ConquistadorAn x64 beta is great news thanks 
I’ll test with some plugins here and let you know how it goes. 🙂
ConquistadorConquistadorMy thoughts on it 😉
Firts you are a UI genius! 😛 The screenshots look great. 🙂
Zynewave going forward
If you really feel this is a necessary step then I guess it is something you have to do. The future of musicmaking is somewhat fuzzy still but clearly there is a very strong demand for Touch based devices…especially the iPad. I think you should pursue it personally to better prepare for Podium for that touch based future.
Time
This is where it gets tricky. How much time should be spent on Mobium vs. current Podium (Windows) development? If too much time is spent on future preparation you might lose what market share you have on current tech / OS that is available today.
Growing to a halt?
I have noticed over the last month or so that the number of forum members is growing steadily and I would say quicker than at any time before. Podium Free is IMO the main reason for that. But the monthly competitions have stopped. Consistency is key here, Podium free is perhaps much more desirable than you currently perceive it. Likely the best and most effective marketing tool you have currently. Would also help drive awareness for Mobium as a sister product.
iOS is a juggernaut now
iOS is big news now as well as Android. Watch out for Chrome in 2011 as well. Indeed I would say iOS is far more important than OSX now for Apple so positioning Zynewave now to take advantage of what might be the most popular OS at some point soon, is a very good idea IMO.
But ATM I think you would almost need to have a finished product ready for Android and iOS to really compete in that space. None of the major Host devs have moved into that space yet so there is a huge incentive IMO, to get there first but you might alienate your core user base chasing that goal to the detriment of current Podium Windows development.
Up to you of course and you will know what you can do and where your time is best spent but I would say…go for the touch based market, get Podium Ready for it but…anything more than a 70/ 30 split of dev time (Windows/ Mobile devices) is likely going to lose you more customers than you can gain currently.
Mainly because of the competition out there (Sonar X1 Essential, Reaper 4 e.t.c.) not really because you are unresponsive (quite the opposite) or Podium is suddenly mysteriously incapable of this or that. 🙂
Mobium could be a major player on iOS
If Zynewave needs mobile device support to survive and thrive then go for it. I totally support and understand that. But I humbly suggest if I may that the dev time needs to be carefully thought out to avoid alienating existing customers. devs can make a huge amount of money on iOS but…how big is that market for musicians…*now*?. You can help drive the market and the rewards for those devs that do could be a market leading app positioned for creative mobile musicians with other devs playing catch up (AVID, Steinberg e.t.c) quite a thought 😯
It’s a very exciting prospect I must say. If as you say you will “Occasionally experiment” with Mobium then I think it’s a great idea. 6 months or later from now the mobile market will be a bit clearer direction wise for musicians and you would have something to offer in that space. Seems like a very good idea IMO. 🙂
ConquistadorYep I did test it back then, but I am still happy to spend more time on a new build if you want. 🙂
Conquistador@LiquidProj3ct wrote:
This is a mini-small feature request. Always you do an unique copy of a clip Podium change its name adding a ” 2″. I think it would be more helful if Podium rename the clip with a “+1”, so if you have a “Bass fadein 3” the unique copy will be named “Bass fadein 4”
Nice idea! 🙂
Conquistador@pavouk100 wrote:
Thats all nice, but… what is it actually useful for?
This is what I thought might happen… 🙂
I have already given clear and concise reasons as to what the benefits are and why x64 support is useful and needed. I cannot and would not begin to try and convince anyone else of the benefits of x64 support.
That would be just as futile (and arrogant) as trying to convince someone else that their current workflow that they enjoy is all of a sudden completely wrong and should be changed simply becasue I do not agree with it. 🙂
The reasons I have given are plenty for anyone who understands the benefits and how Podium would better fare against stiffer compeition in this area.
I suspect x64 support is not something you would be interested in now or probably in future. But that is ok. We are all different with different needs. Neither is right or wrong…just different. 😉
But I will have to stop the x64 point by point discussion as there is no need for me to convince you or anyone else. You seem happy without it so there is no need for me to spend time convincing you to do otherwise. That really would make no sense.
It really is OK IMO to just agree to disagree. 🙂
Conquistador@Zynewave wrote:
@Conquistador wrote:
…I get the feeling he loves design work and it gives him a much needed break from things like MIDI and Audio related features.
That sums it up pretty well. It can be quite exhausting to work on the engine code, so I do need to get back to straightforward UI design once in a while.
Although, I’m not happy with the amount of time I so far have spent on the 2.38 font resize feature. There were a lot of places in the UI that needed to be made scalable. I underestimated the amount of time needed for that. Still, I think the scalable UI is an important feature when looking years into the future. The DPI resolutions of screens are increasing rapidly if you for example consider the new “retina” (Apple buzz word) resolutions that are appearing on the fast-growing tablet market. This means that there can be huge DPI resolution differences between different PC systems that you may use to run Podium, so it’s important that the user is able to scale the size of the entire UI. The support of touch-input is another feature that requires the UI controls to be larger than when using mouse-input.
That is just some thoughts on why I’m spending time on making the UI scalable. Some of the new images/icons in 2.38 have replaced images I designed more than 15 years ago. It was time to let them retire 😉
Thanks for the additional clarification Frits. As I said earlier I trust any decision you make will be the right one as you alone will know how much work or time is needed for features x or y or the correct trajectory for Podiums development.
It would be a disaster if Podiums development stretched beyond your ability to manage it. Yes we all have our lists and FR’s (mine may be longer than most) 😛 but at the end of the day we cannot all have what we want and at times have to trust the developers long term view for a product.
If the UI really needs these changes (based on your last post) then I agree it must be done first.
Your track record in the past shows that you will most surely consider other FR’s beyond the UI so it does look like it’s better to get the UI changes done and completed fully (even if it stretches into 2.39 or 2.40 IMO) than to only do it half way. It is a very good idea to consider how people might use Podium in different ways (screens and resolutions) and try to address that. So carry on and take as much time as you need please to fully complete the UI changes.
There are of course many other FR’s for Podium. Once the UI changes are completed I am sure you will revisit them. Also thanks for taking the comments made in the right way. I thought you would. 😉
ConquistadorSome clarification
First things first…I am not getting into a feature war here. 😉 Frits is quite capable of prioritizing features himself and has been doing so for many years, but of course still encourages user input. If Podium never gets any of the 3 features I suggested or any of the other FR’s I have made over the years Frits would still be IMO one the best devs ever I have come across and Podium one of the best coded apps for music I have *ever* used.
He has added features at times at very short notice to cater for *many* user desires over the years (including mine) so my perception of him and his product will always remain *very* high regardless of any future FR implementations. Podium does not have to be my main DAW for me to appreciate his extreme hard work and his very high graphical creative talent for UI design (a rare combo for single dev) 😉
@pavouk100 wrote:
I can’t see any other reason than ‘my whole system is x64, so all apps have to be x64, so that it nice to look at’.
I can’t see any reason why features you want like flexible MIDI routing or Composite tracks for MIDI are no more than something nice to look at as well = has no interest for me. 😉 But I can quite easily accept everyone has different needs. My comments earlier are suggestions for Frits (even if I think feature x or y is overdue) they are still just suggestions not demands.
To answer your question…
Out of curiosity, what is the reason for 64bit version?
…an x64 version of Podium would be useful for more than a few reasons but here are 3…
1. To avoid using any 3rd party “bridge”…which will also side step having to track another dev for support issues, fixes and patches.
2. Dropping the need for a bridge also means less chances of crashes and as a result increased reliability. This KVR Jbridge thread has plenty of user posts posting issues. The Jbridge dev can only do so much as a single dev. There are a ton load of native x64 plugins that are currently available now at different price points to suit pretty much every need. No need for a bridge. I will add that the Jbridge dev has done very well and garnered many users. But if I can side step using a bridge I will do so everytime.
3. Competition – x64 support is an expected feature now compared to other competing hosts, not some esoteric, obscure luxury feature that is distracting the development process for Podium or threatening to. Frits no doubt has a timetable for it (this year, next or beyond) as he has the inside info on what is best for Podium I trust any decision he makes would be the correct one. 😉
ConquistadorFR thread or not 😛 IMO *any* FR will involve extra work. So far I think as a one man set up he has done an amazing job but it is probably a good idea to focus on less UI aspects going forward IMHO. 🙂
ConquistadorI think Frits can take comments like that the right way. For me personally I was wondering why there was so much of a focus on UI elements recently. The text adjustments in 2.38 are definitely welcome, but beyond that…tweaks to the UI are always nice to see but really I would like to see developemnt focus on at least…
1. An x64 version.
I cannot really consider Podium for serious use as my setup is all x64 now. Also things have changed so much on the x64 landscape that only a few DAW’s remain without x64 support…(including Podium). This is now essential for me and IMO way overdue.
2. BWF support.
Many users like me already have other hosts. Attempting to bring projects over from another host even a few is not easy in Podium. With Broadcast Wave import and export support it will be *far easier*
These three are key for me ATM and for someone looking at Podium for the first time all three would make a huge difference to getting them up and running with Podium IMHO.
UI focus
I also thought that as Frits is clearly such a talented designer that sometimes his passion is to tweak the UI to relax and for a change of pace Nothing wrong with that IMO. Clearly it is to make things easier for users of course as well but also I get the feeling he loves design work and it gives him a much needed break from things like MIDI and Audio related features.
So how long is too long for UI work? Well I would say as of 2.38…I am not sure what UI areas are left to tweak as it could never be finished as we all have our own ideas to add to any UI. But looking at the competition I would say x64 support is essential for Podium and offering more ways to aid people getting into Podium BWF support and better file Management are I would say more important (for me) than some of the recent UI changes.
At the end of the day Frits always asks for user opinons and I did not start this thread LOL! 😛
Listen Frits..just carry on with your changes UI or not. But please start to consider getting back to Audio and MIDI related features at some point.
Marker linking sounded very interesting and seemed likely to be included by now but hey…it’s easy for us to say this or that from the outside looking in (it could even be a personal issue that is slowing progress in other areas) but just in case you were wondering why threads with MIDI, Audio or new plugins can be far more *busy* well the reasons given on this thread I think are a large part of that. 😉
Document updates
Recent (and much needed) documentation updates may have affected new feature additions as adding more features would mean more manual updates. So maybe the recent focus on the manual first for a bit (weeks or months now) was affecting new feature additions (deeper aspects).
I think the recent drum and Piano roll additions were fantastic so there has been some major changes not that long ago but if possible Frits, a good look at the Podium free July thread and a focus on the popular requests should directly pinpoint what most users want to see.
Either way keep up the good work! 🙂
Conquistador@Zynewave wrote:
By “show hide icons”, do you mean the new half-circle images for the old +/- buttons in the listboxes?
Yes.
I’m not sure I understand. I assume you are talking about the folder icons shown in the file browser.
Correct.
Do you want those to disappear if the folder is empty? You wouldn’t know if it is a file or folder then.
I have not really given it too much thought and was just thinking aloud at the time. 😛 So I am happy to leave it as is (folders) if you think that would be a better idea. I do like the “half circle” additions though and hope that addition will stay. 😉
ConquistadorNice changes Frits.
A default button size of about 21 works *very* well here at a resolution of 1900 x 1200 on a 24 inch screen. Anything below that and the text (in the mixer) is a bit fuzzy. But the “21” setting results in sharp clear text. Higher settings also work well but “21” seems just right here so far.
Nice changes elsewhere. Especially the show hide icons. Not sure if the folders fit in with the UI any more as a result. Maybe they (folders) should only appear if there is more than one listing / item to hide or similar. :-k
ConquistadorMight be an idea to change that to shopATZynewaveDOTcom in your post so that the email address does not get picked up or crawled.
ConquistadorConquistador