I totally agree. Studio One is a great DAW, I have tried a dozen out there (except Logic Pro, since I don't have Mac), and it remains my main DAW, inspite of some other DAW's better functionality in certain areas. But its GUI needs to be rethought. I hoped the version 5 would have a new, updated GUI, but it was just inherited from versions 3 and 4, basically. I hope Studio one 6 (or maybe earlier) will have a new approach on graphics. I think the graphics should be smoother, with less sharp corners, more contemporary.
As to the MIDI notes representation, I wonder why practically all other daws (Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Ableton, Reaper, FL Studio, Cubase, Cakewalk) have the ability to zoom into MIDI data in the arrangement, while Studio One still doesn't?
I often use “explode pitches to tracks” function for drums (a super great feature I didn’t see in other DAWs!!). For example, I create a drum beat, where all the drums’ MIDI are in one part (clip), so I want to separate them and have each drum on a separate track, for convenience. When I have this done, I delete the silence between notes, if needed, and transform each track to audio track. While doing this, it’s very hard to visually find midi notes (one shots) for drums which are used just once or twice across the song, because they are so tiny! I always have to strain my eyes to do this. It would be much easier if we could have bigger notes.
Here’s what I mean.
Here’re all the drums in one MIDI clip (part) as they appear in Studio One:
All the drums in one clip in Ableton:
And here are the drums separated by channel (Studio One) - only 8 channels, due to my Ableton’s license limitations:
Drums per channel in Ableton
As you see, in Ableton Live you have a more detailed view, even ispite of rare occasional notes, and you don’t need to strain your eyes as much as you need in Studio One. Would be great for Studio One, too!