subtlearts

 

Actually, Barry Schwartz's research, which I referenced above, indicates that generally beyond a certain point the more choices we have the more unhappy we are! Go figure. 

Maybe this explains why I'm so depressed about all the great beers out there that I haven't tried yet...

Hi all! This is my first post here @ Cakewalk.
Fully customizable colors is more than just a nice to have feature for the end user's personal preferences.
It is totally an accessibility issue for myself and many others who share a similar eye condition.
I am a visually impared professional full time composer/arranger.
Because of SONAR's past ability to fully customize colors, it became the only DAW software useable regardless of whatever other features or abilities may or may not be offered by various competitors such as ProTools, Logic, CuBase, Performer etc etc.
Regardless of the stated reasoning, I fully understand Roland's desire to establish a recognizable branding accross SONAR X+ by retaining a certain amount of uniformity in it's appearance. However, it is sad to note that  in Roland's somewhat self fulfilling and short sighted eagerness, end users with disabilities were completely forgotten around the dicision making table.
Sadly, without fully customizable colors as in the past, SONAR becomes yet another non usable software product.
Is 8.5+P still available for purchase?

edjay


Hi Odb

I don't know if it will make a difference but, Reaper has full colour changing capabilities.

:)

have you ever tried reaper?no offence to anyone using it but i dont think it even compars to x1

Hi all! This is my first post here @ Cakewalk. Fully customizable colors is more than just a nice to have feature for the end user's personal preferences. It is totally an accessibility issue for myself and many others who share a similar eye condition. I am a visually impared professional full time composer/arranger. Because of SONAR's past ability to fully customize colors, it became the only DAW software useable regardless of whatever other features or abilities may or may not be offered by various competitors such as ProTools, Logic, CuBase, Performer etc etc. Regardless of the stated reasoning, I fully understand Roland's desire to establish a recognizable branding accross SONAR X+ by retaining a certain amount of uniformity in it's appearance. However, it is sad to note that in Roland's somewhat self fulfilling and short sighted eagerness, end users with disabilities were completely forgotten around the dicision making table. Sadly, without fully customizable colors as in the past, SONAR becomes yet another non usable software product. Is 8.5+P still available for purchase?

 
Well... this is a legitimate post indeed. Perhaps you should be using Panup's mods, I think it is the answer for you.
 
Julien

Barry Schwartz's research, which I referenced above, indicates that generally beyond a certain point the more choices we have the more unhappy we are!

Yes, but the key there is "beyond a certain point". The issue that many of us are having with X1 is that customization is nowhere near that point. We all use Sonar in a different way, and so there are certain features that each of us need to behave in a different way. And I include colors as a feature, as would anyone with usability experience.

Too much customization, or too many out-of-the-box setup requirements is detrimental to the user experience, and Sonar needed to prune a lot of that.  But sensible feature defaults, with lots of customization is a very good way to go.

jbow

Hi all! This is my first post here @ Cakewalk. Fully customizable colors is more than just a nice to have feature for the end user's personal preferences. It is totally an accessibility issue for myself and many others who share a similar eye condition. I am a visually impared professional full time composer/arranger. Because of SONAR's past ability to fully customize colors, it became the only DAW software useable regardless of whatever other features or abilities may or may not be offered by various competitors such as ProTools, Logic, CuBase, Performer etc etc. Regardless of the stated reasoning, I fully understand Roland's desire to establish a recognizable branding accross SONAR X+ by retaining a certain amount of uniformity in it's appearance. However, it is sad to note that in Roland's somewhat self fulfilling and short sighted eagerness, end users with disabilities were completely forgotten around the dicision making table. Sadly, without fully customizable colors as in the past, SONAR becomes yet another non usable software product. Is 8.5+P still available for purchase?

Well... this is a legitimate post indeed. Perhaps you should be using Panup's mods, I think it is the answer for you.
 

... particularly because Panu seems quite willing to spin up 'custom' variations for people, within reason. I don't want to make promises on his behalf, of course, I'm just reporting on what I've noticed, which is a remarkable generosity and quick response. So if you have a particular need, let him know! (Sorry, Panu...  ) - or wait for Ben's skinning engine, which he's indicated may be in alpha/beta by the end of this month... 

chuckebaby

edjay

Hi Odb

I don't know if it will make a difference but, Reaper has full colour changing capabilities.

:) 

have you ever tried reaper?no offence to anyone using it but i dont think it even compars to x1

There are some significant areas where it still lags behind, but there are others where it shines, and the gaps are also narrowing fast - after 63 alphas there's a LOT more to the soon-to-be-released version 4 than there was to version 3, and lots of folks were quite happy with that - even though it was certainly limited in some ways. Version 4 offers more than 'full colour changing capabilities' - it's basically a complete roll-your-own-interface engine, and there are already some seriously sophisticated user-built themes. It's a very different ethos than CW's current focus on standardization. Which is the better model? Only time will tell...


I don't currently use Reaper and am actually pretty happy with X1, but I'll almost certainly pick up a license for Reaper 4 (which includes the next version, incidentally) - it's silly cheap and at this point it seems almost foolish not to get to know it a bit - it's moving at three times the speed of any other platform, so I think people discounting it will not be laughing long. This is not meant to bash Sonar or Cakewalk in any way - I hope they continue to do great work and succeed in the market, but let's not kid ourselves - they have never been the only game in town and the competition has only grown fiercer. This is great for us as users, and you can bet that CW are fully aware of it, so there's really not much point in pretending it isn't the case.

That's very well put Subtlearts.

I'm using Reaper 3.75 so I can't speak for version 4.

It looks like I'll be giving X1 Essentials a run soon enough too. I do hope they listen on at least the grey colour at some time.



@0db - it's definitely worth a look. Good luck.

I think this is an iteresting point of discussion. If it were all about the 'final product', then I agree that the colours of the interface would be a fairly minor concern - but in fact the reality is that a huge part of the user base of any DAW are NOT professionals who use the software to do work they charge clients for. That's an important sector of the user base, to be sure, but are they more important than the likely larger segment of users who pay the same amount for the software (well, except with Reaper...) but use it primarily for enjoyment, to make music because they love to do so? 

Personally I'm somewhere in between - I've done a fair amount of work-for-hire using Sonar, but I also do a lot of things that will never make me a dime, and I'm comfortable with that. In fact, either way, one of the main reasons I do this is because I enjoy it - I didn't get into music for the money. I've managed to make a living at it for 20 years now, but I could have made a lot more money doing something else, if that were my only concern, which it isn't. So whether I'm working for hire or working for me, it is in fact very important to me to enjoy the work, enjoy the environment, and yes, enjoy the interface with the software that I spend a lot of time in. 

So for me it really isn't 'all about the end product' at all - even though that's certainly important, it's not at all my only concern, and I can't honestly say that it's more important than making sure I'm having a good time while I'm making it. So yeah, I sometimes feel that the 'who cares what colour it is, it's all about the sound' argument is a bit thin. 

As always, my two shekels, your mileage may vary... 

0db


Hi all! This is my first post here @ Cakewalk.
Fully customizable colors is more than just a nice to have feature for the end user's personal preferences.
It is totally an accessibility issue for myself and many others who share a similar eye condition.
I am a visually impared professional full time composer/arranger.
Because of SONAR's past ability to fully customize colors, it became the only DAW software useable regardless of whatever other features or abilities may or may not be offered by various competitors such as ProTools, Logic, CuBase, Performer etc etc.
Regardless of the stated reasoning, I fully understand Roland's desire to establish a recognizable branding accross SONAR X+ by retaining a certain amount of uniformity in it's appearance. However, it is sad to note that  in Roland's somewhat self fulfilling and short sighted eagerness, end users with disabilities were completely forgotten around the dicision making table.
Sadly, without fully customizable colors as in the past, SONAR becomes yet another non usable software product.
Is 8.5+P still available for purchase?

I made this exact point when X1 first came out and everyone was upset that they couldn't change colors.

battleship grey: Glenn Gould's favorite color. Fact. But I'm with you guys- ROYGBIV please!

backwoods


........ROYGBIV please!

Roy who?  errrr, Glen's brother?

LOL: I found this:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-62298084.html

g.g.: Mr. Gould, are you saying that you do not make aesthetic judgments

G.G.: No, I'm not saying that--though I wish I were able to make that statement, because it would attest to a degree of spiritual perfection that I have not attained. However, to rephrase the fashionable cliche, I do try as best I can to make only moral judgments and not aesthetic ones--except in the case of my own work.... Mind you, there are obviously areas in which overlaps are inevitable. Let's say, for example, that I had been privileged to reside in a town in which all the houses were painted battleship gray.
g.g.: Why battleship gray? …

....privileged!  :0  OMG, he must be on the board of directors...........we're doomed. I don't think I want to know any more about him.  :-/

What happened, as I understand it, is that some of them work and some of them don't - and/or some appear to work and then don't persist when you re-open the program. And there isn't really a list of which ones do or don't work. All the old colour-customization options are there, but only half of them work or stick. So it seems like some were just broken by the various major changes to the interface that Skylight represents, and no-one bothered to catalog them or take them out of the dialog, so they're still in there. 

Hopefully there will be an effort to reinstate as many of them as possible and make that dialog once again reflect the reality of what actually can or can't be customized, and hopefully with a much longer list than is currently functional. 

+1 again. sure why not...

chuckebaby

have you ever tried reaper?no offence to anyone using it but i dont think it even compars to x1

Hehe, you got that right!!!   <GGG>