Retrolux Diva Skin (wip - looking for feedback)

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Good morning dear u-he synths loving fellows :phones:

Since there are a lot of active u-he (and especially Diva) users here at KVR, this is perhaps the best place to get feedback.

Actually started as a side project in April (back then even without knowing that there was an editor and you had to dig through all the lines of the script file... funny a bit), it got a bit out of hand and yet It's gotten quite big with all the details, several liters, etc., now +50 GB on the hard drive and a lot of time has been poured into it, so first of all, it won't be a free skin. The focus is also primarily on the visual. For skins with changes in handling (modulation etc) Plugmon is definitely the best choice, just as a side note. And the skin is far from finished, some things are still missing... work in progress...

The skin is trimmed more to vintage, to match the modules, but since everything is/was created at max size (=200% zoom level) - there may also be a few disadvantages where feedback would be very welcome.

Question 1 - Scaling
As mentioned, everything was designed on a 200% basis, which also means that at smaller scale values, for example, 120%, the graphics are squeezed, which of course sometimes makes them a little less attractive and/or difficult to read. Therefore - is it like the 3 example screenshots below - ok as it is, or is it already too difficult to read?

Source - 200% Zoom Level
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Downscale - 150% Zoom Level
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Downscale - 100% Zoom Level
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Question 2 - Scaling again
It's hard to know which UI sizes others use, in today's times with ever better displays, etc., probably everything is well over 150% (I assume) but what it's like for laptop users, for example, is of course not so easy to guess, so how do you use it? over 120% or less? For me personally, despite 200% source graphics, up to 120-130% it's actually still ok in terms of squeezing.

Question 3 - Script relevant
A small detail where maybe/hopefully two users could help with their knowledge: if, for example, the graphics in the editor are replaced or reassigned in the Waveform Controller, the info display usually only shows the parameter value (1,2,3. .) instead of (triangle, sawtooth, etc) - does anyone know how to fix this?

Question 4 - Effects
Essentially, everything should remain very similar to the original skin. The main modules retain a visual reference to the synths (Minimoog, Alpha Juno, Jupiter etc).
The header and lower part (lfos, trimmers etc) should actually have the same layout overall, like vintage green, same knobs etc. The effects as well in the origin idea, abut maybe it would perhaps be nice to give them own designs depending on the FX type - in a way good maybe somewhere, but somewhere perhaps too much “different” and therefore too restless for the eye and workflow? How do you see it?

And in advance, thank you for any kind of feedback :tu:

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Really great skin, but I don't own Diva.

Did you make skins for other synths too? Maybe Serum?

cheers!

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Nice how a different skin affects the way to look at Diva. I was wondering what script the one in the OSC module tape is, it looks to me like a mix of several scripts (e.g. Korean and Simplified Chinese).

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Nice. It reminds me of PunchBox by D16 group.
MuLab of course :D

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Really nice sweet texture!! I love it :phones:
Cyforce wrote: Sat Nov 25, 2023 8:08 am Question 3 - Script relevant
A small detail where maybe/hopefully two users could help with their knowledge: if, for example, the graphics in the editor are replaced or reassigned in the Waveform Controller, the info display usually only shows the parameter value (1,2,3. .) instead of (triangle, sawtooth, etc) - does anyone know how to fix this?
As I don't use the editor function equipped in the front-end of u-he synth, I don't exactly see the situation, but the format of feedback values in the info display is defined by the keyword "valuestring".

In the script file each UI element is described as text. There are lines to indicate which parameter a UI element is linked with, and there could be the keyword like valuestring='generic'. This determines how the values are displayed in the info display:
  • valuestring='generic' : display numerals
  • valuestring='onoff' : display on/off
  • valuestring='dbval' : display numerals with suffix "dB"
  • valuestring='percent' : display numerals with suffix "%"
  • valuestring='empty' : don't display any value
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And the important thing is; If this keyword is absent, the default setting is applied, which is different depending on the type of UI elements such as knob/slider/display/toggle and the parameter linked with it. This is quite tricky and a source of concern.

For example, a toggle basically should have valuestring='onoff', otherwise it returns "1/0". But the white/pink noise switch should leave it blank because it can by default return the text "white/pink" — better than "on/off".

And problems often rise when editing sliders. Sliders by default can return text so NOT writing the keyword "valuestring" is sometimes the correct option, if it's a slider handling not the numerical values like envelope ADSR but the types like OSC waveforms or VCF modes.

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If a slider has the keyword "valuestring='generic'", it causes the info display to show numeral values instead of texts.

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Though not sure, I think this is what's happening to you. There's a possibility that the editor automatically adds the "valuestring='generic'" for whatever reasons.

So probably you can fix the issue by editing the script file. But I don't know if there's a way to fix it on the front-end editor :?
ImageMONA, the new skin for DIVA is released! | Follow me on Twitter.

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iirc i manually removed the strings last time i ran into this issue. Started using SublimeText because of u-he scripting, you can do a lot in the built in front-end editor but some things are really easier to make directly in the script - esp repetitive stuff


re: scaling
I design everything @100% for HiDPI screens. Everything else seems like a misfire these days.
That means anything over 100% on hiDPI screens can be a bit pixellated but the assets are huge as it is with @2x running on 100%.
I didn't recieve a lot of complains regarding scaling anyway, i personally focus on pixel perfect graphics @ 100%.

It's also really hard to make perfect alignment for all scaling sizes, i think you need to conform to grid 20 for everything to align perfectly on all scales - because of the way u-he handles scaling.

I did experiment with making everything @4x but even Presswerk skin got so big in size it's not practical anymore, load times go up everything goes up.
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Looks great. Nothing wrong with a vintage look. But it's too much rust and dirt for my taste.

I use the orginal theme mostly from 100-130% depending on my mood. For me it would be important that it's sharp in this range. I don't use a 4k display with Windows because it's just unsharp 50% of the time because of non integer scaling. This only work well with mac hardware imho where integer scaling can be used.

I think roughly 25% steps from 100%-200% that are pixel perfect without scaling is a good compromise.

That said, I avoid any given theme scale where I notice simple pixel scaling to make it fit. It's just hard on the eye and I rather use one scale step larger/smaller to avoid this blur on fine structures and fonts.

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ahuman wrote: Sat Nov 25, 2023 9:32 am Really great skin, but I don't own Diva.

Did you make skins for other synths too? Maybe Serum?

cheers!
I started using a skin serum a little over a year ago, but currently I don't even know where it's hiding on my hard drive. Maybe there will be something for serum next year :wink:

plugmon wrote: Mon Nov 27, 2023 6:20 am Really nice sweet texture!! I love it :phones:

As I don't use the editor function equipped in the front-end of u-he synth, I don't exactly see the situation, but the format of feedback values in the info display is defined by the keyword "valuestring". (...)
First of all, a really big thank you to you Plugmon for this very detailed answer - very much appreciated! :tu: :tu: :tu:

And yes, it was actually the editor. Every now and then I compared the script text with the original, roughly, but not every specific knob (where the problem was with the waveform, for example) exactly... and as soon as graphics were removed and or new ones were assigned via the editor, the “valuestring = generic” was added with this action silently. So this problem was solved by fixing it within the script text. :D

In some ways, the editor is really helpful, but for certain things - like replacing the graphics for let's say all knobs of the trimmer section, the script text editing is probably the most time-saving way. But overall, it`s absolutely lovely from u-he - just by offering the user`s to use this. I wish more developers would leave the UI more skin-able, to let the users and community contribute towards the plugins in a positive way.

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you can select multiple knobs and select graphics for all of them in one go if i recall correctly
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