When will pro tools introduce a truly modern GUI?

[RobRaden]

Originally Posted by necjamc

I actually prefer pt gui. Hands down. Its clean.

Absolutely. I use PT and Logic. The only part of the UI I prefer in Logic is the way files are organized in the Media window. For just about every other aspect of the UI, I prefer PT.

[bortraws]

Form Follows Function

Pro Tools has one of the best looking interfaces of any DAW, with a good balance in form and function. A pan pot looks like a pan pot and a fader looks like a fader, just as it should. It's the workflow that counts the most.

Personally I don't like it when developers try to re-invent the wheel by creating alternative looking pan pots or strange faders. It certainly adds to the confusion of newcomers. Look at Logic's pan pot. That has got to be one of the ugliest and illogical pan pots around. But again, that's just one person's opinion. In the end it is very difficult to please ever single user.

Why is it that mixing desks have hardly changed in looks all those years. Would a pink mixing desk with a fantastic sound sell better or worse? Who knows. Maybe it's time to call in Jon Ives from Apple ;-)

[25ghosts]

Originally Posted by blackmajik2021

DAWs like Logic & Presonus studio one have really beautiful looking GUIs, when do you think digi will introduce a new gui into pro tools? I feel like they hired a seriously amateur graphic designer to do the 7 > 8 upgrade.

why do you guys think there was no upgrade in pt9? A gui overhaul isn't exactly something that requires massive resources.

I think I may actually go back to using logic because PT9 is so ugly, now that every studio will have the ability to import AAF's and OMF's there's not as much reason for me to have to use PT.

that being said, I would rather use PT9 than logic for compatibility reasons, but I dont think I can look at these ugly colors all day.

If you refrain from using PT because of its looks then you def. dont need PT. If you think Logic is better then you wont need PT. If you think PT9 is ugly - dude - do a search for PT7 - now THAT was ugly.

That SAID .... Logic could look like God's Wife for all I care and PT like Sammy D. Jr... I still use PT.

[Bill Denton]

Originally Posted by bortraws

Form Follows Function

Pro Tools has one of the best looking interfaces of any DAW, with a good balance in form and function. A pan pot looks like a pan pot and a fader looks like a fader, just as it should. It's the workflow that counts the most.

Personally I don't like it when developers try to re-invent the wheel by creating alternative looking pan pots or strange faders. It certainly adds to the confusion of newcomers. Look at Logic's pan pot. That has got to be one of the ugliest and illogical pan pots around. But again, that's just one person's opinion. In the end it is very difficult to please ever single user.

Why is it that mixing desks have hardly changed in looks all those years. Would a pink mixing desk with a fantastic sound sell better or worse? Who knows. Maybe it's time to call in Jon Ives from Apple ;-)

Personally I don't like it when developers try to re-invent the wheel by creating alternative looking pan pots or strange faders. It certainly adds to the confusion of newcomers.

No...it only adds to the confusion of newcomers who know what an actual pan pot or fader looks like.

Sure, a fifteen year-old has seen pictures of mixers, and maybe even seen an actual one in GC or someplace. But most of them probably don't have a clue what those knobs and buttons and faders actually do.

I'm 61, I was a radio DJ for 11+ years, and I've been messing with recording gear since I was in my teens. I know what the knobs and buttons and faders on a recording console do.

So, to me, the Pro Tools user interface makes perfect sense. It mimics equipment that I am already very familiar with.

But I have also been a computer programmer for 22 years, and I have done quite a bit of research on user interfaces.

So, starting with a clean slate and a 15 year-old kid who really doesn't know much of anything about recording consoles, could I come up with an interface for a Pro Tools that is better than what we have today? Absolutely! And while it would be confusing as hell for us old-timers, today's kids would be able to do absolutely amazing stuff in a couple of hours after they first touched it, and without reading the manual.

When I design a user interface, if there is already a "model" such as there was with a recording console, I will start with the model, even if it's not the best way to do things. But I will be able to put a user in front of it, and they will be able to use it with little or no instruction.

We had recording consoles; today's kids have iPads. And to today's kids, those "alternative looking pan pots or strange faders" aren't "alternative" or "strange" at all...they exactly match the "model" today's kids are used to...

[Dism]

Originally Posted by Bill Denton

We had recording consoles; today's kids have iPads. And to today's kids, those "alternative looking pan pots or strange faders" aren't "alternative" or "strange" at all...they exactly match the "model" today's kids are used to...

The "model" of what, exactly?

I've always been considered the kid where I've worked, but I can't say I've ever liked Logic's UI. The only other UI I actually like is Record, and that's because it's modeled even more like real gear. Routing is amazing simple, and everything does what it looks like it should do. Nevermind the fact that so many new plugins still have console-like appearances. People like their digital stuff to feel like analogue. At least, I do.

It's not to say there aren't areas where Pro Tools' UI could be improved... but I think the UI is why a lot of people use it in the first place.

[getz76]

Heh, I love Reason partially for the fact of the rack is so "physical". No need to visualize paths and routing.

[Cloud_9]

Originally Posted by blackmajik2021

DAWs like Logic & Presonus studio one have really beautiful looking GUIs, when do you think digi will introduce a new gui into pro tools?

I think I may actually go back to using logic because PT9 is so ugly, now that every studio will have the ability to import AAF's and OMF's there's not as much reason for me to have to use PT.

Really? Nothing else to criticise? Go back to logic then so your music will look nice.

[toolgirl]

It's like yer dog..
You get used to looking at their snout and when you see another dog
you just think it looks strange..
When I see logic or cubase - It makes me think ugg this is for amateurs..
I know that is not all true haha...

But Pro Tools has been the industry standard first and for years
and what the "Big Dogs' use... It's what all the big time producer engineers had to transfer to - from cutting 2inch tape at 30ips...


Side Bar:

In the debate of weather Pro Tools or logic is better it's very important to consider the production background of the person giving the answer...

If they are well rounded engineers who truly understand mics, eq frequency, signal-flow, busing, automation concepts documentation ect.
and One who has a "Schema"

Then they are ones to listen too.. and 99 out of 100 that i have spoken too,
use Pro Tools and and are most comfortable with it..

If someone can only tell you that they are a "Producer yeah!" and a "beat maker"
then chances are they have very little use for what a DAW is fully cpable of..

You'll Get Used To The Look If You Get A Lot Of Work ;-)

[tedcanman]

I for one am coming back after a long health layoff. i think I am going to learn more about the color options that PT has. A little color could make it a little, well, cheerier perhaps. They give you the tools to dress it up a little if you want.

[nikki-k]

Huh. And I loved the old PT look (through pt7), and also.. PARIS!

That blue-gray boredom of Logic, Cubendo, etc... ugh. The sky in the Pacific NW loks like that for most of the year. I actually have C5.5 in "chocolate" mode right now, lol. And a guy did make a nice Steampunk theme for Reaper that I made a slight variation on that is pretty sweet...