Has anyone else notice that when displaying classical recordings, Roon’s white background color changes to off-white?
It does the same in dark mode where the black-ish turns dark grey-ish. I noticed this as a new Roon user and mentioned it as a possible bug but was told by more experienced users that this is on purpose for Classical.
I still don’t like it at all 
That was a design choice years a go that was supposed to evoke a Classical music magazine experience. Personally I always found it a bit yuk especially when switching between genres. But I guess you can get used to anything.
Same with the rather impractical font choices which don’t work for album banner heads with Classical which can often be very long and get split randomly across 3 lines. This is not even a particularly bad example from recent Qobuz recommendations but nothing really fits. Difficult to read and the lack of contrast with the off white / grey? background doesn’t help.
I don’t remember now when that GUI refresh was. Maybe it will soon be time for another.
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Does anyone still run custom themes? I recall it was a popular soapbox when the purple/lilac buttons first (Roon 1.8?) appeared - but I never got round to it. Mostly because I wasn’t looking forward to repeating the exercise every time a new release overwrote the changes…
I carried out a quick test: it only appears to happen in my case (Roon 2, 1413 on macOS 13.6.7) when I’ve specifically marked an Album as having the Genre ‘Classical’.
Since all my Albums are what is commonly called ‘classical’ music, such a use of Genres makes no sense for me… rather, ‘classical’ refers to the era of music written (and not even necessarily performed) between, say, the birth of Haydn (1732)/death of Bach (1750) and the deaths of Beethoven (1827) and Schubert (1828).
I hope I may be forgiven for (I hope respectfully) waving a tiny little flag in the midst of overwhelming odds because I suggest that this means that few lovers of ‘classical’ music would use such a Genre in Roon in the way Tony suggests here - to evoke the (IMHO very attractive) parchment effect, which, FWIW, is the default ‘theme’ for the notation software, Sibelius.
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What on earth are you talking about? What is it you think I suggest?
Just to be absolutely crystal clear. I don’t like the grey background. That’s my preference. I don’t care if you like it. That’s your preference.
Whilst we are at it. You also seem to be confusing genres and periods. Using Classical as a genre to mean a broad range of music distinct from Pop, Techno or Jazz makes perfect sense for those of us that listen to a broad range of genres and also to manufacturers and systems developers who are catering to a very broad customer base. Roon actually uses the presence of a Classical tag to configure the way it treats a Classical file. For example, the way composers are treated and also as you have discovered the display background. I would say that when using roon to manage a Classical library that a Classical tag is not really optional.
If you prefer Classical to mean a period you can use the composition page to manage and edit “periods” including Classical. Good luck with that.
@Mark_Sealey is technically correct, and many classical enthusiasts agree with him.
The point is, if your entire collection is “classical” music, having a tag for classical that is overarching makes no sense. In this case, having tags for things like this makes much more sense:
Medieval (c.1140-c.1400)
Renaissance (c.1400-c.1600)
Baroque (c.1600-c.1750)
Classical (c.1750-c.1830)
Early Romantic (c.1830-1860)
Late Romantic (c.1860-c.1920)
20th and 21st century (c.1920-present)
In this case, only Mark’s music from 1750-1830 would have the different colored background…
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This whole color difference makes no sense to me. I read rock/pop magazines on paper for decades and I don’t see a difference in the paper they used compared to classical magazines.
So if the idea was to „evoke a Classical music magazine experience“ then I don’t understand what difference it was supposed to evoke.
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Thanks, @DDPS! You, too, have explained what seems to me to be the issue perfectly 
.
Seems I wasn’t clear enough. Roon is not designed exclusively for Classical listeners. Quite the opposite. They are rather a niche minority. Especially those that are exclusively Classical listeners.
Roon will categorise in terms of composition periods (rather incompletely) if that’s what you want. Just go to the composition page:
There has been no significant refresh by roon of that page and navigation route which may well suite some Classical listeners better in at least 7 years. There are many gaps and usability quirks so in the intervening period there have been regular change requests, including from me. It is clearly not a roon priority so good luck with getting movement there. On the general point of using Classical as a genre rather than a period I personally find it broad brush useful as I am far from exclusively a Classical listener. As roon’s “Period” handling has never really worked I pretty much sub-tag everything in my Classical library along similar lines to the one you describe. Baroque, Romantic, Modern etc. etc. But it doesn’t make sense not to assign a “Classical” tag to all periods as it’s just the way roon works.
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If it was financial data, it could be pink paper 
I just read it as “making the UI look a little more classic” rather than anything skeumorphic. I can live with it or without it.
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Tony,
No wish to be combative. I don’t think my post came across that way - did it? (Apols if so )
I was referring to this comment of yours:
If I put words into your mouth, again, I apologise.
Then:
Only if you define ‘Classical’ in the way you do - to which you’re perfectly entitled, of course. I’m glad it works for you.
But for me, a lover of music for over 60 years, that only confuses. What is often called (as I think you do here?) ‘classical’ music which (and I really don’t want to get into any kind of ‘debate’ here) broadly speaking emphasizes the composer as opposed to the performer encompasses a thousand years and umpteen different genres (forms and styles) from plainchant through organum; Are Nova and sonata; to madrigal, polyphony; opera and chamber; Lied and chanson; oratorio and aleatoric; symphonic and electronic; vocal and choral; folk-music inspired; jazz influenced; operetta to concerto - etc.
At that point (for me at least: I have no wish to try and tell anyone else what to do) ‘Classical’ as a genre confuses (etymologically it also implies a type of music to which all others should aspire) more than it helps.
After seeking - and getting (always!) - much help from the good people (including yourself, Tony) here when investigating the way(s?) in which Roon deploys Genres, I concluded that - for me - they were too restrictive.
So I use my own. They seem to work.
Here’s hoping that will change and that some of the many improvements which RoonLabs is making to this wonderful system will address the needs specifically of ‘classical’ music listeners… perhaps changes to the way Box sets will lead the way.
So I just map and keep it simple.
One of the strengths of Roon is surely that there are usually several ways to achieve a result. I’d never advise against yours, Tony!
My initial comment included, I confess, what I saw as a plea for the underdog, the minority.
Those of us who get the satisfaction which we do from listening to what for most people - certainly a sizable portion - is largely a closed book are perhaps too sensitive about being overlooked, are we?
And sometimes we feel mildly inclined to raise a respectful hand just to show we’re here - and tentatively to suggest that the cream paper ghetto is not the end of the story.
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I don’t think that @Mark_Sealey or anyone else is feeling particularly left out of the cream colored paper crowd. Maybe its the context of this discussion that is making this all seem out of proportion.
Most pertinently, I think that @Mark_Sealey’s methods — which are shared by a small but vocal minority here — are not to be diminished.
Cheers. Enjoying this at present:
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Thanks, @DDPS!
How is the sound on something recorded as long ago as 1969?
Certainly HvK and the Berliners were at one of their many peaks at that time, weren’t they?
It’s very good. Arguably not as good as the MLP series of the 1950s, however!
And yes. Yes they were. This album is one of my very favorites of all time. That artwork is from a scan of my original vinyl sleeve.
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Have you ever (or will you ever) digitize any LPs?
I am not defining anything. Why are you putting words in my mouth? If you read what I said, these are not my definitions. These are roon’s. I don’t know how I could be clearer.
It is just incorrect to say that roon doesn’t use the term “Classical” to categorise a certain style of music between 1750-1830. This was a very significant upgrade in roon 1.8 but it has been there in some form since 1.3 if memory serves. Go to the composition page and press focus. You can select and edit musical periods in your library to any level of precision you want including renaissance, baroque, modern etc. and also of course classical. You can also do the same for instrumentation (orchestra, violin, piano etc.) and form (symphony, concerto, chamber etc.).
Roon therefore uses the term “Classical” in two different ways depending on context. As a genre at an album level and as a period at a composition level. That doesn’t mean it “works” for me. I have raised several change requests in this area going back at least 7 years as have several others. This is just the way roon works. These are not my definitions or suggestions at all. Please do not say or imply that they are.
Others reading your posts really need to understand that with roon applying a “Classical” genre tag to Shostakovich, for example, is not optional as you seem to think. Maybe you would prefer to apply a genre of “Modern” or similar (and I do on a regular basis in addition to a Classical tag). But roon uses that “Classical” tag to treat the tracks in a different way to how it would treat tracks with a “Pop” or “Death Metal” genre tag. For example how it displays composers, soloists, librettists or multi-part composition hierarchies. So not using a “Classical” tag will lead to a far from optimal roon Classical experience. You can always edit the “Periods” of your classical compositions if you want to navigate your Classical library that way.
If you listened to other genres than Classical a lot of this would be obvious frankly.
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Tony,
I do apologize if my way of seeing things upsets you - or indeed if I am flat out wrong!
I’ll certainly look at the ‘Composition’ screen(s) again.
At heart I don’t want to complicate things too much - for example by using a term (‘Classical’) in two (to me) contradictory ways, especially when I’m only really concerned to allocate Genres at the Album level - a distinction (from Composition) which you make very clear, thank you.
Your input and guidance appreciated 
.
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If you find roon contradictory with something like this you must be having a hard time of it. Roon must support a very broad church of musical tastes, not just Classical, so this type of basic data normalization is a pre-requisite if anything is to work at all.
Personally I have no view either way. Roon is what roon is. In general you will get better results working within its conventions rather than trying to impose your own. You can always raise a change request but particularly with Classical, change has always been slow. On the other hand there are hints that new Classical box-set handling is on the way so that will be welcome. That is another area that often crosses musical Periods. What genre is this?
Personally, I find genres at an album level pretty useless if I am trying to create a Classical playlist, shuffle or listening queue as it doesn’t help when trying to maintain a persistent mood. It is also at least a contributory factor in radio and discovery miss-fires. I can see that those who do not use roon in that way don’t see the problem, especially if all you want to do is listen to the album. But to me this is one of the main points of roon, being able to chop and dice my library independently of the labels choices on CD or record. Also to be surprised and engaged by discovery and radio.
Incidentally. Here you can see why I don’t like the grey background. The buttons and icons are also grey, as are the menu borders. It’s just a difficult to read low contrast grey on grey. The Sibelius you mention also uses a grey background but unlike roon it uses high contrast purple navigation buttons. I imagine the Sibelius buttons are configurable so you can probably have matching grey buttons if you wish. I don’t know.
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I didn’t even realize that was an option in the past.
I wish we had an easy way to “reskin” the GUI with color, typeface and font sizes as I’d make a theme for myself that isn’t so hard to read. I don’t know if they follow ADA compliance guidelines but some of the choices are difficult for me to read.
I would also eliminate some of the data that I don’t really need or want–if styling is done with CSS/LESS, for instance, a simple code (like “visibility: hidden”) would hide the data and not throw off the layout at all. But that’s a “me” issue… 