Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

This is an off-topic rant about Uniquest that I posted to the usenet 
a while ago. As I mention at the bottom of the post, Uniquest looks 
like it is the same codebase as MIDIQuest 9.0. Therefore, a lot of 
the info I put here _might_ apply to MIDIQuest 9.0 for Windows.

----

Wow. I'm a bit surprised that some software written today still 
requires a degree in geek.

I received a free copy of UniQuest (editor/librarian) for one of my 
synth modules, and decided to put it through its paces. The entire 
experience was sour. I'm writing this to alert any potential 
MIDIQuest/UniQuest customers of what they will likely have to deal 
with.

Problem 1: The packaging that the CD was shipped in is so wordy, 
you'd think it was a government tax instruction pamphlet. It's a tri-
fold, and the "before installation" text comes _after_ the QuickStart 
text.

Problem 2: The CD doesn't have an autorun (for Windows), but rather 
16 icons. Nowhere in the manual do they tell you which one to run 
(it's setup.exe), but to assist you, there are 4 icons to throw you 
off, including "Install", "Installation Guide - Click me FI..." 
(truncated from FIRST), "Operation Manual", and "ReadMe".

Problem 3: Their AutoSensing MIDI routines are brain dead. Not only 
do they require you to choose the MIDI ports first, but the manual is 
wrong since you need to set the MIDI port _twice_ on the same dialog. 
Oh, and did I mention MIDI In and Out each have a separate dialog?

Problem 4: The online manual for UniQuest is 128 pages. The manual 
for the synth I'm using with UniQuest has a 41 page manual. I guess 
you pay additional $ for additional confusion.

Problem 5: The installer tried to put UniQuest four subdirectories 
deep inside Program Files. As if it wasn't hidden enough...

Problem 6: By far the worst thing I've seen in a few months in a 
software product was a menu option called Utilities..Uninstall 
Preparation. They actually require you to select this before doing an 
uninstall, otherwise your registry will be filled with junk that will 
never go away. Oh, you'd have to read the UniQuest manual to learn 
about it (it's on page 106).

While I can't confirm, I looked through the registry after their 
uninstaller was done and found a few references to "9.0", so it's 
possible this is what their new MIDIQuest version 9.0 product will do 
to you. If the MIDIQuest people are reading, they need to fire their 
UI developer, hire a UI expert and do what they say. They need to get 
real technical writers who are believers of "concise" straightforward 
documentation. And finally, they need to do usability tests with 
human beings who are also musicians, not Amiga** programmers from 
the '80s who have access to an FM radio which periodically plays 
synthpop.

-Brian


** no disrespect to the Amiga. I owned one and loved it.