Tau Bassline 10th Anniversary Edition

[Muon Software Ltd]

Actively be in touch with your customers. That must be the idea, right?

Yes. I can do it better on Facebook than is currently possible anywhere else - and so far, there is every sign that people are *enjoying* interacting with our Facebook page. I'm particularly looking forward to hearing some more of people's tunes made with Tau for the song competition.

I mean, what would be the purpose for people to create a blank account there, then "like" that page, and then leave there to never to return?

People will no doubt do it. There's also no doubt that Tau Bassline 10th Anniversary will get torrented and rapidshare'd and mediafire'd all to hell as well. It's normal, I expect it after so many years in this business.

Having to "like" the page on Facebook acts a filter. It more or less seperates those who don't mind interacting with Muon a little from those who just want to grab and run.

Some backstory for you - I remember when we first started doing the Computer Music freebies and people here on KVR furiously posted about not being able to get Computer Music in their country, how it was a noob magazine and they would never read it, the magazine was so expensive etc. etc.

However more than 25,000 people a month bought the magazine anyway and got the free software. You just can't pay for that kind of exposure on our budget.

No doubt we could have just put the software on our website for free and let people download it, but it was better long term for us to make contact with their readers in that way than it was to please the whims of a million anonymous downloaders.

This is no different. It is better for us to connect with 800 (and counting) Facebookers than a million anonymous downloaders.

[sosayweall]

Happy anniversary. Still love Tau MKII here. The classic always sounds better.

[mkdr]

Me likey likey..

[funky lime]

absolutely love the original.

refuse to make a facebook page for several reasons.

doesn't facebook own your plugin now?

(of course i'm half joking. of course they own it.)

[CapnLockheed]

Thanks for the update! And lord have mercy what a bunch of paranoid punters!! Facebook notwithstanding...you're all online the man knows all about you....and in most cases could give a rat's patoot about any of you wankers. Unless, of course, you've REALLY got something to hide...in which case what are you doing here in the light of day?

[Ruddy]

Thanks for the update! And lord have mercy what a bunch of paranoid punters!! Facebook notwithstanding...you're all online the man knows all about you....and in most cases could give a rat's patoot about any of you wankers. Unless, of course, you've REALLY got something to hide...in which case what are you doing here in the light of day?

I agree fully that 'the man', as you put it, can know anything it may wish about any of us, and agree it couldnt give the faintest about me. But its not him/it that concerns me. Corporations, hackers, scammers all get to much access to personal details and facebook periodically opens up privacy more and more and unless you stay on top of it you can be wide open, and many non technically minded people are. Do some research, this isnt some paranoid conspiracy theory. Plus there is the other side of facebook, they way they encourage kids to rate friends and tall that crap. It sets up a dangerous status quo in society. You end getting to somewhere you would never have gone in one step without noticing, then look back one day and go, "crap, how on earth did we allow this to become our society". Im not saying this will happen over night, but a whole generation of people are encouraged to splash their entire lives online for the world to see. Kids will grow believing it is the norm, and then their kids slowly probably even worse so. Sometimes it pays to look a little further than tomorrow when considering what we allow companies to do to shape our society. Each step leads to another. Are you sure you know where you are heading? People all to often confuse the issue, like you did by saying we are paranoid about the 'the man', without trying to see the larger picture at least try to understand why so many people are increasingly concerned about this type of thing. Not just facebook of course, they are just one of many mega corps and gov agencies subtly altering the mass perception of privacy and individual rights. Like i said, are you absolutely certain you see clearly where the current road is taking us? With each little minor seaming step forward barriers are placed to ensure we can't take that little step back. People who yearn for power, control and information don't give it up when they get it and you change you mind. You prob think i am paranoid, but i don't have a super major issue with where things are right now, i am however worried what rights and privacy we as a society give up next week, or year when what we gave up today become the status quo, and then what we give up the year after when what we gave up next year becomes the status quo. Lift your head up every now and then and have a little looksie down the road a bit, and then back the way you came, you may find it interesting.

[spirit]

Muon talking about "long term interaction" and then saying they'll use Facebook for that is a very odd statement.

Remember GeoCities ? How about SecondLife ? Even MySpace ? All these were absolutely huge in their day and now two of the three are dead and the third is spiralling down to nothing.

Use Facebook, sure, but don't ever kid yourself that it's a long term strategy. The only long term brand investment is your own URL. To think otherwise is a big gamble.

Talk to the good social marketers and they will tell you that Facebook "likes" are of extremely low value. Companies are usually desperate to quantify their operation, so they are attracted to "likes" as a measure of success. But it doesn't represent any long term commitment to a brand or person. Get someone's email address and you have something of value, get a "like" and you just have a passing nod of acknowledgement.

(This is not an attack on Muon!)

[sauli]

I agree with Ruddy. I see more and more companies and communities moving their services to Facebook and many people using it as their main communication channel. This looks like a great deal for everyone, but one day it might be too late to go back.

Eventually this will lead to internet being divided into two sides - one that is controlled by Facebook company and one that is not. And nobody except Facebook stock holders will benefit of that. And sadly every time you participate into promotion like this you are moving the world into that direction.


Also - congrats to Muon! Never used Tau, but liked your Buzz machines.

[funky lime]

Thanks for the update! And lord have mercy what a bunch of paranoid punters!! Facebook notwithstanding...you're all online the man knows all about you....and in most cases could give a rat's patoot about any of you wankers. Unless, of course, you've REALLY got something to hide...in which case what are you doing here in the light of day?

it's not about "the man" for me.

ANYBODY can go to your website to download your stuff.

but to restrict it to a marketplace that was designed to target primarily teenagers/college kids... that shows me that you don't care about actual professional users so much as hobbyists. that shows me that you don't have faith in your product as a professional tool. that shows me that i shouldn't bother investigating your product at all.

when facebook started it was designed ONLY for college kids. now it has evolved into the "internet for dummies." not a good place to market products at professionals.

i don't go to mcdonald's to meet classy women. likewise, i don't scour facebook to find new tools for my studio.

[datapark]

Thanks for the update! And lord have mercy what a bunch of paranoid punters!! Facebook notwithstanding...you're all online the man knows all about you....and in most cases could give a rat's patoot about any of you wankers. Unless, of course, you've REALLY got something to hide...in which case what are you doing here in the light of day?

it's not about "the man" for me.

ANYBODY can go to your website to download your stuff.

but to restrict it to a marketplace that was designed to target primarily teenagers/college kids... that shows me that you don't care about actual professional users so much as hobbyists. that shows me that you don't have faith in your product as a professional tool. that shows me that i shouldn't bother investigating your product at all.

when facebook started it was designed ONLY for college kids. now it has evolved into the "internet for dummies." not a good place to market products at professionals.

i don't go to mcdonald's to meet classy women. likewise, i don't scour facebook to find new tools for my studio.

i'm sure most pro's don't waste their time on public forums complaining about facebook

[Jace-BeOS]

what, no one complaining about how utterly unreliable basic Facebook functionality is? Dave's having success with the Facebook iPhone app? Is it just me that finds Facebook, not just gross, but downright broken?

this is funny

Congrats, Dave, Muon, for your impressive history & longevity in this business

(& I'm still foolishly hoping to one day see the CM plugs get fully modernized... hah hah)

[Muon Software Ltd]

I'm still foolishly hoping to one day see the CM plugs get fully modernized

Unless we did it for free I don't see it happening I'm afraid. I know that DS404, SR202 and CM303 could all easily be brought right up to date (VST2.4 and AU on Mac and PC 32-bit), but CM101 would take a bit more effort as the code is several generations older. It'd be a ground-up rewrite basically.

Just out of interest, I wonder which is the favourite CM/Muon plugin? my favourite, and the one I still use, is SR202. I think I will always use it for drums to the exclusion of everything else

[darsho.OBSOLETE]

I use CM 303 on my netbook at times.

[Jazz Franco]

I'm still foolishly hoping to one day see the CM plugs get fully modernized

Unless we did it for free I don't see it happening I'm afraid. I know that DS404, SR202 and CM303 could all easily be brought right up to date (VST2.4 and AU on Mac and PC 32-bit), but CM101 would take a bit more effort as the code is several generations older. It'd be a ground-up rewrite basically.

Just out of interest, I wonder which is the favourite CM/Muon plugin? my favourite, and the one I still use, is SR202. I think I will always use it for drums to the exclusion of everything else

DS404
I used to use it all the time, alas, I get graphic glitches on my current system (Win7 quadcore PC).
SR202 is some might stuff (wish it could load 24-bit samples!), just didn't get much use in my stuff as I'm quite content with Orion's internal drumrack.

[Muon Software Ltd]

DS404
I used to use it all the time, alas, I get graphic glitches on my current system (Win7 quadcore PC).

One of the reasons why DS404 was never updated is because CMplay handles DS404 files so well. I would definately give it a try if you can.

Kind regards
Dave