Comment by PaulDavisThe1st
Comment by PaulDavisThe1st 20 hours ago
> But, the UI's are not the best.
Try jumping into any DAW without "a ton of reading and researching".
Granted, there are hardware drum machines and sequencers that you can "play" with as a completely fresh user, but these tend to be the exception rather than the rule. The newer generation of hardware sequencers (say the Elektron series) are quite impenetrable without spending a significant amount of time learning about what they can do and how to do it.
> Open source music software could have bespoke custom UIs for any user.
from the voice of experience, I'll tell you that this makes user support almost impossible, or at least, extremely difficult and frustrating.
I 100% agree with everything you said.
But, when I use open source, I assume user support == "me supporting it". That often means reading the docs, reviewing source code, (and lately, asking claude...)
I'm just saying I want to be permitted to build my own UI, easily. I think that should be front and center in the design decisions. I sheepishly think of Sonic-PI, and how incredibly hard Aaron has been working for years and know he was rightly focused on the backend pieces, which are incredibly complex. I don't think he should do the "UI-only-for-me-and-not-for-thee" work, but maybe as a community we can start doing better about making bespoke UI possible.