I agree. If I am on a forum posting negatively about something, it's done in the hope of change.

My problem with change is it's so rarely done for the better. If we all moan about the GUI in BIAB that'll probably be "addressed" with a fashionable flat, dark, colourless, borderless and very limited customisable interface with no separation between elements, as is the current trend. In my opinion there is nothing good about this.

The argument is about eyestrain but nobody accepts the fact it causes mental strain and drives you crazy trying to separate things visually. I guess it depends on your workflow, but for me, when I'm using software I am generally very busy - switching between screens, changing settings and values etc etc. The colourless lack of separation makes this a nightmare.

For me, the one thing that would make BIAB a thousand times better is not to bring it into the future but simply bring it into the early nineties would be good enough for me. New usable features? Yes maybe, but not at the cost of usability. BIAB is already very versatile but it's such a total mess that using it just brings you down and makes you want to give up.

Example, I spent all day yesterday trying to do a very basic task - it ended in me playing around, reverse engineering and experimenting all day just trying to make some sense of what is going on, in the hope that it will educate better for the next time I want to do something similar. The end result is if you finally figure it out, you'll have no chance of ever remembering it again. There is no logic, no common sense, no consistency.

The look of the GUI, in my opinion is OK, looks dated but it works. Customisable menu bars and keyboard shortcuts alone would improve things massively. But above all, I just want it to make sense. I want to be able to figure out the signal flow. I want all pop ups and options to be correlated. It's like everything they do is the complete opposite of the norm and you are just left guessing. Everything is just too random and inconsistent. The options that are obvious take way too many unnecessary clicks. Something that should be a simple click away is nested in submenus that you always have to look for, they're so buried that you can't just memorise things easily.

Pop ups that should stay open, close with each click. Just silly things like this and the list is huge.
Organisation. The styles, realtracks and drums - just another mess. The filter doesn't filter, it sorts things into just a different kind of mess. Ez drummer for example as you mentioned. Organised into styles, fills, grooves etc. Easy to find what you are looking for and choose what you want. This isn't modern, it's been the norm for 20+ years in just about every software I've ever know, seen or used. Just common sense.

For me - necessary changes to the GUI is nothing to do with the Graphic elements, just the user interface - it's in the name! Make the interface usable. If we all moan about it then the response will probably be the usual flat, colourless ... etc. with no improvement to usability.

I know this is like a huge rant, and of course, it is - but like you I do so in hope of change. If we stay quiet then things won't happen. BIAB is incredible and I use it almost daily. If there was any alternative then I would be gone, would have happened long ago. But there isn't so the more chance there is that they improve the workflow the more chance I'll stay loyal. We aren't that far away from being able to do a lot of this stuff with simplicity using DAWs and VSTs. My guess is within the next five years I won't be needing to use BIAB as often as I do because I'll just opt for the quicker, easier and more editable version of doing everything in the DAW. They currently still have the time and opportunity to stay ahead of the game but their time is running out.

Again, just to clarify, this isn't a rant for rant's sake - it's just a desperate call for change - put the features on hold, don't change the interface to borderless and just make things easy to figure out, with consistency.