ToneBoosters, I love your plugins

[DeathByGuitar]

I especially dislike EQ V4's little floating window for the gain controls that mimics FabFilter Q2 for no good reason

I quite like the floating window, except in tends to obscure get in the way, no matter where you move it

My problem exactly. If you're going to rip off FabFilter, at least do it correctly. If you're gonna put in some flashy UI stuff, fine...just make sure it doesn't get in the way of productivity. That sort of thing should have been ironed out in the beta (which I tested and provided feedback on).

I feel like maybe Jaroen is rushing these releases a little bit since he keeps adding/changing things to V4 plugins that could have been caught in longer/larger beta testing situations.

[Tappistry]

The new Reelbus sounds very good and very transparent. It’s impressive for sure but I doubt it emulates any tape machine in particular and is more of a general tape character effect. The controls are all parameters you wouldn’t find on a tape machine and the ranges go well beyond those of tape. So it’s not quite authentic. Remember TB Ferox is meant to be a character effect and TB Reelbus is meant to be a realistic tape sim.

Now I wonder if someone is gonna do a shootout between RB4 and Satin. Because to me Satin is the epitome of “transparent” clean tape sim.

I realize they’re still probably in different leagues, but it still might be an interesting exercise anyway.

[bungle]

There is a middle ground between extreme minimalism and skeuomorphism/photorealism

No there isn't
See what i did there ?

Tried to argue for the non-existence of grey?

All of this is just a single opinion from a single user

I'm not the only one who thinks that some usability has been lost in the new iterations

a developer that is sound first, bling second.

Another user who get's his ui mixed up with his gui. This has nothing to do with bling, Son

What a tool !

[bungle]

Just wondering, but... it says here that people can upgrade to TB Equalizer 4 from the Track Essentials bundle here: https://www.gearnews.com/namm-2018-tone ... -smart-eq/

What’s more, users of ToneBoosters’ TrackEssentials v3, FIX v3, or BusTools v3 can upgrade for a mere EUR 15.

On Toneboosters' website, i can't find any option to upgrade. Is this obsolete information?

The upgrade is in your avangate account, if it isnt, email toneboosters, he sends you a link

[chk071]

Ah... thanks. I see now that i already used Track Essentials to upgrade to TB Reverb 4, so, i guess that doesn't qualify me anymore for the TB EQ upgrade.

[codec_spurt]

I especially dislike EQ V4's little floating window for the gain controls that mimics FabFilter Q2 for no good reason

I quite like the floating window, except in tends to obscure get in the way, no matter where you move it

My problem exactly. If you're going to rip off FabFilter, at least do it correctly. If you're gonna put in some flashy UI stuff, fine...just make sure it doesn't get in the way of productivity. That sort of thing should have been ironed out in the beta (which I tested and provided feedback on).

I feel like maybe Jaroen is rushing these releases a little bit since he keeps adding/changing things to V4 plugins that could have been caught in longer/larger beta testing situations.

You have got to be shitting it?

Jaroen. More like: http://www.jeroenbreebaart.com/

Jer-O-en.


As for ripping off Fabfilter? Well, he certainly ripped off their prices!

Anyway, there you are, an expert on GUI and UX design. Drawing parallels between two of the most disruptive purveyors of VSTs in the whole VST community! I'm all ears.

Jar is definitely rushing these releases a bit. You are right. I know him personally and his crack problem has got out of hand. "Codey" he says to me (Codey is his pet name for me when I supply him his daily dose of crack). "Codey, how can I make these motherfuckers pay through the nose for my ripped off versions of FabFilter's shit?"

"Well, that's a good question, Jar", I say to him. Perhaps you could start by doing over a few of those mugs at KVR!

How many years have you had this account?

How many posts have you made?

How much crack have you done in the mean time yourself?

This is why no one posts at KVR anymore.

[DeathByGuitar]

I know who the man is and am familiar with his credentials. I absolutely am in no way disputing his expertise in anything audio related and all of my interactions with him have been nothing but pleasant. I'm not trying to attack his character or credibility. But allow me to elaborate on what I said previously:

When I said that he was "rippping off FabFilter" (which I could see how that might sound a bit harsh in hindsight) , I'm ONLY referring to the floating rectangle in the EQ 4 UI that both looks and functions very similarly to FabFilter's Pro Q2. Considering that Pro Q2 came first, is arguably the most popular parametric EQ on the market, and also is the only one I know of with a window in the middle with large circular knobs for it's main controls, I can only assume that this one element of Pro Q2's design inspired EQ 4. Regardless, I feel that it gets in the way of anything that's being displayed below the -20db line. Yes, you could move it...but why should we have to? For the record I thought EQ 3 was basically perfect. I would kill for a scalable UI version of that one. I was hoping EQ 4 was going to mimic that design more.

I apologize for being a bit harsh before, but I stand by my criticism of EQ 4's design choices and some others for the V4 series overall. This isn't personal. I admire Jaroen's work and have been a customer for years and own quite a few TB Products that I have been using daily for many years. I also purchased Barricade V4 a year ago and have been very happy with it ever since.

To answer your question, I've had this account for 12 or so years but haven't made many posts. None of that negates my point, however. If what I said was my first post or my millionth, it wouldn't make any difference.

[kmonkey]

Jesus Christ how some individuals are able to ruin even praise thread here. What a bunch of idiots.

It's amazing actually. Not even politician can do it like users with "KVR product specialist" degree.

Jeroen we love your plugins, we truly love them keep em coming.

[VariKusBrainZ]

When I said that he was "rippping off FabFilter" (which I could see how that might sound a bit harsh in hindsight) , I'm ONLY referring to the floating rectangle in the EQ 4 UI that both looks and functions very similarly to FabFilter's Pro Q2.

There are actually quite a few plugins that have a similar display method.
Im sure this was discussed previously.

[Skorpius]

My advice is that people should worry less on how it look and more on how it sounds.

Like i said i get the point and it does make a sense for me and everyone else in particular situation but we are making music after all.

We don't march with our GUIs on stage. Right?

Plenty of different tools for everyone these days.

While from a pure technical, you're absolutely right, making music has always had, and will always have, something to do with aesthetics. We don't march with GUIs on stage, but we practise at home using guitars, keyboards, and amplifiers, and we want our gear to look good. In addition, we produce music using plug-ins that have GUIs. And those GUIs should also fulfil the very basic rules of successful marketing, which - apart from the name of a product - is the aesthetic appearance of a product.

With the new line of TB's plug-ins, this second basic rule has been fully neglected.

Personally, I like to have a feeling of realness when turning knobs, and I like my plug-ins to look good. I would never enjoy playing on an ugly amp, no matter how good it sounds. The same applies to plug-ins.

While the previous TB plug-ins used to look very good IMHO, the new ones are the ugliest ever. They are even uglier than Klevgrand's ones. Comparing the visual aesthetics of the new TB plug-ins to, for example, those of Slate or EIOSIS, is like placing a small Chinese plastic car of recent origin next to a 1960's Aston Martin.

I will definitely not support this clear disimprovement by buying any of the new versions. What a shame, Jerome.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Jesus Christ how some individuals are able to ruin even praise thread here. What a bunch of idiots.

It's amazing actually. Not even politician can do it like users with "KVR product specialist" degree.

Jeroen we love your plugins, we truly love them keep em coming.

Perhaps you need to go back to the first page This is not a "praise thread". It was started as a request thread.

And here, look, on page 6 we have the man himself thanking everyone for the feedback:

viewtopic.php?p=6696758#p6696758

As I said, you are doing Jeroen a huge disservice by trying to dissuade everyone from feedback (either positive or negative), and telling people that if they don't like what they see they should look for other plugins, elsewhere.

If you want to start a praise thread, I'm sure no one will stop you

[pekbro]

The sad thing about this, is the fact that procedural graphics take way more work
to implement than bitmap graphics. Basically, JB has gone out of his way to facilitate
variable scaling and provide greater flexibility for his customers. Unfortunately,
this flexibility comes at a cost, that being constrained aesthetics. I for one, think
he has done a magnificent job, even if not perfectly to my liking.

Assuming they are actually procedural ofc...

[imrae]

If I were a plugin developer and got feedback that they were "even uglier than Klevgrand's ones" I'd be pretty pleased about it. I really appreciate the option to choose a colour scheme: low-contrast is good for people who spend a lot of time in front of screens, high contrast is good accesibility for people who see and learn differently, dark/light preference depends on your DAW and studio environment. That is way more important than fake reflections.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

If I were a plugin developer and got feedback that they were "even uglier than Klevgrand's ones" I'd be pretty pleased about it. I really appreciate the option to choose a colour scheme: low-contrast is good for people who spend a lot of time in front of screens, high contrast is good accesibility for people who see and learn differently, dark/light preference depends on your DAW and studio environment. That is way more important than fake reflections.

Agreed on everything you said.

As I've tried to make clear, there is a distinction to be made between ui and gui i.e function vs look. I actually really like the look of these plugins. I appreciate the how they are clear, but also not taxing on the eyes. And the ability to colour the interfaces is not just nice for everyone's own colour preference, but as a great way to distinguish, at-a-glance, between plugins that are seemingly all going to all end up looking pretty similar

[acousticglue]

yeah i wish more devs gave color scheme choices like this because what is easy on old eyes one day is not the next