Swarm - New GUI for Hive2 [OUT NOW]

[THE INTRANCER]

imo a bit heavy handed, because it becomes the whitest most high contrast element of the whole skin. Aside the module labels at top on some color themes, there's not much of pure white in the skin otherwise.

Well, I tried it with a lower brightness level, and it didn't make reading the text any better. I think the problem is with the close kerning of the font being used. It's too close, I think. For me, I'm not really fan of the font you have used for the skin on the interface. So I'd reconsider using something more spaced for headings like Futura https://freefontsfamily.com/futura-font-family-free/ For my redesign of Hive, I used the expanded font https://fontsov.com/style/expanded-fonts.html for my main section headings and left the standard font that Hive uses be the default.

I've not really spoken about the GUI design, but I feel you have gone a bit over the top, but I'll come to that in a bit. I'll come to the fonts first, where I think you have too many types of fonts being used. You should really aim for no more than two, but three you may get away with if it's part of a logo, for example. Font sizes should be consistent, legible, and easily read. The GUI you have atm has text which is tiny in places, curving around knobs, at right angles, too close in proximity to other parts of the GUI elements, so there's no breathing space. This makes a GUI which is already pretty complicated to be a bit of a usability nightmare to some degree despite the customisation functions. It looks fancy, but it detracts from usability somewhat. If you are stuck for space, try to think about how to make space.

Also, it's worth noting that it's generally harder to read block capital letters rather than lowercase text. This can be off-putting in some cases where complex layouts are concerned.

I find the left central quite overly complex, and I have trouble understanding how the flow of the instrument is routed together from each section to the next. The FX section in layout seems what Scots would say is off-kilter, there's no balance as such. Things pop out left and right, rather being more centralised.

Generally I feel it's more complex than the standard Hive GUI, but not as much as Izmo and the presentation is much nicer despite the issues I mentioned.

I do like how the modulation section is brought into the centre though, so it negates the need to access the big panel bank that could be used to show other GUI elements. It's simpler also.

I like the knob designs and the rotating knob that displays the waveform within it. Although, the text Wavetable seems to be cut off. Mabe rename it 'Wave-T1' instead and Wave-T2 for the other, which is what I did for a heading in the hexagon of the skin did. (My Hive skin hasn't been made available to download yet).

I think the coolest thing though is how you can dynamically change the GUI to suit how you want the GUI to look. Interestingly, that's something that you can do on my website by selecting the GUI customise button on the top left of Intrancersonic, although that doesn't really apply to actual text. Selecting background images and different colours from the GUI Styliser button. One button, one menu, or menu within a menu. Perhaps that could be adapted to Hive in a similar way too.

[Ploki]

Thanks for your feedback!

Futura is not a free font in the sense that I can commercially distribute the skin with it - for that you'd need to buy a license for it and i honestly don't like it that much


I tried to pick typography that works at smaller sizes, and laid out the controls shapes, types and sizes so the labels hopefully become unnecessary eventually and one can rely on visual cues more than labels themselves.
Also fonts that are free for commercial use.
There's plenty of top-case labels on synths: Diva, Diva AIKO, Serum, ANA2, Disco OBX, Vital, Tyrell, Omnishpere, DS Thorn, Dune.


Not technically cutoff, but reaallly pushing it.

Screenshot 2022-06-16 at 10.17.08.png

Not sure what you mean about MOD section flow - it doesn't really "flow", it's assigned to whatever it's assigned except fixed assignments of LFOs to Filters.
I've skimped through a lot of presets and most don't use LFO hard-wires to filter (but do use MOD envelopes to filters)

as for FX, i wanted to make the Macros a part of the standard interface - present at most times, because i think it's an under-appreciated feature of Hive and not really the focus of any other Hive skins, which means that FX needs to be pushed to sides. If i centered them, Macros would be out of the question and then only present on XY and KB layers.

At one point there was a layout that had FX stuck to sides and mods and the bottom, but wasn't happy with it because it looked too cluttered and didn't make sense.

Also the EQ wouldn't work in that mockup, because you can't scale "EQView" - it needs to be the size it is. (Probably because Hive doesn't use it so while it's in and thank god works, it's not really officially supported)

There was also at one point an unpublished working version with lower case labels

[Ploki]

Also to not confuse any newcomers with old screenshots, here's a screenshot with a new additional Juno-esque theme from v0.9.7
(thanks to funkybot's evil twin for the idea)

[THE INTRANCER]

Thanks for your feedback!

Futura is not a free font in the sense that I can commercially distribute the skin with it - for that you'd need to buy a license for it and i honestly don't like it that much

I tried to pick typography that works at smaller sizes, and laid out the controls shapes, types and sizes so the labels hopefully become unnecessary eventually and one can rely on visual cues more than labels themselves.
Also fonts that are free for commercial use.

Ok, here's one that's called orbitron and it's open source, it's futuristic in style as well. Something like you might see in some sci-fi film. You can use it commercially as per the notes on the page and it works well at small sizes.

https://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/orbitron

There's plenty of top-case labels on synths: Diva, Diva AIKO, Serum, ANA2, Disco OBX, Vital, Tyrell, Omnishpere, DS Thorn, Dune.

You still need labels to identify things, but over use of them can lead to information overload like everything in CAPS CAN LEAD TO THINK THAT EVERYTHING IS SHOUTING AT YOU. Something that I noticed with the original Hive UI was that everything was being repeated label wise. I tend to think that VST developers follow each other when it comes to labelling and that of imitating hardware. With software, you have more flexibility than what you have with real hardware in practicality. That said, using too many symbols and particularly ones which are quite vague and ambiguous can be negative in making things confusing to the point where you want to run away. You want to keep things simple and clear in how you communicate the UI as you know.

Not technically cutoff, but reaallly pushing it.

There's zero white space, a few pixels can make all the difference in presentation.

Not sure what you mean about MOD section flow - it doesn't really "flow", it's assigned to whatever it's assigned except fixed assignments of LFOs to Filters.
I've skimped through a lot of presets and most don't use LFO hard-wires to filter (but do use MOD envelopes to filters)

I think that there is just too much going on visually, too many lines too many labels, displays, knobs, curved text all cramped together in one area. This could be divided into individual tabs I think. Try and simplify it.

as for FX, I wanted to make the Macros a part of the standard interface - present at most times, because I think it's an under-appreciated feature of Hive and not really the focus of any other Hive skins, which means that FX needs to be pushed to the sides. If I centred them, Macros would be out of the question and then only present on XY and KB layers.

You could simplify the FX section to one level of controls and displays instead of two, and have the macros in one line above it. This way you, you would have more space and a FX system that isn't disjointed, but instead all lined up whilst not compromising on the functionality you desire.

At one point there was a layout that had FX stuck to the sides and mods and the bottom, but wasn't happy with it because it looked too cluttered and didn't make sense.

I actually quite like that because everything is contained in one cohesive section, although it compromises the UI as you said.

Also, the EQ wouldn't work in that mockup, because you can't scale "EQView" - it needs to be the size it is. (Probably because Hive doesn't use it so while it's in and thank god works, it's not really officially supported)

Could you combine the EQ display and the scope together ? This could add another dimension to the synth ? Or perhaps make the EQ to be in the central section to add any space you need for the FX ?

There was also at one point an unpublished working version with lower case labels

It's nicer to read the lowercase letters, but a capital letter from the beginning really is needed.

[Garzita]

is this going to be a commercial skin? it should!

[Ploki]

is this going to be a commercial skin? it should!

planning on it

..

generally used lowercase labels on all my skins (Colourcopy, podolski, microtonic, presswerk) but kinda felt like due to complexity of Hive, upper case works better, and i also think it fits the visual style more. Not really sure i want to change it to lower case on this skin.

Moving EQ to scope would either add another tab (also since it's an oscilloscope) but as i said - size is fixed - this is it which means a whole lot of wasted space around it if in the middle.

i'll see if i can reclaim some space, but adding tabs is not something i'm considering for this skin - if i went for a tabbed design the skin would be 60% the size it is now and i'd just go all in and do tabs for everything wanted to keep everything at hand because i think hive excels at being just the right amount complex you can do anything and have everything at hand, while simple enough to avoid tabbed designs (just barely).
i was at one point considering a tabbed design with one set of controls for every module + narrow display section for the mirrored set of parameters below it with a switch that swaps them (sort of like how presswerk dual mono works)
I still might revisit that idea at some point, once this is done.

[e-musician]

Your UI design skills are reaching new levels. Looks incredible.

Oh wow! This looks amazing!!

... I know how much work went into it. It's crazy how much work Ploki has dedicated to it from finding the right layout to then refining it in an iterative process and seemingly pushing what can be done with U-he themes with the ability to customize the various elements.

I don't think we talked about here, but I'd seriously be happy to pay for this theme with or without a preset collection. ...

So thanks Ploki! From your Microtonic skins to Podolski to Swarm, you've been growing as a GUI designer and you've really outdone yourself here.

+1

A big respect to you! You know how I struggled with layer selector for only three different backgrounds in Tyrell, and you have come up with something like this ... Amazing. Of, course, colour selection and customizing is the outstanding and unique feature of this skin, but there are lots of other good ideas as well. If 8dio talk about "deep sampling", I think here we can talk about "deep skinning"

However, as you have asked for some feedback ... I am not so happy with the FX section.

1) I don't like the rounded shape of the central FX pane. I think this does not go well with the overall design of the skin in general and the shape of the other panels at the bottom (XY, MM, KB) in particular. I would rather have it look like the XY/MM/KB panes with the FX modules sitting on top. (Yeah, this is personal taste, of course).

2) I don't like the current position of the FX selectors (ON/OFF). I feel it is not "logical". I would like to suggest to have it on the very left (reading from left to right), and not right of the central pane.

3) Also note that the current order of the FX ON/OFF buttons (from top to bottom) is not in line with the arrangement of the FX modules.

4) Make the central FX pane a bit narrower, so you could have more room for the single FX modules and more space between them. This might lend the FX a better structure and doesn't make it look so cluttered.

To illustrate what I mean, I have made some (really rough) mock-ups, based on screenshots you have provided. (Yes, in the white version the contrast between dark screens and white background is much too high, but this is just for demonstration purposes).

[e-musician]

I really like this and I think it looks better structured (and possibly more usable) than the current version, especially as regards the middle part (central screen, LFOs, VIB, FUNC1+2, VOICE, Shape Sequencer ...). One of the reasons is that the various sections, e.g. VIB, LFO1, LFO2, are discernibly separated from each other.

[Ploki]

1) you mean the "flange"?

Screenshot 2022-06-17 at 13.15.01.png

damn i designed this flange so carefully. I'm not sure i'm willing to let it go

2) I see. I'll look into it, I sort of like the FX Grid on the left in your mockup!

3) FX on-off buttons don't have an order tho, because signal flow is not fixed.

Screenshot 2022-06-17 at 13.14.15.png

I'll add some visual indicators (small <> arrows maybe) that highlight that fact
Very early in development (where FX was still on the right) i had the idea of making all FX same size and unlock their position so you can shuffle them around based on the signal flow, but the implementation would've been so clunky i ditched it pretty quickly - if i could lock them to grid and make them follow the on/off selector i would've kept the idea.

4) the texture-less version on BW looks pretty nice. Might make the background FX texture switchable. (which would automatically remove the L/R "flanges")

5) The design of the middle section is very similar except i moved D&D sources of Mods to center. If you enable the texture it should look very similar (increases panels contrast due to dark background)

Or do you mean you prefer the D&D sources in titles of the mod panels instead of in the centreleft of the panel?
Or just wider "gaps" between panels?

[e-musician]

1) you mean the "flange"?
Screenshot 2022-06-17 at 13.15.01.png
damn i designed this flange so carefully. I'm not sure i'm willing to let it go

Yes, I mean the "flange". Sorry.

2) I see. I'll look into it, I sort of like the FX Grid on the left in your mockup!

Cool!

3) FX on-off buttons don't have an order tho, because signal flow is not fixed.

Damn, of course. Sorry, my fault.

5) ...
Or do you mean you prefer the D&D sources in titles of the mod panels instead of in the centreleft of the panel?
Or just wider "gaps" between panels?

Maybe both. Definitely wider gaps between panels. And maybe moving the D&D sources in titles would provide more room for the section panels (and therefore for wider gaps).

[zvenx]

I have never quite gelled with Hive's GUI aesthetically, some of these are looking very promising for me to buy.
rsp

[Teksonik]

I'm happy to report that the Seq highlighting issue has been fixed.

I notice that the horizontal slider for WT position under the wave selector knob only responds to vertical mouse movement.

The horizontal slider in the WT edit window does respond to horizontal mouse movement.

[glokraw]

is this going to be a commercial skin? it should!

planning on it

Which are you better at creating, skins or sounds?

[Ploki]

I'm happy to report that the Seq highlighting issue has been fixed.

I notice that the horizontal slider for WT position under the wave selector knob only responds to vertical mouse movement.

The horizontal slider in the WT edit window does respond to horizontal mouse movement.

oh yeah, i forgot about those. I remember couldn't deciding which to go with.
None is really compatible with Matrix overlays - u-he doesn't use horizontal sliders a lot (at all)

is this going to be a commercial skin? it should!

planning on it

Which are you better at creating, skins or sounds?

well i created more skins than sound packs, but i do often create sound for myself

[Teksonik]

A couple of other niggly issues I discovered while making patches today.

It's possible to get artifacts of the modulation indicators trapped in the Vibrato section. Closing the GUI and reopening it will remove the artifacts.

Ploki Skin 12.png

Also what was the design decision behind numbering the Mod Matrix:

01 03 05 07 09 11
02 04 06 08 10 12

Instead of

01 02 03 04 05 06
07 08 09 10 11 12

We tend to read left to right rather than up and down.