SYNERGY STUDIO is out!!

[Karmacomposer]

I would really like to try this but I have such a hard time buying anything from 4pockets after feeling like I've been "burned" with apps like meteor and stompbox....hope it's good but I think I'm set for now!

I can't personally say I've been burned by them (I've never purchased anything from them), but their lack of online community has turned me off. Virtually every app I have is created by a developer that has an active community and easy access to the developer (ie facebook, a forum, etc). 4 Pockets seems to have purposely avoided any form of open communication (the best I think they have is a little-used fan created forum). Sure, you can send an email, but that hardly equates to the kind of community I look for from a developer.

As an app developer myself I feel like I need to shed some light on why some of us don't have forums.
When you're a small team, you have to really figure out what works best and what you're able to maintain in terms of customer support.

Forums have a really bad habit of attracting spammers and keeping them clean has turned out to be a full time job. I've shut down our forums because we just didn't have the manpower to keep the spammers away. I know from at least one other developer that he struggled with this as well and had to shut down a forum because of this.

My opinion is that if you can't provide a service that is pleasant to use, you should not provide it at all.

Yep. Knock on wood I have been lucky and spammers have been kept to a minimum here on KVR. Because of KVRs policy, I cannot have another Tech Support forum other than the one here - which is fine with me - as long as the spammers stay away.

However, the negative people are there, too. It kills us small developers to have people blast your products without it being warranted and THAT makes me want to shut down my forum once in a while. You pour your heart and soul into something and then one or two people ruin it for you.

Just kills me.

I have ZERO problems with 4pockets. Everything I have bought from them works well, looks good and does what it's supposed to. I have an iPad2 and it just chugs along nicely and works with these apps. No regrets here and happy to help out a fellow developer in the process.

Mike

[Scott Murrell]

---I agree with being positive and cutting developers some slack especially with new products. I bought Synergy and love the sounds but when I'm trying to record something it reboots the app and all is lost. I've written them twice about this with no reply but it was just released yesterday so maybe they're swamped, I can live without recording anything for a few days but I would like for them to be a little responsive and their forum isn't happening...

[Karmacomposer]

---I agree with being positive and cutting developers some slack especially with new products. I bought Synergy and love the sounds but when I'm trying to record something it reboots the app and all is lost. I've written them twice about this with no reply but it was just released yesterday so maybe they're swamped, I can live without recording anything for a few days but I would like for them to be a little responsive and their forum isn't happening...

Hmmm. That's another story. I'll try recording something and see if it boots me. What preset were you using when it happens?

I did have to refresh my presets when I bought it. All the synth presets were missing. The refresh fixed it.

Mike

[Karmacomposer]

I cannot make it crash. I tried recording several tracks although it seems pointless because you can just touch enter and drag notes. Are you using a midi keyboard?

For that matter, could anyone suggest a tiny portable midi keyboard that would work with the iPad with no electric available?

Mike

[sazb30]

My little akai lpk25 works well with the camera connection kit

[IncarnateX]

I own both Meteor and Aurora. From the looks of synergy it seems somewhat like a fusion of the two. My question is wether it offer anything new that is not already covered by these apps?

[audiojunkie]

I would really like to try this but I have such a hard time buying anything from 4pockets after feeling like I've been "burned" with apps like meteor and stompbox....hope it's good but I think I'm set for now!

I can't personally say I've been burned by them (I've never purchased anything from them), but their lack of online community has turned me off. Virtually every app I have is created by a developer that has an active community and easy access to the developer (ie facebook, a forum, etc). 4 Pockets seems to have purposely avoided any form of open communication (the best I think they have is a little-used fan created forum). Sure, you can send an email, but that hardly equates to the kind of community I look for from a developer.

As an app developer myself I feel like I need to shed some light on why some of us don't have forums.
When you're a small team, you have to really figure out what works best and what you're able to maintain in terms of customer support.

Forums have a really bad habit of attracting spammers and keeping them clean has turned out to be a full time job. I've shut down our forums because we just didn't have the manpower to keep the spammers away. I know from at least one other developer that he struggled with this as well and had to shut down a forum because of this.

My opinion is that if you can't provide a service that is pleasant to use, you should not provide it at all.

I can understand where you are coming from. I've seen this happen with two developers myself......but the lack of email response? That's just not good business--especially when the support contact email is listed on the web page, and it is a support question or a purchase inquiry. Wouldn't you agree?

--Sean

[audiojunkie]

Seems to me like rather than upgrading Aurora (old tech), they rewrote it and recharged for it. Guess that's ok, but really, nothing seems that exciting to me. Aurora sort of sucks, what makes this awesome?

A sampler? How cool! Like Garageband, samplewiz, samplr, BM 2, Nanostudio...wow, innovative!
I am just completely underwhelmed by anything and everything that 4pockets puts out. Not trolling though, if that's your thing, go for it. Meanwhile, I'll play with the iPolySix and figure out Auria.

I bought Aurora - this is NOT Aurora at all, in any way. Only the Mixer looks and feels like Meteor's mixer, but everything else is different. It has a sampler, synths and GREAT pattern edit page, a great phrase arp page and tons more. This product sounds amazing and is VERY responsive. The effects sound excellent, too. It is truly worth $20. In a way, it has that Stylus RMX feel but with a pattern interface.

Mike

I'll be keeping an eye on this app, because I have hopes for it to succeed. How good is the sampler? How good is the synth?

--Sean

[audiojunkie]

I would really like to try this but I have such a hard time buying anything from 4pockets after feeling like I've been "burned" with apps like meteor and stompbox....hope it's good but I think I'm set for now!

I can't personally say I've been burned by them (I've never purchased anything from them), but their lack of online community has turned me off. Virtually every app I have is created by a developer that has an active community and easy access to the developer (ie facebook, a forum, etc). 4 Pockets seems to have purposely avoided any form of open communication (the best I think they have is a little-used fan created forum). Sure, you can send an email, but that hardly equates to the kind of community I look for from a developer.

As an app developer myself I feel like I need to shed some light on why some of us don't have forums.
When you're a small team, you have to really figure out what works best and what you're able to maintain in terms of customer support.

Forums have a really bad habit of attracting spammers and keeping them clean has turned out to be a full time job. I've shut down our forums because we just didn't have the manpower to keep the spammers away. I know from at least one other developer that he struggled with this as well and had to shut down a forum because of this.

My opinion is that if you can't provide a service that is pleasant to use, you should not provide it at all.

Yep. Knock on wood I have been lucky and spammers have been kept to a minimum here on KVR. Because of KVRs policy, I cannot have another Tech Support forum other than the one here - which is fine with me - as long as the spammers stay away.

However, the negative people are there, too. It kills us small developers to have people blast your products without it being warranted and THAT makes me want to shut down my forum once in a while. You pour your heart and soul into something and then one or two people ruin it for you.

Just kills me.

I have ZERO problems with 4pockets. Everything I have bought from them works well, looks good and does what it's supposed to. I have an iPad2 and it just chugs along nicely and works with these apps. No regrets here and happy to help out a fellow developer in the process.

Mike

I don't want to sound like I'm bagging on small developers, If I sound this way, I am really sorry--truly. I just like to feel that there is someone out there on the other end of the business that listens, responds, and is accessible when needed. There are several small developers that are able to do this via a facebook page, a blog or something. A blog can even be configured to not allow comments. A regular periodic posting to let people know you are alive and a timely response to a support/purchase inquiry isn't too much to ask for is it? Is it really out of line to expect even that much from a developer? And seriously, right now, I'm not even thinking about a particular developer. I'm just thinking in general--what should a consumer reasonably be able to expect from a small developer? I'd be happy to hear what developers think and feel about this (then I can have a more realistic expectation).

--Sean

[SingleCell]

I've had similar problems with spam on my website/forum, and it took me a few months and 3 different layers of protection but I've finally got it under control.

As an indie, I find having a forum is worth the hassle because:

1 - It creates a community, providing things I can't provide like song critique, sample requests the sharing of tips and tricks.

2 - It has taken a huge strain off my email support. Setting up a questions area means that if I can't get to it within a few hours, I know one of my "regulars" will probably provide the answer if it's an easy question, and will extract more info from the user in time for when I get there.

Ultimately it has saved me a lot of time, and cut down my support emails to 1-2 a days, which is now manageable.

I still believe in ASAP email support for those who don't think to visit the website first, especially for purchase issues. I'd be pissed not getting support for something I paid for. There's a difference in ignoring a "hey dude you should totally add feature X lol bye" email and ignoring the "I paid for your app and there's a problem..." one.

[audiojunkie]

By the way, I see I'm not alone in complaints about lack of communication from this developer. See the reviews posted for the app:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/synergy ... 91858?mt=8

I don't want to be harsh, but it is necessary to communicate with consumers--it's part of doing business.

I sincerely hope things get betting in that area, because I'd really like to see 4Pockets continue to improve and innovate, and have continued success with their business.

On a different subject, how does one extend a note length? For example, with traditional piano rolls, a note is lengthened (drawn) to the desired length, but these dots, Tenori or whatever, don't seem to have the ability to do this (I'm probably wrong). Anyway, can anyone shed some light on this? I'll probably go do a search for the manual later, but I'm hoping someone has a quick answer, since this is the only thing that doesn't seem evident to me from the pictures and description.

--Sean

[gdog]

Hi Sean,

Re sustaining note lengths, all u have to do is tap, hold & drag to the right. This is explained in the opening tutorial, I just tested this with the Pad Synth instrument & it works, maybe ur using a fast decay/low sustain instrument so don't hear it (maybe u could go into the edit synth / instrument menu & adjust sustain settings, I don't know for sure as I've only played Synergy for a few mins).

Also, if u search 4pockets on YouTube u'll find some helpful tutorial videos.

All the best, <3

[Karmacomposer]

Yes, I agree. As a dev, I make sure to always communicate and answer emails and questions on forums as fast as I see them. It always makes for good business and it shows you care about your customers.

For that, I cannot blame you one bit for being angry or bitter if 4pockets does not answer back. Bad communications, busy or not, can really hurt you in the end.

Click and dragging on the notes holds them out. I saw no need to even hit the record button unless you are recording a solo or something like that - I assume Synergy has that ability and with a MIDI device attached, perhaps we can do that - i'll check it out.

Have not tried to put my own samples in. I just got it and am learning the software.

I feel it is MUCH better than Aurora. I did not use Aurora as much as Meteor even though I bought both, I found Meteor to be more intuitive and Aurora just sat their looking cool, but not getting much play.

Synergy I find more 'obvious' and fun to fiddle with. Plus, I do not think Aurora ever had the ability to use multisamples like Synergy does - and that is a game changer for me. Multisamples are my favorite way to play sounds.

So far, Synergy continues to be stable like a rock for me.

Mike

[IncarnateX]

Any body knows if Pad synth is the same as in Aurora and whether the synth and sampler is the same as in Meteor?

Cheers

[Karmacomposer]

i can tell you that from meteor, the sampler seems similar, but synergies appears to have other functions and seems a bit larger.

The analog synthesizer in Meteor is totally different.

Mike