Fractal Talk

Aleksi said:
Not before you watch the one about what all the different volume controls do!
Click to expand...
test guy GIF
 
Let’s keep it real, if the QC didn’t exist and that touchscreen UI and feature set was on the FM3/9, everyone would love it. It would still be imperfect, but nobody in here would be bitching and complaining about the minor shit that needs to be improved with it. It’s a great UI, and that doesn’t invalidate the AWESOME fractal units, of which I’m now exclusively using because of its general awesomeness.

“I had to tap my amp block twice that one time!”

baby crying GIF


Vs

“I memorized a nonsensical button command”

baby crying GIF



I think I just called myself a baby about this stuff too. :ROFLMAO:
 
Orvillain said:
I think Cliff is an engineer at heart, and he wants stuff to be visible, accessible as much as possible, with as few bullshit frills and skeuo-considerations as possible. I could be wrong, but my experience of dev's is that they largely roll their eyes at eye-candy and stuff they perceive to be a waste of time. For them it is all about the algorithms, the technology, and the possibilities on the table.
Click to expand...
Exactly. If you want "My First Modeler" there are other products that are probably a better fit.

Not to say that the UI couldn't be improved. Everything can be improved and we constantly strive to improve things. Resources are finite.
 
My experience has been that if something is super simple it will only do a portion of what I really want it to do. If it does everything I want it to, it won’t be very simple to operate. I can either lower my expectations about what I want out of a piece of gear, or I can deal with the complexity that comes with it. If it was both, it would make me happy, but not very many other people because we all end up using this stuff a little differently.

The Fractal UX had a lot of room to improve in the Gen 1 stuff. Didn’t stop me from using it successfully (mostly) on hundreds of gigs. Also didn’t prevent me from using the onboard controls for most of what I did. BUT if you did need to quickly adjust some key thing live, it wasn’t easy.

I feel like they’ve solved most of that already with the FM9. The thing is right there in front of you, you have a few knobs on the panel that you can assign to the key things that tend to need adjustment. The onboard controls beyond that can be learned easily enough.

I hated using a rack, much prefer having the control in front of me like it would be with a pedalboard. If I could always elevate the rack unit like it was an amp head on a cabinet, that would be less of an issue but I couldn’t always do that and I hated having the rack case on the floor and trying to adjust stuff on the front panel.

D
 
Will Chen said:
...they are capable of some extremely complex stuff, kinda runs hand in hand.
Click to expand...
But only "kinda". Complexity and usability don't need to be inversely proportional. You can take absolutely any system, irrespective of its complexity, and improve the UI/UX that lies on top of it. Or, fail to do so.

Orvillain said:
I think Cliff is an engineer at heart, and he wants stuff to be visible, accessible as much as possible, with as few bullshit frills and skeuo-considerations as possible. I could be wrong, but my experience of dev's is that they largely roll their eyes at eye-candy and stuff they perceive to be a waste of time. For them it is all about the algorithms, the technology, and the possibilities on the table.
Click to expand...
Visibility and accessibility, in particular, are important considerations to UI engineers. (Yes, believe it or not, that's a real job description, and not a contradiction in terms.) Lots and lots of technology - and by extension the careers of lots and lots of devs - revolve around eye candy.

I don't understand how this even manages to be a point of debate. The presentation layer isn't at war with underlying systems. Top to bottom: better is better.
 
laxu said:
It's probably also where a good bit of the "this looks and works like a piece of lab equipment" approach comes from.

That's why I say they really need some UI/UX guy who is as passionate about making it operate great as Cliff is at making it sound great.
Click to expand...
That would involve Cliff going "okay... you know what.... YOU FUCKING DESIGN A PRODUCT....!!!" and then just stepping back and letting whoever it is do their job. And... tbh... that is a lot to ask of a CEO. You need someone with a solid proven track record of designing good shit that makes sense to people... and most of those people don't work in the music tech sector, because when it is all said and done, the music tech sector is a cottage industry. A big one... but still has a shitty thatched roof that lets the rain in.

I don't see it happening that way personally. I think there will be constant and consistent incremental updates, and tbh... I'm fully on board at this point.

I guess I need to get my Fractal fanboi card now.... it is starting to feel that way!
 
Whizzinby said:
Let’s keep it real, if the QC didn’t exist and that touchscreen UI and feature set was on the FM3/9, everyone would love it. It would still be imperfect, but nobody in here would be bitching and complaining about the minor shit that needs to be improved with it. It’s a great UI, and that doesn’t invalidate the AWESOME fractal units, of which I’m now exclusively using because of its general awesomeness.

“I had to tap my amp block twice that one time!”

baby crying GIF


Vs

“I memorized a nonsensical button command”

baby crying GIF



I think I just called myself a baby about this stuff too. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
I mean... you can paint it that way if you like, Mr. Whizz. But that Pop Candy hasn't only destroyed your teeth... also your brain it seems.

"OMG! The QC is sooooo fast to use!! Really intuitive!!"
"Yeah but... when I had one... it was slow... because of all these extra clicks.... what's that all about?"
"FUCK YOU DREW! MY LIVED EXPERIENCE COUNTS TOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

... like.... what?!

What a strange exchange.

I can remember books I read as a 13 year old. Don't tell me memorizing a button is some sort of chore. Coz if it is...
 
Orvillain said:
I can remember books I read as a 13 year old. Don't tell me memorizing a button is some sort of chore. Coz if it is...
Click to expand...


Not only do I remember the books, I remember physically going to the library, then using the card catalog and Dewey Decimal System to find them.
 
Whizzinby said:
Its not a chore, its bad UI.
Click to expand...
Well that is sort of the crux of the matter. No matter how Laxu and others might want to paint it; "bad UI" is fairly subjective. There are some generally accepted practices, but once the vanilla concerns are taken care of.... you'll find very little agreement on what constitutes good UI and good UX.

UI = user interface (pretty pictures n shit)
UX = user experience (bitch, click this thing 3 times in a row because we're too cheap to add another £3 to the bill of materials for our hardware!)
 
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