Helios.G Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 9 minutes ago, Noel Borthwick said: To add to this the “flat” look is intentional. Sonar theming is generally not going for a 3d look on buttons for definition. I suspect thats what you are comparing and finding different. It may take a little getting used to but its not less defined even to my eyes and I’m not young by any stretch of the imagination Personally, I don't care that it looks "flat" but I myself have never enjoyed the inverse clip colors where the "meat" of the sound is bright and the background is dark/black. It hurts my eyes like nobodies business. Each version of sonar that has had it since 6 or X I can't remember, I've gone through the trouble of changing it or getting a theme on here that has it inverse. My 2 cents, but it's not all about style for some of us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bristol_Jonesey Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 4 hours ago, Heinz Hupfer said: HI:) Sorry but does this make sense? Why not 1980 x 1200, 125% scaling? Can't understand 250% scaling! Bassman. Those were Microsofts "recommended" settings when I first got the laptop. No other reason. I might play around with the settings, see if it makes a difference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norfolkmastering Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 18 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 think this sums up the issues with the new Sonar Tungsten theme very well. I don’t mind it not being an exact copy but it should be better, not worse. I hope the themes are not being ‘fashion’ driven. Totally irrelevant for an GUI you are using for music production. We need good contrast between functional blocks, easy to see buttons and knobs, and very legible text. The CbB Skylight GUI does that really well and is the standard to start from in any new Sonar GUI. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Richard Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 (edited) On 3/12/2024 at 6:11 AM, Noel Borthwick said: To add to this the “flat” look is intentional. Sonar theming is generally not going for a 3d look on buttons for definition. I suspect thats what you are comparing and finding different. It may take a little getting used to but its not less defined even to my eyes and I’m not young by any stretch of the imagination I am not so sure I will upgrade to Sonar anymore as I much, much preferred the 3d look of SPLAT and CbB. I am particularly disappointed with the appearance of the flat buttons, knobs and sliders. Sigh......... In some kind of wishful thinking world, I would hope that if enough users would voice their opinion about missing the 3d-ness of SPLAT and CbB, that the Bakers would revert that design decision. But of course, I am aware that this won't happen. Maybe if the Bakers could have made their early Sonar beta more public and even surveyed us? But unfortunately, that's all moot. Edited March 13 by Michael Richard 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reginaldStjohn Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Maybe I am just getting old but I don't think flat looks modern. I think it looks more retro and simplistic. In the end I don't care that much but even the apps at my work are going more flat and minimalistic. I think it is more of a style, preference, then looking more modern or "better". As a side note looking at Hillmy screen shots I would have to agree that the CBL images look "cleaner" and more defined then the Sonar ones. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 that's the challenge for vector graphics - how many little lines make up a circle? and the more lines the more CPU/GPU intensive its gets. same for scalable fonts etc. so with bit images you have options to offload the display and a defined size and processing needs -- but on a 4K display, what worked in 1920x1080 is now hard to read, and scaling, well, oops - not so great. not a fan of the flat look but ok, my next monitor will likely be either 4K or 8K so it will help, and many apps and plugins are going that as reginaldStjohn noted, so i'll learn to use the flat views, and likely have to convince my spouse to let me get an 16ch SSL controller so i don't hurt my eyes due to blurry vectors or high contrast or ... ? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr No Name Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 6 hours ago, pwal³ said: will there be a new "theme editor" for the new sonar? No, not in this version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillmy Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 (edited) Vector graphics is a step in the right direction. The default themes and stuff is fine as long as we have options to choose something else. I hope in future releases they will either include a very similar theme to CbB or give us the customization options to do so. For those of us that have strong GPUs and HD resolutions (gaming laptops for example), you can have graphic accelerations like Open GL for example and the performance will be so smooth and no latency. So just an option for the same thing will be nice. I'm not asking for the defaults to be different. For now they can focus on developing the DAW and finally getting the product out. But I would like theme options in the future. I don't want an Ableton inspired or cookie-cutter looking DAW. The new Cakewalk Sonar can be the new award winning GPU accelerated Skylight 2.0 for a new era in vector graphics for the new modern age. A DAW that stands out like the original Skylight 1.0 interface was for it's age. Just saying.... no pressure. ? Edited March 12 by Hillmy added the last paragraph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjoens Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 (edited) Changing text and line colors can add a lot to the readability and contrast of a UI. This should be fairly easy to do with Sonar as was done in the pre-X series Sonar 4 thru 8.5... (edit): in Preferences>Customization>Colors. Edited March 12 by sjoens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John T Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 I'm personally not interested in a full-blown theme editor. But I think it would be nice to see more colour tweaks available in preferences. I also think there's a gap in the current set of themes, and there should be at least one that's a bit more high contrast. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Borthwick Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 15 hours ago, John T said: I'm personally not interested in a full-blown theme editor. But I think it would be nice to see more colour tweaks available in preferences. I also think there's a gap in the current set of themes, and there should be at least one that's a bit more high contrast. More color customization will evolve. There won't be a theme editor since there are no bitmaps to replace. We have some themes not released yet that will fill these gaps when it's complete. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Borthwick Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 18 hours ago, norfolkmastering said: I think this sums up the issues with the new Sonar Tungsten theme very well. I don’t mind it not being an exact copy but it should be better, not worse. I hope the themes are not being ‘fashion’ driven. Totally irrelevant for an GUI you are using for music production. We need good contrast between functional blocks, easy to see buttons and knobs, and very legible text. The CbB Skylight GUI does that really well and is the standard to start from in any new Sonar GUI. Thats a generalization since its not a black and white choice. There are many people who are equally driven by aesthetics as much as function and would not consider using a product that didn’t look and feel clean and inspiring. Everyone is different has has varying tastes when it comes to an interface. Personally, I lean closer to favoring function but I am very affected by visual clutter. I hate using products with so many options in the UI that it causes paralysis. That said, the design team takes all of this into account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Walsh Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 I love the flat look, I find it very sleek and professional. I am sure there are icons and symbols or accessibility problems that need to be addressed, but I'm very pleased to see this iteration of the UI. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norfolkmastering Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 5 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said: Thats a generalization since its not a black and white choice. There are many people who are equally driven by aesthetics as much as function and would not consider using a product that didn’t look and feel clean and inspiring. Everyone is different has has varying tastes when it comes to an interface. Personally, I lean closer to favoring function but I am very affected by visual clutter. I hate using products with so many options in the UI that it causes paralysis. That said, the design team takes all of this into account. I agree that aesthetics are important in supporting functionality. It will be good to review when we’ve all had more time with the new GUI. Worth having another look at text legibility which I’m struggling with in the new Sonar GUI. My monitors are on maximum possible resolution and I’m struggling with some of the text. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helios.G Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 21 hours ago, John T said: I'm personally not interested in a full-blown theme editor. But I think it would be nice to see more colour tweaks available in preferences. I also think there's a gap in the current set of themes, and there should be at least one that's a bit more high contrast. This right here. I have a hard time differentiating between the background, the waveform and the gui. It feels like all one thing, with very little to discern what's what on my screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Borthwick Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 32 minutes ago, norfolkmastering said: Worth having another look at text legibility which I’m struggling with in the new Sonar GUI. My monitors are on maximum possible resolution and I’m struggling with some of the text. Can you be specific about exactly which areas you find difficulty with? Post screenshots if necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lychee Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 For my part, I don't really have any problems with the "new" Cakewalk interface. On the other hand, it might be time to rework the submenus. The cursors, buttons and co in Windows 95/Vista style are very dated. I also hope for the disappearance of the Vista Smartglass type frame when you reduce the working window to display several projects at the same time. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Four Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 On 3/11/2024 at 5:34 PM, Hillmy said: 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. I quite like the Tungsten theme in the new Sonar, though your screen shots do show two things about it that I *don't* like as much as in CbB: 1) The control bar is a lighter gray in Sonar. In CbB, the darker gradient on the bar makes the control bar visually closer to the darker background elements, which I think is better visually. 2) The Track/Clip lanes have more alternating contrast in CbB, which I find helpful. But apart from that, I really like what they've come up with for the darker set of color schemes. Hopefully this will eventually evolve into full control over scheme colors, but I am happily using this new Tungsten. It makes the jump from CbB feel easier and more like home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John T Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 4 hours ago, lychee said: I also hope for the disappearance of the Vista Smartglass type frame when you reduce the working window to display several projects at the same time. Ha, yeah, that always jangles my brain slightly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will. Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 (edited) On 3/11/2024 at 3:19 AM, sjoens said: And has no one noticed Concrete Limiter is now a free module? Its been available in CbB for . . . since early last year. Cant remember the exact version it was released in, so its not new to Sonar. Edited March 14 by Will. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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