Your banging your head. Software designers are aesthetically insane. They think eye strain is a good thing. They must get kickbacks from Advil and Tylenol as well as opticians.

IMHO, hardware with all those cool dials are all nice and dany hands on old-school technology (which I love) but that does not translate logically for today's ITB virtual recording studio (DAW)... {read on} especially as we move towards more advanced UI such as, Touch -- think along the lines of the movie Minority Report.
 
Yes, just one big mother load of a screen with pip technology integrated positioned on a flexible portable unit (frame) to allow me to adjust from flat-top (table mode) to straight-up vertical mode... the vertical mode is ideal for anyone who prefers to stand-up and wiggle their heinie all whilst they tweak and play with SONAR. Hey, don't laugh, vertical mode (standing position) is actually a much healthier (physical) workflow / workout.
 
Virtual mixers such as Prop/head Record, hmmm, all those cute little tiny itsy bitsy dials? Arghhhhhhhh... sure that's fine if you have an awesome controller interface but why bother if as pointed out (Minority Report)  is where the future is heading. Touch is here and it's going to get better and more affordable.
 
That and above said; in regards to the UI, it makes more sense to get rid of dials and replace them with commonsense / cleverly designed UI to make it way more user-friendly; both visually much clearer, graphically informative for example, pan, volume, filters and envelope parameters don't need no virtual hardware faux-asinine annoyances such as little dials, dang it, just point and swipe directly on the parameters and/or graph.... This in essence frees up a lot of valuable screen space to allow more room for clearer more informative UI feedback (details) and workflow. Developers have been almost locked into this 'modelling based on old hardware technology' all whilst wasting valuable work-space / screen-space as explained earlier.

jackson white
@ microapp - You may want to check out MeldaProductions.
 
http://www.meldaproduction.com/plugins/effects.php
 
They offer a clean AND consistent UI across a wide range of useful plug-ins. User preferences include a few different skins for the UI, but nothing in the photo-realistic vintage style. Perhaps an opportunity for their marketing dept. 
 

Nice. Do you use any of these and if so how do they sound.

pwalpwal
it's all about familiarity

You know what they say about that roight? 

DragonBlood

microapp
One reason I like the Sonitus plugs is that they typically have a modern look with linear controls and bar-graph meters.
I love the graph on the Sonitus compressor.

Dude, anything Sonitus looks like Windows 98. That's hardly modern at all but I tend to gravitate towards things like the QuadCurve EQ and Waves H-EQ Hybrid Equalizer
http://www.waves.com/plugins/h-eq-hybrid-equalizer
 
I need eye candy and delicious looking buttons.

I was not referring to the stylistic look of Sonitus but rather to the use of linear controls/meters and graphs over the vintage pots, switches and electro-mechanical VU meters.

Cookie Jarvis
Personally I hate the move to cartoon GUIs...I think it's an age thing ;) I'm used to real equipment and plugin interfaces that try to emulate the real thing just make more sense to me.
 
Bill

I started designing hardware in 1972, software in 1975 on the very first microprocessors.
I worked for MCI in 1977-1980 on their multi-track tape machines.
I don't think it is an age thing.

scook

microapp
No they would sell more because you would use the vintage skin and I would use the techno skin.
It is no skin(!) off their back to provide both since it is not a physical thing. It is only code.

Not sure having Cakewalk messing around skinning 3rd party plug-ins is a good use of time/money. I can think of a few things which may be more useful.

I am not suggesting Cakewalk skin 3rd party plugs. I am suggesting the 3rd parties provide skins.
Cake could provide skins for their own plugs or insist on skins for licensed plugs.

cclarry

pwalpwal
it's all about familiarity

You know what they say about that roight? 

Yes, it breeds contempt.
I seriously doubt that a majority of Sonar users have ever been in a high-end studio (not that many left) or used the actual gear that many plug-ins emulate.  Fairchild 670 goes for $40K-$60K if you can find one.
So their familiarity is with the plug-ins and the way they look.
Again, give us the option and provide various skins to suit one's own taste.

When I am listening to a mix in the car it's not important that the drums were made with BFD/Superior Drummer both of which have almost no "character" in their display of a kit vs. say EZDrummer which has very detailed images of the kit.
 
Now when I'm mixing, seeing EZDrummer I know I respond more favorably.
 
Karyn is (partially) right. People do respond visually but as you (microapp) point out, you respond to graphs and numbers, whereas others (me) respond to a UI with bakelite chips in the knob. You say Sonitus and I say UAD/et.al.
 
In the end what we all strive for is how the mix sounds in the car, roight?

microapp

Cookie Jarvis
Personally I hate the move to cartoon GUIs...I think it's an age thing ;) I'm used to real equipment and plugin interfaces that try to emulate the real thing just make more sense to me.
 
Bill

I started designing hardware in 1972, software in 1975 on the very first microprocessors.
I worked for MCI in 1977-1980 on their multi-track tape machines.
I don't think it is an age thing.

Agree. I've been in software development since 1978 (24x80 CRTs). But see my post above.