Personally I really like the next generation of GUI’s that is more simplistic and without all these many colors and detailed graphics that tries to resemble real world buttons and knobs etc. The new age GUI graphics is about simplicity for the eye. Take a look at NI’s maschine. This DAW is much more stylish in it’s graphcical expression. -less lines, fewer colors, buttons etc. Keep the main surface simple please!!!. This new simplistic GUI style can also be seen on many new plugin synths such as the massiveX, korg opsix native and others. Just very few colors, mainly just greyish, black and white. -But I guess its because they are all based on the JUCE c++ framework I thinks thats the way everythings in gonna go over the next years. So sometime in the near future Steinberg will be forces to make a GUI update on Cubase making it more up to date, with a more simplified graphical expression just like NIs Machine and Studio One etc. So @ Steiberg : May I suggest that you avoid using bounding lines for all main and child windows such as edits, buttons, dropdowns etc. This would radically reduce the number of unnecessary lines and make the GUI much more simplistic and more pleasant for the eye. I have photoshopped it, and it looks stunning!
Also the grooveAgent is a good example also. It’s GUI is way to detailed and old-school looking when compared to Presonus’s Impact which has a very stylish and simplistic GUI expression.
Best regards
M.Sc.EE, C++ Software Programmer
Thomas Heder
I talk about this pretty thoroughly in many other places. I will chime in because I hope to reduce some misconceptions about this topic:
We should understand that there’s some differences between making something pretty and making something usable. Most often users say they want something to look nicer but they actually want something to be more visually intuitive.
Making the UI more usable can automatically make it look nicer, to some extent
We should focus on how to make Steinberg’s UI more usable. It needs to be more consistent, logical, readable, and accessible.
I understand people have opinions about flat design, skeuomorphic (“graphics that tries to resemble real world buttons”), etc, but that should come after the initial goals.
In other words, we should be cautious to just demand aesthetic improvements. We should instead request holistic UX/UI improvements. This will get us closer to a “modern” look.
Good UI is like good music, people have different tastes but good music slaps you in the face no matter what genre it is because it has some quality that appeals to everyone.
The old UI was nice but extremely inefficient, when I first upgraded to 8 couldn’t run it on a brand new 1GB Radeon card, which I skimped on in the build because I planned on audio not gaming. I see why they changed it, probably performance issues for some customers.
The new UI is functional, but looks very tacky and in-your-face, and then some parts are way too small and pixelated, or not well defined, or just look like a 5 year old designed it.
There is a good video of the xfer founder talking about development of Serum and he talks about putting attention into details like hiring a mathematician for the sounds and a UI designer, and going through multiple drafts to get it right. As a result of not being lazy he’s sold lots of synths.
I am more and more liking the new features in C13, but it is really not a pleasing environment to work in. Some of us are more impacted by bad aesthetics, like I don’t buy NI stuff often because it looks terrible, same reason I never switched to Live when all my friends did.
And that’s horrible in my opinion. Your confession to sleek simplicity remeinds me of an interview on german television some years ago. In that show they addressed the issue with more and more german house owners banning all plants from their front yards by replacing them with just gravel and stones. One of these people they interviewed praised the beauty of these stones and stated that there would be so many different “colours” available: black, white, grey, anthracite… It led me to an instant laughter, but deep inside it made me cry. Because this is how our brave new world looks like and this is what many people want these days: Simplicity, clarity, nothing you have to behave to in any way. And this is how new houses and even many modern furniture look like: Black and white, maybe some shades of gey, straight, edgy, smooth…
I, personally, hate it and if that’s the route we’re taking into a “modern” world, then maybe some day it’s not my world any longer. The things that people like to surround themselfes with in some ways reflect their inner state, i do believe.
I believe that the Number One priority of ANY application, big or small, should be usability. Colour schemes and the shape of the buttons are almost irrelevant, and quickly become subject to the current fashion, resulting in a program that wears it’s interface like clothing.
Lately, I find Cubase losing small features, bit by bit. Or they get moved around just for, seemingly, something for the devs to do.
So called streamlining of the interface usually results in more work, rather than less, in my experience.
I also get a little peeved when people here keep saying how that other DAW does this, why doesn’t Cubase. Go use that other DAW, if it’s so wonderful.
Bottom line - fix the bugs first, then add usable new features, finally, maybe, very small changes to the interface, maybe.
I’d absolutely second your “buttom line”. But the snag is that nobody would pay 100 bucks per year for bug fixes. So they have to do the bling-bling-thing.
There are various solutions to that - for instance, save new features for the paid updates, in-between those, fix the bugs. There’re always pros and cons, and Steinberg is a business, not charity, so they’re always going to be looking at their bottom line!
Subscriptions are fine (I subscribe to Boris FX (video fx)) but you’re screwed if the company goes belly up. It happens. (Cakewalk, for instance. I know it was taken over by BandLab, I think, but a buyer for a bankrupt software company is not guaranteed.
But we are not talking about a garden here … but a DAW…quite a difference in my opinion DAW colors shouls be used as an attention mechanism, -use colors appropriate, not paste colors everywhere. Colors are very usefull for track instrument type signalling. and the red record button is a good starting point
You were pointing to a trend in GUI‘s, you observed. My response was meant to draw a line from this to a general trend, which I recognise in the world I live in. People more and more want things to be simple, sleek and interchangeable. That’s not my route. Sitting in front of a computer monitor for hours is nasty enough. Even worse, if this two dimensional surface I have to stare at, contains „just very few colors, mainly just greyish, black and white“. This kind of „aesthetics“ makes me feel bored and uncomfortable. I‘m not turning into a machine, when I use a computer, but I remain a human being. The very same one that enjoys gardens way more if they contain some vegetation, rather than mostly stones and gravel.
So, the thing that makes gardens and DAW‘s somewhat comparable is: me. At least the moment I look at them and they become a part of my reality.
Maybe a quite philosophical, personal approach, but hey - people are different.
I thinks thats the way everythings in gonna go over the next years. So sometime in the near future Steinberg will be forces to make a GUI update on Cubase making it more up to date, with a more simplified graphical expression just like NIs Machine and Studio One etc. So @ Steiberg : May I suggest that you avoid using bounding lines for all main and child windows such as edits, buttons, dropdowns etc. This would radically reduce the number of unnecessary lines and make the GUI much more simplistic and more pleasant for the eye. I have photoshopped it, and it looks stunning! 
