[Just Talk] Re: [linux-audio-user] Why we need graphic designers

[Steve Harris]

On Thu, Jan 23, 2003 at 12:01:55 +0100, Frank Barknecht wrote:
> > I'd agree that shadows behind the objects are useless. Coloured patch
> > cords could help me, depending on what the colouring rules are, but I
> > still think the biggest thing done to make it easier to use would be
> > (optional) chip style routing. I find the straight lines very hard to
> > parse.
> 
> I absoluteley agree: The cords should be able to be aligned, like in
> Max/MSP. But I use a lot of send/receive pairs without real cords in my
> patches, and I also tend to hide a lot of things in subpatches (or
> abstractions) so actually there is only a small handful of lines visible
> in the end.

OK, here I'm probably just showing my lack of skill with pd and co.

> I talked to Robert Henke of Ableton about the philosophy behind their
> innovative interface, and one of the most interesting concepts was, that
> everything *must* fit into one window. Overlapping or popup-windows are

I would definatly agree with that.

> Even now Pd is capable of imitating such very focused interfaces, because
> everything can be hidden, so that only the really important things are
> visible. jMax of course can do this as well, and the choice between jMax
> and Pd is more a matter of taste then a technical one. jMax has more
> colours, nicer fonts and even breakable lines, I think. 

Don't they have UI modules that can be used as well? I think I've seen
screenshots that looked quite clean. I've not used jMax and pd to the
extent that I notice any difference between them, at the moment I'm using
pd occasionally because thats what comes with Planet :)

Taking a week off work to learn jMax and pd is on my TODO list.

- Steve