DP 6 GUI - What do you think of it?

[ssfm]

I haven't had crashing during fade operations, but they do seem to take an awful lot of time to generate. I suppose it's partly because all the data is being read off the hard drive and then written back; it would probably be much faster with an SSD.

I have several gripes about the current DP6 GUI. The double title bars on the windows (the narrow one on top, and the larger one with the gradient below it) are really lame. It makes things very cluttered and visually confusing, especially when you have multiple overlapping windows (and no, consolidated windows is not always the solution!).

Then there's the event data that's displayed at the top of editing windows -- it's a big long line of numbers with no indication of what they mean. Every time I try to find a note-on velocity or a volume value it's a big pain to hunt for the correct field in that huge line of stuff.

A lot of the graphic elements are poorly designed, like the vertical slider that scrolls MIDI notes in the sequence window -- it's absurdly narrow. The Track Groups window has buttons to turn on and off various track groups, but the state indication is either white or light gray -- every time I look at this I have to ponder which color is on/off. Seriously MOTU, how about a big fat CHECKMARK in the box, or a nice bright GREEN SQUARE to indicate an active group?

[dpdan]

Then there's the event data that's displayed at the top of editing windows -- it's a big long line of numbers with no indication of what they mean. Every time I try to find a note-on velocity or a volume value it's a big pain to hunt for the correct field in that huge line of stuff.

YOU GOT THAT RIGHT, I HATE THAT STUFF

[labman]

Then there's the event data that's displayed at the top of editing windows -- it's a big long line of numbers with no indication of what they mean. Every time I try to find a note-on velocity or a volume value it's a big pain to hunt for the correct field in that huge line of stuff.

YOU GOT THAT RIGHT, I HATE THAT STUFF

I absolutely agree. Cant find velocities etc quickly at all

[esteso]

What's really funny is that the Pro Tools interface now looks AMAZING compared to this new DP thing. Especially if you know the secret trick for having a track's color reflected in all the info columns and channel strips on the mixer.

What's the trick?

[stephentayler]

Well it's not a secret or a trick anymore in PT8, it's part of the colour palette settings.......

Before in PT7 it was some combo of cmd, alt and mouse over the colour palette, I forget!! Someone else??

Cheers

Stephen

[esteso]

Been on DP6 for a couple of days. I think I'm gonna track with DP 'cause it interfaces with my MIOs and then port it over to Tools. I've been on DP for 20 years but after fairly recent instabilities (mostly CPU spike/ crashes and edit save beachballs) decided to branch out and see what else was going on. Never liked PT because of the lack of MIDI function or the GUI. Now, ironically it turns out DP6 is like early PT. And PT MIDI just got a lot better and just looks and functions amazingly. DP looks like a spreadsheet........ time to balance my checkbook.

But it's not that bad that it can't be fixed mostly with larger fonts and not so much wasted space. A little color brightness (darkness)/ saturation a la PT would go a LONG way.

I love a lot of the new functionality of DP. TO zoom. Takes delete behavior. (you have 3 takes, delete #2, you still have takes 1& 3.... not 1 &2. Maybe that changed in 5, don't know, but I love it. we used to have an incredible time finding what take was what after a while. I know..... comments. But there's not always time.

Yeah, gotta agree on the tiny disclosure triangles What the heck? It's not like there's no room for the mini menus. I'm trying to figure out how to put a pair of reading glasses over my pair of reading glasses. On a MBP you can zoom the screen but there's not much you can do once you're there.

It's got a lot better with the last 2 point releases. I bet it's going to get better yet.

[esteso]

Well after another day with it I'm going to say that the only thing that really bothers me is the mixing board. Everything else I can live with. The blue faders suck and especially with no gradations of color to see basic levels, overloads and cautions. Takes away basic functionality for no good reason. Change for change sake. The solo, mute etc. buttons look way cartoon-y.

Give me those two things and I'll shut up. OK........ I'll shut up anyway. Old news for most.

[dpdan]

The blue faders suck and especially with no gradations of color to see basic levels, overloads and cautions. Takes away basic functionality for no good reason. Change for change sake. The solo, mute etc. buttons look way cartoon-y.

Give me those two things and I'll shut up. OK........ I'll shut up anyway. Old news for most.

Hi Michael,
Your opinion matters.,, so please don't shut up
If nobody complains,, the folks at MOTU will assume we're thrilled.
Dan

[ssfm]

Change for change sake.

Really -- think of all the developer hours they wasted creating the DP5 GUI, only to change everything a short time later for DP6. I'm so tired of those double title bars that make DP6 windows such a cluttered mess visually, the illegible light gray on white design scheme (e.g. the track groups window), the obscure event data hieroglyphics, etc... SURELY DP6.0.3 will fix some or most of these atrocities, I hope!

[Mickdoo22]

I have been using DP for a number of years, although the last several I have primarily been a PT guy. I have to say that for me, the new DP GUI is just REALLY poorly done. It's very harsh for me, and many of the functions and menus are SO small that it is almost impossible to see them. It feels like they felt like with DP 6 being a major upgrade, it wasn't enough to improve the functionality, they felt they had to change the look to make it look new. But for me, it was a MAJOR step back...at least visually.

[melenko]

All of those replies were wroten a few posts ago, with no answer.So... what can we expect?
sorry for the bad english writing.

[EMRR]

I haven't looked back at 5, but I'm cool with 6 after a relatively shot learning curve. I still can't stop trying to select tracks in the sequence window via the old 5 way, though.

[Mr. Quimper]

I've gotten over the GUI and come to accept its flaws. It's now significantly behind Pro Tools & Logic in looks, but hey, it's still easier on the eyes than Cubase!

[tommymandel]

Then there's the event data that's displayed at the top of editing windows -- it's a big long line of numbers with no indication of what they mean. Every time I try to find a note-on velocity or a volume value it's a big pain to hunt for the correct field in that huge line of stuff.

In addition to the fields not being labeled as clearly as one might like, the font is TINY! ! ! ! ! That's my objection. PLus if you click on the End Location Measures Field, it always mistakenly highlights the End Location Beats Field.

[dpg4macman]

I think it’s awesome. (I may have already posted here – been awhile) There are a lot of very nice points and I have gotten used to the one large window. There are a couple of things I wish they would have incorporated like values being a little bigger or popping up at the edit point.. (Small gripe) I’ve been using DP since 2.7 and every version gets a little better. This by far is the best. Track comping and pitch correction, etc…. list goes on. I run it on a MacMini 2.0Ghz 1G Ram and have no problems – The GUI looks great.

dpg4macman : )

My latest work with DP6 - Enjoy,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI6D6btEr04