Anazing app, so what's next

[PalmSounds]

I got your app yesterday, and I'm really impressed with it. I'd like to know (and I expect my readers would too) if you have any plans to include FX into the app, or indeed anything else?

[pwnified]

I've been trying to order a list in terms of complexity of implementation.

1. Stereo recording (using line in microphones)
2. Punch in/out (locators)
3. Automation for faders and panning
4. ioLibrary
5. Non destructive editing - trimming/copying/moving with a 'bin' system
6. Looping and loop recording
7. Effects
8. Automation for effects

Because of the highly complex caching algorithm needed to support 16 tracks, some effects would be harder than others. Reverb and delay type effects (includes chorus effects) would be more time consuming to implement than an EQ, overdrive/distortion or compression/limiting.

On the top of my list is stereo recording because the UI wouldn't have to change, you would just be able to arm more than one track if the hardware supports it.

I've been trying to think of a simple way to edit the audio data (trimming, copying, and moving) without the clutter that all the other apps have.

Also what would be nice is faster display of waveform data when the zoom level changes or to display 'blurry' waveforms until the high resolution waveforms are ready.

A user poll would be a good idea, but I'll probably wait until MultiTrack gets more popular (fingers crossed!)

Thanks

[anthony]

Hi. Looks very good, but difficult to tell without buying it! Ive already bought 4 multitrack programs, best of which was Rectools, which you can record stereo with, and edit also. `But instructions are in Japanese!

What is the editing capability now? Does one have to complete the recording of the entire track first time? i.e. one take each track? What about mixing, or automation? I would leave effects till later, as I have already a portable effects box for delay reverb and chorus. I already find Rectools painfully slow, and have never figured out where to put the song afterwards - is that what the wi-fi is for? I have read your instructions but have to confess I dont quite grock them!

Good luck with it - it looks great and I cant wait to buy it!

[PalmSounds]

So, how's the app going? I've given it quite a plug over the last week.

[MusicMagic]

Thanks for the effort to program and release your app. Does the total number of tracks increase programming time significantly? I was wondering because your app, while looking clean and straight forward, is rather "bare bones" for an actual 16 track. You already have posted that you have significant expansion plans. However, some of the items listed (e.g., non-destructive editing) would seem almost by default to be demanded on the "ground floor" of even a 1.0 release. Thus, I must confess the app has a somewhat "unfinished" appearance, even in the App Store description and screen shots.

Question: why not develop less tracks (4/6/8) if that would help include more "fundamental" features that almost anyone would expect of even a 1.0 release of a 16 track anything? Or, do the number of tracks not have a significant impact on developing an audio app in this genre? I wish you good luck, but when other programs already are out there, such as Rectools 08 pro with 3-band EQ, effects, non-destructive editing, and so forth in its 1.0 incarnation, yours does have a rather pale appearance, at least on the surface. I don't mean to be hypercritical--just giving you some feedback on how the app "presents" in the App Store. Perhaps if you would have had just 4 or 6 tracks initially with significantly more "fundamental" features, and then suddenly jumped to 16 tracks in an update 6 months later, you would have "wowed" your public for very little effort. As matters are, you set up certain expectations that will be frustrated quickly simply by putting out an app with 16 tracks but almost no bread or barbeque sauce for the meat.

Best wishes . . .

[pwnified]

What is the editing capability now? Does one have to complete the recording of the entire track first time? i.e. one take each track? What about mixing, or automation? I would leave effects till later, as I have already a portable effects box for delay reverb and chorus. I already find Rectools painfully slow, and have never figured out where to put the song afterwards - is that what the wi-fi is for? I have read your instructions but have to confess I dont quite grock them!

There is basically no editing as of yet, you record at a certain point on a track and it crossfades the new recording into whatever was on the track before. Sort of just like a 16 track tape recorder would do. (I have a Tascam MSR16S tape deck sitting in my studio, really the only difference between it and MultiTrack is that it weights over 100 pounds).

You can record at any point in a song on any track. If you record at the end of a fresh track, it will NOT fill up the space at the beginning of the track, unlike a lot of other apps in the app store, thereby saving filespace. (However when you download the track using WiFi, it will fill out the file so that it properly lines up with other downloaded files). It also uses no filespace whatsoever for unused tracks.

I'm writing up more of this in another doc, should be available shortly.

Thanks for your interest in MultiTrack.

[pwnified]

So, how's the app going? I've given it quite a plug over the last week.

Thanks for the boost PalmSounds it helps so much. Unfortunately I've had quite a full plate this last week and was unable do any programming. That is going to change like right now. Boiling with things to try and UI designs to test.

[pwnified]

As matters are, you set up certain expectations that will be frustrated quickly simply by putting out an app with 16 tracks but almost no bread or barbeque sauce for the meat.
Best wishes . . .

Well, I wanted to develop the infrastructure for supporting a large number of tracks first. MultiTrack could theoretically support many more tracks with the current system (even up to 32 and beyond), so it wasn't really a question of how many tracks to release initially, it would take basically the same amount of time whatever the track count. Since it's theoretically impossible to stream 16 tracks in realtime, I thought that would be a great selling point. I also took a page from Apple and tried to keep it as simple as possible, with hidden functionality as to not intimidate new users. I wanted an app that doesn't crash (I nor any of the beta testers have had any crashes whatsoever and not a single crash report has shown up in the developer portal). I spent a lot of time making sure that tracks were synced exactly to each other and that the audio quality was perfect in every respect. And the most important thing I wanted to avoid was user data loss (the worst thing in my eyes is loosing a song due to problems with the software). So even though it's a really a multitrack recorder plain and simple, I wanted it to do this task perfectly.

Unfortunately marketing is not something that I have a ton of experience with. But as a developer I want the best possible multitrack recorder, with every useful feature implemented the right way. I was simply starting with the foundation.

Thanks for your comments.

[PalmSounds]

Glad you're getting some time to get back to the coding. Let me know if you want to talk about marketing the app.

[MusicMagic]

As matters are, you set up certain expectations that will be frustrated quickly simply by putting out an app with 16 tracks but almost no bread or barbeque sauce for the meat.
Best wishes . . .

so it wasn't really a question of how many tracks to release initially, it would take basically the same amount of time whatever the track count. . . . I also took a page from Apple and tried to keep it as simple as possible, with hidden functionality as to not intimidate new users. I wanted an app that doesn't crash . . .. And the most important thing I wanted to avoid was user data loss

Unfortunately marketing is not something that I have a ton of experience with. But as a developer I want the best possible multitrack recorder, with every useful feature implemented the right way. I was simply starting with the foundation.

Thanks for your comments.

Thanks for the response. I would have guessed more tracks = more trouble coding, but apparently not. Good to know. Helps to contextualize how you are proceeding. I wanted to affirm and encourage you in your stated goals, which are admirable: (1) simplicity, with power under the hood, (2) clean user interface, and (3) stability. Those are good guiding lights for long-term development. Your immediate competition, Rectools 08 pro, is powerful, but certainly not simple, and probably the worst user interface even posted to the App Store, as well as crashes--so you have the jump on some items already. I know people do not have even a smidgen of an idea how much time coding and debugging actually takes, and user demands sometimes can be extraordinarily unreasonable. Yet, I still would press on to point out again that a "16 track" anything should have at a minimum non-destructive editing already in place before she comes out of the gate. So, let me encourage you as much as you have the time and energy to try to get this "ground level" capability implemented. If all I want to do is record audio, a much simpler 4 track without any bells and whistles but with a bounce feature can do that. I know that prevents any further changes to previously recorded tracks, but my example is about simply getting ideas down like a song memo pad. You obviously are going for much more than that. Therefore, really to qualify as a "16 track" (and here I am leaning on the assumption that folks who are shopping this type of app have some kind of studio or software/hardware DAW experience), you just simply must make non-destructive editing available--and as soon as absolutely possible in my mind. I am investing in this forum because I like your app's look and promise much more over what I have seen and tried so far for multitrack on the iPhone.

Another marketing suggestion . . . you are charging too much (I know, I know--the pricing structure on apps is unreasonable--please forgive me). You have not implemented what has become almost "standard procedure" these days with brand new apps. That is, you really must think about having a "sale" on the app to bump its sales numbers and get the app into the hands of lots of users to get your reviews accumulating. As mean and heartless as they are sometimes, you do want that user feedback. Also, you have to think as a consumer, not a developer who has spent many hours of blood, sweat, and tears on the product. On the surface, if I am looking for a 16 track app in the App Store, and see one that has feature galore and one that doesn't, and the feature galore app is less expensive than the feature-challenged app, what do you think my consumer instinct will tell me to do? Bite the bullet, control your emotions, and let her out the door for a steal of a deal on a good "October Sale Month!" For marketing, you simply have got to prime the pump. You have got to generate buzz on your app.

Again, may the developer Force be with you . . .