Hive 2.1 Izmo skin by Plugmon

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anoise wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 1:57 pm Looks like an evolution of the Eclipse theme, which is good, but the color scheme on Eclipse was better. To much black and white in this one. Maybe colorizing the waveforms and filters in the displays would help and/or add a color scheme like in Eclipse.
The layout is good.
Some issues: the rings around the knobs are pixelated, some framerate drops with this skin, especially when the oscilloscope is open, no framerate drops with the original skin. Just dragging the window of Hive around with the mouse is laggy whit this skin.
Win10, VST3, 120% zoom.
I have FR drops as well; runs at 22 to 30 FPS.
The knobs cut-outs are sloppy indeed.
160% win10, vst2

EDIT: original runs at 35 to 40 FPS

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Thanks tasmaniandevil for the thread!

Let me share the basic information on the skin:

Thoughts
As the second skin, I basically took the opposite direction from the original skin.

(Original) - (Izmo)
Symmetric - Asymmetric
Dark - Light
Colorful - Monochrome
Hardwareish - Softwareish
Basic waves oriented - Wavetables oriented
Friendliness for the newbie - Tidiness for the accustomed
And so on.

Structure
There're buttons here and there to switch between views.
Image

The layout is totally different, so I wonder if you can get used to it easily. Your opinion matters! Thnaks.
Last edited by plugmon on Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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cytospur wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:08 pm This looks lovely!

How does one manually scroll through multitables on this skin?
Hit the info icon in the top-right of the OSC screen.

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Very cool design Plugmon! I really like the layout and look of this. A few quick things:

1. I'm not seeing the PW here (between transpose and MW) as shown in the screenshots. It's just white space. Using Windows, VST2, x64.
2. The MW doesn't move at all when dragged.
3. I wouldn't mind if the "screen" elements (OSCs, Filters, Shape Seq) had some color - maybe a light blue or orange - something to contrast the background
4. Also would love some color in the FX section - right now that area feels too flat and indistinct. Maybe even just treating the fx like the screen elements.

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tasmaniandevil wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:35 pm don't hesitate to let us know your honest thoughts.
Well you asked so.....

Honestly I don't like the new skin at all. It's far too bright for me to use for any length of time. The main knobs are fuzzy at least at 110% to 120%. (see below)

The workflow seems to be a bit fiddly to me. For example the filter section:

Hive 012121-1.png
1-2 what ? Yes having used Hive for quite some time I know it means Mod Env and LFO/ 1 and 2 but imagine someone new to Hive.

How does one get the Step Sequencer to show ? The only way I can find is to click this tiny unlabeled box:
Hive 012121-2.png
Those are just a couple of issues I found in the first minutes of using the Izmo skin before the brightness started annoying my eyes.

It just seems to me that the idea was to make it look cool rather than make it easy to use but that's just my opinion and no doubt others will vociferously disagree.

So to me the Izmo skin gets a 2 out of 10 score and I won't be using it. Sorry but you did ask. :shrug:
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Teksonik wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:31 pm
tasmaniandevil wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:35 pm don't hesitate to let us know your honest thoughts.
Well you asked so.....

Honestly I don't like the new skin at all. It's far too bright for me to use for any length of time. The main knobs are fuzzy at least at 110% to 120%. (see below)

The workflow seems to be a bit fiddly to me. For example the filter section:


Hive 012121-1.png

1-2 what ? Yes having used Hive for quite some time I know it means Mod Env and LFO/ 1 and 2 but imagine someone new to Hive.

How does one get the Step Sequencer to show ? The only way I can find is to click this tiny unlabeled box:
Hive 012121-2.png

Those are just a couple of issues I found in the first minutes of using the Izmo skin before the brightness started annoying my eyes.

It just seems to me that the idea was to make it look cool rather than make it easy to use but that's just my opinion and no doubt others will vociferously disagree.

So to me the Izmo skin gets a 2 out of 10 score and I won't be using it. Sorry but you did ask. :shrug:
Some good points. As a stand-alone skin, it NEEDS a manual, which isn't good, imho.
As a second skin, and second only, i think nameless parameters in the GUI isn't as bad.

The seq isn't showing indeed, except when opening the "big view".

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exmatproton wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:36 pm As a stand-alone skin, it NEEDS a manual, which isn't good, imho.
If a new skin requires a learning curve even for someone who has used Hive since version 1 then it's poorly designed....in my opinion. I will no doubt get flamed for that opinion but so be it.

Any skin's workflow can be learned over time even if there are missing parameter labels. You just remember that unlabeled box opens the Step Sequencer or 1/2 means Mod and LFO in that order etc.

But again the more of a learning curve the more poorly designed that skin is...in my opinion. :scared:
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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One thing I like about this layout is it brings the oscillators and filters together making it more intuitive to use them as one, where as I always found the original was like 2 synths/separate sides (which it is, I know), but this makes you program it as one - if that makes sense?

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plugmon wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:19 pm Colorful - Monochrome
It is too monochrome.
Some ideas if I may:
- Colorize the waveform and filter displays, to add balance (purple like in Eclipse would go well IMO).
- Maybe add some color to the FX section
- Add color to the expand buttons 2 and 3, so that people know that they are buttons.
- Add optional black panels, for a dark version.
The layout is good.
(At the bottom corners the two white lines are unnecessary, it looks like a glitch with the skin.)

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Biome_Digital wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:57 pm One thing I like about this layout is it brings the oscillators and filters together making it more intuitive to use them as one, where as I always found the original was like 2 synths/separate sides (which it is, I know), but this makes you program it as one - if that makes sense?
I feel the same way.

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On a first brief look, it's a little too bright for my liking..

There is an issue with the rendering of various parts of the skin when it's at 100% (and from what I can see above probably at all levels until you hit 200%). It seems it's designed for use with a Retina/HiDPI display running at 200% size. I know from trying other Plugmon skins this isn't a new issue but I am way too OCD to use a skin on my 1920 x 1080 monitor in 2021 that has clear aliasing/artifacts. Take the oscillator selector for instance, this is how 'Square' is rendered for me :-
Hive.png
Notice in particular how poorly the q appears. You'll see the issues in the grey ring around the knob too.. It's a shame as I like the layout and there are some great ideas here but as long as these rendering issues exist I can't see myself ever using a Plugmon skin until I have the screen real estate to run at 200% :neutral:
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Really nice! Only looking at the screenshot so far, but I like it!

Due to the mirrored layout of the original, I very often used the wrong tune and volume knobs for the oscs, even after using it for extended periods of time. It looks like this skin might solve that :)

Great work!

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anoise wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:12 pm
plugmon wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:19 pm Colorful - Monochrome
It is too monochrome.
Some ideas if I may:
- Colorize the waveform and filter displays, to add balance (purple like in Eclipse would go well IMO).
- Maybe add some color to the FX section
- Add color to the expand buttons 2 and 3, so that people know that they are buttons.
- Add optional black panels, for a dark version.
The layout is good.
(At the bottom corners the two white lines are unnecessary, it looks like a glitch with the skin.)
Just for the reference, I tried changing graph colors:

Purple graphs
Image

Yellow graphs
Image
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I like the white, honestly.

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anoise wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:12 pm
plugmon wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:19 pm Colorful - Monochrome
It is too monochrome.
I feel a little more colour would be good. Especially the wavetables. :tu:

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