works simple.
Cons : You need 2 clicks every time you switch waveforms.


As to icons/labels matters, perhaps it is linguistic backgrounds that affects the liking more or less. I'm not native to Latin characters and feel easier to icons rather than letters. It could be reverse, or one may feel icons to be redundant(in voicemode, FX chain) if native to alphabets.

[anoise]

I think the first looks better and it's easier to use.

[fgimian]

Will there be an updated Eclipse for Hive 2.1 or is Izmo replacing it?

After IZMO's release, something must be done to Eclipse product, too.

Putting light/dark discussion aside, I'm curious about the opinions for "waveform selector".



With this selector --
Pros : It takes just 1 click to select waveforms.
Cons : For main OSC, having 2 menus to select waveforms, one of which is hidden in WT mode, is rather perplexing. Displaying many icons, it may look cluttered.

Without this selector --
Pros : Looks simple. Works simple.
Cons : You need 2 clicks every time you switch waveforms.


As to icons/labels matters, perhaps it is linguistic backgrounds that affects the liking more or less.

I agree that the single click is ideal, but personally feel that it's better to not have that available if it will not always be visible (i.e. when wavetables are being used). I must admit that I really like that hexagon style because it is like a little tease on the original Hive design, but honestly both designs look great (assuming they would both use a dark theme).

I really hope that any of my feedback didn't come off too negative. I think you are an incredible designer, and honestly I was seriously looking at buying Eclipse just the other week but then found this Hive 2.1 release and thought I'd wait to see what it's going to offer. I'm so grateful for everything you're doing!

Keep up the great work and thank you so much for engaging with us and taking on suggestions so openly.

[exmatproton]

for me, the first option works better.

[Maykie]

As many people already said:
- UI layout - 10/10
- Color theme - bad

Switch back from Izmo to original skin felt like huge relief for my eyes

One more thing: Izmo skin feels very laggy compared to original skin. The scope is like 5 fps even on eco mode and interacting with shape seq feels much less responsive.