# Plug-in Design, The Results...

- Site: Analog Industries
- Author: Chris Randall
- Date: 2008-10-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/plug-in-design-the-results/

Okay, I went through that entire thread and made notes and counted votes and what-not. Thanks everyone for taking the time to illustrate what your opinions are in this matter. It seems to me that the whole thing distills down to the following statement:

The majority of users want a simple interface, but the opportunity to get all tweaky would be nice.

If we gave a product an extended feature set with most parameters bared, but had a simple interface front and center, with the rest available via deeper panels, I think this would please most everyone. Obviously, it depends on the product, and believe it or not, getting the UI to cooperate with the DSP is generally the most time-consuming part of making any plug, unless it is incredibly simple (like, e.g., Rough Rider or FuzzPlus2, and even both of those needed controls that aren't available in VSTGUI and had to be invented.) The more parameters there are, and the more panels it has, the longer it takes to design and build, and the more it costs.

So, for stuff like Dubstation and the Liquid/Fluid/Vapor collection, shit like that, we'll probably not change a thing. Those are single-purpose plug-ins that have a particular sound we programmed in to them. But for the more sophisticated products (and I'm specifically thinking of Replicant as I write this) I don't see any particular issue with adding another panel where you can control all the filter freqs and envelopes and shit.

## Comments (8)

**mad ep** (2008-10-19):

That is fantastic news!

I have no doubt that even by giving so much more control to the users, there will still be a 35-page thread on KVR whining and asking why they can't individually decide the color of the sub-panels and/or the style of the knobs & sliders...

For me, this new style of functionality is exactly what I was hoping for. Front panel- all nice and simple as the plugs in the past have been (as my work flow tends to require quicker results and less tweak-nobbing on a daily basis)... however, there are days when I do have the time and desire to get all jiggy with the parameters on a more intimate level (--cue Barry White--), and I am excited that there will be other panels to let me do so. Oh yeah....

Many thanks-

**meeglosh** (2008-10-19):

Long live free marketing surveys! I wonder what kind of responses you would get if the same question were posted to recordproducer.com? Or Diamond Dave's homepage?

**creature** (2008-10-19):

Good stuff. I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with next :-)

Steve

PS when is that Micronaut EP coming out?

**MitchK1989** (2008-10-19):

What's that? Ricochet 2? :P

I still haven't bought the first one... I've been meaning to expand my AD collection ever since realizing how damn useful dubstation and reverence are, but I'm not doing overly well financially (nothing to do with the "global recession"... Just what happens when you realize you spent an absurd amount on your student line of credit that wasn't school related and are trying to pay that off...)

**MitchK1989** (2008-10-19):

also, my three favourite developers are audio damage, u-he, and ohm force... So I guess I kind of broke your vote.

**puffer** (2008-10-19):

See, Ricochet is a great example of elegantly integrated deeper-level control with the immediate satisfaction of grab 'n' go.

**lithic** (2008-10-19):

Couldn't get my vote in on the open thread, so I thought I'd post it here.

I agree with puffer. Ricochet is an excellent example of the plugins I like. Very easy to set up, but easy to tweak if needed. Perfect.

**thesimulacre** (2008-10-20):

A couple things to add to this... parameters that are the most sensitive musically (such as anything to do with frequency) should either a) have a fine tune knob or activation-by-holding-ctrl or b) have a much larger number of steps in between min and max. I HATE the zipper effect of slowly turning almost any vst frequency knob.

Since I didn't see many Big Sequel specific suggestions I would like to posit a simplification of the step-assignment process.
Perhaps a selection of "brushes" off to the side of the sequence buttons would be awesome! 1/4 note, 1/8 note, etc... plus an offset of "ee," "and" or "uh."

You guys are pretty good about including quick, user-assignable MIDI implementation, but I have noticed in most other plugins a distinct ignorance of buttons making it into the automatable parameters list and especially 2nd-page functions. So do us proud with your (usually awesome) MIDI learn, will ya?

Thanks