there is no progress in praise, that doesn´t mean that we have to shut down the industry. Ideally they listen have good UI designers that work with customers to improve the stuff.
one envelope curve alone maybe things missing but it´s always a lot of things that come together. And shure youre right in the end elektron interfaces work, but that doesn´t mean that they are UI Masterpieces. Look at the analog rytm for example, 1/2 of the space is used for the pads and many many people find the pads absolutly useless because they are so unresponsive. So it´s a pretty senseless UI decision to put them there in the first place. If you wanted to just use them to tweak parameters 4 would be enough maybe, not 12. So it made absolute sense to not again put those on the syntakt and go Digistyle.
Sometimes my favourite synths are the most masochistic to engage and interact with…
Yamaha TX81Z
Roland JV1080
Waldorf Blofeld
ACCESS VIRUS SNOW
They each have terrible, unrelatable interfaces but…
Good synths can be like good people, hard to get to know, but once you break the ice the complexity and depth keep you intrigued enough to keep coming back, and you overlook the foibles.
In contrast I will say though that my Moog sub37 is the most pleasurable synth to interact with…that is a synth that just feels like its part of your own body. Not as deep, but the level of expression accessible from the interface is out of this world engaging.
My Electribe 2 & 2s have close to 30 menu’s and sub-menu’s for near endless diving on their 2 inch screens, and for ease of use it has 20 shift key shortcuts - none of which are labelled because struggle breeds creativity.
the Peak is maybe the worst experience i’ve ever had patching a synth. i dont rmember exactly how the naming convention worked, but i think it was pretty bad as well. mostly its the menu buttons + all the diving you have to do for additional envelopes and effects. nothing is intuitive and its hard to get into a smooth flow
hydrasynth was also no fun at all to program. hated it
the actual worst i think was the subsequent 25 and it’s hidden/secondary shift functions. what an unusable mess
on the other hand, the waldorf m and the p12 desktop are some of the most satisfying synths to program. especially the M. feels so good to touch and you develop muscle memory as quickly as something like a digitakt
i didnt even use the envelopes on the octa for the first couple of months, because i was new to synthesis and sampling and hard a hard time visualizing how the envelopes affected the sound. the filter is confusing too. it helped a lot once i got things like the a4 mk2 or the digitone. with every new elektron machine i use, i learn more bout my other elektron gear. but those mk2 graphics help so much to visualize what is happening to your sounds
i almost cant imagine getting an mk1 for the first time, as someone new to hardware gear. any of the mk1’s would be a little extra confusing with all of the options and no graphic representation. i own a rytm mk1 and i think i only get along with it so well because i’ve owned like 7 other elektron boxes. but i love elektron machines. some of the most intuitive and great feeling interfaces ive used
MC-101 felt like five pounds of sausage in a one pound casing. So capable and deep but the depths were only accessible through a small two line display. I can typically tolerate more menus than most, but it was pure menu hell. For portability I decided I’d rather use a laptop.
Menus bother me far less when you can see more on the display, like on the Octatrack, for example.
The Microkorg and its unreadable parameter list and 2-character display. Awful.
As mentioned above, you’d have to be insane to program the TX81Z from the front panel.
That seems to be a bit of a no win situation.
It was originally released with endless encoders (so that the presets could be recalled and the knobs were “in the right place”) but this methodology created such a furore among users that they released a retro fit kit to switch out for potentiometers… and then people complained that the pots were in the wrong place when they switched presets.
I’m no expert but is the only way around this to have motorised pots ?
Yeah I agree. I do love the Polymoon but I’ve got the manual printed out and stuck on the wall directly in front of it.
Is a terrible idea though… makes tweaking a nightmare as you switch from function a to function b
Yea I have the Potentiometer Edition - but a big part of the hate toward the original was how poor the encoders were, not just that they were encoders. But with nothing on the interface to tell you their current position there’s not much point in having that many of them in the first place - it’s a kind of worst of both worlds.
Motorised pots are the only solution I’ve seen that both address the problems and don’t create the drawback.
Endless encoders can be great in many, even most situations, but especially for performance I like the tactility and muscle memory aspect of a potentiometer.
The Korg R3 has LEDs around the encoders that show the current “position” which I really like. When you switch preset the LEDs update to the new values and the encoders adjust them immediately from that position, no latching or jumping like with pots.
Yep LED rings are a great way to have somewhat of a middle ground - I like the encoders on the Akai APC40 MKII and Behringer use similar ones on some of their controllers - they should be standard for encoders IMO.
Elektron’s implementation is also good, as is the Akai Force and the Push 2 is ok too
Well I had both (as I opted for the upgrade kit)
… avoided raging online… and the pot option was the better choice. But as soon as you switch presets you have to accept many of the knobs are in the wrong place. Hadn’t occurred to me to complain… although led / lcd would enhance for sure
The little phatty has sort of a best of both worlds with pots and led rings! I think they did this because the knobs share multiple functions but it’s awesome for switching patches, which can be a problem on many synths where instant jumps when turing a knob can be jarring or you can’t see where the value is for the smoother catch mode. They put another mode where it interpolates between the actual knob and stored value so it works pretty smooth. I don’t even mind the lack of knobs too much. Plus they show the movement when sequenced/modulated externally which is killer. I wish more gear had this feature
I thought the little patty had encoders - that is a decent solution. The Prophet has the same kind of interpolation that I think you’re talking about and it is more useful than knobs catching-up or jumping
I don’t think any moog has encoders for the main knobs. I’ve heard a lot of people don’t like it’s interface because it’s not knob per function but you get big potentiometers w/ led feedback that are well spaced and I don’t know of this combination on any other synth
+1 for loving elektron UI, the way the screen represents the knobs is brilliant, I have no idea why some people think they are menu divey