29 Apr
2016
29 Apr
'16
5:24 p.m.
On 04-29, Louigi Verona wrote:
Just want to add something to what I already wrote.
Do not try to accommodate all use cases! There is no software package
(apart from several of the "free software" ones) that do this or should do
this. Trying to make software that works for everybody might result in
software that works for noone. So, I would, for example, totally exclude
the use case of live performance. A complex soft synth is not a live tool.
Also, I would suggest sticking with one decision and not adding huge amount
of options "for all those other use cases". This is the problem of many
free software projects. If you decide to go for single window, stick with
single. If you go for multi window, stick with it as well.
Yeah, a design needs to
be opinionated for it to rise above others.
Without a strong opinion things would be muddled and confusing.
As for the multi window problem the survey overwhelmingly supports that
component.
And again, apart from asking opinions of this, I must
say, very small
community, reach out to people who use other synths, talk to people at KVR,
for example. Make sure that if you go multi-window, for instance, this is a
well thought out decision and not a "free software tradition" (not saying
that multi-window is not an option, although I personally know of no well
established synth that has multiple windows).
It's a small community, though it
does contain a large portion of
users which have been exposed to the synth at some stage.
Even if they were turned off by it a large percentage likely have some
useful insight.
As per kvr, I've already posted the survey over there as that's where a
larger portion of the windows demographic appears to exist.
Once stuff gets built up to a light demo then deeper feedback will
hopefully be collected, as I feel that it's easier to express why an
interface is liked or disliked when the real deal is in front of users
eyes/hands.
By the way, a case that you might also consider - are
you thinking of Zyn
only in terms of standalone software or also a plugin inside a DAW? If it
is inside a DAW - is it a good idea to have multiple windows? How will the
synth look in side a DAW?
Personally I use zyn almost exclusively in a standalone
sense, but there
is very clear demand for it in the context of a DAW plugin.
While there might be some standalone synths out there which make use of
multiple windows it seems to be very strongly discouraged to do so in
the context of a plugin.
I think the look/feel organization fits in a daw, but that is something
which beta tests will eventually help to define.
--Mark