DJ Rick
I used the silver skin tonight at work for the first time... I've been trying most of them. I really like this one. It may be my default skin from now on. If I could make a suggestion, the only thing I missed was the +/- buttons for small pitch adjustments. If that could be added to this skin, I believe it would have everything!
Thanks Jim! Great job
Thanks Jim! Great job
Posted Thu 18 Sep 03 @ 7:57 am
Jim Nordic
Thanks Rick.
The buttons you requested will be added in the next upgrade.
Also, someone requested volume-, master, and headphone-sliders. I'll see what I can do about that too.
- Jim
The buttons you requested will be added in the next upgrade.
Also, someone requested volume-, master, and headphone-sliders. I'll see what I can do about that too.
- Jim
Posted Wed 24 Sep 03 @ 1:12 am
DJ Rick
AWESOME!!
Posted Wed 24 Sep 03 @ 8:07 pm
digijoc-Mele
@Jim
Thank you for your great skins. I do have a couple questions/feedback about your Silver Skins.
Display Real Estate
==============
What is the reason for displaying duplicate information ? (i.e. Timeleft, Loop Value, Selected effect, Gain, etc). It seems to me that the lighted buttons in the case of activated Loops & Effects for example, is enough of an indicator for those functions. Removing these from the LED display would free space. The free space could be used to allow a larger display of Timeleft for example and in general, reduce any appearance of clutter.
One thing I would also find useful is a better indication of which deck is in focus for control. How many times have you controlled the wrong deck by mistake ? I know I do it at least once for every 4 hours of playtime, especially when you are doing complicated maneuvers. I suppose it is not as much of an issue if you use a pair of external controllers, but for those who don't, or who can only afford 1 controller, it would be helpful to have a brighter or bigger indicator.
Wave Display
==========
Nice Job in this area. Is the color choice or transparency of the waves for each deck selectable in the .XML ?
Thank you for your great skins. I do have a couple questions/feedback about your Silver Skins.
Display Real Estate
==============
What is the reason for displaying duplicate information ? (i.e. Timeleft, Loop Value, Selected effect, Gain, etc). It seems to me that the lighted buttons in the case of activated Loops & Effects for example, is enough of an indicator for those functions. Removing these from the LED display would free space. The free space could be used to allow a larger display of Timeleft for example and in general, reduce any appearance of clutter.
One thing I would also find useful is a better indication of which deck is in focus for control. How many times have you controlled the wrong deck by mistake ? I know I do it at least once for every 4 hours of playtime, especially when you are doing complicated maneuvers. I suppose it is not as much of an issue if you use a pair of external controllers, but for those who don't, or who can only afford 1 controller, it would be helpful to have a brighter or bigger indicator.
Wave Display
==========
Nice Job in this area. Is the color choice or transparency of the waves for each deck selectable in the .XML ?
Posted Tue 07 Oct 03 @ 6:56 pm
Jim Nordic
"What is the reason for displaying duplicate information ? "
- I chose to have them there because I hate having to move my focus all over the screen. If I have all the Info I need in a closed area, it makes it easier to view all important infos and control VDJ. At least in my opinion. But I understand what you are saying.
"How many times have you controlled the wrong deck by mistake ? "
- Never :) I find the green/red indicators in the middlewindow and above tha scratch interface to be enough.
"Is the color choice or transparency of the waves for each deck selectable in the .XML ? "
- No you choose that in the bmp-file.
Thanks for the input.
- Jim
- I chose to have them there because I hate having to move my focus all over the screen. If I have all the Info I need in a closed area, it makes it easier to view all important infos and control VDJ. At least in my opinion. But I understand what you are saying.
"How many times have you controlled the wrong deck by mistake ? "
- Never :) I find the green/red indicators in the middlewindow and above tha scratch interface to be enough.
"Is the color choice or transparency of the waves for each deck selectable in the .XML ? "
- No you choose that in the bmp-file.
Thanks for the input.
- Jim
Posted Tue 07 Oct 03 @ 9:48 pm
Jim Nordic
What I like in a skin is that it is easy to use and that it displays all the information needed to do my job.
When it comes to controlling VDJ... I use keyboard-shortcuts only... even if I don't have the external mixer present. I only use the mouse when loading songs into the decks.
Therefor... my ideal skin have no buttons and sliders... just a rhythm-window, large browser window, small loop&effect-indicators, and all time-information.
- Jim
When it comes to controlling VDJ... I use keyboard-shortcuts only... even if I don't have the external mixer present. I only use the mouse when loading songs into the decks.
Therefor... my ideal skin have no buttons and sliders... just a rhythm-window, large browser window, small loop&effect-indicators, and all time-information.
- Jim
Posted Tue 07 Oct 03 @ 9:57 pm
DJ Rick
In that case Jim, you have created several ideal skins. I DJ with the mouse. The only time I use the keyboard is to search. I find your skind very nice to use. If you only DJ with the keyboard, and I only DJ with the mouse, and we both choose your skins, then everyone should enjoy them!
Bravo!
Bravo!
Posted Tue 07 Oct 03 @ 11:49 pm
digijoc-Mele
Jim, Thanks for responding.
What is the reason for displaying duplicate information ? "
- I chose to have them there because I hate having to move my focus all over the screen. If I have all the Info I need in a closed area, it makes it easier to view all important infos and control VDJ. At least in my opinion. But I understand what you are saying.
------------
-- My point in bringing this up was to suggest simplification and to gain extra space to work with. I'm not sure I understand your point about moving your focus. I would submit to you that if you are used to looking at one location for certain information, it becomes second nature.
"How many times have you controlled the wrong deck by mistake ? "
- Never :) I find the green/red indicators in the middlewindow and above tha scratch interface to be enough.
-------------------
-- Very good Jim. I admire your ability. Although everyone's style is different, as I mentioned before, if you are busy switching between decks to apply/remove effects for example, it can happen. That is my experience anyway, I wonder what the experience of others is ? I guess I should be able to tweak the size of that element in the skin, yes ?
Look forward to your next release [:o) Maybe I should get into this skin development thing... how long does it typically take you to develop a skin ?
What is the reason for displaying duplicate information ? "
- I chose to have them there because I hate having to move my focus all over the screen. If I have all the Info I need in a closed area, it makes it easier to view all important infos and control VDJ. At least in my opinion. But I understand what you are saying.
------------
-- My point in bringing this up was to suggest simplification and to gain extra space to work with. I'm not sure I understand your point about moving your focus. I would submit to you that if you are used to looking at one location for certain information, it becomes second nature.
"How many times have you controlled the wrong deck by mistake ? "
- Never :) I find the green/red indicators in the middlewindow and above tha scratch interface to be enough.
-------------------
-- Very good Jim. I admire your ability. Although everyone's style is different, as I mentioned before, if you are busy switching between decks to apply/remove effects for example, it can happen. That is my experience anyway, I wonder what the experience of others is ? I guess I should be able to tweak the size of that element in the skin, yes ?
Look forward to your next release [:o) Maybe I should get into this skin development thing... how long does it typically take you to develop a skin ?
Posted Wed 08 Oct 03 @ 3:04 am
nscode
Developing a good skin is a life long process. You can eather do it or you can't. ;)
Posted Wed 08 Oct 03 @ 7:29 am
Jim Nordic
To digijoc-mele:
"-- My point in bringing this up was to suggest simplification and to gain extra space to work with. I'm not sure I understand your point about moving your focus. I would submit to you that if you are used to looking at one location for certain information, it becomes second nature."
--- I mean that when I look at the skin I always look at the middle display-window. I'm just lazy. I don't like having to look at the far left end to see if the left desk is in loop or not and then having to move my focus to the far right to see how much time left it is on the right desk. I like it when all info is together in one spot. And the only way to do that was to create this "window" where you find everything you need. Again, I'm just lazy.
Or I guess it is what I'm used to and prefer.
"-- Very good Jim. I admire your ability. Although everyone's style is different, as I mentioned before, if you are busy switching between decks to apply/remove effects for example, it can happen. That is my experience anyway, I wonder what the experience of others is ? I guess I should be able to tweak the size of that element in the skin, yes ?"
--- As I mentioned before... I use shortcuts when I mix... Because of this... I've set up the shortcuts for each desk so that I never have to switch between active and playing deck. To control the loops, effects, pitch, gain, crossfaders, EQs I use the keyboard. For Example... Q W E A S D are loop-buttons for deck A and R T Y F G H are for deck B, Z X C are effect buttons for deck A, and so on... you get the idea. I've memorized the buttons. Don't even have to look at the keyboard when I mix. It's just like learning how to type on a keyboard. I works faster that way, and you don't have to worry about what desk is active or not. I recommend you try it.
"..how long does it typically take you to develop a skin ?"
- This last skin took I would say 20-24 working hours. The Silver skin took longer, since the layout wasn't clear to me before I started. But I could never do those skins you see from Winamp and such... I don't have the skills to design such.
Coding the skin is easy, making the bmp is the hard bit... as nscode mentioned. I suggest you play around with the code of one of the skins to understand how the skin-engine work.
Good luck
- Jim
"-- My point in bringing this up was to suggest simplification and to gain extra space to work with. I'm not sure I understand your point about moving your focus. I would submit to you that if you are used to looking at one location for certain information, it becomes second nature."
--- I mean that when I look at the skin I always look at the middle display-window. I'm just lazy. I don't like having to look at the far left end to see if the left desk is in loop or not and then having to move my focus to the far right to see how much time left it is on the right desk. I like it when all info is together in one spot. And the only way to do that was to create this "window" where you find everything you need. Again, I'm just lazy.
Or I guess it is what I'm used to and prefer.
"-- Very good Jim. I admire your ability. Although everyone's style is different, as I mentioned before, if you are busy switching between decks to apply/remove effects for example, it can happen. That is my experience anyway, I wonder what the experience of others is ? I guess I should be able to tweak the size of that element in the skin, yes ?"
--- As I mentioned before... I use shortcuts when I mix... Because of this... I've set up the shortcuts for each desk so that I never have to switch between active and playing deck. To control the loops, effects, pitch, gain, crossfaders, EQs I use the keyboard. For Example... Q W E A S D are loop-buttons for deck A and R T Y F G H are for deck B, Z X C are effect buttons for deck A, and so on... you get the idea. I've memorized the buttons. Don't even have to look at the keyboard when I mix. It's just like learning how to type on a keyboard. I works faster that way, and you don't have to worry about what desk is active or not. I recommend you try it.
"..how long does it typically take you to develop a skin ?"
- This last skin took I would say 20-24 working hours. The Silver skin took longer, since the layout wasn't clear to me before I started. But I could never do those skins you see from Winamp and such... I don't have the skills to design such.
Coding the skin is easy, making the bmp is the hard bit... as nscode mentioned. I suggest you play around with the code of one of the skins to understand how the skin-engine work.
Good luck
- Jim
Posted Wed 08 Oct 03 @ 11:42 pm