Survey On Simplified User-Interfaces in Plugins

[miroslav]

No way, that's why it's equally important to get a schematic and/or test specs for each of your outboard processors. Like they just put "fast" and "slow" on a knob of a compressor and we're supposed to work with that :eyeroll: . Come on I need the attack release knee and harmonic distortion on this, I can't be creative without that simple info.

They have compressors with actual time marked in ms...so consider why you might want to know that info in some cases, rather than just a generic "fast/slow"....but that's not really what's being talked about here. There simplified interfaces that still provide plenty of technical options.

There was a specific reference to one-knob stuff by the OP...which IMO removes all technical information from a tool that probably has multiple technical applications operating at one time.
Unless you already possess the technical understanding, all you will ever know is that when I turn this one-knob...things get "warmer" (because that's what it says under the knob). So then "warmer" becomes your "technical" term for what that plug does...but it doesn't really mean anything in any other context.

It's not about everyone needing a technical audio engineering degree to record and mix audio, but most of the tools out there already have defined features and names, and when you converse with other people doing the same kind of work, there is a common language that means the same thing to all of you.
This is the way it is in all fields...both analytical and purely artistic.

I think that these days, the software manufacturers are simply pandering to the recording dabblers and the ADD crowd (or something like that) and they're looking to repackage things in more and more simplified ways in order to sell to that crowd...but I really don't think that means they are making recording a more "creative" process...rather, they are making it even more mysterious than it's been when it was only something done in big pro studios. They are building 'black boxes"...and all you need to do is turn the one knob.

 

[jimmys69]

I hear ya man. The one knob things are for those who don't wish to learn. On occasion I will use one just for ease, but for final mixing it is more detailed for me as well.

Not everyone wants to put in the time to learn That why some get paid and others don't...

 

[miroslav]

There are probably 3-4, maybe 5 different "camps" in the so-called home recording world, and their reasons for recording and how they approach it, will vary substantially.
I really can't speak for the 16 year old kid who wants to do podcasts from his bedroom, and only wants it work, at the cheapest and simplest level possible...and he's just focused on putting out the podcasts on the interwebs, and couldn't care less about the details.
I really have no advice for that guy. I'm just not in that frame of mind, and have never been.

That's who some of this stuff is aimed at...and I get it, why it appeals...but I have to laugh when they sell the one-knob stuff as being a better tool because it frees you up to be more creative.

We are all waist deep in serious technology...that is the nature of the recording arts...and to not have at least the basic understanding of that technology so you don't feel like a total tool of the software devs, where all you know is to press that one-button or turn that one knob...would IMO be more of a benefit to folks than to further avoid learning the basics.
That said...there's still that guy who just wants to do podcasts out of his bedroom...and he doesn't want to know anything more.

 

[easlern]

There was a time when audio engineers kept a pit behind their studio- where they sourced the silicon and copper they used to forge the preamps feeding their handmade electrostatic drums (better fidelity than wax cylinders). The preamps were wire wrapped to specifications prescribed by the instrument manufacturers, given a matrix of frequencies and sound pressure levels roughly describing each recording. The preamps had hundreds of parameters pain-stakingly adjusted by a team of physicists. A generator turned by draft horses provided the phantom power.

The day they made the one knob preamp, all that ended. The screw machinist, the master of the horse, they went home because there was no need for their craft anymore. The creches used to birth the assistant engineers who held the lighning rods went fallow. And worst of all: recordists the world over started making recordings that sounded good without fully understanding why.

That was the day the music died.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Lol. Maybe you're taking it a bit thick?
I think it's important to understand basic principles of anything you're interested in or passionate about.
We use calculators every day but we still teach math(s).

You can, of course, go too far and be that guy who constantly moans and whines about the failings of the generation after you.

Everything in moderation, I guess.

 

[Pinky]

There was a time when audio engineers kept a pit behind their studio- where they sourced the silicon and copper they used to forge the preamps feeding their handmade electrostatic drums (better fidelity than wax cylinders). The preamps were wire wrapped to specifications prescribed by the instrument manufacturers, given a matrix of frequencies and sound pressure levels roughly describing each recording. The preamps had hundreds of parameters pain-stakingly adjusted by a team of physicists. A generator turned by draft horses provided the phantom power.

The day they made the one knob preamp, all that ended. The screw machinist, the master of the horse, they went home because there was no need for their craft anymore. The creches used to birth the assistant engineers who held the lighning rods went fallow. And worst of all: recordists the world over started making recordings that sounded good without fully understanding why.

That was the day the music died.

lol

 

[miroslav]

There was a time when audio engineers kept a pit behind their studio- where they sourced the silicon and copper they used to forge the preamps feeding their handmade electrostatic drums (better fidelity than wax cylinders). The preamps were wire wrapped to specifications prescribed by the instrument manufacturers, given a matrix of frequencies and sound pressure levels roughly describing each recording. The preamps had hundreds of parameters pain-stakingly adjusted by a team of physicists. A generator turned by draft horses provided the phantom power.

The day they made the one knob preamp, all that ended. The screw machinist, the master of the horse, they went home because there was no need for their craft anymore. The creches used to birth the assistant engineers who held the lighning rods went fallow. And worst of all: recordists the world over started making recordings that sounded good without fully understanding why.

That was the day the music died.

A "bit thick" is an understatement.
You sure make recording sound like it was/is very complex and difficult for most people to comprehend....so now it needs to be very simplified for the masses.

You can, of course, go too far and be that guy who constantly moans and whines about the failings of the generation after you.

Considering you're listed as the "Honorary Old Fart"....are you channeling here?

I really don't see the trend as a generational thing...unless you want to say that the software devs are specifically targeting the younger, convenience-focused generation...and there's no denying that the younger generations are more willing to trade off a lot of things for pure convenience.

IMO...it's just a marketing strategy.
The software companies have over-saturated the audio market with apps...people are not buying the stuff that was put out a few years ago at the same rate or quantity as they use to. The companies are looking to boost sales, and often you can find the older apps being practically given away at sale prices.
I just picked a pair of high-end compressor plugs (Millennia TCL and Vertigo VSC) which together were originally selling for about $550 at full price. I paid $24 for both...OK, they were actually $99, and I had a $75 voucher that they sent me...but the real point is that they're looking to sell the apps at whatever prices, just to keep the sales going.

So then their other option for boosting sales, is to introduce endless new apps that supposedly give you more creative freedoms....but in reality, these apps are very preset-like, and therefore much easier/cheaper to code/create compared to something with a lot of features...and by their very simplistic, sometimes singular nature, they can actually take away creative options, especially for the people who don't know or don't want to know about options...they just want to use what is packaged for them.
This is no different than the synth preset thing that was going on in the early days of MIDI...where few people would bother delving into the synth menus to create their own patches...they just played what was already available, and you ended up hearing the same old sounds on countless recordings.

It's like...I wanna fly an airplane, but I don't want to know anything technical about it, I just want to enjoy the feeling of flying...so give me a plane with autopilot, and I can tell everyone I flew the airplane.

 

[Jimham70]

I think the irony would be expecting that anyone to be "wasting time" with this survey

 

[joey2000]

I love simple, intuitive interfaces, for sure...but I'm not a fan of one-button/knob shit where there may be several layers of processing happening, but you really don't know what/how is happening.

If it does what I need it to do and does it well? I'm a HUGE fan. I want to kiss it, to buy it presents, to take it out to dinner, to have its babies. Of course there's no such beast so it's all moot, but wow what I'd give (pay!) for a big fat red EASY button I could hit and voila, my stuff is superbly mixed and mastered.

To those that love "the process," more power to you. And those that do it well, my hat is off. I know just enough to know it's both an art and a science and no quick and easy thing to say the least.

But I hate it. It's a necessary means to an end and I'm all about the end. Dammit Jim I'm a composer, not an engineer.

 

[jimmys69]

If it does what I need it to do and does it well? I'm a HUGE fan. I want to kiss it, to buy it presents, to take it out to dinner, to have its babies. Of course there's no such beast so it's all moot, but wow what I'd give (pay!) for a big fat red EASY button I could hit and voila, my stuff is superbly mixed and mastered.

To those that love "the process," more power to you. And those that do it well, my hat is off. I know just enough to know it's both an art and a science and no quick and easy thing to asy the least.

I hate it. It's a necessary means to an end and I'm all about the end. Dammit Jim I'm a composer, not a doctor.

Ha! Great quote joey.

Yeah man, I wish there were easy. Though like the vocal one I mentioned it is actually a great all in one vocal processing unit that I use for basic stuff, but in the end there is no preset that works for everything. That is where the guy in control of the mix needs to know what they are looking to do. The only 'EASY' button is achieved by having/paying someone geeky enough in mixing to make it seem easy, or you just learn by doing yourself.

I mean no judgment of you. Fuck, I wish I had an 'EASY' button myself sometimes...

 

[miroslav]

If it does what I need it to do and does it well? I'm a HUGE fan. I want to kiss it, to buy it presents, to take it out to dinner, to have its babies. Of course there's no such beast so it's all moot, but wow what I'd give (pay!) for a big fat red EASY button I could hit and voila, my stuff is superbly mixed and mastered.

To those that love "the process," more power to you. And those that do it well, my hat is off. I know just enough to know it's both an art and a science and no quick and easy thing to say the least.

But I hate it. It's a necessary means to an end and I'm all about the end. Dammit Jim I'm a composer, not an engineer.

I get what you're saying...you just want the end result as easily and as cheaply as possible...but as you say, it's both and art and a science. So there is a good amount of talent and knowledge that is expected, for you to contribute. If you remove those things...then what's your role, where's the line between "I did it", and "some plugin did it for me"...?
No different than if some software was able to compose a better song than you could...and you decided to use that software to compose "your" music.

I applaud the musicians who simply want to focus on their music performance and/or songwriting skills...and they dedicate all their energy to that...and leave the mixing and the mastering to the guys who focus on that stuff.

Not saying everyone has to be a Jack of all trades just to get some of their songs recorded, mixed and mastered...but if too much reliance is placed on one-button solutions where you have no clue what/how/why it makes it sound "better"...and where the only creative decision you had to make was whether or not to press that one button...
...I dunno, it would feel kind of a cheat to me if I relied heavily on that stuff...but I can see why it would appeal to a certain type of group...which is why they're making/selling them.