Hive 2.1 Izmo skin by Plugmon

[Urs]

Urs is it possible to add a unison? With an option saying that use it at your own risk as it will increase cpu greatly.

Also can you add more distortion modes? And maybe more distortion options?

This doesn't relate to the IZMO skin, but while we can discuss a lot of feature requests for the future, the 2.1 update is feature complete. Let's maybe start new threads for feature requests.

[knowix]

I'd echo what other people are saying about it looking like Massive X. Though for me that's a very logical choice, as Hive was originally developed during the heyday of EDM and tail end of Trance's popularity. Music has moved on and the current trend in popular club music is moody sounding house, with techno and trance influences. This style is often created and enjoyed by people who think it's a lot more sophisticated than it actually is. So a GUI from the EDM era might misbrand the synth and what it can do. Having this alternative skin at least communicates that there's a lot more to Hive than supersaws.

Regarding the colour - I like those dramatic NI GUIs, but I freely admit they might not be as suitable for hours spent in front of a screen. The silly thing is that the logical solution is a GUI that starts really dramatic and attention grabbing but slowly changes to beige or taupe the longer you sit in front of it. A logical solution but perhaps not practical...

[karlfranz]

...The silly thing is that the logical solution is a GUI that starts really dramatic and attention grabbing but slowly changes to beige or taupe the longer you sit in front of it. A logical solution but perhaps not practical...

So, essentially a GUI that makes you feel like you're having a stroke and losing your color vision. Got it.

[Josephhh]

I like it! Very suave! Not the most hardcore user so can't offer much other than 'suave'

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Using the beta 2 Izmo theme, I can't find how to get into that larger-screen edit mode for the Shape Sequencer and standard Sequencer. That square edit mode icon from the prior skin is gone, but I don't see anything replacing it. Was this an oversight or is there a way to get into these views that I haven't discovered yet.

I appreciate the mod matrix naming improvements. Definitely helps!

I also prefer the slightly darker background on the Mod Matrix pane compared to the lighter gray of the middle section of the GUI, which feels softer and less contrast-y. I think if the dark part of the middle section matched color-wise with the mod-matrix background, it would be a better look and a bit easier to read.

[alberto_balsalm]

Not a fan. Aesthetically it's cool, but it's hard on the eyes for a number of reasons. Too much contrast between the bright and dark elements, bright is a tad too bright, and dark is a tad too dark. Something is wonky with font's antialiasing, they're a little bit blurry (on Windows at least), which just adds to the overall washed out look.

The thing I probably like the least is that somehow, the different sections of the UI just seem to blend in together. It's something I've noticed with the Neumann skin for Zebra as well - looks cool, but it also looks really "blended together", so to speak. The different sections of the UI just quite pop out as they should (as they do in the default skin). The mod matrix is just plain weird, I don't know, maybe it's something you could get used to, but it's just tiny and weird. Meanwhile, the FX section is huge. Having tabs to switch between the FX section and the full sized mod matrix (so it would fit in the same area as the FX section) is a better idea, imo.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Something is wonky with font's antialiasing, they're a little bit blurry (on Windows at least), which just adds to the overall washed out look.

I feel like it's better on this release but still soft. And if you turn text anti-aliasing off in the preferences the font completely changes and falls apart.

Is there a bug with the font-rendering on Windows?

[zvenx]

I am glad you are open for comments/feedback.

I must tell you that the less contrast makes it harder to read and the way to enlarge the pop up sequencer windows are not at all obvious.
Took me a while
rsp

[accessdune3]

Tbh despite liking layout more in the end I'm just using default one, just colours and all the details are much more easier and smoother on the eyes. This skin makes programing not so "fun".

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I am glad you are open for comments/feedback.

I must tell you that the less contrast makes it harder to read and the way to enlarge the pop up sequencer windows are not at all obvious.
Took me a while
rsp

Thank you. Would've taken me forever to find those.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Here's what the Izmo font looks like with text anti-aliasing off in Hive's preferences:

Izmo Anti-Aliasing Off.png

...that's definitely not right. Scaling in Hive is set to 110%. Windows is at 100% (so nothing weird there).

[alberto_balsalm]

Is there a bug with the font-rendering on Windows?

I don't think this uses Windows' native font rendering (I could be wrong though). Windows has a pretty "sharp" antialiasing that makes smaller sized fonts look not unlike bitmap fonts - thin and crisp. Whereas OSX (and it's the same on Linux) renders them fat, smooth, and round. I'm not sure why, but in recent years some Windows programs, including games, all have really poor font antialiasing (same problem - fat and blurry looking instead of thin and crisp). I'm assuming they simply don't rely of Windows' native font antialiasing.

Here's how it looks at 120% for me:



And if you zoom in, here's how blurry the fonts and the elements of the UI actually are, note the amount of all those extra pixels that smooth out the fonts:

[fgimian]

The new version looks greatly improved in beta 2, but I still think that more shortened terms can be removed:

* S1 / S-Tun / S-Vol, why not just have Sub 1, and then Tune, Volume
* In the compressor, Attack and Release would fit there instead of A and R
* In the Delay, Feedback should fit instead of F.B.
* Octave and Phase for each osc would fit in full too
* I'm sure the same could be done for O1 and O2 -> Osc 1 and Osc 2
* In the FX list, why not just have Dist -> Distort and Rev -> Reverb? These would definitely fit and match the header on the right
* In the middle panel, SEQUENCER G and M are not obvious at all, it actually took me a while to figure out G is Gate and M is Mod. No new user would be able to figure that out without proper labels.

To avoid confusion with the waveform selection in the O1 and O2 panels, I think you could have a little X which will take you back to a Sine wave. This is like "exiting" the wavetable mode and going back to regular waveforms.

Here's a relatively crude mockup of most ideas above:



Abbreviations and shortened terms are generally a terrible thing for usability, the less the better. The problem I have here is that most shortened terms could absolutely fit on the GUI; there's so much free space there.

And of course, I still do crave a dark because like others, I just couldn't stare at this one for too long. Going back to the original skin feels so much gentler on the eyes.

[fgimian]

Also, I think that the Voice mode (e.g. poly, mono .etc) should be a drodown menu, it took me a while to figure out I had to drag up and down to change it, and this seems like the wrong choice for this particular set of choices.

Oh aaaand, I'm still clicking the heading of effects to turn them on and off instinctively, is it possible to make the headings enable / disable the effects too (as well as the vertical list under FX?

[CRAFTMATIX]

Shouldn't detune be closer to "unis"? Could the word unison be used rather than unis?