Confession: I can't use ugly plugins.

[careyletendre]

I just can't do it; no matter how good it sounds.

Hangs head in shame.

Edit: I agree that it's mostly in the eye of the beholder. Personally i prefer skeuomorphic design if it's done to my taste. I can't get onboard with this trend towards flat design.

However, skeuomorphic isn't a guaranteed win. I disable about a quarter of my Waves Mercury plugins simply because i don't like how they look.

Also, I can't handle it when plugin windows don't fit the plugin. Instant 'nope, not gonna happen'.

Nope

Nope.png

Yep

Yep.png

The new reskin of Waves Renaissance line has brought them back into my library.

No

No.png

Yes

Yes.png

[cryophonik]

No shame in that. For every hideous plugin, there are usually several other options that do the same thing and look better.

[pixel85]

I don't like and don't use ugly (imo) plugins. But we have so much choice that it's not a problem. We can afford to be picky and choose plugins that sounds great and look great (in our own opinion)

[LeVzi]

Cue the "What's the ugliest VST you won't use" thread.

[Biome_Digital]

Sounds reasonable (or looks).

[dan_flash]

Boo hiss (etc).

Na seriously it's fair enough like, I suspect there's nothing controversial about that. I'm the opposite myself though - I disable GUIs on plugs where feasible because I feel like it helps focus my ears' and allow for better judgement.

[melomood]

Same. Mostly I just want them dialed in and closed so they're out of the way, so I guess no muff is too tough for me

[gExpectations]

more or less, i gravitate strongly to plugins that please me but i mean, theres nothing wrong about that. were spoiled for choice anyway. just picking the thing you vibe with is conducive to actually making music. i dont like 3d vsts with modelled interfaces and i dont like not scalable interfaces. i try to stick with simple or even good looking stuff, i do have some exceptions else it would be to bothersome but this rule of thumb is as good as any to cut through the overwhelming number of options.

[kPere]

It's probably not the graphics that kills it though. UI as a whole can be a killer argument. It actually is very important. And as long as you don't sacrifice sound quality, its a right choice. Good UI will get you faster to what you want to achieve.

Screw Melda for that! If they only made simplified version of plugins with an option to expand the settings (like some do), I'd be surely looking at them. As for now, there are many other options.

[ghettosynth]

This should, um, do the trick!

[nordickvr]

This should, um, do the trick!

Nani video

Is this for real?

Would take the link (it's for a friend of mine).

[Dirk Diggler]

I try not to listen with my eyes.
Ears always do a better job.

[kvotchin]

Same for me. Ain’t got no time for that.

Life is altogether too short and full of uncertainty to use fugly damn plugins.

[BONES]

I dunno, that seems pretty arbitrary to me. Whilst I find myself attracted to nice looking plugins, and therefore much more likely to try them out, I can't see that an ugly one would stop me using it if it sounded good. That said, I looked through my plugin list and the only two ugly ones there are Trueno, which is not to my taste at all, and Virt Vereor, which is downright hideous. It doesn't stop me using Trueno but I only have VV installed because my bandmate used it in something.

But the interesting thing is to define what's ugly and what's not. Somebody doesn't like "3D modelled" interfaces, which seems rathe rarbitrary to me. I'll guarantee that most of you wouldn't know whether something was done in 3D, Photoshop or Illustrator. I sure as hell can't tell half the time and I've been doing that for a living for 25 years.

For me, ugly is usually about colour choices - too many bright, clashing colours or too much contrast. It's OK to have a strong highlight colour, just one, but I prefer that the overall tones are more muted. I think consistency matters a lot, too. e.g. I hate the Cubase interface because it's a mish-mash of two or three different styles.

[OzoneJunkie]

twss