Quote: “If you actually cared about this you should demand that RME offers color schemes scientifically designed for at least some common color vision impairments, which you don't.
Edit: You should even demand that for all of RME devices with a screen, which you haven't, but some color schemes on ADI-2 gets your worked up.”
Thank you for your passionately held views, which I am of course, happy to address. The specifics of which I will focus upon later.
With complete respect, my experience and that of many record industry professionals with which I am acquainted; is that the design and manufacture of RME equipment, is absolutely exemplary in their respective class.
As a broad general point, I feel I should make it clear to those unacquainted with professional recording and audio systems; that as a rule of thumb; it is typically the case that extra cost, increasingly results in diminishing returns.
That overwhelmingly for most musicians, recording engineers and audio enthusiasts. When a certain point in the realm of genuinely high-quality products is reached, an extremely large amount is required to be spent to achieve a fairly minor improvement.
RME devices are extremely well thought out and very carefully considered in regard to every aspect of their design and function. Over the years I have enjoyed many opportunities to be addressed by colleagues who are regarded as the world’s top designers in their field.
As a matter of course, in order to stimulate designers in companies I have “an interest in”, we have at times enacted ingenious cutting edge plans, such as renting the late Elizabeth Taylors luxurious Los Angeles former home, for them to live and work in close together, in a powerfully stimulating environment.
Furthermore, rather than insisting top designers work day and night on the company’s products, we allow them a high degree of creative latitude. What this means is that they only spend 50% of their time on the company’s products and have 50% of their time entirely free to design, whatever their creative juices lead them to.
So, for example, there is a particular musical instrument manufacturer who makes a class leading, entirely innovative popular instrument, quite unlike anything before it, by one of our designers. It utilised ground braking electronics, delivering higher output than any other product and wider on-board equalisation to boot, through its class leading design.
The designer was interested in such musical instruments, and had the ability to pour his musical passions into creating a completely new instrument.
The design and construction of one massive research and development centre of ours was created so that throughout the complex, very wide corridors, drinks vending machines and water fountains coincided with extremely generous seating areas. So that individuals working in different divisions, on various aspects of the products design keep bumping into each other several times a day.
This encouraged them to talk and share together their particular issues and problems, and being thus aware, to form symbiotic relationships that work to a common purpose. Therefore designing out issues from the product prior to production, that would normally only raise their hoary heads when it was rather late in the day to anything about them.
So, the building complex was designed from the ground up to facilitate, accommodate and encourage, improved concepts in design. Not only that but simply the manner in which designers interface.
Most people think someone designs a product and it is manufactured according to that design. However, in reality a design is eventually passed to development engineers and production engineers and things can be changed a lot in the process.
Having everyone working closer together, being acutely aware of the problems that others are experiencing, enables a superior design to be formulated from, not only the start, but all the way through development and finally into production.
As you might gather, having “an interest” and involved with many of the world’s leading designers, I have learnt one thing.
It is to listen.
In doing so I have learnt what was in their minds, when they created world leading products.
It is truly fascinating to do so.
I take the view that they know their job far better than me, and whilst I strive to provide an environment in which they can excel.
It would be very silly to think I could tell them how do their job better.
In a way, my approach to this matter is the same as my approach to conducting.
People see the conductor as the master, whereas I see the conductor more as a servant.
It is a conductors role to create an environment in which everyone involved in the project senses and feels this is the best opportunity they have ever had in their entire life to perform. Enabling them to display and present their talents, at their very best.
The real beauty of this approach if I may say so, is that when everyone involved feels like this, they can and do on occasions, entirely surpass their own very highest estimations of themselves and their actual abilities. Performing at a level that supersedes what they believed themselves to be capable of. It makes for a great and memorable concert.
All I do is to provide a framework, an environment and the relationships of trust that develop from that, which encourage and stimulate a powerfully creative energy, to be outpoured.
Understanding that, understanding the admiration I have for RME designers, as well as the many designers I have personally been involved with.
Perhaps one can gain a more appropriate perspective, of how someone that tells such people their job, should be rightly viewed.
Now to focus upon your comments directly.
Quote: “you should demand that RME offers color schemes scientifically designed for at least some common color vision impairments, which you don't.”
As is clearly outlined in my short introductory explanation, outlined above.
I find it best to listen to product designers and feel it would be foolish to have the temerity to presume to tell them their job.
There is a place to make suggestions but usually, far more and better can be gleaned where designers and manufacturers are concerned, by listening than talking.
With all due respect, neither you or I am in a position to demand anything from RME and as a non personal point; in general, my experience with people that go around making such demands, is that they lack maturity.
Perhaps suffering from infantilism. Behaviour that worked successfully as a child with doting parents, but should have been dispensed with in teenage years, and never allowed to remain in adulthood. Childish outbursts are the result.
The notion that I have failed to take into account the fact that certain individuals suffer from visual impairment is clearly a patent falsehood.
Reading like listening is a highly beneficial exercise.
The second paragraph of my earlier post.
Quote: “everyone’s eyes are different, and many perceive hues of colour quite differently, along with their brains recollection of them.” Thus, distinguishing closely related areas of the spectrum, is very problematic for some.”
I am arguing for industry leading standardisation in colour that work optimally for the majority of users.
Thus, even if someone’s vision was very seriously impaired, and for example they were unable to tell the difference between red and green, sat in their car, at traffic lights.
By having a standardised colour, utilised on critically important positions of an audio meter, as with traffic lights; seeing that positional area illuminated, the visually impaired user, would never the less readily comprehend, what that meant.
They could of course fully comprehend that from simply reading the helpfully included, excellently written instructional manual. Problem solved.
With respect, you don’t appear to have properly understood my earlier post.
Perhaps you didn’t actually read it?
Quote: “You should even demand that for all of RME devices with a screen, which you haven't.”
Again, with respect, this is a complete misrepresentation!
I have argued the merits of complete standardisation on all meters throughout the recording and audio equipment manufacturing industry.
Explaining in meticulous detail the manifold benefits that such standardisation could bring to all users. Both those with perfect visual acuity and those with impaired vision.
The third and fourth paragraphs of my earlier post.
Quote: “Hence, ideal colour design parameters for recording and audio meters in particular, should necessarily confine the available choice to those which are most helpful and least problematic, to the widest number of people.
Standardisation in meter colouring across the entire audio equipment manufacturing industry, can only result in the wider benefit of them being more easily read and better understood.”
Quote: “but some color schemes on ADI-2 gets your worked up.”
With respect it is entirely delusional altogether to consider that any topic whatever discussed on the RME forum, traditionally a respectfully "low noise" forum, normally devoid of rudeness or hysterical comments, could get me worked up in any way whatever.
Elizabeth Taylor in a slip, possibly. Marilyn Monroe in a dress, possibly.
A discussion on any forum anywhere, not a chance!
True story, the late Tom Dowd, once painted over all the recording meters on their Large Format Recording Console at Atlantic Records.
The moral of that is, music is best experienced not by the eye, but rather, by the ear. So listening to the music is really what I would encourage you to do.
Adjust your volume with adequate headroom and forget about the meters for most of the time. It’s probably true to write that many individuals that would identify themselves as audio enthusiasts, obsess about entirely the wrong things.
I trust this polite reply will genuinely assist you, better explain my intent and I take this opportunity to wish you well, with all your future listening experiences.
Try reading before your respond, as it will far better inform, anything you write.