Confession: I can't use ugly plugins.

[Aleksey Vaneev]

Voxengo seems to be an inspiration to talk about ugliness.

So, I'm totally correct about "exaggeration".

Picasso was also regarded as a painter of "ugliness", so maybe a hope lies in the future.

[careyletendre]

I have come to regret using the term 'ugly' in my original post. It was mainly used in jest. The word I should have used perhaps is 'unappealing'. Saying ugly is like referring to art that I don't like as 'bad' art. There obviously is no bad art, just personal taste. Voxengo plugins are esthetically not to my taste.

Besides, everyone knows that pretty plugins sound better.

Carey

[jamcat]

I like how the Voxengo Sound Delay lets you choose meters and feet, so I use it to delay the “room” channel in MODO DRUM since it seems IK didn’t account for mic distance.

Since it is recreating a property of physics and not modeling analog gear, I don’t care how it looks so much. Also, I just set and forget. I’m not mixing with it or spending a lot of time looking at it.

[Boy Wonder]

I like Voxengo. Sounds nice. My UI preference for their stuff, of which they have many built in, is a dark skin at 150% magnification.

[Digivolt]

Voxengo plugins are esthetically not to my taste.

So change the colour scheme to your taste ? That's what most of us have done

[careyletendre]

Voxengo plugins are esthetically not to my taste.

So change the colour scheme to your taste ? That's what most of us have done

If it were only that simple.

Carey

[Bodhisan]

I have come to regret using the term 'ugly' in my original post. It was mainly used in jest. The word I should have used perhaps is 'unappealing'. Saying ugly is like referring to art that I don't like as 'bad' art. There obviously is no bad art, just personal taste. Voxengo plugins are esthetically not to my taste.

Besides, everyone knows that pretty plugins sound better.

Carey

Good follow-up - good analogy.

[mixyguy2]

It's simple, to compare downloads of a free plugin to one that costs $179 isn't a level playing field.

Of course there are likely to be more downloads of the free SPAN than the $179 Pro-Q.

It has nothing to do with quality

Got ya, thanks for clarification.

OK. Then can I wonder if you are trying to say that some "average user" will use something "ugly" if it's free? (I personally do not think it's how things work).

I think you need to think again. Most people will be more forgiving of a product in various ways, including the UI, if it's free. But ironically in a way this is in Voxengo's favor...that people will use it even though it doesn't have a great UI. That's because you make good stuff.

PS I just visited the site. Interestingly, it looks like it's the free plugins that could use a facelift. But they are not at all "toy like" IMO, and FWIW I have long been a Voxengo fan. They were some of the first plugins I tried and the Oldskool reverb in particular was my first "go to" reverb.

[MogwaiBoy]

My personal view is that it's all about the music - your audience don't see the plugins you used... or, if you're one of those people on Insta, maybe they do! In other words, it doesn't bother me. Some plugins are kinda ugly but if I know they sound great, and that's pretty much all that matters to me.

In any case - there's no shame in avoiding ugly GUI's, because it's about whatever makes you feel comfy and creative... and if that means a pretty GUI helps you make better music, so be it. It's the same reason why people like a tidy workspace, or an environment that helps them get in the mood for awesome sh**.

[ghettosynth]

Voxengo plugins are esthetically not to my taste.

So change the colour scheme to your taste ? That's what most of us have done

If it were only that simple.

Carey

Nah, it's not just the colors, those knobs are definitely "softball cute." How many layers of 3d skirts and flange are there? The LED rings are definitely on the unnecessarily chonky side. That 3d parameter popout surround also contributes to the outdated look.

Also, I can't think of anything more tedious than choosing color schemes for plugins. I see that people spend hours of their lives making skins for things, I don't have time for that. I like to spend my hours slaving over different but equally tedious activities that are just as irrelevant. Consequently, I need my plugins to come with nice knobs that I don't mind looking at for hours on end.

That said, it's stuff like this that sends my fugly-dar off the charts.



Those knobs, gah!

[jamcat]

I would be most happy if Voxengo released r8brain PRO for Mac. I don't even care if it's ugly or not.

[Aleksey Vaneev]

Oh well, I'm happy about the sales, I'm mostly happy about the looks of Voxengo plugins I did, so I'll just classify "haters" as overly-selective persons. On the other hand, I dislike most "rack panel" UIs, and I'm not very fond of now-usual "dark grey, minimal, borderless" UIs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you like something and dislike another thing, you are telling about yourself. I would not really be eager to call something "ugly" in public, even if I think that thing is undefended in public opinion.

[ghettosynth]

Well, let's take some of the heat off of Aleksey. After all, I don't think his work is even a top contender. Not even a mention in this reddit post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/c ... glist_vst/

Surely this is a GUI that only a mother can love...



And of course, there's the alien, um, tool, with heat dissipation fins. No you won't be able to un-see it going forward

[kritikon]

Just shows it's all in the eye of the beholder. Yeah Polyana is fugly as (that must be unanimous) but that Toxic one is great IMO - well laid out, well organized, east to navigate and I like the colors.

Whereas Fabfilter give me migraines. I just cannot work with them. Simply nasty in every aspect. Colour, 1D, toy like, dials within dials, but I know some here love them...it shocks me that I didn't know just how many people must be colour blind.

[MogwaiBoy]

Those knobs, gah!

sick - in my mouth.