Thanks for posting, I'm going to address a couple things that you mentioned:
First, the objective one:
USB noise is something you should message support about. It's caused by a ground loop and there are several things we can try to eliminate that issue including a ferrite bead sleeve around the cable. This is one of those cases where it could be anything in your system, from power to other devices connected, that could cause or exasperate the issue. We are looking into ways we can prevent this in the future. I know how frustrating it is, I nearly pulled my hair out trying to solve a related noise problem a while back. It sucks.
Second, the subjective ones:
There is no perfect UI. We have such an incredibly diverse group of customers from diverse backgrounds who have used so many devices with screens and knobs and other methods of interactions you just can't design an interface with off the shelf parts that feels completely intuitive for everybody.
Personally, I HATE color screens on a musical instrument for some very good reasons:
- The visual cortext takes a lot of energy and uses a substantial amount compared to audio processing (I can find the papers I read to cite this but I don't have them off hand)
- Context switching between audio and visual is taxing and time consuming when it comes to the processing time a live performer has. As our instruments are designed for live performance and not production, this is a priority
- Monochromatic displays with simple words and icons that match the general UI have proven more simple and useful to the majority of our customers
- The moment I, personally, feel an instrument is like a computer I treat it radically differently. I do NOT want that in an instrument I perform with. I can't stand it. But this is totally subjective and I understand if others feel differently
As for the multiple displays we're also going to use a performer's hat for this:
- Performers 'chunk' things by physical position. When the display is not adjacent to the thing you are editing, it requires physical movement of the head that requires additional energy and processing power. This adds up very very fast to a performer
- If you cannot create muscle memory and 'gestures' both with your eyes and hands a professional performer will quickly sell the instrument because it makes mastery very difficult. Multiple clear and small displays promote gestures
Do our customers agree with me? All this depends on who you ask: A jazz performer would likely agree with me. A computer programmer would likely disagree. A kid may go either way (and lemme tell you, I trust a kid's opinion to be brutally honest more than ANYBODY else). Someone who is used to iPads may prefer the color screen. Someone who prefers reading books probably won't. Etc, etc.
Going to highlight on thing you said: "Overall, I fell like I am back in the 90s when I work with this thing." This is incredibly POSITIVE for the vast majority of our customers! Why do you think we are making instruments that are even MORE simple than this like the P5/P6/OB6/OBX8/etc?
All this needs to be balanced with the price and the component options we have. Writing a color graphics library for a larger screen is a huge endeavor, especially to do right (maybe it isn't for you, but we don't have a specialist). Using an existing chip to power this is difficult: Does it have a TFT controller on board? Does it have a DMA2A engine to do the color transmission efficiently? What graphics libraries do we have available? What is the tradeoff between writing our own vs using them? etc, etc. Lots of complicated decisions that change how we build the product
We are a very VERY small team, especially at that point. I think we were at 14 people by then including support/marketing/etc.
Nobody is ever a 'perfect' customer and we never make a 'perfect' instrument. But we're gonna keep learning and evolving and trying to do just that
PS. If you are ever at NAMM or in San Francisco, feel free to reach out and come say hi!
No, Not Rob Rampley. He's much more reserved than I am. He left Alesis, I want to say a couple years before it was finished. Great guy. Brilliant. I was a lead consultant on the CPU hardware and software.
The X's UI seems unfinished and garbled. Rather than a bunch of tiny display, for $3400 it should be one large color display. Overall, I fell like I am back in the 90s when I work with this thing.
Now, let me add that my LEAST favorite UI in my studio is the one I created for Andromeda. Too deep and that little display absolutely sucks. I replaced mine with a B&W one from a guy in Germany. That helped but.. it is still a PITA.
But I really hate the USB noise, that's for sure. When I first got it I posted about it but it went nowhere.
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