Time for an overhaul of the UI?

webslave · Post by **webslave** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:18 pm

tomperson wrote:
I think live's the best out there. Simple, clean, minimalistic. You sometimes even forget you're working with it. So nice.

adding to my earlier comments - yep I agree ableton has a great interface (although it's a got some flaws if you're using it to arrange audio that I've seen addressed in the wishlists here).

Simple, clean interfaces are the way to go. Often simple interfaces can appear to clean and simple for some people's tastes, they confuse a complex interface witha powerful application - in my experience that's almost opposite to what happens, gloat the interface to add in new features and you end up with an application where people just can't access those feature any more - you end up with Word where most users only use a small fraction of what the program could do.

I respect the live team for their interface In a sea of ugly interfaces trying to mimic the real world (cool for about 5 seconds) live gets down to business in a clean simply and powerful way that you only really see in European design (you can tell the ipod was a european design whilst itunes wasnt for example).

Viva euroland

Stew

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:21 pm

I really dig the overall consistency of the UI, and I'm impressed with the amount of functionality they've managed to get on a single screen without it's becoming overwhelming or non-untuitive. I tend to get a little bit hung up on the smallness of the mixer elements in the arrangement pane, and sometimes in trying to target the areas between tracks. (Then again I'm running on a very small laptop.) Otherwise all good. I think an "overhaul" could be dangerous to workflow - there are always tradeoffs and the current functionality could come apart like a house of cards. As for some new colors and textures, fine, but that's really just for the sake of novelty. I expect to see a bit of that in v6 anyway, no?

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:23 pm

I'm glad the Abes spend my hard-earned cash on improvements other than drop shadows and fake wires.

Although nothing beats the bizarre Behringer con of using yellow/orange LEDs for 'glow warmth' behind the tubes in their hardware tube devices...

Poster · Post by **Poster** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:28 pm

webslave wrote:I think it's a fair point to want the visual design to be more current - after all music is about trends and if many are going to have live on stage it'll be nice for it to have the right outfit.

No offence but

i can only hope you're not serious about this statement..
If you are serious; please do some reading about the basics of design..

unklmic · Post by **unklmic** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:48 pm

I don't know, but I still stand by on my original thought.

Maybe overhaul was an unfortunate choice of word, but I would like to see it updated.

I agree that the current setup works, and any significant deviation could be counter productive, but some change would be refreshing.

You may be happy with your car / laptop / [insert object of desire here], but come the next revision, it is good to have some cosmetic improvements apart from the faster processor / engine [insert thing that makes the object of desire tick here].

BMW make good cars, but they would not be so popular if they still had the 80s chassis. Imagine an updated UI thats true to the Live way of working.

The ableton team did a good job on the UI first time round - give them a little credit - they could surprise you with an outstanding effort next time round.

littlepig · Post by **littlepig** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:02 pm

I don't think that it needs any 'improvements'. At the moment it is a model of clarity.

My eye sight isn't particularly good that is one of the reasons I like live - I can see it unlike some of the 'photo realistic' stuff out there.

glu · Post by **glu** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:44 pm

rbmonosylabik wrote:Off the top of my head, I'd like to see some kind of pages/choose what parameters you want to see and modify for 3rd party plug ins. I just say so because stuff like this can get confusing and take too much space.

+1

and dual monitor support.... it would simply make life/live easier...

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:49 pm

Off the top of my head, I'd like to see some kind of pages/choose what parameters you want to see and modify for 3rd party plug ins. I just say so because stuff like this can get confusing and take too much space.

Won't macros address this in a way? By letting you select/ map the params that are of interest and then folding up the old view again? (I still just wish that old view would show all params rather than the 1st 128.)

Spikee · Post by **Spikee** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:10 pm

unklmic wrote:I know that Live's UI is functional and it works, but isn't it time for an overhaul?

It doesn't have to be that busy, but it is rather 2001. Windows 95 was cool when it came out, but look at those raised buttons now!!

I have just bought a Mac and Logic, but when I load up Live, the visual experience is a bit of a let down. I am not suggesting it copies the look of Logic, or Reason, but how cool would it be if they come up with something fresh for version 7 (WITH PROPER DUAL MONITOR SUPPORT).

And to counter the obvious responses of 'It doesn't matter what it looks like, its the func....blah blah...bl!', you are lying!

No.

Have a nice day!

woodman1200 · Post by **woodman1200** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:24 pm

rbmonosylabik wrote:Off the top of my head, I'd like to see some kind of pages/choose what parameters you want to see and modify for 3rd party plug ins. I just say so because stuff like this can get confusing and take too much space.

Yeah, the ability to change those sliders to knobs or switches would be really nice - maybe I'd use my 3rd party plugins again.

Otherwise, there is no better GUI than this one, IMO (tho Mac OS 7.6 or Windowmaker are faves).

fatrabbit · Post by **fatrabbit** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:47 pm

Leave it like it is - less is more. Which is reflective of Ableton's actual plug-ins... they don't seem that powerful at first glance, but once you start using them it's a different matter.

I use the klinikal black skin pack as seen on this forum, and it looks great!

minimal · Post by **minimal** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:52 pm

hambone1 wrote:Although nothing beats the bizarre Behringer con of using yellow/orange LEDs for 'glow warmth' behind the tubes in their hardware tube devices...

jackmazzotti · Post by **jackmazzotti** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:52 pm

K.I.S.S.

keep it simple silly (i only call liberal judges stupid)

rbmonosylabik · Post by **rbmonosylabik** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:54 pm

rbmonosylabik wrote:Off the top of my head, I'd like to see some kind of pages/choose what parameters you want to see and modify for 3rd party plug ins. I just say so because stuff like this can get confusing and take too much space.

Maybe a "Edit plugin layout" button that would open a floating window with all the parameters and you could drag and drop or activate the ones you want to see into the extended plug in view. Templates for this would be a welcome extra.

dj superflat · Post by **dj superflat** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:55 pm

love the GUI, hate all the other music app GUIs. they may look cool to someone who's 14, but they get in the way of getting the job done. (and i run my machine at low res, so it's even bigger and more lo-tech/clean looking (which obviously isn't an option if you tend to work with many tracks, etc.).)

reason: actually makes some sense, because they're trying to make it comprehensible for those coming from the real world. but very video game, the cables are silly (though i love the functionality they provide).

logic: ridiculous interface. very hard to tell what to push to get what on the synths, where all the nested menus are, etc. just not very user friendly (though packed with power features!!).

reaktor: hard to generalize, but i like it because it's more like live. fairly stripped down generally, function over form.

Time for an overhaul of the UI?

Re: Vistual design does not equal UI

Re: Time for an overhaul of the UI?