FEEDBACK
I would like to request feedback. We have paid good money, we support your app, we love your work. What can we do to make things better for you to continue pushing this app to the front? IAP'S?
I would like to request feedback. We have paid good money, we support your app, we love your work. What can we do to make things better for you to continue pushing this app to the front? IAP'S?
Comments
Hey @Pumpte!
The overly short story is the app wasn’t supported very well when released and the dev had to go back to a real job to support his family. He gave a committment to fix any minor things that iOS updates break, but further development is on hold until a more opportune time. No iOS apps have every feature we would like, which is one reason why they are way less expensive than desktop DAWs.
Well if you could let the dev know we are pushing this app and we are gonna try to make this app number 1. The one and only complaint everyone has that hasn't bought it yet is audio tracks. I believe we could push this app to number #1. Because it is the best sounding, best looking and most stable daw we have. Grammy award winning producers want it but have made the comments on their YouTube channels that they will not buy it until it gets audio tracks. Me and my colleagues have alleys to these producers. If he can find the time to create audio tracks we can get them to buy and push this app. It is the Logic Pro of iOS we just need this feature to push him over the top.
This is my last try. I don't know how you give up and something that has the most potential. I'm pretty sure nanostudio 1 had less support than nanostudio 2. There's no way he generated enough income from the first to not work a regular job. Either you can't do it or you won't do it. There is a difference. There are too many people willing to pay money to help toward the development for this app. Extra money on the side from your regular job is wanted by everyone. It's not just money to help with development but, money to help support his family. We have people willing to give donations but, he never responds back. I guess this will be his last app because he will lose a following for 1 not answering and 2 for not advancing. People will not trust the next venture. Sad really. I'm a fire fighter and a wedding photographer. It took me years to build my photography I've been doing it for 13 years and I'm starting to grow this year. I know the sacrifice it takes I also know it takes never giving up and believing. I have a wife, 6 girls and a boy. I know the family life gets in the way but, never stop and never give up. We'll continue to push the app as the best music maker available. If he gets around to audio tracks we will push it as the greatest daw on iOS because IT WILL BE!!!!
@Pumpte I hear what you are saying and agree with the sentiment of what you are posting. First thing - actually you are not correct: NS1 was way more successful and it funded NS2. Support for NS2 wasn’t there and he needed to make the hard decision to get a full-time job to supoort his family. None of us can argue against that.
Please understand that I am not getting on you personally. BUT… any producer, Grammy award winning or not, should see NS2 is a valuable tool at a fraction of the cost of desktop software. No one should have sat on the fence with NS2. If they had jumped in and supported the app with the measly $30 (if I recall correctly - now it is much less) then they would probably already have audio tracks on NS2. I remember how much ProTools cost back in the early 90’s (not to mention the expensive computers and audio cards) and it was such a pain-in-the-ass bit of software that I stuck with using SD-1’s sequencer. I didn’t need audio tracks, so that isn’t an entirely fair comparison. But the producers supported the shit out of ProTools and look what it has become. It’s too bad that anyone was stubborn enough to not buy a great app just because it doesn’t have audio tracks. Anyone who needs audio tracks already has other methods of recording audio. Likely including a desktop DAW or two as well.
So the real question is why didn’t the stubborn producers use NS2 as a scratch pad and transfer projects to desktop in the studio? Audio can be recorded to Slate and complete songs can be produced, but NS2 was never conceived as a replacemnt for desktop DAWs and no one expects pro-level studios to be run with an iPad (it would be cool though!). I think a lot of people were looking at NS2 as a desktop replacement, and they are so used to using audio tracks that they could not rethink their workflow and use audio clips in Slate. Sure, that workflow isn’t as intuitive as audio tracks, but if a project needs to be captured by audio (such as a band in a studio) then desktop can handle that. Audio tape can handle that. iPad isn’t needed.
So, creating audio tracks for NS2 means that it would be expected to perform on the same level as desktop DAWs, replacing DAWs which have teams of people working on them. All while preserving the easy and intuitive workflow without all the menu diving that is common in desktop software. That’s a bit daunting I think.
I’m glad to hear your photography business is doing well. That sort of entrepreneurship is what makes the free world so great. Keep in mind though, that every gig you get as a photographer pays, prob a deposit up front and the rest when the shoot is done. Matt put six years of development into NS2 before receiving a dime. I would guess it could take maybe two years to create audio tracks with the same level of easy use as the rest of NS2. Quit a job and wait 2 years to get paid, despite that when the first time NS2 was released there was lack luster sales. That’s quite a gamble.
As I see it, the place for NS2 is still primarily as a scratch pad for capturing ideas that can be further developed in desktop DAW. Any producer that is making music in a semi-pro to pro level should own NS2 (if they have iPhone or iPads). I don’t know how cheap NS2 is now, but there is no excuse not to support it. Is it too late to get audio tracks? I don’t know and I can’t speak for Blip Interactive. NS2 is very useful as-is, and even if you have BM3 or Cubasis 3 or any of the other apps, everyone should have NS2. I have BM3 & other DAWs even though I never use those. I couldn’t do that with desktop software.
Sen Blackburn (R-TN) is behind new legislation that takes a crack at breaking the control of big tech on social media. Part of what I heard proposed is stopping Apple from taking 1/3 the price of an app. The bill is unlikely to pass as is, so this is mostly pipe-dream speculation, but… If devs got more money for their work, I think iOS music production could see new energy and greater development. My hat is off to the devs that continue to put out quality apps - it isn’t easy! But if we could get NS2 completed before A.I. apps create so much music that we are completely drowned out entirely, we might have a chance to fulfill our artistic visions. Like I said, not likley to happen, but those who didn’t support NS2 when it was released should know that Apple gets 1/3 of the price. Shouldn’t there be more outrage about that rather than complaining at devs? Maybe a more effective thing would be to start a petition on Change.org to help all devs get more compensation for their labor. We are just standing by watching a big corporation (the biggest?) milk devs for making the apps that make iOS an attractive platform.
@SlapHappy Yes we should attack the corporations. Also give the major corporations hell to put their software on iOS. I bet you get major companies playing everything changes. You gotta fight money with money. Until the majors come and have that all reconstructed it's not gonna be very profitable for devs.
What business venture is profitable from the beginning? Me and a friend had a website called flench.com. I was pretty much just helping him he did all of the coding. We both worked full time jobs and ran this site. It was a website for artists and members. We had a radio show every Sunday. You submit your music we would play it for the members and the public to hear. Anyone could tune into the show and watch the video feed. We even had a phone number for call ins and did interviews during the show with artists. We never received a dime and we didn't care we was passionate about it. If it wasn't for a silly fall out we could've made it! This was back in 2005! But, we could afford to do it as long as we wanted without being paid because of our careers. We both had kids, wives, and families.
The question for me is. Was Nanostudio 1 profitable enough that he could not work? Music has never been profitable enough for me to never have a full time job. I've been striving for a music career since I was 19 I'll be 45 in 2023. It takes money to make money. You always have to work in order to pursue your dream. Hell even now my photography has blasted past music and I'm using photography money to still pursue music. Should I say to hell with music, YES, if you look at the numbers. But, there is still a passion there so I still fuel it. It can still be used for videos online etc.
How many beats have you completed before receiving a dime for any of them? Same here when I make music I don't get a deposit and then get more when it's done. You have to shop those beats. What's your music made vs music sold ratio? I would expect it to be on the losing end more so than the gaining. The difference with music is we don't have to spend money every time we make it. We just sit on it until it sells. I'm asking because I don't know. Do you spend to code?
Yes I'm fully paid 2 weeks before the wedding. You really have to manage your money in photography though. I have 3 weddings next year that already paid me in full before the fall of this year. You don't get to call in and you can't let somebody fill in for you. If you're sick you mask up and shoot that wedding. When I shoot wedding day 8-10 hours that day I'm not done working. People never see the back ground the pictures aren't gorgeous straight out of the camera. I still have work to do later. Hours of work to do later in front of the computer screen. 5-30min on each picture to edit. 2,000+ pictures to cull through. Brides asking when are the pictures gonna be complete. Same as the contract says 4-5 weeks. Hey you sent samples but, can we have some more until you're done editing.
I don't know it's just me I guess I motivate myself to be great I don't need a great deal of success or encouragement to push me I push me and I guess that's where I'm different.
@Pumpte
I have great respect for anyone masochistic enough to play the wedding game! I am primarily a video guy and have only done a handful of weddings on special request. Not fun! 😎👍🏼
@anickt
Thanks! Weddings are a different beast lol. I wish blessings on your video business. That's not easy either. I think video editing is harder than photo editing. I have done some and you have to be extra precise on your exposure. Photography you can sway a bit either way and still correct it in post.
Make it happen send me a link and I'll help get the word out as well!
Just FYI... Apple has taken 15% commission, not 1/3 (30%) for some years now. Only developers that sell more than $1,000,000 per year fall into the 30% bracket. I believe Korg could be in this range, but I doubt there is even one other music app developer in that boat.
As for developers getting more money for their work, I don't believe for one second that Apple's take is a deciding factor. You could drop that to zero and developers still would not make enough with all the other market dynamics.
@number37 yes, I have recently become aware that Apple now takes 15% instead of the older 30% (as of Jan 1, 2021), and that is a step in the right direction. Perhaps an additional 15% of sales will make it viable for some devs to continue developing. On the other hand, that extra 15% still wouldn’t compare to developing for desktop, or games on any platform. I would hope that Apple only took a percentage once a certain threshold was crossed, so that indie developers who make less than say $50K per year wouldn’t pay any percentage to Apple, and then the percentage can go up according to gross sales maybe. Perhaps that actually is the case and I don’t know it? I doubt it and doubt it will ever happen. I think that even though the apps on iOS are a huge part of why people pay for iPhones & iPads, Apple seems to have a hard line view toward devs.
@SlapHappy It’s all business you want Apple to take nothing as the host? That would be bad business on apples part considering that threshold you just gave is probably a large part of development. If they don’t take it on the back end they’ll get it up front. I would assume a percentage would be easier than a large upfront cost for most devs. Plus cutting that percentage in half is awesome. There’s a point when all you’re complaining has to be satisfied versus just becoming a whiner that wants their way all the time. You know the cost coming in either you pay or you don’t. The choice to become a developer is exactly that a choice.
No. I think Apple was short-sighted in nurturing the app world and should have done things differently, but that’s just like my opinion man. A lot of great apps have come and gone. No one knows if the 15% (instead of 30%) rate from 2007 would have helped some devs make it, but I think I can speculate that it would have helped. Yeah, you can be realistic and say that’s just the way it is. They took 30% - that’s just the way it was. Yeah. No one argues that. However I think the wealthiest corporation in the world could have been a bit less heavy-handed. That’s a pretty mild opinion, as far as the internet goes, but forums are full of opinions. It’s the place to discuss things. Apparently Apple agrees with me or they wouldn’t have changed their minds a couple of years ago and lowered the percentage to 15%. Does Apple take 30% or 15% of all programs sold for Apple computers? Does Microsoft?
What point is that? I don’t feel like I have complained about anything, and my “off the cuff” musing about Apple percentage does not make me a “whiner who wants my way all the time”. You’re reading something into my post that is way exaggerated. None of this discussion is any skin off of my back. Apple can charge 50% for all I care. But my previous suggestion still stands, even though I am absolutely sure that no one from Apple will read it nor consider changing their policy based on what I write. It was just a bit of musing and not worth any more than that.
I did not argue against that, and I agree with what you stated.