When I open the manual, I don’t want to see the title page, I want to see the table of contents immediately or be able to do a search (if the TOC has been implemented, you have to open it manually or scroll down). EDIT: Preferably, it wouldn’t even be your-grandma’s-TOC, but something more sophisticated and user friendly.
The search function in PDF readers is not quite as clever as on many web platforms: the best hit for “sequencer” is the sequencer chapter, not the first page that says the word “sequencer”, to give an example.
A scalable page would allow me to see a bigger chunk of the text if want, instead of having to scroll back and forth (or zoom so far that I can’t see the text anymore). The PDF also wastes space by having to show half-full pages, which makes quick browsing in troubleshooting situations more frustrating.
Multi-column manuals (or the kinds of all-around-the-place manuals that Korg makes for Volcas or Roland made for the TR-6S) work a lot better in print than on the screen.
If you compare synth manuals to how online user guides are written for e.g. programming languages, I think the difference is clear.
A part of my dislike of PDFs might be because I’m more familiar with the browser than the PDF reader, but I’d say that so is everyone else. I think the PDF as an interface is too skeuomorphic; it’s too much like a book, instead of something that would actually fully embrace the possibilities that digital presentation offers.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be “online” – a local HTML page would also be better, in my opinion.
Yep, I basically mean that for troubleshooting purposes, I find the PDF manual to be really clumsy. It’s fine for sitting down and reading. EDIT: But in general, I wish companies would rethink the way they teach people to use their products, and IMO the software world is a lot better with this.
The only piece of Elektron gear I have is the Model:Samples and it’s manual has always provided the answers I need in a clear and concise way. I did dive into the Octatrak manual once and that was a nightmare, but I think that might have come down to the complexity of the machine vs the writing of the manual.
I appreciate the technical and extensive nature of the Elektron manuals. The only thing that could improve them IMO is a section with tip and tricks, but I guess that’s what Elektronauts is for.
they literally plug elektronauts to new users a way to get help with their new user problems, there was some bulletin that I saw where it said something like care is not currently answering questions regarding how to set up gear - can you imagine your phone provider telling you “we won’t tell you how to set up your new phone?”
Yes, when you visit Elektron Supoort it suggests looking to Elektronauts first. That initially put me off, based on negative experiences with other manufacturers forums. But I feel like I’ve avoided opening tickets for a lot of very basic and redundant issues, by seeking support here first. And when I don’t find answers here, Elektron Support always responds.
Paper cuts are no joke. I’d put $5 on the OT manual unless @blushresponse comes dressed in chainmail.
PDF is a page layout system with the PostScript language at its core. It is an absolutely terrible format for ebooks but is the defacto standard for printing whether at home or at industrial scale.
It gets worse: since PostScript is a fully functional programming language, it is possible for the content of a PDF to be completely scrambled before even considering things like encryption. This can cause serious problems for search as well as reader apps.
HTML is good for screens, but terrible as a print-ready format.
My phone provider used to send a single sheet explaining how to insert a SIM card. As far as I’m aware, Apple has never and likely never will provide anything like a manual for an iPhone. Much like Roland, Apple doesn’t have to document their products. Users will comb through old keynotes and announcements to discover features while Apple and Roland smugly fail to write decent documentation. (Exception: the Logic docs are pretty good. Some of Apple’s developer docs are OK, but rarely comprehensive anymore.)
This is key - different people have different learning styles. I love Elektron’s manuals, but understand that not everyone has the same kind of weird brain as I do.
Yes but I don’t think the notation is very clear. It doesn’t say Major triad with flat 7th, it says M7. Maybe that makes sense to all those folks who went to Berklee and memorized all the chord names and abbreviations, but for me it doesn’t give me the information I need. Like they could print the manual in only Spanish and all the information would be there but it would be a useless manual to me.
Complex and versatile machines need to be documented accordingly.
It’s not Elektrons fault when people lack basic reading comprehension and the ability to sit down and actually focus on something.
If that manual had note intervals I would have learned this harmony much much quicker. I see M7 in that manual, so I Google “M7 chord” and I do not see any definitive and agreed set of intervals for that chord name. I think it is important to recognize that manuals are in their nature designed to bridge the knowledge gap between the designer and a new user. There is a real balancing act to where in that gap the language of the manual falls. For instance they could publish the raw code as the manual and all the information is there, but not in a way that is useable by anyone but the designers. But generally speaking I think elektron do a great job of this.
But beware, the result might be even worse than what we have now, e.g. https://docs.pioneerdj.com/Manuals/TORAIZ_SQUID_DRI1560A_manual/?page=18
This manual is basically just jpegs of the PDF pages, shown in a janky, in-browser e-reader, but without the basic functionality you’d get in a proper PDF reader! It’s pretty bad. You can’t select text, you can’t add highlights or annotations, you can’t even control how much you zoom in (the zoom levels seem to be none or TOO MUCH).
Definitely better than average manuals in my opinion. Part of that may just be that the devices are really intuitive once you start to understand. In addition they work better for me after spending a lot of time seeing how other people use the devices, so there’s some concept to refer to in the manual, instead of just reading it cover to cover.
The one exception to this is the section on trigless locks, in the A4 manual at least (i havent checked the rest). Besides the kind of double negative terminology there, that section could benefit from formatting for these sort of newfangled terms, so it is easier to follow. More itallics bolds or something. I know that would contradict the formatting of the rest of the manual but that was one that didn’t totally click without seeing it done.
anyone complaining about Elektron manuals hasn’t read a Roland manual from the 90s.
(seriously though, I think there’s maybe an Elektron TYPE person? Like… it’s weighted towards one way of thinking. I know Digitakt is supposed to be relatively simple, but I thought it made total sense on Day 1, wheras my attempts to use an MPC made me confused as hell. So if you’re not on the Elektron wavelength to begin with, maybe it’s a very different experience.)
