Dark Theme in Pro Tools 2020.11

[midnightrambler]

This probably sounds weird but I'm halfway through mixing an album and I daren't change to "dark" mode in case it starts affecting how I hear things

[DontLetMeDrown]

Originally Posted by taylor4814

I *do* have dark colors on most other PT windows including plug-in windows...

On Windows 10? Can you take a screenshot with some plugins open? I have not been able to get rid of the white bars. Where did you go to do that? The Windows settings only gives me light, dark, and custom. Doesn't let me get as detailed with window settings like Windows 7.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by musicman691

I maxed the saturation in the PT color pallette and dropped the brightness to about 25% and I'm liking it. Much easier on my old (68.75 year old) eyes.
Maybe it's something in the Apple color pallette or what but I like it as it's less eyestrain at least for me. I've always been photo-sensitive with my eyes.

I gave up on it last night. I tried every possible saturation/brightness combo...no real joy. I find it harder to read the screen. So, I went back to classic for now. Hopefully, Avid will add some better options for it in the next update.

[taylor4814]

Originally Posted by DontLetMeDrown

On Windows 10? Can you take a screenshot with some plugins open? I have not been able to get rid of the white bars. Where did you go to do that? The Windows settings only gives me light, dark, and custom. Doesn't let me get as detailed with window settings like Windows 7.

It's the Windows Settings > Personalization > Colors dialog, where you can set an accent color, and have apply to title bars, etc...

But still doesn't change PT Mix, Edit, MIDI, Workspace windows among others...

(I'm on Win 10 Home
version 2004
OS Build 19041.630
NOT version 20H2 yet)

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

I gave up on it last night. I tried every possible saturation/brightness combo...no real joy. I find it harder to read the screen. So, I went back to classic for now. Hopefully, Avid will add some better options for it in the next update.

Could be the differences between Macs and Windows machines because from what I'm reading here Windoze users are having some graphics issues with white bars, etc. I started working on a tune yesterday in dark mode and for giggles I switched over to classic mode and I damned near had my eyes blow out with the brightness - switched back to dark mode.


I'm still working with making changes to the dark mode file with little success. Trying to decipher what graphic element a specific line pertains to isn't easy. Eventually I should be able to suss it all out; haven't had a good programming challenge in years. Now that we have access to the color settings file I have no doubt some smart person will be putting out custom skins.

[Ale]

I tried darkmode for a whole day during proiduction.
I am sorry: I do not like it.

For my eyes everything is less visible.
The VERY bright Automation/locator lines disturb me.
I sometime even could not see where the Track ends.
The grid is almost invisible now.
In the edit window om the left side the tracks ar missing contrast and so they are not so cleary to read.
......
The old guys here in studio switched back to classic
Our 30 Years younger trainee loves it.

I think there should be some things adjusted so that everyone likes it.
I have no problems with logicx dark mode

Ale

[SomeOtherGuy]

Love dark mode as I said, but it doesn't matter if you are young or old--grid lines have no contrast with the background. When you are working fast you need to see these things clearly.

[grayter1]

There's definitely a difference between Mac and Windows systems for dark mode.

I have an iMac at the office and dark mode is much more acceptable on that. The saturation on my PC at home seems way off and certain graphic elements are much harder to see. Then there's the stupid blue window boarder that Avid cannot seem to get around and remove. The first thing I did when I switched to PC from Mac last year was to change the window boarder color (as seen in the post above). That helps but it's not a total fix.

At this point, I can't figure out if it's the Windows OS, my monitor, Pro Tools or a combo platter of all three.

At any rate, thumbs up on the Mac. Thumbs down on Windows.

tg

[itsjustmeee123]

Originally Posted by LDS

I am really liking 2020.11 thus far. Loving dark mode. It's not perfect, but for late night editing it is working a treat. Sessions seem to be loading a heck of a lot faster with it too!

Same here. Love the dark mode and my larger sessions .. especially the ones with heavy VI tracks are loading a lot faster. Also the Optimize Performance at Low Buffer Sizes seems to really be working great.

[itsjustmeee123]

Originally Posted by grayter1

There's definitely a difference between Mac and Windows systems for dark mode.

I have an iMac at the office and dark mode is much more acceptable on that. The saturation on my PC at home seems way off and certain graphic elements are much harder to see. Then there's the stupid blue window boarder that Avid cannot seem to get around and remove. The first thing I did when I switched to PC from Mac last year was to change the window boarder color (as seen in the post above). That helps but it's not a total fix.

At this point, I can't figure out if it's the Windows OS, my monitor, Pro Tools or a combo platter of all three.

At any rate, thumbs up on the Mac. Thumbs down on Windows.

tg

I was going to comment on that same thing. I can't compare dark modes between computers but on my iMac 27 inch it looks great. Much easier on the eyes.