Very happy with what I’ve seen from Audacity 4 so far.
There is just 1 point I find extremely tiring in other audio software (in DAWs, especially with 3rd party plugins): those little control/turning knobs. They are amazing in real life but appalling on computers with keyboard and mouse/trackpad: whichever way you need to interact with them is either pointless (e.g. if clicking on them allow you to type a value in) or frustrating (perfect rotary motion or click on a tiny, subpart of an already tiny 16x16 pixel widget).
I know they look good and I’m not sure if they are used as display elements or as controls, but if it’s the latter, please consider user experience with a mouse or trackpad.
Some plug-ins emulate a specific piece of vintage analog equipment and usually they copy the appearance but they could easily add a linear slider as an optional way to rotate the knobs.
Well, that’s a relief that I won’t have to be pixel perfect on these, I’m not gonna lie.
I’m really not sure about the principle of a vertical slider disguising as rotary dial though but I’d have to actually try it before judging…
What I’m going to say is very tongue-in-cheek so don’t mind me, but if size is of importance, I can see a huge “Effects” button begging to be axed… The good thing with a button is that the only interaction you need to have with them is a click… But I’ll stop there: I need to give it a try.
Mapping a curve (i.e. a rotary control) to a line is not quite “linear” or even if you’ve managed to compensate for rate of change of a curve, the human mind operating the control will still find it hard to follow.
Another reason for the pan knob specifically is identity: In user tests (and frankly, in my own use) of Audacity 3, people would confuse pan and volume and move one when they meant to move the other. Giving the two distinct shapes eliminates this source of confusion.
@BadUpdatesEverywhere We also show numbers while you adjust the value. You can adjust things, easily. I’d also like to say that you in particular should reserve your judgement until after you’ve had a chance to test it. If you’re gonna bemoan every change we make because of some hypothetical concerns, I’ll ban you, as you’re adding nothing of value to the discussion.
I just want to chime in and say that, while digital knobs have been secret vertical sliders for a long time, as a designer, I think they should be avoided because their form does not indicate how a user is meant to interact with them, which leads to confusion like Gael’s. (Some of them also slide laterally either exclusively or in addition to the vertical movement, which just adds confusion). Their main advantage over sliders is the space they take up, and if that’s not an issue, one should look at other options.
To your point about differentiating the pan and volume sliders, that’s a valid concern, but there are several other ways to address the issue. For example, the volume could be marked with a ramp from low on the left to high on the right, while the pan has ramps on either side going from low in the center to high at either end. Or the volume could be a vertical slider while the pan is horizontal. These are just off the top of my head to illustrate that there are delineation options that are intuitive in both purpose and interactability.
Well, that’s not intuitively obvious at all. This is the first I’ve heard of it, and now it will save me lots of confusion and frustration. If there is anything in the interface that indicates that is how it works, then I’ve missed it. You’re kind of tossing that out there like, “just do this…[I’ve been doing this for years and design UX systems, so I don’t even think about it..]”
But I’ll stop there: I need to give it a try.