Not Liking the look of the New Sonar Interface

[sjoens]

Composite theme-shot:  Right-click and open in new tab then magnify.

Edited March 11 by sjoens

[Mr No Name]

5 hours ago, GreenLight said:

I can't believe anyone would type that, ever. Even less typing it without realizing how it makes one come across.

 

If that was the marketing strategy it would make me come across as observant, that was the impression I got from it being in pastel colours,  It's a shame such a benign comment could be offensive, which was the reason I put the disclaimer first, also that someone deleted it. If indeed using pastel colour scheme was a cynical marketing plot to appeal to the female market, it could be said to be somewhat patronising from a marketing viewpoint.  that was my initial thoughts when seeing it.

for the record I'm all for more women getting involved in making music and recording music in daws

 

 

as a possible marketing strategy it reminds me of when VW relaunched the beetle and put a massive plantpot in the middle of the dashboard and stuck a big plastic flower in it as standard.

 

 

[norfolkmastering]

I loaded CbB and Sonar on separate screens and did a screenshot save of the 'custom' tab at the top of the screen.  I've attached jpgs of both.  The CbB version is nice and sharp, the Sonar version less so.  Have a look at the label 'Fit Project' on both.  On the Sonar version you can see quite a bit of fuzziness, especially on the letters 'F' and 'e'.  This is what I'm seeing on screen not just a fluke of the screenshots.  The CbB version is the first image (first tab is 'Save As'.

 

Edited March 11 by norfolkmastering
Clarification of images

[Milton Sica]

9 hours ago, Mr No Name said:

 

If that was the marketing strategy it would make me come across as observant, that was the impression I got from it being in pastel colours,  It's a shame such a benign comment could be offensive, which was the reason I put the disclaimer first, also that someone deleted it. If indeed using pastel colour scheme was a cynical marketing plot to appeal to the female market, it could be said to be somewhat patronising from a marketing viewpoint.  that was my initial thoughts when seeing it.

for the record I'm all for more women getting involved in making music and recording music in daws

 

 

as a possible marketing strategy it reminds me of when VW relaunched the beetle and put a massive plantpot in the middle of the dashboard and stuck a big plastic flower in it as standard.

 

 

This is very strange. I also made 2 posts where, based on Noel himself's statement about the correction of hundreds of BUGs, which were simply deleted from the topics.

Do I ask the forum moderators about what types of comments we can make or is it only allowed to make compliments?

[Brian Walton]

I love the "flat theme" idea, but I do think the color options available need work.

Hopefully we see more updates on this front or the ability to modify.  My theme in CbB is a whole lot easier on my eyes (which is a flat theme also) then these color scheme in the new Sonar box.  The base of the Light Grey theme is fine, but the bright orange for text and buttons, etc plus almost matching gray faders just isn't ideal.

 

[John T]

Yeah, I'd like to see more things available in the UI colour preferences; it's very limited right now, but I think it's been mentioned that that will change.

None of the existing themes are quite as contrasting as I'd like. I think the at-a-glance readability of things could be improved massively with some pretty small adjustments.

For example, I'd like things like the power buttons in the UI to be much brighter for on and much darker for off. Stuff like that.

[sjoens]

3 hours ago, norfolkmastering said:

Different font with more padding.  This and some text is smaller than CbB text.

Your screenshot makes the new buttons look smaller but they're the same size.

I'd like to see Less Padding - More Words!

Edited March 11 by sjoens

[norfolkmastering]

1 hour ago, sjoens said:

Different font with more padding.  This and some text is smaller than CbB text.

Your screenshot makes the new buttons look smaller but they're the same size.

I'd like to see Less Padding - More Words!

The different screenshot sizes was accidental, sorry about that.

[John T]

Got a nit pick here:


 

Something that looks like an X in the top right corner of an object has a long-standing meaning in Windows. But this is in fact the control to vertically expand or contract the module. I guarantee that'll be confusing to new users.

[sjoens]

+1.  Same goes for Inspector & Browser.  What would they use, tho?

Expand  <>,  could be  >>  or  |>  for Inspector  &  <<  or  <|  for Browser.
Collapse  ><,  could be  <<  or  <|  for Inspector  & >>  or  |>  for Browser.  

[pwal³]

why no just use the windows standards for minimise and maximise? or is the behaviour following tablet/phone ux?

[Mr No Name]

3 hours ago, Milton Sica said:

This is very strange. I also made 2 posts where, based on Noel himself's statement about the correction of hundreds of BUGs, which were simply deleted from the topics.

Do I ask the forum moderators about what types of comments we can make or is it only allowed to make compliments?

 

don't know, I wouldn't take it personally, you can't legislate for this type of thing.

 

 

 

[Craig Anderton]

13 hours ago, Mr No Name said:

If that was the marketing strategy it would make me come across as observant, that was the impression I got from it being in pastel colours, 

I'm involved in graphic design. It's important to remember that graphics, like music, is a fashion industry. Pastels have made a comeback in recent years, especially for websites. They're traditionally associated with sophistication, but one of the main reasons for using pastels is they retain impact because of the difference you can create between the original hue and the whiter/paler variations that create pastels.

Technically, pastels start with a base color and add white. So, designers can determine how much contrast they want between elements by how much white they add. Fashion-wise, this is also a natural progression from the "dark look" that was prevalent for so many years and added black to base colors.

I don't know Cakewalk's motivation for going in a pastel direction, but it looks to me like they're aiming for 2023/2024 more than women and children.

[John T]

Thank god for that. The last thing we want is any girls in our treehouse.

[Morten Saether]

On 3/9/2024 at 8:37 PM, Hillmy said:

I use the Tungsten theme in Cakewalk and I like it. But the one in Sonar is bad. Lots of missing details and colors making it look like a mod of Ableton interface instead of the award winning Cakewalk skylight interface.

Please clarify what you mean by "missing details". Are you referring to the updated Tungsten theme in Sonar or one of the other new themes, such as the default Dark theme? The updated Tungsten and Mercury themes are inspired by the original CbB themes, but are not intended to be exact copies.

 

[Hillmy]

1 hour ago, Morten Saether said:

Please clarify what you mean by "missing details". Are you referring to the updated Tungsten theme in Sonar or one of the other new themes, such as the default Dark theme? The updated Tungsten and Mercury themes are inspired by the original CbB themes, but are not intended to be exact copies.

 

Tungsten. CbB:

Tungsten Sonar:

CbB:

Sonar:

CbB is more well defined and different color shades show more details and make things very clear at first glance. I don't mean blurry. I just mean that it is more clear in CbB to figure out everything at first glance. You can even tell the boundary boxes in console and inspector view. Nothing seems flat and you can tell when one section or box starts and ends. In Sonar the Sends don't even look like a box, just a flat plane. Also buttons don't look like obvious buttons. 

I'm sure Sonar can look like CbB with a little more work and I am sure vector graphics are not a limitation. If there is a way I could make it look like CbB myself I would but I am not sure if the option is even there. 

[Heath Row]

8 hours ago, Milton Sica said:

Do I ask the forum moderators about what types of comments we can make or is it only allowed to make compliments?

Make no doubt, compliments are preferred, right or wrong. That doesn't mean they are the only form of legal tender though.

Edited March 11 by Heath Row

[Terry Kelley]

3 hours ago, John T said:

Thank god for that. The last thing we want is any girls in our treehouse.

Send them over here.

[Morten Saether]

2 hours ago, Hillmy said:

CbB is more well defined and different color shades show more details and make things very clear at first glance. I don't mean blurry. I just mean that it is more clear in CbB to figure out everything at first glance. You can even tell the boundary boxes in console and inspector view. Nothing seems flat and you can tell when one section or box starts and ends. In Sonar the Sends don't even look like a box, just a flat plane. Also buttons don't look like obvious buttons. 

I'm sure Sonar can look like CbB with a little more work and I am sure vector graphics are not a limitation. If there is a way I could make it look like CbB myself I would but I am not sure if the option is even there. 

Thanks for clarifying. The goal is not for Sonar to look just like CbB, although Sonar will feel very familiar if you are used to CbB. The focus is to have a clean modern UI that is scalable, which will have many benefits as the app continues to evolve. We will be able to do lots of slick things with the UI that simply wasn't possible before. The vector graphics have no effect on the overall color scheme.

There are to main differences in the new Tungsten theme:

• There are fewer shades of gray for a cleaner and more streamlined look
• Most buttons have a transparent background in the off position

There is currently no user customization, but we are continuing to refine the themes, and additional themes will be added in the future.

[Morten Saether]

On 3/10/2024 at 4:19 PM, Bristol_Jonesey said:

Here's a screenshot of Track View using the Light theme

I'm curious: can you please share your screen resolution and display scaling?