Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
-
- Posts: 1205
- Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 12:29 pm
- Location: Norway
Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Track colours are great, and they're very good cues in arrangement view. In session view however, they only affect the topmost area of a track. When viewing the mixer, the track name and colour are on top, while record, volume, solo and pan are at the bottom. Moving my eyes up and down is slightly tiring.
Fully saturated colours look good on small areas, but for the volume fader area, I chose example variations according to whether track text is black or white. Ableton's designers could determine what to do to make things look better, and what to do with white or very bright colours:
Black text: Original colour -> half the saturation, twice the brightness
White text: Original colour -> half the saturation, brightness of 150 (of 255)
There are probably better colour choices or alternative ideas, but I'm pretty sure something like this would improve the user experience, at least for me personally.
Also, maybe the area below the record buttons could also be used to display the track name + colour, just like in the top area.
Fully saturated colours look good on small areas, but for the volume fader area, I chose example variations according to whether track text is black or white. Ableton's designers could determine what to do to make things look better, and what to do with white or very bright colours:
Black text: Original colour -> half the saturation, twice the brightness
White text: Original colour -> half the saturation, brightness of 150 (of 255)
There are probably better colour choices or alternative ideas, but I'm pretty sure something like this would improve the user experience, at least for me personally.
Also, maybe the area below the record buttons could also be used to display the track name + colour, just like in the top area.
Last edited by Idonotlikebroccoli on Sat Jun 21, 2014 5:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
- Posts: 1205
- Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 12:29 pm
- Location: Norway
Re: Track colours should also affect mixer colour
Thanks! I know my mock-up isn't that pretty, but in the hands of skilled designers, I think the concept should work really well.
Also, I would love to have automatic numbering in the track names, rather than explicitly entering "# trackname".
Also, I would love to have automatic numbering in the track names, rather than explicitly entering "# trackname".
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:53 pm
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
The yolour should be on the whole track! not just on the mixer and Trackname.
Thats a simple to realize wish.
Thats a simple to realize wish.
-
- Posts: 4598
- Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:42 am
- Location: Hoerikwaggo's sunset side...
- Contact:
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Nice idea. Thanks!
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:53 pm
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:53 pm
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Or that the whole Track (like Protools) has the same colour as the Trackname!
What du you think about this?
What du you think about this?
-
- Posts: 700
- Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 8:38 am
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
i dont like the whole track coloured that confuses the clip colours on top of it....the saturation brightness idea is what I have tryed mention before....half the colours are uselsesss because you cant read the dam fonts against them.
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:53 pm
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Right! with some colours it is very difficult to read the fonts.
Maybe a black border around the fonts is a solve.
Maybe a black border around the fonts is a solve.
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Great idea! this would make things a lot easier to locate.
They could also add a mixer view in the arrangement at the bottom where the clip view/device view is, seems to be plenty of room to add another tab next to them & would stop the need to keep switching between arrangement & session view to make mixer adjustments.
They could also add a mixer view in the arrangement at the bottom where the clip view/device view is, seems to be plenty of room to add another tab next to them & would stop the need to keep switching between arrangement & session view to make mixer adjustments.
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:53 pm
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Look at Bitwig, they realized a very good colouring for tracks and clips.
Dear ableton Team - You can do that
Dear ableton Team - You can do that
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:53 pm
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Inj the latest updates Ableton fixed the colour problems - now you can read the text with every colour
-
- Posts: 439
- Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:48 am
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
But you still can't read black writing against dark background in the drum/midi editor and a few other places. They are improving. Not there yet.
I love the mixer colouring idea of the original post. Especially if Abes added more colour choices. Abes are a bit stubborn about their interface. Not appreciating people's differences.
I love the mixer colouring idea of the original post. Especially if Abes added more colour choices. Abes are a bit stubborn about their interface. Not appreciating people's differences.
-
- Posts: 463
- Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 7:31 pm
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Much needed. +1Idonotlikebroccoli wrote:Track colours are great, and they're very good cues in arrangement view. In session view however, they only affect the topmost area of a track. When viewing the mixer, the track name and colour are on top, while record, volume, solo and pan are at the bottom. Moving my eyes up and down is slightly tiring.
Fully saturated colours look good on small areas, but for the volume fader area, I chose example variations according to whether track text is black or white. Ableton's designers could determine what to do to make things look better, and what to do with white or very bright colours:
Black text: Original colour -> half the saturation, twice the brightness
White text: Original colour -> half the saturation, brightness of 150 (of 255)
There are probably better colour choices or alternative ideas, but I'm pretty sure something like this would improve the user experience, at least for me personally.
Also, maybe the area below the record buttons could also be used to display the track name + colour, just like in the top area.
-
- Posts: 1205
- Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 12:29 pm
- Location: Norway
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Yeah, it would be nice with support for hex values. Then you could find a set of harmonising colours anywhere, such as https://color.adobe.com/nb/create/color-wheel/Martin Gifford wrote:I love the mixer colouring idea of the original post. Especially if Abes added more colour choices.
It would also be good to have favourite colours. I don't want to meticulously choose from a 12x5 grid - 12x1 would be enough for me, or even 6x1.
Alternatively, I quite like Bitwig's automatic colouring. It makes it easy to find tracks, and it's nice not having to think about colouring when making music. Also, their colour selector is smaller, and feels nicer to use for me.
Also: mixer in arrangement, please!
-
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 1:24 pm
Re: Track colour -> mixer colour; track name at top -and- bottom
Would be very helpful (with an option to switch this feature on/off). I use live for mixing sometimes more than 100 tracks.
Even the lists in the track ins and outs should be colour coded.
Like this:
Even the lists in the track ins and outs should be colour coded.
Like this: