In the previous newsletter I sent out a customer survey for the first time ever.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. I was truly overwhelmed with the amount and the positivity of your feedback. This work can be isolating sometimes when I'm typing away here in my half-basement and thinking about new sounds and new UIs, so let me get a little mushy on you and say from deep in my feels: your kind messages gave me more certainty that I'm doing the right stuff, and more energy to continue on the path.
I have some tangible results to share that might be of interest to you too, so let's dive in!
Aalto being our most popular synth jibes with what I've been seeing over the years. It's something special and I'll work to keep it that way. Kaivo and then the new Sumu come after that, and Virta and Aaltoverb a ways down. again, no surprises.
This is cool because along with the first question it gives us a (bought / used it recently) ratio, which is the best quantative measure I can think of for “did I make something useful?” Aalto here is a perennial favorite, and Sumu leads the pack—though that's skewed of course because it has not been out for that long. Virta is looking the saddest and that gives me some ideas for how to make it more accessible. Honestly I think the “it's a synth, it's an effect too!” approach makes it a bit confusing. That’s something I can work on.
Let the OS wars begin! (seriously tho, ack, no no no let's not.) Um, I work hard to make good interfaces that are sometimes opinionated and design-forward, and it makes sense this would connect with a Mac crowd. Windows is well-represented though, and definitely not a second-class citizen here. Honestly given the missteps made by both Apple and Microsoft in software over the last year (UI eye candy nobody wants, forcing adware and AI slop on us, ignoring fundamental usability problems), both companies are on my shit-list right now. So to that 4% of Linux folks, I completely get it and we're making slow but real moves in your direction.
Ableton Live? Never heard of it, I'll have to try that one someday. Just kidding, it's my daily driver and it's no surprise that's true for a lot of you as well. Bitwig beating out Logic for second place is a bit of a surprise. I'm happy to see our affordable weird cousin Reaper rounding out the top 4.
This was interesting. Combined interest in new effect plugins is about twice that of interest in a new app. Now that doesn't mean we will take one course and not the other. (¿Por qué no los dos?) There are good reasons for making an app even if it's only the top pick of 25% of our customers. But honestly I guessed these numbers would be the other way around. Amazing what you learn when you ask people!
As far as the quantitative data go, this one makes me feel good about letting our freak flag fly. Sorry about the formatting here, but you can get the idea. Novel, experimental effects are in the lead, followed closely by other kinds of tools that could frankly also be in the novel/experimental category. What there's not much interest in is "Established effects with that Madrona Labs sauce." I love all the software bebs, including Aaltoverb, but my understanding now is that we should keep fishing for ideas deeper down in the ocean of new and different sounds. It's kind of what we do, and I'm happy to see it's why you're here.
Wow, nice! As a User Research Professional and mediocre Data Analyst, I love to see these insights. Always a good idea to ask the people :)
The response is the message. It looks like you're still tapped into the hive-mind, and even without the nuance of the data, your efforts are inherently hip.
Exploration is what makes creating so exhilarating, and neat sounds are so much more accessible than descending the Challenger Deep or space tourism.
Really interesting metrics… I only discovered ML after so I didn’t get to take part sadly, but I’m just learning about your portfolio of sonic indulgence currently (extremely groovy BTW)!
It’s really interesting to get a feel for the user base too (hi y’all)! I’m not surprised there’s such strong support for Ableton (as it’s incredibly performance orientated). I think my love of iOS has got me much more interested in learning it’s weirding ways (being a Cubase user) …this has inspired me to give my lite copy some love!
Thanks for the note. People keep asking for iOS versions of Aalto etc. over the years. Given the pricing model there I've been slow to figure out how we can make it work but I'd like to figure something out.
Hi Randy, thanks for your amazing coding! Yeah the iOS platform is very cool! I just love it’s stealth and agility (via AUM particularly) to provide mass accessibility and freedom to explore and lose yourself wherever you are: on a train, …up a mountain, …on the beach etc! It’s really democratised sound/music creation.
What’s made it so special for me is that since its humble beginnings circa 2010 it’s just been such a profound sandbox for indie creativity and allowed developers to really get their freak on (and I soooo have a will to get sonically weird) lol! I still can’t believe Moog made incredible iOS apps (like Animoog and Model 15) and still haven’t released them on desktop yet (drool)!
I too would love for ML to release things on iOS but also fail to understand how it would be financially viable. The only realistic ‘strange attractor’ I can think of would be to do what Modartt (PianoTeq) do and provide access to it with the purchase of a desktop licence (only).
Naturally that’s extra work for nothing but a gateway also as been able to design patches on the move or perform super lite is enticing and undeniable diverse value for money (as a further selling point for desktop acquisition).
It’s just whether the codebase can easily be migrated as part of the regular desktop builds (naturally from Mac to iOS has to be the easiest route) but it’s additional heart ache all the same!
I’m just happy I discovered ML and really dig your software whichever form it comes in! :)
Thanks for the Modartt mention, I've been thinking along similar lines. The coding part should not be difficult.
Hey no worries, I’m just glad it helped! I figured one way to break the ice (so to speak) could be start with an ML supporting app (like Vutu) as kind of an iOS ‘hello world’! However I’d charge for it regardless of it being free on desktop as it’s a way for the community to show their love for the idea of ML breaking out on iOS, and will give you a chance to explore the workflow etc!
It’s not unusual, Audio Damage just charged a tiny fee for an iOS version (although the desktop version is free) but they charge peanuts for their apps so I buy them even if I’m not really bothered about the thing itself (to support them) and same for legends like Bram Bos et al!
Personally, iOS is my central hub for all things visual as my iPad Pro M5 has the nicest screen I own (super useful for an external monitor for DaVinci Resolve being colour accurate etc) and it’s teeming with design apps and a juicy fractal engine too (yum)! :P So I figured most users entire visual world likely ends up on the iPad (photo experiments, visual reference material etc) so it makes sense (at least to moi) with Vutu acting as a bridge between our digital/visual iOS worlds -> into the audio domain via Sumu)!