The Screen Interface

Double-click on any patch in the default Library (there are 105 patches), and the patch editing screen opens. This is a nicely drawn analog representation of the flow-chart of the patch, with various points you can modify, like input gain, output gain, dry/wet ratio, Left/Right Balance and the like. Tucked in the center of the flow-chart will be a box that is labeled Effect. Double-click on the box and another screen opens, showing a detailed flow chart of the "guts" of the patch with the values for gain, feedback, predelay, etc. Like Babushka dolls, there is yet another box in the middle, usually labeled Reverberator. Double Click on it and you get a display of an array of parameters you can modify and use to torment your neighbors. Some are obvious (like Reverb Time), some are arcane (like Spin).

Whatever. This is a quick, easily understood and controlled interface. There are a whole batch of keyboard shortcuts, so after you get used to using Tab and Command-arrows, you won't be using the mouse too much. The flow charts are particularly handy because they give you a pretty clear picture of what is going on. The only limitations are that you can't edit the signal flow (and there are a couple of mods that I'd love to do) and the flow screens are generic, so sometimes they don't really tell the whole truth about what is going on. The upside of all of this is that you get easy control of a lot of levels of stuff with comparatively little confusion or pain. An impressive piece of software ergonomics.

Supporting all of this are protocols for MIDI control (via Apple MIDI Manager and/or OMS) and SMPTE timecode control, plus a nice editing screen for working on the Hot Palette and MIDI controller values, bypass switches, a revert button for when you get hopelessly lost, and the usual sort of editor/librarian stuff.

Once you have an effect edited and are happily wallowing in la reverb du jour, you can leave NuVerb running in the background while you return to Finder, open other software, do your taxes, edit Foley, whatever.

Nice. User Friendly. Comfortable.