ER-301 intial feedback

[Z__D__]

Finally got some solid time in with the 301. Thanks Brian for the 301, and your support. It is quite a fun canvas to explore sound with!

Here is an ' in no order in particular' list of feedback and suggestions:

The layout of writing characters is a bit cluttered to me, hard to focus. I would suggest having just lower case shows and then when you hold down Shift they would all turn upper case. This would illustrate its functionality as well as be easier to read.

Also I think there might be room for improvement on the highlighted "bar". I find it hard to track as it moves around depending on where you are in the list. I think keeping it fixed in the second row would improve the interaction with it. (hope that made sense)

Organizing "units" by alphabetical order. After a while of using it I have more or less memorized where everything is but I still find my self getting lost scrolling back and forth looking and it will only get harder as more "units" are added.

I have noticed I will get double clicks if I hit buttons with a little too much velocity, so maybe a bit more time on the debouncing?

Organization and interaction on zooming/slicing: The order of buttons could be changed to give better ergonomics. With the thumb on the wheel the far left two buttons would be better served as "in" and "out". Additionally i find that most of my use with zooming in and out are between two or three of the twelve or so levels. Nit picky and not sure how this could implemented elegantly, it would be great to have some ability to toggle back and forth between 'useful' levels to save clicking in and out 6 times each direction. 

"ins" is visually confused with "in". The above suggestion would aid in separating them a bit more, without changing the label.

When selecting "slices" in the slices section of the sampler, it covers up the "slices" and "follow/cursor" label.

Would love the "all controls" to include slice view. I feel i get lost most often trying to switch between modes chasing the one thing that isn't included in that mode. I feel time would be better spent just scrolling sideways to get where i need to be rather then switching modes.

Labels in the slice window are covered up by large waveforms.

Linking stereo pairs in the 6 track recorder is visually and interactively confusing. The UI/UX of linking outputs works really well so maybe some influence from that.

Option in settings that would default to Mixer node to 0 DB. 

There is UI bouncing back and forth when scrolling with not enough nodes inserted to fill screen. (a default blank channel)

I see a voltage bleed in descending order on the "G" Channel (to the neighbor). "G4" is halfway chopped off on the screen in "scope mode". (this has not effected anything yet to my knowledge)

When choosing a channel I think it would be a better flow to always have the in,a,b,c,d,g collapsed every time a new channel is being chosen. I think this makes it easier to dive directly to your target and doesn't create a "finding my bearings" moment each time. 

My biggest wish for the 301 is a internal instancing/routing of chains/signal. Just saw that Neil posted on this subject. Ill chime in on that thread and post my input there.

Ability to use output as input. (which would be solved by the above.)

Holding Shift + zero for a defined time changes value to default value. 

Ability to cancel or undo clearing a channel input/entire channel. (or if cancel could be a global "undo") 

few other requests that I cant remember if I have read, but i'm sure have been mentioned/already in the works :) 

Band pass filter node.

Hz,Note defined Oscillator node.

Logic nodes.

Quadraphonic pan/scan. (extra amazing if an endless pan could be achieved. so 1 and 4 have a crossfade. Extra Extra amazing for a "width" of the spread across outputs).

Clock divider/multiplier

Thanks again Brian!

[Brian@O|D]

All great suggestions!  Based on my initial scan, I can safely say that most of them will eventually make into the firmware.  Thank you.

[Chapelier Fou]

Wow. Lots of wisdom in here.

[taylor12k]

nice thoughts overall.. and agreed... i, too, was experiencing the UI bouncing around when the screen wasn't full.

a default 0dB mixer setting would  be nice, and possible a 1.00 SPEED setting on the sampler playback

and definitely agree on the alphabetical listings....

well, agree overall!

[Z__D__]

Few more thoughts.

Current firmware is quite stable. Really don't think I have been pushing it all that far, but have not had any hard crashes yet.

One bug I did notice was that my 'G' inputs stopped recognizing gate signal after I left the system on for about 2 hours. Didn't show in scope mode but were recognized in all other inputs. Trying to recreate this now.

I am getting a lot of 'double clicks' on M2. I have not really been able to figure out if I have a hardware issue or It's a combo of its location in the UI and debouncing.

The "hints" are a distraction from the UI/UX. I feel nothing should be overlayed on your UI when we still have access to the cursor.

Being able to 'full screen' in a single channel in scope mode.

In scope mode to have the ability to monitor voltage in both numeral and graphical representations in the bottom screen. (Low frequency monitor, maybe 2hz) 

Tuner please! I think this can be located in the admin mode - and/or in the small screen in scope mode.

Thanks Brian!

[Brian@O|D]

Thank you, Z__D__.  Great high quality feedback as always!  The G input bug is a surprising one.  I'll be looking into that.

I already have the debouncing time set to a very long 100ms so that makes me think that perhaps there is something mechanically wrong with your M2 button.  Does the action on the button seem impeded by anything (panel for example)?

Agree about the overlays.  They are too heavy-handed at the moment but there were a couple of places where I needed to provide feedback to the user that something actually happened (assign sample, zero buffer etc.).  I will be making them more subtle as well overhauling the scope areas, don't worry...which leads to the next topic.  

A lot of the UI enhancements have been delayed because my UI framework is...complicated (i.e. crap)...at the moment.  This last week I've been ripping out  a lot of the UI plumbing code and rewriting/refactoring it.  This is also the reason why you guys haven't see a firmware update in 2 weeks.  I'm almost done with the UI framework rewrite and then we should be on our way again with improved flexibility in the UI.

[Z__D__]

You're most welcome. I really enjoy testing a new device and having a feedback loop with the creator.

I since have not been able to replicate the "G" channels going silent. I however can't say I did the best job at the time about testing other sources/cables to rule out other potential issues.

But the ABCD channels were showing the signal at the time from that same source/cable so I stopped there and took note of it. 

Still does not rule out that it could have been a cable issue. (Cable could have been kinked while in 'G' and unkinked itself as I moved it to 'A')

The action does not seem overtly impeded. Doesn't seem much different from the other buttons in any way.

While pressing it repetitively it will often double or triple click up and down through the channel selector (M2). 

I have shot a short video of me clicking M2 repetitively to show it happening.  https://youtu.be/XVs6G7-CfjY ( please forgive me for it being sideways :)

I totally understand, and look forward to trying out the next bleeding-edge.

Thanks again Brian!

Z

[Z__D__]

All quiet on the O|D front! i'd say you have a pretty stable device with the current firmware. 

Here are a couple more thoughts.

Shift + Encoder to apply to Mainscreen / Unit navigation. So Shift + right encoder rotation would jump the cursor to the far right of the units and respectively to the left.

Shift + Encoder (while adjusting any Bias,offset,gain,etc..) would additionally stop at mid points / 0db markers, etc...

While in 'multi' selection mode (loading files), select the first file and then Shift + click to select everything in-between.

Not sure how to suggest implementing this elegantly : having the ability to see the end-of-chain / output waveform while adjusting something inside the chain.

Thanks Brian!