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

[ppayne]

A choice is only sometimes better. If the result would look like Reaper, then I would uninstall directly. Not a single theme is functional in Reaper. Tracks and mixer have different heights and widths etc. It is unneeded complex an full of bugs. All available Themes are crap from 16 year old hipsters. The Theme Editor is so stupid in Reaper it's hard to believe. If anybody want to know how you never have to implement themes, then take a look at Reaper. I'd rather have one or two good themes that the developers have thought about. It's easy to setup and match to the claim of Mixcraft.

The older you get, the harder it is to see contrasts, resolution etc. I notice myself that the cycle of a new pair of glasses is getting shorter and shorter A theme for this purpose would make sense. Especially because many older users are probably also a target group of Mixcraft. Maybe high contrast theme with a bit larger fonts. But except a contrast thing maybe I can't see any problem. It's already full scalable.

But just because I don't like a modern look, missing glass effects or rounded edges, I wouldn't give up all the features. Acoustica needs to update the look and adapt it to all other modern applications including windows 11 etc. I think it worked out absolutely perfect.

And I wouldn't recommend Mixcraft for a theme editor as bad as in Reaper. That would destroy the entire product.And don't give 16-year-old users the opportunity to create hundreds of useless themes, otherwise you'll have to support mixcraft forever in Hobbit or Spiderman style.

Let's see what the Acoustica guys come up with for the older users of us. I'm pretty sure the guys will address that with an extra theme.

[TrevsAudio]

Aah, PLEASE give us back our beloved Mixcraft 8.

I still use mine to do voice overs on my videos. Really pretty.

MX 8.png (655.65 KiB) Viewed 92150 times

[huik]

Hi!
I like MixCraft but also REAPER and others.
As much as one software can annoy me, another inspires me.
https://www.reapertips.com/freebies/12-color-palettes
I certainly don't reject other people, even if they accept a different approach but to the same goal.

The music is beautiful.

All the best

:-jan

[ppayne]

Aah, PLEASE give us back our beloved Mixcraft 8.

I still use mine to do voice overs on my videos. Really pretty.


MX 8.png

I'm sure there will be a theme comparable to MC 8 at some point. But it certainly won't be 100 percent the same. The 3d look will never come back I think.

I agree that the background of the mixer slider and transport bar could be a bit lighter so it doesn't look quite as dark. So that it differs a little better.

Update : We have to get used to it a bit, otherwise mixcraft would be too outdated and won't win any more users. That would be even worse. Then rather flat design and perfect usability than Reaper or nothing

[cactus-head]

Trends are trends. They all cycle. I've poked around a bit from time to time with the MC 10 gui. There are some changes in how it works that aren't allowing me to do certain things that mimic MC 8 - I just can't figure out how. But anyway, here's two screens shots.

The Top screen shot is where I am messing around with a MC 8 GUI.

The clip coloring system is a little different so I'm unable to get the same effect of black data in a clip with a dark colored border and lighter background like in MC 8. The data color always takes from the main clip color or it can be inverted. I've got some more work to do on the transport at some point and also I've got to change the title bar colors. You can look around and figure out what other tweaks I might have done.

The bottom screenshot is just a comparison to the current MC 10 dark theme. It's a nice theme. Both screenshots have a lot going on so you can get a feel if one lends itself to be visually more appealing. I haven't gotten around to working on the mixer but I would say the mixer in MC 8 is what I prefer most.

MC 10 mx8ish.JPG (283.99 KiB) Viewed 92046 times

MC 10 mx8ish compare.JPG (274.82 KiB) Viewed 92046 times

[cactus-head]

...and here's the start up for MC 8 gui so you can see the background textures and colors

MC 10 MC 8 start.JPG (156.87 KiB) Viewed 92046 times

[tfranklinh]

Just upgraded from 9. Horrible! Yes, REAPER is sometimes he** to use, but it's ability to be shaped into whatever you want to look at does give it a big edge of MC10 when I know I'm going to be sitting here for a while. This is where I want to be when it comes to workflow. But I really need some contrast.

I'm a Gen X'er who comes from a place where you can touch things. My first major piece, a Yamaha B100II, came with a manual bigger than most synths come with anymore. (Roland-DS with a pamphlet). And you had to get your hands on it if you wanted it to sound good. Circle back around to today, and while I know I can't touch my faders, it gives me comfort if they at least look like they can be touched. As stated above, it does contribute to creativity and workflow to be comfortable. A LOT! I don't do loops or whatever. I grow my beats like I grow my beets; down and dirty, long hours and messy workspace. I have to be able to stand it.

I understand the complexity of development and respect the ability to put something solid and reliable together sometimes hurts form. But it can't just be a black box or a gray one. I would gladly have paid 3 times what I did to get more themes or simpler theming. Mixcraft is an awesome DAW but I'm not going to be able to recommend it because I know this is going to be an issue. It hurts my feelings to say that. Listening to it and playing with it is so much fun but it didn't take long before changing some track colors alerted me to a glaring issue. I can't stand flat and I can't stand flat black hole even more.

Funny how we have evolved to HD & 4k resolutions and yet the UI/UX of these things is paying major insult to graphics cards worldwide. What's the point then? I will try to work on something more pleasant for my newly purchased upgrade; but I do have work to do. Time is whatever it is.

A little pointer to Acoustica from my Comp Science days:

If your UI is not good; people will not return.

Well, 3 versions later, this may be my last version. I can stand a website done in WordPress, but a not a DAW. Fix it!

Love,

Toby

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

What do you mean by a "simpler" theme, exactly?

Greg

[Rolling Estonian]

All that for, "I don't like the color?"

Many folks over the years have questioned the lack of options regarding customizing and colors, I'd like to see better track coloring for instance but it's gotten better. I think that most folks who wish there were more color options would still say it wasn't worth ditching MC over. Personally I love the dark look and being able to move the mixer.

If I'm not mistaken, there're a few members who have been able to do more with customizing with some simple coding.

M

[tfranklinh]

All that for, "I don't like the color?"

Many folks over the years have questioned the lack of options regarding customizing and colors, I'd like to see better track coloring for instance but it's gotten better. I think that most folks who wish there were more color options would still say it wasn't worth ditching MC over. Personally I love the dark look and being able to move the mixer.

If I'm not mistaken, there're a few members who have been able to do more with customizing with some simple coding.

M

What's your point? I tried to expand on a point that is important to me. Maybe it is not important to you, but I don't appreciate my feelings being minimized by someone that does not know me, does not know my needs and cannot speak to me respectfully. I hope you feel better.

[tfranklinh]

Hi,

What do you mean by a "simpler" theme, exactly?

Greg

Hey Greg. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. If some people don't mind, I will expand upon it.

What I meant by "simpler theming" was perhaps more point and click. I don't mind messing with .ini files and the like, and I already have. And to some decent effect. I'm not looking for Harrison Mixbus. (That was a performance nightmare). That was a lesson in how realistic graphics can kill the efficiency of the program.

But having slept on it and cooled down a little (thank you for letting me vent), what would have been more satisfactory out of the box would have been at least something in between the two stock themes.

But just say the ability to take the theme as it is and click a box from some (not all obviously) color choices and get an overall adjustment quickly. Even from black, perhaps something in exponential percents from the black (dark) to the gray (light). That is where I have started editing. But that's about as far as my personal and professional time will allow me to go. If I have to start editing graphics, buttons and the like; it's going to kill my work flow.

Quite frankly, like some others, I would be happy to just get the ability to get the Mixcraft 8 theme back. That's what I've been using through MC9. But I just don't have the time. This is not a hobby for me, so really need to be comfortable. The people paying me don't care if I can't work today because I can't look at my monitor for 6 hours at a time or can't concentrate because of how angry I am. It's been made clear right here that it doesn't matter to everybody. But it does matter to me. And I really don't want to change programs Greg. I love Mixcraft!

I hope that clears it up and sorry for the TL;DR. I want to be helpful.

Toby

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback!

Greg

[tfranklinh]

Aah, PLEASE give us back our beloved Mixcraft 8.

I still use mine to do voice overs on my videos. Really pretty.


MX 8.png

Yes Trev and Greg. This would shut me up good! Thanks for posting that.

[Ian Craig]

Just upgraded from 9. Horrible! Yes, REAPER is sometimes he** to use, but it's ability to be shaped into whatever you want to look at does give it a big edge of MC10 when I know I'm going to be sitting here for a while. This is where I want to be when it comes to workflow. But I really need some contrast.

I'm a Gen X'er who comes from a place where you can touch things. My first major piece, a Yamaha B100II, came with a manual bigger than most synths come with anymore. (Roland-DS with a pamphlet). And you had to get your hands on it if you wanted it to sound good. Circle back around to today, and while I know I can't touch my faders, it gives me comfort if they at least look like they can be touched. As stated above, it does contribute to creativity and workflow to be comfortable. A LOT! I don't do loops or whatever. I grow my beats like I grow my beets; down and dirty, long hours and messy workspace. I have to be able to stand it.

I understand the complexity of development and respect the ability to put something solid and reliable together sometimes hurts form. But it can't just be a black box or a gray one. I would gladly have paid 3 times what I did to get more themes or simpler theming. Mixcraft is an awesome DAW but I'm not going to be able to recommend it because I know this is going to be an issue. It hurts my feelings to say that. Listening to it and playing with it is so much fun but it didn't take long before changing some track colors alerted me to a glaring issue. I can't stand flat and I can't stand flat black hole even more.

Funny how we have evolved to HD & 4k resolutions and yet the UI/UX of these things is paying major insult to graphics cards worldwide. What's the point then? I will try to work on something more pleasant for my newly purchased upgrade; but I do have work to do. Time is whatever it is.

A little pointer to Acoustica from my Comp Science days:

If your UI is not good; people will not return.

Well, 3 versions later, this may be my last version. I can stand a website done in WordPress, but a not a DAW. Fix it!

Love,

Toby

+1

[Ian Craig]

Hi,

What do you mean by a "simpler" theme, exactly?

Greg

Hey Greg. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. If some people don't mind, I will expand upon it.

What I meant by "simpler theming" was perhaps more point and click. I don't mind messing with .ini files and the like, and I already have. And to some decent effect. I'm not looking for Harrison Mixbus. (That was a performance nightmare). That was a lesson in how realistic graphics can kill the efficiency of the program.

But having slept on it and cooled down a little (thank you for letting me vent), what would have been more satisfactory out of the box would have been at least something in between the two stock themes.

But just say the ability to take the theme as it is and click a box from some (not all obviously) color choices and get an overall adjustment quickly. Even from black, perhaps something in exponential percents from the black (dark) to the gray (light). That is where I have started editing. But that's about as far as my personal and professional time will allow me to go. If I have to start editing graphics, buttons and the like; it's going to kill my work flow.

Quite frankly, like some others, I would be happy to just get the ability to get the Mixcraft 8 theme back. That's what I've been using through MC9. But I just don't have the time. This is not a hobby for me, so really need to be comfortable. The people paying me don't care if I can't work today because I can't look at my monitor for 6 hours at a time or can't concentrate because of how angry I am. It's been made clear right here that it doesn't matter to everybody. But it does matter to me. And I really don't want to change programs Greg. I love Mixcraft!

I hope that clears it up and sorry for the TL;DR. I want to be helpful.

Toby

Well said Toby