Mixcraft 10 display themes (was: Q & A).

[Ian Craig]

I don't know why you haven't included an Mx8 skin.
The blackness of the default display is like a black hole. If I was to use that I'd have a brain haemorrhage (I don't know why the screen shots from Greg appear relatively brown, unlike the flat black eyesore I get here). The light version seems to have a not very readable font.
I'm not sure how much I'll use the trial as I have other things to work on, rather than eye adjustment excercises. This makes it difficult to test the features to see if I want to pay for another upgrade.
I don't know why youngsters seem to like things that look like a black hole. Anyway, I don't (except images of blackholes that I don't have to work with - I quite like those).

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Have you played around with the scaling setting in Display preferences? Would that help with the fonts in light mode?

Greg

[Ian Craig]

Not on the left hand side. Due to my positioning in relation to my monitor (I'm on a bed, it's on a hospital style table next to my bed and the left side is not clear on the non highlighted tracks because the font is too weak even when scaling is increased to 120% on those tracks). My position is not negotiable for extended usage periods i.e. I have to limit my use of the program to a fraction of what it currently is, which is not an option (I have just begun updating my tracks from the 1990s done on an AWE32 with my Soundfonts [using Awave {and Plogue's Aria player} to get the sounds into a useable format to access the right sounds on the right tracks] & I would have to risk putting them into a potentially unusable Mx10 format, so it's not feasible).

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

It sounds like the Mixcraft 8 theme might not help.

We had to re-do all the artwork for the themes so that Mixcraft 10 can scale way up on hi-def monitors and still look good. It was not a trivial task, and since Mixcraft 8 is two versions ago, we decided to not put the man-hours into re-creating it.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll pass it along!

Greg

[Ian Craig]

Okay, thanks.
I can read the font on the left hand side of the black version. but the track view area on the right is unbearable. I'd commit suicide if I had to look at that.

[JunX]

Firstly, thanks for the great update!

The new Mixcraft 10 UI looks sharp and crispy on my 2K/4K screen, but unfortunately, I also found it uncomfortable to look at it for a longer period of time.

I mainly have 2 issues:

- it's hard to tell the active/selected track lane
- the grid lines, especially the vertical marker lines are too prominent

I kind of feel that the screen is too busy and I don't know where to focus my eyes one

Would it be possible for the team to add in the option to adjust the brightness/contrast of some area of the UI?

[Acoustica Greg]

Firstly, thanks for the great update!

The new Mixcraft 10 UI looks sharp and crispy on my 2K/4K screen, but unfortunately, I also found it uncomfortable to look at it for a longer period of time.

I mainly have 2 issues:

- it's hard to tell the active/selected track lane
- the grid lines, especially the vertical marker lines are too prominent

I kind of feel that the screen is too busy and I don't know where to focus my eyes one

Would it be possible for the team to add in the option to adjust the brightness/contrast of some area of the UI?

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion! Did you try the light theme in Display preferences?

Greg

[cactus-head]

Hello,

I'm conveying this post as information and opinion: I understand the labor that went into the interface design, but it's helpful to hear customer's perspectives.

First thing to note is a glitch: I don't have a scroll bar for the Markers Window in either theme when I start MC 10. I have to use the "Restore Down" window button then Maximize for the scroll bar to show. In my screen shots below, you'll be able to see the scroll bar in the Light theme but not in the Dark theme (because I didn't reduce then maximize) on the Markers window.

I also feel the screen (in either theme - light or dark) is a bit busy. I think because everything (buttons and backgrounds) is almost the same color or slight variances in sheets of black or grey. Then there is text and lines that are brighter or darker that make the screen seem like a lot is going on. Kind of like looking at a meadow with all green grass and plants but with thousands of bright flowers of the same color dotting everything. It's hard to focus on any one thing and tell one area from the other. The interfaces are clean and crisp and look great on my high contrast 40 inch monitor - but still difficult on the eyes to look at. The scaling helps a bit.

I'll post three screen shots: MC 9 with my slightly modified 8 theme; MC 10 Light; MC 10 Dark. The thing that I like most about version 8, is you can see each item or section as it's own thing clearly. For example the green, yellow and red gradation in the vu meters - which separates them out in the mixer and on the tracks - very pleasant and identifiable. The different colored icons - very clear and obvious. The 3d effects across the whole view - makes things distinct. The screen shots look similar, honestly - the subtleties can only be experienced when working with the product. They all look good, but I find myself getting a little tired quickly with the new themes.

MC 9 with 8 theme.JPG (243.69 KiB) Viewed 128113 times

MC 10 Dark.JPG (225.09 KiB) Viewed 128113 times

MC 10 light.JPG (254.93 KiB) Viewed 128113 times

[Ian Craig]

Hello,

I'm conveying this post as information and opinion: I understand the labor that went into the interface design, but it's helpful to hear customer's perspectives.

First thing to note is a glitch: I don't have a scroll bar for the Markers Window in either theme when I start MC 10. I have to use the "Restore Down" window button then Maximize for the scroll bar to show. In my screen shots below, you'll be able to see the scroll bar in the Light theme but not in the Dark theme (because I didn't reduce then maximize) on the Markers window.

I also feel the screen (in either theme - light or dark) is difficult to look at. I think because everything (buttons and backgrounds) is almost the same color or slight variances in sheets of black or grey. Then there is text and lines that are brighter or darker that make the screen seem extremely busy. Kind of like looking at a meadow with all green grass and plants but with thousands of bright flowers of the same color dotting everything. It's hard to focus on any one thing and tell one area from the other. The interfaces are clean and crisp and look great on my high contrast 40 inch monitor - but still difficult on the eyes to look at. The scaling helps a bit.

I'll post three screen shots: MC 9 with my slightly modified 8 theme; MC 10 Light; MC 10 Dark. The thing that I like most about version 8, is you can see each item or section as it's own thing clearly. For example the green, yellow and red gradation in the vu meters - which separates them out in the mixer and on the tracks - very pleasant and identifiable. The different colored icons - very clear and obvious. The 3d effects across the whole view - makes things distinct. The screen shots look similar, honestly - the subtleties can only be experienced when working with the product. They all look good, but I find myself getting a little tired quickly with the new themes.

I agree completely. My Mx9 also is with the Mx8 skin.
I only bought Mx10 after 30 minutes running the trial version so that I wouldn't get distracted thinking about considerations of money when trying it out. After using it for many hours I've realised I cannot use that thing (as was my first thought, but I thought I'd give it a proper check, which hasn't even been possible due to the look of both dark and light themes). I feel like I've wasted my money because I will never use it and would prefer a refund. Also, in my testing I noticed very little new except that plugins were auto-organised, which must be good for new users, but I have spent extensive time organising my own thousands of plugins. Still no new external clocking capability (does the clock out work reliably, I don't know, I gave up before I could check it out, but it certainly was not reliable in Mx9). The look has made it closer to Reaper which I can't use cause I get ill unless I'm looking at a plugin over it, which is all I could do testing Mx10. Is that better ? Anyway, it's not something I'm going to use.

[cactus-head]

...It's not quite fair to say the only change or update is in organizing the plugins. There are really a lot of changes and a lot are pretty cool like recording effects directly onto a track without a lot of bouncing and routing; or similarly routing MIDI directly from a plugin to a track; options in automation, MIDI editing... there's a lot.

But the look is a little tough - probably mostly for some of us that aren't spritely and youthful anymore. I mean I turn 25 next week

I may over the next however long - try and modify a theme here and there. That takes a lot of work but the details are listed pretty well in the INI files.

[Ian Craig]

...It's not quite fair to say the only change or update is in organizing the plugins. There are really a lot of changes and a lot are pretty cool like recording effects directly onto a track without a lot of bouncing and routing; or similarly routing MIDI directly from a plugin to a track; options in automation, MIDI editing... there's a lot.

But the look is a little tough - probably mostly for some of us that aren't spritely and youthful anymore. I mean I turn 25 next week

I may over the next however long - try and modify a theme here and there. That takes a lot of work but the details are listed pretty well in the INI files.

Well, somebody certainly needs to. Good luck with it if you do.
The light theme looks worse than Mixcraft 6. I don't understand this 'let's make everything look flat and crap' motif that seems to be popular (so they keep telling us anyway). Virtualisation of technology removes the 'hands-on' nature of things enough to make everything difficult for people to gain useful experience. That's what's great about GX-80 and Mercury 6. It's like having the hardware sitting under your nose. ... That's another thing. I don't understand why the 'focus' capability of those was not enployed in Mixcraft 10. It makes no sense to me.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Something similar to Cherry Audio's Focus option - thanks for the suggestion!

Of course the new scaling option in Display preferences does the same thing, you just can't jump in and out of it.

If you'd like to request a refund, you can do that within 30 days of purchase, of course. Just contact support directly.

It's really hard to get the look and feel right. For some reason, we just can't seem to please everybody.

Greg

[Ian Craig]

No probs, thanks Greg.

[hpharley90]

i have trouble seeing things too now. In the mixer i used to see clearly in dark mode green lines against black background new colors are almost the same and its hard to tell the difference .
edit: so now I tinted my mixer to the track colors( in preferences) and its so much better for viewing for me now. everything must be turned on..

[grymmjack]

It's really hard to get the look and feel right. For some reason, we just can't seem to please everybody.

Greg

If you simply gave us the option to make our own themes, by exposing all the colors you used everywhere in the app, that would fix it.
If you added the ability to adjust brightness, saturation, and hue, of the existing options that would fix it.

Either way, yes, it's difficult to please everyone.

My complaint is more about the fonts at 100% on 1920x1080. It looks like the font is squished. I have to run it at 120% to make the font look proportional.

So if you do add the ability to change the colors, or allow brightness, contrast, etc. Please also let us choose our own fonts.

Thanks