The Ugly Gear Topic (Page 7 of 11)

Not everybody needs to know what's going on inside a computer or know how to program assembler, computers (and other devices) should be easy to use for everybody. That's why good user interfaces are important, to make interacting with machines easier, and in the future this interaction will be more and more transparent, because of better interfaces! I don't see making things easier as dumbing down .. Do you think common people who are not really technically oriented would like to use some archaic command line interfaces to play mp3s? Certainly things can be done faster that way if you know your stuff but we need UIs to make technology easier for everybody! Yes, I remember times when there was only command line interfaces to use, and I was very much looking forward that time to the first graphical user interfaces ..

Biotek, you can continue using your stuff, it doesn't disappear even though there are fancy GUI stuff around. I smell that you are afraid that once a geek computer thing is not exclusively for 'nerds' anymore. Hell, even girls use electronix every day! That's because UIs are not so intimidating anymore

You totally fail to prove a point and you certainly missed the point of this thread in the first place. Life is a lot easier if you don't take everything so seriously

Okay now that the discussion grew further, I think I'd also like to say what I think generally about User Interfaces, Looks, and Functionality.

Personally, I'm also someone who prefers functionality over shiny looks - but, in my opinion, there is a difference if a machine is just plain looking or if the machine has a "super-cool-and-fresh design". If it's just plain, e.g. the black modular synths that someone posted above, then it's not really justified to say it looks "ugly" or something like that. But if its looks were really designed to look nice or cool or whatever, then it's absolutely ok to judge the looks. Maybe another example: Roland MC-303 vs. Roland D2 - both are Grooveboxes, but the D2 is clearly more "designed", look-wise, compared to the MC-303 which is more plain. Another example would be the BOSS DR-550, this is just a plain drum machine, you can't really say that it's ugly, because somehow it simply has no looks at all. Now compare that to one of those EMU Command Stations...

I think there's some confusion here .. I see design as useful and essentially practical in nature. Design is not self expression. If you exploit design as means of your self-expression, you abuse it. Where form follows from its function, we are speaking of design .. I don't see how in good design, design would overrule functionality? So good design is useful design .. Usefulness can include attractive as well as usable metric

an abomination!

This thing looks more like it belongs into a kitchen or bathroom.

Haha I think the "Firstman" SQ-01 looks pretty cool  like from an old Sci-Fi movie perhaps

The DarkStar isn't that ugly either, the fonts are maybe a little bit wannabe-ish, but overall it's okay. Maybe the color would not everyone's favorite choice, but I've seen worse looking gear, at least for my taste

i love the look sq-01!

to me every PC computer is ugly gear!!!!

is that "steam punk" ?

Walked into a local gear store today and Roland's newest abomination caught my eye......

sights and sounds were a definite headshaker..............bah. I'm itching to see sales figures a couple years in.