ATTN Abes: Bad Skin Colors

pearsonart.com · Post by **pearsonart.com** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:24 am

Good for you Angstrom and thanks!

This is really quite good.

I loaded up an edit and took a look around. Impressive.

If I were you, I'd move forward and release as many as you can while inspiration and enthusiasm are on your side (and before ableton change their mind.)

When you reach a lull, come back to these and consider tweaking a few things. (For example, the white text can't be read on tracks that are selected yellow - orange.) By then, you'll have a better idea of what is working and how people are reacting to them.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:34 am

forge wrote:this is great how this discussion is developing - it's clearly something that bugs alot of us

Sweetjesus: I see what you were saying re Discreet, but they are a different type of application - they are visual based and so it's more important to have that dark, neutral background

In Live I definitely feel it needs to be a mixture of more inspiring colours with parameters etc you can see, but the biggest issue as I said before is that at the moment all the skins are TOO bold and strong and thus overpowering - I'm sure it's meant to be this way for seeing in a dark club, but ALOT of people use live now as much in the studio, if not more.

for me it's about having a visual environment which doesn't distract me from the ideas i have and feel... i dont like to make music with my eyes but with my ears, and the less impact there are on my eyes the better...

when i make tunes i like to turn off all the lights and dim my monitor to as low as possible

MrYellow · Post by **MrYellow** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 6:07 am

I'd like to know how the color codes are set..... 3 sets of hex for RGB? 1
hex for 256 colors? etc. Also exactly which bits control which colors.

If we are prohibited from sharing this information, then please for the love
of god abes release it for us.

-Ben

gfea · Post by **gfea** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 11:16 pm

Yeah! What Fred said!

It's a good point, because we DO spend a lot of time looking at the same, boring color set. The different "skins" in Live are all variations on the same, bland thing. I would LOVE it if we could customize it more. I know it doesn't directly affect Live's ability to help us make good music, but it's still important. To me, anyway.

Realistic Faders Now!

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 1:39 am

Angstrom wrote: Anyone that likes the look of this first experimental skin can >> DOWNLOAD IT HERE <<, obviously this one is of the muted "easy on the hex-reddened eye" variety. But I'll be varying the output now I have everything I need.

I will tidy up the other version (from earlier in the thread) that is a more blue-ish variation of the same thing and make it available soon.

I guess everyone knows how to 'install' these and they work on both platforms.

I'm liking this a lot! It's great to see muted colours like this, very cool on the eye. It could do with a little more contrast in the top part of the clip edit view, the light coloured font on the light background makes the numbers a bit hard to read, but apart from that I really think you're on the right track.

Thanks a lot for this.

forge · Post by **forge** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 12:24 pm

Martyn wrote:
Angstrom wrote: Anyone that likes the look of this first experimental skin can >> DOWNLOAD IT HERE <<, obviously this one is of the muted "easy on the hex-reddened eye" variety. But I'll be varying the output now I have everything I need.

I will tidy up the other version (from earlier in the thread) that is a more blue-ish variation of the same thing and make it available soon.

I guess everyone knows how to 'install' these and they work on both platforms.
I'm liking this a lot! It's great to see muted colours like this, very cool on the eye. It could do with a little more contrast in the top part of the clip edit view, the light coloured font on the light background makes the numbers a bit hard to read, but apart from that I really think you're on the right track.

Thanks a lot for this.

he he...I loaded it up for a couple of days and now I've changed it - once the initial novelty wore off it's actually not as pleasing on the eye after a while!

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 12:36 pm

forge wrote:he he...I loaded it up for a couple of days and now I've changed it - once the initial novelty wore off it's actually not as pleasing on the eye after a while!

I never said it was perfect, just heading in a direction that I quite like.

Live has always given me real eyestrain problems after extended use, I've never liked it's gaudy "minute mart label" colour clashing sheme, and havn't really been shy in saying so. I think Angstrom's skin hack is every bit as valid as a lot of Live's own, better for the muted, more mature colours. I think it looks classier actually.

I hope it just serves to inspire Ableton to provide some alternative schemes for people who don't like Day-glo coloured skins that give you eyestrain after a few hours.

forge · Post by **forge** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 11:37 pm

Martyn wrote:
forge wrote:he he...I loaded it up for a couple of days and now I've changed it - once the initial novelty wore off it's actually not as pleasing on the eye after a while!
I never said it was perfect, just heading in a direction that I quite like.

Live has always given me real eyestrain problems after extended use, I've never liked it's gaudy "minute mart label" colour clashing sheme, and havn't really been shy in saying so. I think Angstrom's skin hack is every bit as valid as a lot of Live's own, better for the muted, more mature colours. I think it looks classier actually.

I hope it just serves to inspire Ableton to provide some alternative schemes for people who don't like Day-glo coloured skins that give you eyestrain after a few hours.

no dont get me wrong - I was one of the first to load it up and liked it alot too!

I think it's more that it's actually pretty hard to get it right

this is always the same problem with all of the skins - you load one up then after actually using it for a while it starts to grate on you

Although most of the factory live skins I dont even like enough to start with!

They all seem to be either a slightly different shade of grey or they are as you say dayglo.

I'm really glad we have so much choice with skins - compared to other DAWs - I just think by version 5, those of us that have been here since the beginning are ready for a change!

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:18 am

After working all weekend with this one I think it does make quite a difference. My eyes arn't as fucked as usual for a start, I'm not too sure about the bright white waveforms but they are nice and easy to see when editing. I'd lose the bright green elements in favour of a nice blue compliment to the orange, leds too if possible.

One thing that is a really useful side effect of this particular skin, my monitor has recently been clearly showing screen burn in the shape of Ableton Live. I must admit i didn't know TFTs did this until recently, aparently you can reverse it by displaying an inverse of the problem image. Angstrom's skin has white where there used to be black so it's actually helping to cure my monitor problem.

Fred Givens · Post by **Fred Givens** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 9:38 pm

so they are saying, no we won't make you an app, no you can't make an app, we don't care if the software is ugly, fuck you. right? basically? I mean.. I paid 500$ for a peice of software that's supposed to help me make music, said it all over the box. but then I open it up and I realize that it makes me want to stop making music and shoot myself in the head with a giant gun, because I'm not allowed to FUCKING CHANGE THE SKINS???? AND THEY ARE ALL GREY????? sadistic, satanic, evil abletons, I'm sure they will go to hell for this. do you hear me alex? HELL!.

btw, who DOES like those horrible grey skins? I think you guys have some nazis on your design team

supster · Post by **supster** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 9:48 pm

Angstrom wrote:

anybody else notice the "breakbeat paradise" samples in the browser in this picture?

classic ..
.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 9:50 pm

Fred Givens wrote:so they are saying, no we won't make you an app, no you can't make an app, we don't care if the software is ugly, fuck you. right? basically? I mean.. I paid 500$ for a peice of software that's supposed to help me make music, said it all over the box. but then I open it up and I realize that it makes me want to stop making music and shoot myself in the head with a giant gun, because I'm not allowed to FUCKING CHANGE THE SKINS???? AND THEY ARE ALL GREY????? sadistic, satanic, evil abletons, I'm sure they will go to hell for this. do you hear me alex? HELL!.

btw, who DOES like those horrible grey skins? I think you guys have some nazis on your design team

IMO, if you can't make music because of the interface colors, perhaps your creative problem lies elsewhere. And if you think all of the preset skins are grey, you either need to check your monitor, or get your eyes checked.

I'd like the ability to personalize the skins, and I'm sure it's in the pipeline, but personally it doesn't make any difference to me.

The Nazi reference is completely juvenile and unnecessary, and the violence in your post over an issue so trivial is disturbing. Maybe you need some professional help with your issues.

smutek · Post by **smutek** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 10:38 pm

Fred Givens wrote:I realize that it makes me want to stop making music and shoot myself in the head with a giant gun, because I'm not allowed to FUCKING CHANGE THE SKINS????

Yes. Do everyone a favor. (the gun part)

Dick.

machine609 · Post by **machine609** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:53 pm

HAHAHAAHAHAHAHA

Even here in the Ableton forum Godwin's Law applies!!!

This cracks me up.

For those that don't know what I mean or can't use google, this is what I mean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwins_law

scifish · Post by **scifish** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 10:25 pm

godwins law rocks! anyway, check my new thread about the 5 new live skins

best regards,
martin

ATTN Abes: Bad Skin Colors

I kinda hate ableton

Re: I kinda hate ableton

Re: I kinda hate ableton