He’s commenting on an overall trend in music software (or should I say more -Euro- design.) Frankly, I think it’s about 10 years behind the times and is strongly influenced by Gamer culture. (Can you say ‘Matrix’?)
But if you look at where the -design- community is at, the trend has been towards lighter and brighter… Apple, Microsoft, Google… the trend is uniformly in those directions and -away- from ‘gun metal’ and ‘imitating a real mixer’. And not just because it’s the trend du jour. Countless studies have shown that lighter, simpler interfaces are (surprise!) EASIER TO READ and MORE SELF-EVIDENT.
So, since yer so opinionated, who makes a good UI, JC?
This guy makes -great- UIs: http://www.valhalladsp.com/
And… lest we forget. I still say, Cubase SX and SX2 were much more readable.
http://media.soundonsound.com/sos/aug02/images/cubasesxsurround.l.gif
http://media.soundonsound.com/sos/nov03/images/cubaseproject.l.jpg
—JC