It’s pretty much the only thing missing for the majority of what I do prepping samples for NS2. Otherwise I have to use another app and it’s always nicer to stay in one app wherever possible.
While we’re talking the audio editor - timestretching would be nice to keep things “in house” as it were (although I’m now using Koala auv3 & bouncing the stretched audio to wav so for that it’s no longer the end of the world)
Just speculating…. I wonder if we created a GoFundMe, just how much we’d have to raise for it to be financially viable to complete the development…? I’d kick in $500. That bring us to $1,625. Anyone else? I’m guessing (with no evidence) that we’d need to break $100,000. That can be reached by getting $25 from 4,000 people. How many active users of NS2 exist I wonder…?
@SlapHappy that's a great idea. I just came back to this forum after talking about NS2 on AB forum. It's a bit sad that the app is so popular and many people are rooting for it's development but we don't even here anything from the developer here.
C'mon, how difficult it is to write a single post "hey guys, thank you for your support but my current life situation doesn't allow me to spend enough time to release updates with additional features".
To be honest, I feel (and probably many people as well) a bit disrespected. Recently I was considering to complete the IAP collection to support further development of the app but unfortunately it seems dead, or at least frozen. Such a shame because in terms of ergonomics NS2 is the best in its category on iOS.
Perhaps developer should pass the source code to someone else who can give users what they want?
@starkfvx said: @SlapHappy that's a great idea. I just came back to this forum after talking about NS2 on AB forum. It's a bit sad that the app is so popular and many people are rooting for it's development but we don't even here anything from the developer here.
C'mon, how difficult it is to write a single post "hey guys, thank you for your support but my current life situation doesn't allow me to spend enough time to release updates with additional features".
To be honest, I feel (and probably many people as well) a bit disrespected. Recently I was considering to complete the IAP collection to support further development of the app but unfortunately it seems dead, or at least frozen. Such a shame because in terms of ergonomics NS2 is the best in its category on iOS.
Perhaps developer should pass the source code to someone else who can give users what they want?
That would be a great idea!!!! Like you said it is disrespectful to not man up and talk to the people that work just as hard as you and spent their hard earned money on something you created. We're your supporters not your haters. I would bump my $25 to $100. But, kind of scared if he would just take off with the money and not honor what we wanted since he can't even comment in the forums. All we want to know is how much and we'll try to make it happen!!!!
@starkfvx he has said that. I would add that some people just aren’t active social media users. He is also at the top of the list of disappointment that things didn’t work out better. 6 years of work and the results were weak sales because so many were either were stuck on another app or just waited until the price dropped to the cost of a latte. From my perspective the iOS music producing community didn’t support the app very well and there was a huge amount of haters that were probably just trolls from other apps, but a person can only take so much of that before it begins to not be worth the stress it causes. Go back to the begining of this forum or dig up some old AB Forum threads and you’ll see what I mean. No matter how much you post you just can’t make people like the app. So it is entirely reasonable to walk away and focus on supporting your family and hope the disappointment and burnout can fade over time to someday allow you to get back to the passion project that isn’t likely to pay for the time you put into it.
For me the app works well and allows me to do everything I need. Nanostudio was originally conceived as a scratch pad for musical ideas that could be finished in a desktop app. We (the NS1 users) pushed the dev to make it a more full scale app, and while I love NS2, I’m not so sure it was the best move from a commercial perspective. It would probably have been wiser to make NS2 for desktop where people actually support the software that they use. As things stand now, a commitment has been made to fix any important things broken by iOS updates (not every minor thing) so we can expect to use NS2 as-is for a while. I suspect Apple will find a way to make it too hard to maintain apps one day, esp. with the big chunk of $$ Apple takes from app sales. Keep fingers crossed.
@Pumpte said:
I would bump my $25 to $100. But, kind of scared if he would just take off with the money and not honor what we wanted since he can't even comment in the forums.
@Pumpte Matt is the direct opposite of that. You’re new to the forum (welcome BTW!) so you may not know that there were plenty of posts. Go back to the beginning and you can read some. But think about how it would make you feel to read it if someone made your post about you. Then think how many posts you would bother to read of many people arguing against the app you made and asking for justifications for every decision made in the development of it. People demading tweaks for every conceivably different way to use NS2 in an attempt to make NS2 more like other apps and maybe you can see it would get tiring and you’d not feel inclined to read them anymore.
For the record it was the Beta Team that encouraged Matt to step away and let us handle the forum as best we could. We pass on needed fixes for bugs, which have not come up in quite a long time thankfully. We have also tried many ways to get Matt to accept more money and he feels too honorbound to excede expectations with his brand of perfectionism to accept money in advance. The idea of GoFundMe or a PayPal donate button has been floated before and he’ll not take it. Same for subscriptions. I wanted to pay $300 for NS2 and he wouldn’t let me. My posted idea of GoFundMe was not a good idea and I knew it wouldn’t have a chance in hell to fly, but I do think it is informative to see just how few people will actually post that they would donate, and I suspect far fewer would follow through and actually donate on GoFundMe. I’d like to be proven wrong BTW.
How much money would it take to quit a day job that is needed to support one’s family? That is a tough question. I doubt that $100,000 is enough, unless the current job becomes too much of a burnout, which is a long shot. Maybe there could be a ‘between jobs’ period which could see some NS2 development? It is possible, but not probable. I think it is best (for me at least) to just use NS2 as-is with whatever work-arounds are needed and/or use desktop or other iOS apps for fill in the gaps. So much great music was created long before these apps came along. If we think positive we can create pretty much anything we want.
@SlapHappy First of all I get what you're saying but, what app dev isn't dealing with those same issues? You think Matt is the only one? No. Second if you're not making enough money to continue to develop why won't you accept any money? This makes no since at all. Pride is foolish. You can't be prideful about a product. So he wouldn't accept sponsor ships either? That I'm sorry to say sounds ignorant to me. I understand not accepting hand outs because you can work but, not accepting donations to improve "your product" makes no sense.
When I have a bride that request certain pictures like she has seen on Pinterest, I don't stop shooting her wedding turn my back and walk away. When I'm shooting portraits and a client requests for me to take a certain picture I don't say no I'm the photographer I'm the only one that comes up with the poses. I say sweet let's do it I accept all suggestions. These people pay me good money to take pictures of them. If he wants to know real pressure tell him to become a wedding photographer, shoot a $3,000 wedding where your client expects for you to be perfect because this is a one shot deal. There is no do over, no rethink this, and no go back and recode this in the privacy of my home. Some people give me tips. I'm not to proud to accept, it's the clients way of saying thank you, you did a great job!
These donations are pretty much the same thing. These donations and offers are peoples way of saying thank you and that we believe in what you're doing. Not accepting is more or less a slap to our faces. Audio tracks at one time was in the road map. When asking for audio tracks it's not that people aren't asking for something that wasn't promised already from the beginning.
With business you gotta be able to take the criticisms with the praises. When a client says hey I love this picture but can you give me a color version of it instead of the black and white? I say ok. I don't get upset because they couldn't see my vision of the black and white. I'll continue to use NS2 but, I can honestly say from his mannerisms and lack of being able to deliver a solid promise. I've supported him twice but, let this be his last venture because I will never support him again he's not trust worthy therefore his product is not trust worthy. His business sense is lacking and to think you will be successful right out of the gate is childish and immature.
I don't think he needed to do desktop that would've been nice like Nanostudio 1 I would've bought it immediately. He had the opportunity slip through his fingers not adding audio tracks. The iPad with audio tracks would've been more beneficial than the iPhone app. The iPhone should've been his last play.
Thank you and the others for replying and holding it down. If he sold it to you all and just continued to work code I would support it because you all seem to be stand up people. This is the last you will hear from me until he sales it and puts the company in more mature and trusting hands.
@Pumpte
I hear what you are saying - it sucks that it can’t be different. We were all so hopefull when NS2 launched. We all wanted so much from the scratchpad that once was NS1. For the record, the iPad & iPhone versions were developed at the same time. The iPad was released first and then iPhone just needed some tweaks & polish before it was released and then moving on to Audio Tracks. There was never a question of choosing one over the other; iPhone instead of Audio Tracks. NS1 started on iPhone so there was no way that NS2 was going to leave out the iPhone.
However, the decision was made that the income from the app didn’t justify further development of NS2, …for now. While Matt shared his plans to add Audio Tracks, there were no promises. Many companies go through things like this. Plans get derailed by lack of retail sales. Accepting tips or anything like that now for development that isn’t happening would not be honest and Matt doesn’t want to take money in that situation. I don’t blame him. I think that he is doing the honorable thing and I hope that most people can see that. What might people on the internet say in a derogatory manner if he was accepting money but not further developing the app? The trolls would really come out to bash him then.
“ to think you will be successful right out of the gate is childish and immature.”
That’s an unfair assessment. NS1 was very successful, but by the time NS2 came out the landscape changed a lot in iOS music production and many people were already stuck with other workflows using other apps and didn’t want to change to NS2. Also there were a lot of trolls attacking NS2 on the internet because they wanted to protect other apps, and that discouraged new buyers. And many others waited, sitting on the fence, not buying NS2 due to lack of features they felt they had to have (audio tracks being the biggest), so that NS2 never really got traction nor the expected success based on the performance of NS1. It’s too bad that more people didn’t support NS2 because I think many people have since come to appreciate just how good it is. Will development ever continue? I don’t know, but I think that unsupportive bashing of NS2 (or Matt!) wouldn’t inspire me to do any more work on it if I were him.
I also think that the quality of NS1 & NS2 speak for themselves and that IF (big IF) Matt ever decides to develop for iOS again many people would take a serious look at anything he does. Will some decide not to buy because NS2 never got the hoped for audio tracks? Maybe. But that is what sounds childish to me.
What if you had to do more work at your day job and had to quit photography, but people kept expecting you to add filters and different exposures etc to old photography jobs and you didn’t have time to spend raising your family. On top of that people were bashing you on the internet for not working on what they wanted? I’m comparing apples and oranges, so this isn’t exactly the same. Fir one it’s a bit faster to deal with photography clients that want a few extras one at a time and it would still bring in small amounts of income.
It can take years of development to create an app or major features, all while receiving no pay and no promises of pay until it is done and you then have to market the app and try to convince people to buy. A tough thing to do. Nonetheless, no one is forced to continue developing an iOS app or desktop software if it does not pan out economically. That’s just how it is. One day maybe that will change, and development continue. And I think we shouldn’t unfairly judge someone for deciding to do what he needs to do to support his family.
For me NS2 does all I need it to. Audio as clips in Slate works just fine for me and I don’t need Audio Tracks. For those that do, no insult intended, but there are other apps that handle that. That is just where we are with iOS. NS2 does all that it states in the AppStore and should be judged by that and not judged by unrealized plans. Just my 2 cents.
@SlapHappy thanks or your take on this. I was just giving my opinion as a fresh iOS user who is on this OS for 2 years and for music making only.
It's quite surprising what you are writing about how the app was received by general public. I find it the best music making app EVER and it's the biggest reason I have invested a bunch of money on other apps just to host them inside NS2, hahaha.
As much as I am rooting for the further development I understand that if it's not worth from commercial point of view (for the developer), he is not doing it. Therefore my idea of selling the app to another company who sees it's potential and is willing to add the lacking features so many users are requesting.
But of course this would not happen because the app is in the AppStore and constantly making money for the dev.
Anyway, I think everything is possible so let's be optimistic and hopefully we will see NS2 becoming a better app in the future.
Cheers
@starkfvx It must be tricky to come into iOS (during the pandemic?!) and try to figure out all the quirkiness of this platform. I started with music apps on the iPhone 3GS and it was all frustrating until I got NS1. Back then apps couldn’t connect with IAA, MIDI, or AUv3. There was just a copy/paste of audio. And NS1 was limited to 15 tracks, so we have to switch presets in parts if we wanted more sounds. Things are better today, but iOS music is still evolving as you can no doubt tell.
There was a lot of surprise among the NS2 fans at how much resistence there was to NS2, and just plain fence-sitting until NS2 was discounted to a bargain basement rate. Today I doubt if Audio Tracks really would have changed the reception much. While Audio Tracks was a big thing for some, it wasn’t the only thing. Many people complained in the forum and/or wanted functions that were a completely different workflow. Some wanted it to work like Abelton Live, some wanted it to be more like BM3, and of course some absolutely had to have Audio Tracks, because audio clips in Slate just won’t do! We’re used to using Pro Tools thank you very much! Although Pro Tools didn’t have audio tracks when it first launched. People forget about that detail. You could go back to the start of the forum to read old threads and see for yourself, but that would be gruelling. There were so many requested features that it really would have needed to be a desktop DAW to satisfy everyone, but that’s a lot of coding required. Usually companies have teams of coders.
I have to agree with you that NS2 is the best music-making app ever. I recalled sometime in the early 2000’s when I spent $350 for Cakewalk’s Sonar for PC, and it had a steep learning curve I never clawed my way up, and then the company suddenly shuttered. That’s why I was willing to pay $300 for NS2 - which of course wasn’t the initial price. I think it launched at $30 and was quickly discounted.
Re: the idea of selling NS2. There once was an awesome app called Alchemy that had some of the coolest organic synth sounds ever. They sold out to Apple and now a token of the apps sounds and functions are in Garageband. A great app was reduced to a few presets and a fraction of the functionality. The fear is that another company would screw up NS2 and change it into an unintuitive mess. The glimmer of hope is that is hasn’t been sold. At least that’s how I choose to see it anyway. As long as Matt still owns it, there is a chance he will get back to working on it and add some features like Audio Tracks. With his perfectionism, I’m sure Audio Tracks would work flawlessly and the app would retain its intuitive UI. Personally I get on fine without audio tracks - Slate & Obsidian handles all I need to do. So for now, NS2 works great! Maybe audio tracks would help, especially for those who prefer audio workflow. But… there already are apps that have audio-based workflows so I don’t know that adding Audio Tracks to NS2 would suddenly make everyone into a NS2 user. Who knows what the future may bring.
Oh, and one tip I would offer: don’t rely upon AUv3 apps. I’ve been burned, and have had to learn and re-learn the lesson. Capture audio in Slate or recreate AUv3 presets as an Obsidian patch. And archive often. That is a reliable strategy.
@SlapHappy adding audio tracks to NS2 would be my holy grail DAW because all of the existing iOS DAW’s have some point where they suck (IMHO) whereas NS2 is like putting on a nice, warm, perfectly fitting pair of gloves on a cold day.
I remember when I first used NS2 and thought so many times, “that’s the way I would’ve done it”.
The closest iOS DAW to NS2 (IMHO again) is FLSM which is what I use these days with a little help from AUM. If NS2 had audio tracks, I wouldn’t need anything else!
@anickt I agree with your metaphor and do hope for Audio Tracks one day. I’m just curious about your normal workflow. What are you recording to audio tracks in FLSM? AUv3 instrument tracks or live instruments and vocals?
@SlapHappy said: @anickt I agree with your metaphor and do hope for Audio Tracks one day. I’m just curious about your normal workflow. What are you recording to audio tracks in FLSM? AUv3 instrument tracks or live instruments and vocals?
Sound collage kind of stuff mostly. Odd loops I make in AUM, found sounds, random ambience. Nothing “traditional” usually.
I briefly tried FLSM many years ago. I’ll have to give it another look to see how audio is handled. I assume it is faster/more intuitive for you than using audio in Slate?
Comments
Nice idea.
It’s pretty much the only thing missing for the majority of what I do prepping samples for NS2. Otherwise I have to use another app and it’s always nicer to stay in one app wherever possible.
+1
While we’re talking the audio editor - timestretching would be nice to keep things “in house” as it were (although I’m now using Koala auv3 & bouncing the stretched audio to wav so for that it’s no longer the end of the world)
I'd pay $25 IAP for audio tracks
I already offered $100
And I already offered $1000 😱
Just speculating…. I wonder if we created a GoFundMe, just how much we’d have to raise for it to be financially viable to complete the development…? I’d kick in $500. That bring us to $1,625. Anyone else? I’m guessing (with no evidence) that we’d need to break $100,000. That can be reached by getting $25 from 4,000 people. How many active users of NS2 exist I wonder…?
@SlapHappy that's a great idea. I just came back to this forum after talking about NS2 on AB forum. It's a bit sad that the app is so popular and many people are rooting for it's development but we don't even here anything from the developer here.
C'mon, how difficult it is to write a single post "hey guys, thank you for your support but my current life situation doesn't allow me to spend enough time to release updates with additional features".
To be honest, I feel (and probably many people as well) a bit disrespected. Recently I was considering to complete the IAP collection to support further development of the app but unfortunately it seems dead, or at least frozen. Such a shame because in terms of ergonomics NS2 is the best in its category on iOS.
Perhaps developer should pass the source code to someone else who can give users what they want?
That would be a great idea!!!! Like you said it is disrespectful to not man up and talk to the people that work just as hard as you and spent their hard earned money on something you created. We're your supporters not your haters. I would bump my $25 to $100. But, kind of scared if he would just take off with the money and not honor what we wanted since he can't even comment in the forums. All we want to know is how much and we'll try to make it happen!!!!
@starkfvx he has said that. I would add that some people just aren’t active social media users. He is also at the top of the list of disappointment that things didn’t work out better. 6 years of work and the results were weak sales because so many were either were stuck on another app or just waited until the price dropped to the cost of a latte. From my perspective the iOS music producing community didn’t support the app very well and there was a huge amount of haters that were probably just trolls from other apps, but a person can only take so much of that before it begins to not be worth the stress it causes. Go back to the begining of this forum or dig up some old AB Forum threads and you’ll see what I mean. No matter how much you post you just can’t make people like the app. So it is entirely reasonable to walk away and focus on supporting your family and hope the disappointment and burnout can fade over time to someday allow you to get back to the passion project that isn’t likely to pay for the time you put into it.
For me the app works well and allows me to do everything I need. Nanostudio was originally conceived as a scratch pad for musical ideas that could be finished in a desktop app. We (the NS1 users) pushed the dev to make it a more full scale app, and while I love NS2, I’m not so sure it was the best move from a commercial perspective. It would probably have been wiser to make NS2 for desktop where people actually support the software that they use. As things stand now, a commitment has been made to fix any important things broken by iOS updates (not every minor thing) so we can expect to use NS2 as-is for a while. I suspect Apple will find a way to make it too hard to maintain apps one day, esp. with the big chunk of $$ Apple takes from app sales. Keep fingers crossed.
@Pumpte Matt is the direct opposite of that. You’re new to the forum (welcome BTW!) so you may not know that there were plenty of posts. Go back to the beginning and you can read some. But think about how it would make you feel to read it if someone made your post about you. Then think how many posts you would bother to read of many people arguing against the app you made and asking for justifications for every decision made in the development of it. People demading tweaks for every conceivably different way to use NS2 in an attempt to make NS2 more like other apps and maybe you can see it would get tiring and you’d not feel inclined to read them anymore.
For the record it was the Beta Team that encouraged Matt to step away and let us handle the forum as best we could. We pass on needed fixes for bugs, which have not come up in quite a long time thankfully. We have also tried many ways to get Matt to accept more money and he feels too honorbound to excede expectations with his brand of perfectionism to accept money in advance. The idea of GoFundMe or a PayPal donate button has been floated before and he’ll not take it. Same for subscriptions. I wanted to pay $300 for NS2 and he wouldn’t let me. My posted idea of GoFundMe was not a good idea and I knew it wouldn’t have a chance in hell to fly, but I do think it is informative to see just how few people will actually post that they would donate, and I suspect far fewer would follow through and actually donate on GoFundMe. I’d like to be proven wrong BTW.
How much money would it take to quit a day job that is needed to support one’s family? That is a tough question. I doubt that $100,000 is enough, unless the current job becomes too much of a burnout, which is a long shot. Maybe there could be a ‘between jobs’ period which could see some NS2 development? It is possible, but not probable. I think it is best (for me at least) to just use NS2 as-is with whatever work-arounds are needed and/or use desktop or other iOS apps for fill in the gaps. So much great music was created long before these apps came along. If we think positive we can create pretty much anything we want.
@SlapHappy First of all I get what you're saying but, what app dev isn't dealing with those same issues? You think Matt is the only one? No. Second if you're not making enough money to continue to develop why won't you accept any money? This makes no since at all. Pride is foolish. You can't be prideful about a product. So he wouldn't accept sponsor ships either? That I'm sorry to say sounds ignorant to me. I understand not accepting hand outs because you can work but, not accepting donations to improve "your product" makes no sense.
When I have a bride that request certain pictures like she has seen on Pinterest, I don't stop shooting her wedding turn my back and walk away. When I'm shooting portraits and a client requests for me to take a certain picture I don't say no I'm the photographer I'm the only one that comes up with the poses. I say sweet let's do it I accept all suggestions. These people pay me good money to take pictures of them. If he wants to know real pressure tell him to become a wedding photographer, shoot a $3,000 wedding where your client expects for you to be perfect because this is a one shot deal. There is no do over, no rethink this, and no go back and recode this in the privacy of my home. Some people give me tips. I'm not to proud to accept, it's the clients way of saying thank you, you did a great job!
These donations are pretty much the same thing. These donations and offers are peoples way of saying thank you and that we believe in what you're doing. Not accepting is more or less a slap to our faces. Audio tracks at one time was in the road map. When asking for audio tracks it's not that people aren't asking for something that wasn't promised already from the beginning.
With business you gotta be able to take the criticisms with the praises. When a client says hey I love this picture but can you give me a color version of it instead of the black and white? I say ok. I don't get upset because they couldn't see my vision of the black and white. I'll continue to use NS2 but, I can honestly say from his mannerisms and lack of being able to deliver a solid promise. I've supported him twice but, let this be his last venture because I will never support him again he's not trust worthy therefore his product is not trust worthy. His business sense is lacking and to think you will be successful right out of the gate is childish and immature.
I don't think he needed to do desktop that would've been nice like Nanostudio 1 I would've bought it immediately. He had the opportunity slip through his fingers not adding audio tracks. The iPad with audio tracks would've been more beneficial than the iPhone app. The iPhone should've been his last play.
Thank you and the others for replying and holding it down. If he sold it to you all and just continued to work code I would support it because you all seem to be stand up people. This is the last you will hear from me until he sales it and puts the company in more mature and trusting hands.
@Pumpte
Bye now!
@sch
For now
@Pumpte
I hear what you are saying - it sucks that it can’t be different. We were all so hopefull when NS2 launched. We all wanted so much from the scratchpad that once was NS1. For the record, the iPad & iPhone versions were developed at the same time. The iPad was released first and then iPhone just needed some tweaks & polish before it was released and then moving on to Audio Tracks. There was never a question of choosing one over the other; iPhone instead of Audio Tracks. NS1 started on iPhone so there was no way that NS2 was going to leave out the iPhone.
However, the decision was made that the income from the app didn’t justify further development of NS2, …for now. While Matt shared his plans to add Audio Tracks, there were no promises. Many companies go through things like this. Plans get derailed by lack of retail sales. Accepting tips or anything like that now for development that isn’t happening would not be honest and Matt doesn’t want to take money in that situation. I don’t blame him. I think that he is doing the honorable thing and I hope that most people can see that. What might people on the internet say in a derogatory manner if he was accepting money but not further developing the app? The trolls would really come out to bash him then.
“ to think you will be successful right out of the gate is childish and immature.”
That’s an unfair assessment. NS1 was very successful, but by the time NS2 came out the landscape changed a lot in iOS music production and many people were already stuck with other workflows using other apps and didn’t want to change to NS2. Also there were a lot of trolls attacking NS2 on the internet because they wanted to protect other apps, and that discouraged new buyers. And many others waited, sitting on the fence, not buying NS2 due to lack of features they felt they had to have (audio tracks being the biggest), so that NS2 never really got traction nor the expected success based on the performance of NS1. It’s too bad that more people didn’t support NS2 because I think many people have since come to appreciate just how good it is. Will development ever continue? I don’t know, but I think that unsupportive bashing of NS2 (or Matt!) wouldn’t inspire me to do any more work on it if I were him.
I also think that the quality of NS1 & NS2 speak for themselves and that IF (big IF) Matt ever decides to develop for iOS again many people would take a serious look at anything he does. Will some decide not to buy because NS2 never got the hoped for audio tracks? Maybe. But that is what sounds childish to me.
What if you had to do more work at your day job and had to quit photography, but people kept expecting you to add filters and different exposures etc to old photography jobs and you didn’t have time to spend raising your family. On top of that people were bashing you on the internet for not working on what they wanted? I’m comparing apples and oranges, so this isn’t exactly the same. Fir one it’s a bit faster to deal with photography clients that want a few extras one at a time and it would still bring in small amounts of income.
It can take years of development to create an app or major features, all while receiving no pay and no promises of pay until it is done and you then have to market the app and try to convince people to buy. A tough thing to do. Nonetheless, no one is forced to continue developing an iOS app or desktop software if it does not pan out economically. That’s just how it is. One day maybe that will change, and development continue. And I think we shouldn’t unfairly judge someone for deciding to do what he needs to do to support his family.
For me NS2 does all I need it to. Audio as clips in Slate works just fine for me and I don’t need Audio Tracks. For those that do, no insult intended, but there are other apps that handle that. That is just where we are with iOS. NS2 does all that it states in the AppStore and should be judged by that and not judged by unrealized plans. Just my 2 cents.
@SlapHappy thanks or your take on this. I was just giving my opinion as a fresh iOS user who is on this OS for 2 years and for music making only.
It's quite surprising what you are writing about how the app was received by general public. I find it the best music making app EVER and it's the biggest reason I have invested a bunch of money on other apps just to host them inside NS2, hahaha.
As much as I am rooting for the further development I understand that if it's not worth from commercial point of view (for the developer), he is not doing it. Therefore my idea of selling the app to another company who sees it's potential and is willing to add the lacking features so many users are requesting.
But of course this would not happen because the app is in the AppStore and constantly making money for the dev.
Anyway, I think everything is possible so let's be optimistic and hopefully we will see NS2 becoming a better app in the future.
Cheers
@starkfvx It must be tricky to come into iOS (during the pandemic?!) and try to figure out all the quirkiness of this platform. I started with music apps on the iPhone 3GS and it was all frustrating until I got NS1. Back then apps couldn’t connect with IAA, MIDI, or AUv3. There was just a copy/paste of audio. And NS1 was limited to 15 tracks, so we have to switch presets in parts if we wanted more sounds. Things are better today, but iOS music is still evolving as you can no doubt tell.
There was a lot of surprise among the NS2 fans at how much resistence there was to NS2, and just plain fence-sitting until NS2 was discounted to a bargain basement rate. Today I doubt if Audio Tracks really would have changed the reception much. While Audio Tracks was a big thing for some, it wasn’t the only thing. Many people complained in the forum and/or wanted functions that were a completely different workflow. Some wanted it to work like Abelton Live, some wanted it to be more like BM3, and of course some absolutely had to have Audio Tracks, because audio clips in Slate just won’t do! We’re used to using Pro Tools thank you very much! Although Pro Tools didn’t have audio tracks when it first launched. People forget about that detail. You could go back to the start of the forum to read old threads and see for yourself, but that would be gruelling. There were so many requested features that it really would have needed to be a desktop DAW to satisfy everyone, but that’s a lot of coding required. Usually companies have teams of coders.
I have to agree with you that NS2 is the best music-making app ever. I recalled sometime in the early 2000’s when I spent $350 for Cakewalk’s Sonar for PC, and it had a steep learning curve I never clawed my way up, and then the company suddenly shuttered. That’s why I was willing to pay $300 for NS2 - which of course wasn’t the initial price. I think it launched at $30 and was quickly discounted.
Re: the idea of selling NS2. There once was an awesome app called Alchemy that had some of the coolest organic synth sounds ever. They sold out to Apple and now a token of the apps sounds and functions are in Garageband. A great app was reduced to a few presets and a fraction of the functionality. The fear is that another company would screw up NS2 and change it into an unintuitive mess. The glimmer of hope is that is hasn’t been sold. At least that’s how I choose to see it anyway. As long as Matt still owns it, there is a chance he will get back to working on it and add some features like Audio Tracks. With his perfectionism, I’m sure Audio Tracks would work flawlessly and the app would retain its intuitive UI. Personally I get on fine without audio tracks - Slate & Obsidian handles all I need to do. So for now, NS2 works great! Maybe audio tracks would help, especially for those who prefer audio workflow. But… there already are apps that have audio-based workflows so I don’t know that adding Audio Tracks to NS2 would suddenly make everyone into a NS2 user. Who knows what the future may bring.
Oh, and one tip I would offer: don’t rely upon AUv3 apps. I’ve been burned, and have had to learn and re-learn the lesson. Capture audio in Slate or recreate AUv3 presets as an Obsidian patch. And archive often. That is a reliable strategy.
@SlapHappy adding audio tracks to NS2 would be my holy grail DAW because all of the existing iOS DAW’s have some point where they suck (IMHO) whereas NS2 is like putting on a nice, warm, perfectly fitting pair of gloves on a cold day.
I remember when I first used NS2 and thought so many times, “that’s the way I would’ve done it”.
The closest iOS DAW to NS2 (IMHO again) is FLSM which is what I use these days with a little help from AUM. If NS2 had audio tracks, I wouldn’t need anything else!
Happy Holidays! 😎👍🏼
@anickt I agree with your metaphor and do hope for Audio Tracks one day. I’m just curious about your normal workflow. What are you recording to audio tracks in FLSM? AUv3 instrument tracks or live instruments and vocals?
Sound collage kind of stuff mostly. Odd loops I make in AUM, found sounds, random ambience. Nothing “traditional” usually.
I briefly tried FLSM many years ago. I’ll have to give it another look to see how audio is handled. I assume it is faster/more intuitive for you than using audio in Slate?
I know you’re not adding anything new but, can we get nano scaled correctly for the iPad mini?