Originally Posted By: justanoldmuso
JohnJohnJohn.

I can't disagree with your gui comments n' i DO get what your saying.

but STILL its a unique great product.

I would be interested to see a graphic from you showing the gui that you would like to see.
(i'm useless at graphics cos i'm vision impaired..but i love some of MCitys graphic examples.)
maybe in the wishlist ?? maybe the pg devs will implement it.
if its fantastic i'll be the first to send you huge kudos.

as you know as your a dev…one of the challenges is how to present an app with lots of features….for example you mentioned menus. also maybe show how you would like the menus/features presented ?

from my experience with users menus are v difficult to get agreements on.
cos what one user might like…others might not.
(in fact ive seen in the past huge differences//arguments..)

we used to have user 'roundtables' and even FINALLY (as all good devs do) get users sign off's on interface designs/features….and in app features. but after getting into heavy coding STill the 'upper ups' would want changes n' waste a lot of coding time.

what do you think of user defined menus ?? so users can customise gui's n' menus to their individual needs ?? ive seen that done in the past to keep all users happy.


happiness n' have a great 2023 John.

om

This would be an extremely tough project to design. Based on what we know (or think we know) it seems like a rewrite from the ground up would be in order but that might be too large of a project for a company of PGM's size and skillset.

After decades of bolting on new features in a declining dev tool like Delphi Object Pascal this might warrant a reassessment of framework to use but again this sort of change might be too much. Don't get me wrong, as I understand it Delphi is still viable but the tool's current owner is more focused on C++ these days and there is a declining number of qualified programmers for Object Pascal.

I would def agree with your idea to have focus groups to streamline the UX substantially.

Before that even starts though they need to review everything the program does and prune away all of the fluff they've added over the years. For example, does BIAB really need a metronome? And if it does couldn't an optional plug-in approach for this sort of add-on serve to reduce complexity?

After the product functionality is fully outlined then work could begin on improving, modernizing and standardizing all of the menus, toolbars and popup dialogs.

That is only the start. It would be an enormous project and I understand why they've not attempted it.

They have to keep their company afloat while they do this and I would assume their income is very much dependent on the December and mid-year upgrade sales.

So how could this be done? This is only my own admittedly uninformed (at least regarding BIAB) opinion of one possible admittedly incomplete approach!

Quietly suspend further development of Realband and BIAB plugin to use those resources elsewhere.

Assign a small tiger team to start the redesign project and perhaps include several savvy customers who can make valid contributions (without simply poking the eyes like I'm doing right now!) Also include someone from marketing, customer service and support to balance the team with real-world experiences.

Prune heavy-handedly! Consider adding back in certain features later as add-ons to allow the basic program to be developed.

Study modern apps from companies like Toontrack, iZotope and Native as well as the popular DAWs that PGM customers already use.

Steal cool features like crazy from those products!

Stay with Delphi and
retain as much of the Object Pascal core as possible so the crown jewels (RealTracks) remain safe and sound.

Implement a completely new UI using modern standards for every toolbar, menu, dialog window, etc.

Heavily test the new UI with users (beginners and power users) BEFORE hard-coding it into the new software. Also test with customer support.

Test in a meaningful way with real users throughout all stages of development.

Put marketing to work on a new product name and marketing angles.

Put the music department to work on substantial new features and lots of new RealTracks focused on modern music so at launch it sounds as new as it looks.

Keep legacy BIAB around for a few cycles. Maybe freeze it so it could continue to be bought but only bug fixes would be done. And new RealTracks would require the new product.

Promote the new product as the KILLER music production product that it will be!

There! That is my unsolicited, uninformed, unqualified, incomplete, back-of-the-envelope plan for redesigning and developing and marketing TBD (the music software formerly known as Band in a Box).