Rich and I are embarking on a new, high-tech skin for Orion. Unless you want it to look like all my others, I need some input from you guys. For now, let's talk about the best looking skins and the most functional as separate things, although if you know of one that is a shining example of both, provide a link.
To get things started, I have always really liked the look of Gol's FL stuff. It is really classy and quite consistent, even though the look of newer elements has evolved over the years. But the functionality of FL's GUI is almost non-existent.
OTOH, I find it hard to think of a really good example of a purely functional GUI that also looks great, so it might make sense to talk in more general terms about functionality, especially as there are limitations within Orion;s skinning system. e.g. One of the things I hate the most are multi-page GUIs but you can't do that with Orion so it;s not relevant to the discussion. What I do find useful is for instrument GUIs to follow the signal path from left to right, top to bottom which is something several of the Orion GUIs do not do well [if at all].
To help with understanding, it woudl be good if you could say why you like a particular GUI. e.g. "I really like z3ta+'s default GUI because it is bright with good contrast" is helpful, "[i]Synth1's GUI rulez[i]" is not. I'd eb particularly interested in some insight into why you like the Starfigther skin because to me it seems to have all of the same visual things that I get a lot of negative feedback for about my skins - too dark, tiny labels that are hard to read, etc.
One last thing, saying what you don't like, and giving reasons, can be just as helpful, so feel free to do that if it's easier, especially for the current Orion GUI.
Input on Skins RequiredModerators: Christophe, Mark Input on Skins RequiredDell G7 (Hexa-Core i7)|Cubase Pro 10||Analog Keys|Ultranova|MicroMonsta|Uno|Skulpt|Craft Synth 2.0|
novakill.com
Input on Skins RequiredI really like Starfighter Narrow. It just looks like a default console mixer strip. Good colors; little touch of a led glow is nice, low on the gradients.
I am sick of the gradient look; it just makes things look toy and bubbly, but light, functional gradients as used like in the transport is fine for realism. I don't think it's hard to read at all, on 1680x1050. It's not *too* compact like maybe one or two I might have seen. It should be the default imo. The actual default and maybe some of Flatboy skins are too wide imo. It would be nice to skin Orions default fx; just the same one for any of em, just to complete the overall look. I like dark colors, minimal, space saving stuff.
Input on Skins RequiredI'm going to be doing it mostly in 3DS Max, so it will be proper lighting, as opposed to faked glows and gradients.
Skinning the default effects is actually easy and the first few skins I made had a knob background that worked OK. it would be fairly easy to do something more impressive in a similar way, or I could ask Rich to maybe alter the skin so that it can use a background tile with a top and bottom, kind of like DrumRack does. Dell G7 (Hexa-Core i7)|Cubase Pro 10||Analog Keys|Ultranova|MicroMonsta|Uno|Skulpt|Craft Synth 2.0|
novakill.com
Input on Skins Requiredcool.
Input on Skins RequiredWhat do you think of this style of mixer? i.e. With sliders instead of knobs, arranged so that the mixer is much shorter, rather than narrower. Don;t worry about the specifics of this image, I won;t be making anything this small, just the way things are arranged. I like sliders because it's easier to look at a bunch of them and get meaningful info at a glance. They also stack better in a GUI.
Dell G7 (Hexa-Core i7)|Cubase Pro 10||Analog Keys|Ultranova|MicroMonsta|Uno|Skulpt|Craft Synth 2.0|
novakill.com
Input on Skins RequiredWow this is a great opportunity to give feedback and I'm drawing a blank. Pun intended. I've always loved your amber and gray color schemes but found your skins a bit hard to read. So for functionality, highly visible controls would get my vote. I'd love to see a futuristic but still hardware style gui. No help at all I know. Let me give it some thought and I'll see if I can post a screenshot of something I find functional and visually pleasing as well. Thanks for the chance to give our input.
Input on Skins RequiredWe cross posted. Hmmmm not too sure about the screenie above. I'd have to see it in action but my first thought is a bit.......busy? Or perhaps it's just confusing to my eye, used to knobs I guess.
Input on Skins RequiredFor someone with poor eye sight (Like Myself), The print in a gui is of vital importance. For example using your mock-up above: The DM Out-1/2/3/4 is very easy to read, but the low contrast MUTE SOLO above is a strain on the eyes. The yellow text on the other hand is easy to read, even though the print size is smaller.
I also like the slider approach for the reasons you mention above. Low contrast may be perfect for someone such as yourself, who does much of their work with Orion on stage. But it is clarity that matters to someone like me! Hence dark skins are not my cup of tea! Vaz,PolyAna,Knagalis,Sytrus,Wusik4,Golden Asset,
Jamstix2,M42,FireBird.FMHeaven,HarpTime,Rhino2.
Input on Skins RequiredDell G7 (Hexa-Core i7)|Cubase Pro 10||Analog Keys|Ultranova|MicroMonsta|Uno|Skulpt|Craft Synth 2.0|
novakill.com
Input on Skins RequiredI'm using the classic skin.
I like it. colors are basic but eyes friendly. I don"t know if the followings are related to your request, I'll tell how it could be better for me : I'm not using external controler/fader, then thoses faders on the mixer / master could be a bit longer. For instance, as we all know the knobs of the eq, it could be condensed. (names like g"ain", freq"... could be displayed in a small windows when the correspondant knob is under the mouse array. (btw, the relative parameter ie frequency value could be displayed in that box, and not at the bottom left of the screen). An option of +/- to display sends/eq/ could be relevant also to save space. The knobs of the Wasp MKV are really cool. Maybe a small colour could be applied to the knob/fader in relation to i'ts value. Like for 0 : displays more blue, and 127, displays more red. Ths feathure could be another way to fast recognise a track in the mixer... The alchemy shade is really nice. Can't explain why... The way of how knobs and fader and delimited is nice to me too. (small lines, separate boxes like in the MK-V too...) Hope you will understand me That's all for now Last edited by Eklectro on Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
Orion 8, Live 8Le, Cubase 4 LE, Cantana, APC40, UC16, Fostex PM1MKII, Q9550, 4G0, 1,5T, 22"+15"
http://soundcloud.com/eklectro/i-like-xylo-29-03-2011
Input on Skins RequiredI use the Starfighter Narrow skin myself. The problem that I see with the above mixer (which I like for the overview) is that it could not be made narrow. I've been using the narrow skins for as long as there have been narrow skins.
-7zark7
Input on Skins Requiredthat uhbik effects gear looks pretty smooth - i like it. The knobs are just noice. The filter and freq shifter backgroungs look pretty swish.
Not so impressed by the zebra or filterscape knobs. As for our mixer, loose the meters and maybe even put the old volume knob back in place of the slider - should save a load of space. I like the Discovery Pro - boring colour - easy on the eyes. I also like the QuadFrohmage classic skin - easy on the eyes and great easy to read labels. Thanks for asking mate. ---=u f o=--- /Radiation Mutant / Snee-Nee-Iq
Input on Skins RequiredAlso like the look of the new Tracks suite.
http://ikmultimedia.com/t-racks/moreinfo/moreinfo1.php Gives the software a bit of old charm/character. ---=u f o=--- /Radiation Mutant / Snee-Nee-Iq
Input on Skins Required
It has potential, but it'd take some getting used to. I understand you're just showing how sliders would look, but.. Considering how the sliders give a visual like parametric EQ sliders, it's confusing to me to have two rows running right to left. I feel there's not enough visual separation between channel strips, the sliders all seem to run together, so it's not immediately recognizable where one channel strip ends and another begins.
Input on Skins RequiredThey look very good. Would have to test how good it's to use, I feel it might be slightly too spaced out. I always feel that with ie. Atmosphere UI. Little features and very spaced out and takes lot of screen space. Of course resolutions are getting bigger and bigger nowdays..
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