RAYZOON

I also like the gui - except that I would agree with the comment re the chocolate brown. A little too "dark" for me.

@T-Break: see, 3 minute changes or not, but you have some, too

The point with criticizing the GUI was to make Ralph aware, that THIS redesign may not help to attract new customers. As far as I remember one of the important developing reasons for JS3 was a new GUI to gain sales. Design is certainly always a matter of taste. Some like brownish colors in a GUI, others prefer a warm grey (how can grey be warm btw.???). However a good Design should follow certain principles, but I can't seem to find them in the current work in progress. Scott Kane has been criticized for his design flaws many times over at KVR and it seems he made the same mistakes here. He surely has talent and I don't know what his task for JS3 was, but IMHO he didn't do a good job.

As stated by Ralph Jamstix can't (and shouldn't) look like the EZDrummers, BFDs, Addictive Drums and what not. Jamstix approach is different and therefore needs a different way to present its functions. Now that's exactly where a good design can help. At this point developers and designers need to sit together to work out a concept. In this case it only looks like graphic elements have been picked up from previous Jamstix versions, retouched in Photoshop and cramped together in a new frame.

Well, being in the graphics industry myself I'm probably too critical and perhaps the "average user" doesn't even care too much for those design flaws. Still I believe the current design should be reworked.

Anyway, I wish Ralph all the best with JS3 and I will surely upgrade when it's out.

Hey Ralph looks good. To me functionality is way more important than looks. This is probably impossible but.... I would love to see all the controls in the groove, accent, fill panels (Brain controls...not sure what to call it) on one page. The problem being, it would be great to see all the settings when a song is playing in real time. Now you have to scroll down to see certain settings (in real time), and by the time you get there the song has moved on. The only real way to see things (down below) is to stop the song browse to the bar or section scroll down, and observe or change if necessary. To me the more information that is available on screen at once the better. I think this would help promote more tweaking. Anyway keep up the good work.

J. R.

hi Ralph
IMHO jamstix should practice to play better but not to look better.yet the ugly system wants us look better and we feed on this ugly system.
i would like to have two keys to trigger the fill.one with crash,one with no crash.I like to play jamstix live and it would be great to see all automation options in one page with the knobs and sliders (groove,fill,accents)
I would like the see keyswitches option like in the jamstix1 .Anyway I am sure you will come up with a great drummer

good luck
peace

My main problem with the JS2 interface is it's too tiny, it's very difficult to read. Now that problem is solved! I think the new interface is great, I like interfaces that look like hardware even if this as anything to do with functionality.

I appreciate the loss of the green and yellow tones, but for me the black is heavy-handed and even a little depressive - considering the amount of time I'll spend looking at all this!

Also little details like the marks beside the sliders are there for a reason - so we can hit approximate marks during adjustments. They are all but impossible to read at this point.

The odd use of old 1930s styled fonts just feels so wrong - cringe inducing even. Little things like the 3d drop shadow effect on the silver buttons designating the type is sticking out from the button instead of pressed in to the button, just feels so uneasy (no hardware has this effect as the paint would quickly wear off and it would feel annoying to press).

Wasted screen real estate for no real benefit, ANYTHING not totally and easily legible in the interface, eye fatigue generating contrasts and overall pointless darkness to the whole layout - some good work here, but so many blaring GUI problems - at least to my way of thinking.

Even the way the cymbal stands are so much brighter and therefore attention gathering than the drums and actual cymbals - why? Are we not going to follow the simple rules for graphic design and layout that have been well established for nearly a century now - i.e., the most important stuff jumps out first?

I hate to be a total bummer (too late!) but geez-louise this layout has some problems, and seems so poorly thoughtout - from the POV of musicians that are going to spend long hours working in this evironment. I have to agree with some previous posters about taking a look at what some others have done on great VSTi design - not to steal or copy from them, but to learn all the many things they did so right!

Pretty is one thing, functional is another, but good design combines both in a way that offers the HIGHEST functionality, easiest workflow, and is appealing to the mind (and in this case heart) as well.

Sorry to rag on the design (and designer(s) so badly, but from my POV many basic rules have been ignored and therefore the results are... less appealing.

Wishing you all the best! And still excited about the upgrade!

SciFiArtMan

Just realized my "cymbal stands" comment above was based on a VERY early screenshot, and not applicable at this point. Um, nevermind...

SciFiArtMan

frz wrote:

charly1310 wrote:@hitch & spitfire: +1

I have to agree here. To me the new GUI looks terrible. It's certainly a little more modern than JS1 and JS2, but it doesn't do away with Jamstix initial design flaws. I still see too many different fonts, too many bold borders and too tiny controls. In general the GUI looks very cluttered with many different visual styles for objects all cramped together. There's no sophisticated design concept behind it, other than trying to look "cool".

Although you said that the GUI design is still work in progress I recommend to totally scrap that design and start from scratch. Not only from a visual point of view, but also for Jamstix' operability/usabilty concept. Right now I can't see any workflow enhancements represented by the GUI and I think that's where the whole issue starts.

Sorry for being so critical, but I really hope you reconsider the current design concept, because Jamstix deserves a much more professional GUI than that to keep up with it's outstanding core functions.

Cheers,
bM3w

+1

I'll have to plus one this as well. With a complex application like this the UI is VERY important. We're not talking about a simple single osc subtractive synth where all the functions can easily mimic a piece of dedicated hardware. As a UI designer for MMOs, I spend my days considering how to build tools that are both functional, intuitive, easy to learn and aesthetically pleasing. It's often very tricky to achieve a balance of all those elements as what looks cool can often be an impediment to someone who does not have an intimate understanding of the tool itself. This makes the tool designer the worst possible person to design the UI. It's a catch 22 as they're often the ones who make that call.

Let it go Mr. Rayzoon. Hire a good UI designer and back away. Let them do their job with as little interference as possible and you'll end up with a great product.

Hiring a GUI designer in itself apparently doesn't make a difference (after all, Scott Kane worked on this for quite a while). Furthermore, a GUI designer who doesn't understand the workflow of the product cannot possible devise a good design unless he/she follows the functionality of a similar, existing product.

I also recommend waiting with final judgment until you can all get your hands on the Beta (using this GUI compared to just looking at screenshots). We will have a public Beta for all Jamstix 2 owners.

As soon as Jamstix 3 is released, we will start an official Jamstix 4 GUI thread where we can all debate various new designs.

Ralph [RZ] wrote:Hiring a GUI designer in itself apparently doesn't make a difference (after all, Scott Kane worked on this for quite a while). Furthermore, a GUI designer who doesn't understand the workflow of the product cannot possible devise a good design unless he/she follows the functionality of a similar, existing product.

I also recommend waiting with final judgment until you can all get your hands on the Beta (using this GUI compared to just looking at screenshots). We will have a public Beta for all Jamstix 2 owners.

As soon as Jamstix 3 is released, we will start an official Jamstix 4 GUI thread where we can all debate various new designs.

It's true, I can't make final judgments on the UI based on these screen captures, but as a long time user I have some idea of the Jamstix workflow and frankly it's lack of flow is a major issue for me. I've been working with drum machine since the 808 days and I've worked on sequencers galore from Synclaviers to Ableton Live and from what I can tell you're partially confusing "skin" with "UI." Those screenshots are full of what I consider rookie or amateur mistakes, and I'm only referencing look and feel. Any design element that distracts from the intent of the tool is a failure.

I guess i get all upset about such things because I see Jamstix like you might see a hot member of the opposite sex but having a bad acid trip and wearing a poor fitting home made Cylon Centurion costume. The attraction is there but there's a lot of issues before it can be enjoyed.