Socram wrote:
To clarify, do you find the tangible rack device itself ugly, the display portion, or is it both? Is it so much so that it reduces the effectiveness of the devices?
I find everything to be unpleasing to the eye. The pixellated fonts, the color scheme. The whole thing looks like a device for Windows 95 era computing ! Also blue & Green - isn't there some old fashion statement that dictates that the two should never be worn together ?
Speaking of the Tome only, because I haven't even launched the new RE. I just like the concept, and at the price point, I'm happy to support a new developer with an interesting product. My mention of this is only to voice what others may be a bit reserved to say. But you seem very open to feedback, so I'll extend my thought to you.
Effectiveness and functionality (again of Tome only) is no problem. It's one of those utilities that (for me) is all about form. So please don't let my words deter you from future developments. But ultimately humans are very visual people. I remember reading a lot of threads about Hamu's RE's and that sickly looking purple. He actually changed it to be black (I think). I can appreciate that these RE's of yours are probably not going to make you anywhere close to enough revenue to pay a graphics studio
Socram wrote:
If you want to do 6 for bass you could always use the custom preset to set it to whatever 6 strings you use.
Yep. That's a great feature of the device. But can it do quarter tones for the Oud ? (joking)
Socram wrote:
I considered supporting 8 strings or even more, but at a certain point it just becomes too cramped, or would have made the device taller than I envisioned. I can look into seeing if I can squeeze in 8 string support without compromising on legibility.
Accommodating for 8 string is probably not a focus point. Come to think of it, I've only seen expanded guitars in the metal scene, and I'm guessing there aren't too many metalheads using Reason. This was simply one of the early things I thought about (and I only own 6 string guitars) when I first explored the Tome.
In closing, all I think this needs is a rethink of the colour scheme, which could be a lot more subtle, and a better choice of font.
I look forward to seeing what else you may develop in future. It's great to see some devs thinking outside the box.