Really disappointed about new GUI

[chris88]

I was looking forward to the scalable GUI because I always felt especially the Jupiter and CS-80 GUIs were too small. Although opinions about GUI are somewhat subjective, I think the following points are clearly worse than in the old GUI:

- It seems designers wanted to keep the skeuomorphism but still make things look flatter/simpler. I guess you either use a skeuomorphic or flat design, not both
- Text is harder to read in some of the instuments than in the old version (e.g. CS-80)
- Depending of the scaling, the interface looks blurred (it should not be too hard to render all the scaling choices crisply...). Solina is especially bad.
- Despite the larger interface, buttons are sometimes similar size (e.g. CS-80 again) which looks bad and makes no sense usability-wise
- Contrast is generally lower which makes the instruments look dull
- In some instruments elements like logos are blurred (e.g. the VOX logo)
- The old interfaces were simply more refined and detailed

I'm actually happy I kept the old versions as well...

[Koshdukai]

Indeed, on the CS-80, the text "stencils" only become clearly readable with zoom>=100% :/

The Solina, Wurli and VOX didn't get the same "high-res GUI" treatment as all the others.

*One can only hope that those improvements will show up on a future minor update

TBH, I prefer (temporarily*) dealing with some cosmetic GUI fuzziness but still be able to zoom them now.

[artao]

+1000 on the small text unless you go above 100% scaling. .. also re: small sliders and knobs in some places. .. It's like the just moved stuff further apart without actually changing the size of anything.

[Trips]

I'm actually happy I kept the old versions as well...

Agreed. Not having access to the V4 presets in these updated versions is reason alone. The visual "improvements" being hit or miss on a few of the modules is something I can live with. But then again, if it aint broke don't fix it. Don't get me wrong, being able to scale larger is great, but damn, some of these old joints just look better.

[trottelheimer]

How high does the scaling go? Many GUIs these days have too tiny features for old eyes....

[encore1]

I can  understand that some people are complaining about few problems they are encountering the new V5 but I found that there are not so much people saying that they are finally HAPPY with it.
It's almost the weekend, so, let's get positive... 

Frankly, I was waiting for this new resize GUI feature since YEARS. I got two 27" Dell screens with a resolution of 2560x1600 and it was really a pain (to be polite) to use those V4 tiny GUIs with big screens and with the possibility to use i.e. the ModularV in FULL SCREEN,  I am now clearly re-discovering my VST synths and it is "again" a real pleasure to tweak the knobs, etc...   (I know, as I am above 50 it means also that I am getting old  )

So..., I agree, I am missing my sound of the V4 (but apparently it is not lost for ever),  and there are a few bugs here and there as in any new (Arturia ? ) software but on the overall, I am really happy with the new V5 and these resizable GUI and the addition of these new synths (I love the new Farfisa re-creation and the Synclavier has incredible sound/endless possibilities)  and I really think that it is worth the price so I do not regret my 199 Euros.

I think we should let Arturia developers the time necessary (as yes, I can imagine that it take time to "piss" and test thousands lines of codes) to solve most of the main reported problems and, waiting for this, we can continue to report problems so they can prioritize them as I remark that there are more and more Arturia people answering question here which make this forum more "alive/reactive" which is another good point IMHO.

Sorry for the length and thanks for reading but I think as it is normal to complain when it is worth,  it is also nice to say it when we are happy customers too. (at least to "motivate" developers to implement their best ideas)

Keep on smiling... it's Friday.
Definitively a nice weekend to make some music. yesssss !

[masi]

It's almost the weekend, so, let's get positive... 

Yep. The the UI is much better than you would think after reading all those posts.

I really think that it is worth the price so I do not regret my 199 Euros.

That's where I don't agree.

The 100€ for the UI upgrade is not very customer friendly. For that price I'd expected at least some goodies like an added spring reverb module for the Modular. Or Arturia could simply put the extra effects like phasers etc that come with some of their synths to all of them. Anything like that would justify the price.

And the 200€ has a problem too. Half price for only a third value. That's what I get when I compare the number of instruments of V5 and V4. Not to metion that Spark 2 got no upgrade at all and you can now get V4 for 200€ (seen at Thomann).

Masi

PS: And I'm disappointed that Arturia added only one new synth and even a plain acoustic piano to the bundle. But that's a matter of personal taste.

[Koshdukai]

But that's a matter of personal taste.

I guess, in the end, that's where it all boils down to... once the *real* bugs are fixed, which will surely happen... these are just X.0.0.xxx versions and all the work Arturia has done to get VC5 out will pay off in the future, because the code is now easier to maintain, fix and expand (hope Arturia won't disapoint me! )

Also, about the now missing "old" features from VC4, from my understanding, most of them had to be cleaned out to speed up this code cleaning and bring the new way of building these instruments (Edit: added a link to Glen Darcey talking about this on flux's The SynthSummitShow Episode 10).

Some of these features may be critical to some and less critical to others, so it's natural it'll make some users complain and rant about it, which is natural and healthy if done constructively.

Personally, I do miss a few of the old features, not many and I'm already "missing" some obvious future features that I'll be nagging Arturia about around here

...like the missing window resize handle on the Modular V (at least on that one!) or the sample load+analysis feature for the Synclavier V (I'm ok if it shows up next year on V2 w/a small payed upgrade). Also the text/background contrast (Jup-8 display!) and drop-down lists text size issues need some revision.

Am I unhappy with VC5? Absolutely not, quite the opposite. The GUI zooming was a blessing that finally happened. Would I've liked that it had VC4 compatibility, sure, if possible, if not, heck, let me keep VC4 for old projects and let me jump forward through VC5 on the new projects.

So it's all just "a matter of personal taste", if you're lucky to be using VC5 on a setup (OS+DAW+gfx+audio drivers) with no issues. If not, report those issues on the technical forums or through Arturia Support to help them help you fixing them.

[jeffbart]

In the saving preset section there are text areas 8, 9 cms long, but you only accept 21 characters e.g. name, author. You are fooling the user into thinking you can type the full length of the text field.
Then you display these tiny 21 string lengths in great big text areas, in tiny font.
Some highlights in white, some highlights in transparent, some in opaque.
Some text is aligned top left, others are aligned center left.

I recommend you pay a 3rd party visual or UX designer to revise how this whole section works because it's so cheap looking and poorly executed.

[terryferminal]

I totally agree, the SEM interface is now difficult to read (it wasn't before).

[OneLittleFonzie]

They should look at the Moog System 15 app. The UI is super crisp in every zoom percentage.

[PISQUANO]

The Solina, Wurli and VOX didn't get the same "high-res GUI" treatment as all the others.

YES - i actually only noticed the Solina - it seems to be low-res all the way.

also another thing I noticed is all the pianos (including the Wurl) sound much lower in volume - anyone else experienced that?
try loading the Piano V or the Stage 73. dude you have to go higher in volume big time if you were previously using the JP8 or any other synths... not sure why

[jackn2mpu]

The Solina, Wurli and VOX didn't get the same "high-res GUI" treatment as all the others.

YES - i actually only noticed the Solina - it seems to be low-res all the way.

also another thing I noticed is all the pianos (including the Wurl) sound much lower in volume - anyone else experienced that?
try loading the Piano V or the Stage 73. dude you have to go higher in volume big time if you were previously using the JP8 or any other synths... not sure why

As regards the levels in the pianos - you're not the only one. WAY low on level as compared to the other synths in the collection with the exception of the Matrix12 which has always been low output.