Hive 2.1 Izmo skin by Plugmon

[neuromod]

thelizard, you don't need to file bug report - talk/read about it here:

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=559587

[plugmon]

thelizard, you don't need to file bug report - talk/read about it here:

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=559587

Besides this, u-he's UI designer has found out where does the IZMO's GUI heaviness comes from. It'll be improved.

[lonnyman]

Glad the colored waveforms are still being considered

[Urs]

thelizard, you don't need to file bug report - talk/read about it here:

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=559587

Besides this, u-he's UI designer has found out where does the IZMO's GUI heaviness comes from. It'll be improved.

We're quite in awe (that's a good thing) as to how you work, and how you use our concepts in ways we haven't anticipated.

[plugmon]

thelizard, you don't need to file bug report - talk/read about it here:

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=559587

Besides this, u-he's UI designer has found out where does the IZMO's GUI heaviness comes from. It'll be improved.

We're quite in awe (that's a good thing) as to how you work, and how you use our concepts in ways we haven't anticipated.

Limited materials boost creativity, just like Hive does

[karlfranz]

I'm having the same generic blocky font issues with the Beta using Izmo as with any other skin in Hive 2.01. Anyone have any idea how to fix it? It doesn't happen with my install of Diva.

In case it helps anyone out who has the same issue:
I was able to finally fix my blocky, non-aliased font problem in Hive 2.1 by removing its preferences and plist files in the user/application support and then let Hive regenerate them when I reopened the VST. Now Izmo looks "silky smooth". Yay!

[plugmon]

Glad the colored waveforms are still being considered

Also, a dark design is still a good candidate too. Deciding layouts/schemes just come prior to deciding colors, to save me from doubled labor of re-adjusting layouts.

[karlfranz]

Plugmon,
Here a few impressions about Izmo I haven't seen others mention yet:

• It seems odd to me that some flat UI elements have shadows. For example, here is FModNo2.png:

FModNo2.png

• Would you consider putting the Rotate (shift) buttons on either side of the Seq-Gate icons above the sequence as I did on my modified Eclipse skin shown below? The shift buttons on Izmo seem to dominate a huge amount of UI space relative to their importance. I would rather have that space dedicated to showing the name of the currently selected sequence preset along with the droplist menu which is currently selected via the triple dot button in the upper right corner of the sequencer.

Screen Shot 56.png

• The keyboard on the left side of the sequencer is very pretty, but I question its usefulness since it assumes that all sequences are relative to middle-C. I find the semitone amount above each sequence step more valuable as it shows the transposition based on the current note being played.

• The highlight showing the current step is way too faint. I could barely see it was there on my monitor. In my computer, it also seems to lag behind the step actually being played.

• I echo the sentiments of others regarding abbreviated abbreviations (e.g. STun). Best to label the sections Sub1 and Sub 2 and then relabel the controls Tune and Volume. Same applies throughout the rest of the interface.

• MultiPly (in the clock section) is oddly capitalized.

• Add my vote for colorized waveforms. Even if you don't do this, I'll just go ahead and do it to my copy of Hive regardless

• I'd be curious to know if the reason some people have weird text rendering (like the odd letter q) is due to whether they have a retina display or not. It sounds like a UI scaling issue. I've noticed that other VSTs (e.g. Dune3) have two sets of UI elements for each skin; one for normal resolution displays and another for retina which has all elements 200% larger.

That's all I got for now. Keep up the great work.
Cheers.

[octaveup]

• The keyboard on the left side of the sequencer is very pretty, but I question its usefulness since it assumes that all sequences are relative to middle-C. I find the semitone amount above each sequence step more valuable as it shows the transposition based on the current note being played.

this is my favourite feature!!

visualisation of the intervals using the keyboard+vertical columns works massively better for me versus the usual row of small numbers

(which i'm glad to see are there at the top anyway, so we can both be happy)

sure, if I think about it, I can tell you the numeric intervals for 9sus4, but when composing, i find it infinitely easier to picture them on the keyboard

and especially for inversions - my mod-12 maths isn't bad, but it's still easier to drag the vertical bar down an octave

would the ability to transpose the root note (or probably more likely the keyboard itself, relatively) make it more useful for you?

(all your other points are excellent, though! )

[XorXisT]

Purple is a big NOPE.

You're welcome .

[exmatproton]

Purple is a big NOPE.

You're welcome .

Purple is a big YES.

You're welcome .

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Purple on black might look cool on a huge monitor or something, but it's super low contrast. My 40 year old eyes don't work with purple on black with with a ultra wide screen monitor that's running 1080p resolution. I have good eyesight, but lower contrast items feel more difficult to discern.

[gavinray]

Regardless of opinion of the theme or the rest of the elements, I just want to express to plugmon how blown away I was when I pressed the "expand" icon and saw these for the first time:




I have never seen an arpeggiator/sequencer like this in a synth before, and I hope that they're all like this in the future. This is just brilliant, most intuitive and easy-to-use thing I've ever touched.

And the almost DAW-like view for the Shape Sequencer editor is impressive as well.

In general, think the beta theme looks very clean & modern. I have a personal preference for darker UI's with less flat elements and some more colors for visual distinction (up late at night, my eyes aren't very good), but the great thing about having hackable themes is that if you want something changed, you can skip complaining and just do the work to figure it out yourself =)

Would be grateful to see this sequencer incorporated into the stock Hive skin in the future too.
Plugmon "Neumann" and "Massive Modular" Zebra themes + stock Hive 2 = absolute favorite on any synth

Great job plugmon, huge fan of all your themes and watching interested to see where this one goes.

[plugmon]

Thanks karlfranz for the very detailed feedback! especially regarding sequencer. I agree on most of the arguments.

[ThomasLehmann]

Purple on black might look cool on a huge monitor or something, but it's super low contrast. My 40 year old eyes don't work with purple on black with with a ultra wide screen monitor that's running 1080p resolution. I have good eyesight, but lower contrast items feel more difficult to discern.

thats right and my opinion too. The contrast of middle or dark purple on black is very low and its difficult for my eyes. Maybe a brighter or pastel violet or orange is much better.