The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Steve shared with us:
> For those aspiring amateurs (- because they can't afford
> the "real thing")
> 
> Has anyone seen the Propellerheads' new prog', called reason... awesome... looks like a rack of gear, samplers, synths, mixer, effects, drum machine...
> Soundz the business and looks amazing, you can toggle the front / back view and see the rear of the rack and plug in cables as you want them...
> This is certainly the "next generation" as far as pc software goes... imagine Rebirth, but 1000 times better... tricky huh?

I've seen it. I don't trust software with rack ears painted on it.

Apart from the sound quality - which is reason-ably good, as far
as I could tell - it's generally not a good idea to have a computer
program look like an existing piece of hardware because, well, it's
not a piece of hardware.

Still, manufacturers keep making this mistake over and over again.
A good - better said, very bad - example is IBM's Real range of
software: RealCD and RealPhone.

Heck, even Apple, pioneers of good user interface design, have
messed up Quicktime 4.

Here's a link about the subject:

http://www.iarchitect.com/mshame.htm

I've suggested Logic Audio to the site maintainer, since it the
worst piece of user interface I've ever witnessed.

Anyway, I have nothing against soft synths or soft effect units,
but I want a serious interface, and I want to be taken seriously
as a user. These "designed" user interfaces imply that either the
programmer or the user is braindead.

- Peter