 |
Here's my GUI suggestion. Hope you like it! My goal was to make it look more like hardware and to provide mod-matrix flexibility without the complexity. I envision this on a silver metal background with Qwa-style 3-d beveled borders taking the place of the navy section labels. I also prefer the Qwa-style section labels but I think the text might be too large for this... I took a different approach than the last Ethereal beta I saw and kept the mod controls with the mod sources for economy of controls and clarity of layout. You'll need to build your own knobs 'cause I stole these from Ephonic's Invader. -Jzero "Ethereal" Definition
I had this bizzare brainstorm for something to put in the bottom corner and came up with this webster's definition cheese... Not sure whether its cool or lame. Parameter Display
I was trying to keep this display in the center of the plugin to minimize how far the eye has to travel when the user makes precision edits... But I could never seem to make it fit. User-Wave Display
No difference here except that I'd move the edit operations: Copy, Paste, Clear, and Filter to a right-click popup menu. Actually, I think most infrequent edit operations should be moved to popups... User-Wave Edit
No difference here except that I'd move the edit operations: Copy, Paste, Clear, and Filter to a right-click popup menu. Actually, I think most infrequent edit operations should be moved to popups... Chorus Section
Pretty much the same as the current beta except I'd use "delay" for the label instead of Max since it's measured in milliseconds. LFO Modulation Amounts
These knobs would control the percentage amount of how much of the LFO signal is to be applied to the modulation destination. LFO Modulation Destinations
Each LFO could have up to three different modulation destinations simultaneously. The amount of modulation the LFO applied to the destination would be controlled using the knobs to the right. The picture shows the current LFO modulating the cuttoff frequency for filter 1 and the pan position for oscillator 3. The really cool part about keeping the modulation controls with their sources is that they are all in one place and are re-used for each LFO... This takes less screen real-estate and provides more flexibility than having a fixed number of modulation slots next to each mod destination. Also, if you add mod destinations when expanding the synth's capabilities, you don't have to re-design the gui each time. Envelope Modulation Amounts
These knobs would control the percentage amount of how much of the Envelope signal is to be applied to the modulation destination. Envelope Modulation Destinations
Each Envelope could have up to four different modulation destinations simultaneously. The amount of modulation the LFO applied to the destination would be controlled using the knobs to the right. The picture shows the current LFO modulating the cuttoff frequency for filter 1 and the pan position for oscillator 3. The really cool part about keeping the modulation controls with their sources is that they are all in one place and are re-used for each envelope... This takes less screen real-estate and provides more flexibility than having a fixed number of modulation slots next to each mod destination. Also, if you add mod destinations when expanding the synth's capabilities, you don't have to re-design the gui each time. Envelope LEDs
I envision these working as both activity lights and sort of like dialog-tabs. Clicking on one of these would display the appropriate envelope number in the window below. Also, that envelope's modulation destinations would appear to the right of the window. While the synth is making sound, ideally the LEDs would get brighter as the envelope approached 100% and softer as it neared 0%. This way, one could quickly see what envelopes were impacting a sound at a glance. If this is too CPU intensive, then I'd just light the active envelope LED and dim the rest. Envelope
For the Envelopes and LFOs, I tried to make them more of a focal point for the GUI by placing them higher on the screen. Unfortunately, the FX sections pushed them to the right of center. If a smaller GUI was desired, we could possibly collapse the FX and OSC panels so that only one is visible at a time. Oddly, though the chorus section wouldn't be included. With the envelope, I would change the way looping is set so that you don't have to know the point number. Ideally, the user would select a point and then choose "Set Loop Start" or "Set Loop End" from the popup menu. Then the envelope would reflect this visually somehow... (Here I made the dots blue). Other envelope buttons and the envelope length could also be set with the popup menu. LFO Section
For the Envelopes and LFOs, I tried to make them more of a focal point for the GUI by placing them higher on the screen. Unfortunately, the FX sections pushed them to the right of center. If a smaller GUI was desired, we could possibly collapse the FX and OSC panels so that only one is visible at a time. Oddly though, the chorus section wouldn't be included. I added a delay for the LFO so that you could slowly ramp in increasing LFO amounts but this really wouldn't be necessary if both LFO Amount and LFO Speed were modulation destinations. I just needed more knobs in this section! LFO LEDs
I envision these working as both activity lights and sort of like dialog-tabs. Clicking on one of these would display the appropriate LFO number in the window below. Also, that LFO's modulation destinations would appear to the right of the window. While the synth is making sound, ideally the LEDs would get brighter as the LFO approached 100% and softer as it neared 0%. This way, one could quickly see what LFOs were impacting a sound at a glance. If this is too CPU intensive, then I'd just light the active LFO LED and dim the rest. LFO Wave
Clicking on this graphic display of the LFO wave shape should bring up a popup list of available waveforms to choose from. When the user selects a waveform, the graphic should display the new shape. LFO Amount
This knob would allow one to set the percentage amount of LFO modulation. Perhaps this is not needed since each of the LFO Modulation destinations already has an amount knob?... Filter 1 Velocity
This knob would be used to control the amount of impact midi key-velocity has on Filter 1 (cutoff freq or envelope amount?) Filter2Velocity
This knob would be used to control the amount of impact MIDI key-velocity has on Filter 2 (cutoff freq or envelope amount?) Amp Velocity
This control would govern how much amplitude (volume or amp envelope amount?) is impacted by MIDI key-velocity. Filter Section
The filter section contains the controls for two seperate filters. The top buttons would control filter 1 and the bottom ones filter 2. The filter type would be selected using dropdowns behind the images at the top. Filter2 Type
This control would display a graphic of the current filter type for Filter 2 (Lowpass, Bandpass, Highpass, etc.) When the user clicks on the graphic a dropdown list of available filter types would display. Choosing one of these would update the graphic. Filter1 Type
This control would display a graphic of the current filter type for Filter 1 (Lowpass, Bandpass, Highpass, etc.) When the user clicks on the graphic a dropdown list of available filter types would display. Choosing one of these would update the graphic. Delay Section
Nothing exciting here. I'd just change the label from Wet/Dry to "Mix"... Reverb Section
The Ethereal beta 'verb sounds great. I'd just add a pre-delay. Also, if its disabled by its LED, I hope the CPU useage for Ethereal would go down a lot. Reverb Predelay
A delay to the front of the reverb effect really helps emphasize an acoustic space. This control may not be necessary as long as the Delay section itself could feed the reverb (not just the dry signal). Phaser Section
Amp Section
Not sure if "Amp Section" is the best name. I thought about using "Main" except then the velocity knob would need to be "Amp Vel" instead. Oscillator Section
I really like the way these turned out, especially the filter buttons. The cut-away lower-right corner is sort-of mirrored by the entire interface itself. I've added a pan knob for each oscillator. Osc1 Pan
I think a pan knob for each oscillator would be cool. Also, a pan modulation destination for each oscillator so that envelopes or LFOs could modulation pan position as well. Osc2 Pan
I think a pan knob for each oscillator would be cool. Also, a pan modulation destination for each oscillator so that envelopes or LFOs could modulation pan position as well. Osc3 Pan
I think a pan knob for each oscillator would be cool. Also, a pan modulation destination for each oscillator so that envelopes or LFOs could modulation pan position as well. Osc1 Filter This would be a toggle button for selecting which filter oscillator 1 should use... "1" or "2" for Filter 1 or Filter 2, or "N" for none. Osc2 Filter This would be a toggle button for selecting which filter oscillator 2 should use... "1" or "2" for Filter 1 or Filter 2, or "N" for none. Osc3 Filter This would be a toggle button for selecting which filter oscillator 3 should use... "1" or "2" for Filter 1 or Filter 2, or "N" for none. Osc3 LED LED button used to turn on or off Oscillator 3. Osc2 LED LED button used to turn on or off Oscillator 2. Osc1 LED LED button used to turn on or off Oscillator 1. Osc1 Wave The image is a graphic icon representing the wave-shape for Oscillator 1. Left-clicking on it would bring up a list of available wave-shapes. Selecting one of these would set the oscillator wave-shape and then replace the icon with the appropriate one. Osc2 Wave The image is a graphic icon representing the wave-shape for Oscillator 2. Left-clicking on it would bring up a list of available wave-shapes. Selecting one of these would set the oscillator wave-shape and then replace the icon with the appropriate one. Osc3 Wave The image is a graphic icon representing the wave-shape for Oscillator 3. Left-clicking on it would bring up a list of available wave-shapes. Selecting one of these would set the oscillator wave-shape and then replace the icon with the appropriate one. Osc3 Fat Wave The image is a graphic icon representing the shape for Oscillator 3's "Fat" wave. Left-clicking on it would bring up a list of available wave-shapes. Selecting one of these would set the oscillator wave-shape and then replace the icon with the appropriate one. Osc2 Fat Wave The image is a graphic icon representing the shape for Oscillator 2's "Fat" wave. Left-clicking on it would bring up a list of available wave-shapes. Selecting one of these would set the oscillator wave-shape and then replace the icon with the appropriate one. Osc1 Fat Wave The image is a graphic icon representing the shape for Oscillator 1's "Fat" wave. Left-clicking on it would bring up a list of available wave-shapes. Selecting one of these would set the oscillator wave-shape and then replace the icon with the appropriate one.