Soft-synth interface design

[Jay Vaughan]

> Which software synth interfaces do you like and why?
>

I really like ImpOSCAR, it gives me a woody.  But then I loved the  
original OSCAR synths too, same effect.

I can't honestly say that I like having 'virtual knobs' to turn on  
the screen - for me it'd be far nicer to actually, you know, use the  
mouse like, graphically.  A really interesting softsynth interface,  
to me, would look more like a diagram of the sound engine being  
edited in Illustrator or Inkscape .. with no knobs, just things to  
push and pull and drag and smear and stuff ..

> Which hardware synth interfaces do you like and why?

I'm really a fan of the MS20.  One knob for everything important, no  
patch memory.  I have come to utterly despise memory-based synths in  
the past few years .. no, I do not want to simply have to index your  
80's-era *pointer[array] to get to a parameter.

> What elements from hardware synth interfaces belong in the software
> world?
>

Definitely not knobs.  Sliders, maybe.  Please make things more  
organic and use the entire screen real estate to good effect.

> What elements can you dream up that could only exist in software?
>

See the aforementioned vector diagram being edited in Inkscape, and  
map it to parameters in a synth.

> Do you appreciate shinny pretty graphics? Or do you prefer basic and
> clean?
>

I hate, hate, hate bitmap-based interfaces.  I puked bloody guts when  
the TI interface prototype was being pimped.

> Do you like soft synths that look like old hardware? Or like they are
> a holographic interface from 2483? Or in between?
>

I like soft synths that feel like you're playing a video game, only  
the score is something you listen to.

> These questions are just some basic ones, the sky's the limit, any
> and all thoughts you have will be appreciated.

Do something unique.

;
--
Jay Vaughan