I think what you describe is pretty much the stuff we've identified ourselves. For some people ergonomics go up if they're presented with less control, while parts of the complexity are hidden away. Thing is, Hive already has fewer parameters than Sylenth - they're just presented pretty much all at once.aumordia wrote:I'm sure this sounds like complete gobbledy gook, but I'd be more inclined to buy Hive if you removed features. For instance, get rid of the three modes, make it just one really fast mode (the high-quality mode is called "Diva" you might have heard of it). You're the expert, I'm not -- please decide for me. I could provide a list of things like that if it wouldn't fall on deaf ears, but I don't want to piss away an effort post if the response I'm going to get is just "lol no dude the fact that other people pirate Sylenth1 and use presets and obsess over minute differences in supersaws, that's why you like Sylenth1."
In my actual profession, being an industrial designer, I've always followed the thesis that humans need to be able to master something they use often. That is, if something (a machine, a game, a gadget) is so easy to use that anyone can operate it equally as well right from first touch, the operation becomes routine. That's good with ticket vending machines and stuff. But it's bad with other things, the more someone needs to use it the worse.
Routine is when humans become robots - they act without conscience decision making. For humans to feel good (self esteem, what have you) they need challenge and they need to be able to overcome hurdles (see Flow principle). They need things at which they can become good at, which results in the opposite of routine, say, exercise. When David Helfgott plays Rachmaninov it's the result of challenge and exercise, not routine.
So my actual stance has always been that it's better to impose a steep initial learning curve than to offer a design that gets in the way in the long term. That's because often things are designed to hide complexity to allow for a quick entrance, but then, once one figures it out, it takes longer to step through the process than it could have been.
So then, in all the design decisions (I'm not talking choice of colour here) for Hive we took what we though we knew about "Supersaw Synths" and put as much as we deemed necessary (even fewer features than Sylenth) into a design that allows for the fastest possible workflow (next to no tabs). The crucial error (?) in this concept is that even though Hive is probably the most simple synth in the lot, it's also the most complicated looking. The spaceship look and the visual distraction may heighten the notion.
So however this worked for Zebra, Diva and the modulars might in part have worked because their concept is very original. People can't download a Diva competitor that is ergonomically designed like a ticket vending machine. However people can download a dozen Hive competitors that are, in that they typically tab stuff away.
It might furthermore be possible that our original target audience has a higher demand of ticket vending machines than of pianos - simply because they're not necessarily interested in sound design, they rather tweak. (we had hoped that the built-in preset browser would do that trick)
The good news is that we can figure something out, i.e. Hive might not be a lost cause for those who "tried to like it but..."
So maybe, instead of a list of things we should drop, I'd love to invite you to send us your thoughts on our redesign, once we have something to show. We'll also tackle other issues, but the things you mention sound exactly like the things we want to look into anyway.
- U
U-he has proven now a couple of times that they know how to do the analog emulation thingie. How about emulating the VA thingie, and make a lot of ex-Virus owners happy? 
Seriously, i think this is an interesting idea, and, with Howard Scarr, there's also someone in reach with plenty of experience with programming the Virus. And it would also fit to the Hive doctrine of CPU efficiency, when no analog circuitry has to be modelled, so it would be an idea for a "Hive 2". I have a feeling that the general consensus will be though that a lot of soft synths have surprassed the Virus anyway, and there would be no point for an emulation. Well, maybe, but, AFAIC, the Virus is still something people look at when considering a versatile VA hardware synth.
I really, really like the current layout myself. I just wish there were classier, more fun colors to choose from. Simpler color schemes. Even white led glowy parts with adjustable brightness would look nicer to me. I would be tickled pink with violet or purples. Electric blue and is just so expected and 2001 for me and I've never been a fan of pumpkin orange but I think it's supposed to be a honey color. It's just not me. I want more mature color schemes is all. That's what I'm hoping for anyway. Talk later.