TW will not survive AI.

[pough]

We even don't know if our complains are heard. Nor they're being fixed.

If you're bored enough to have read most of this forum, like I have been, you will know through some of the users on the beta team that there are some fixes ready. So at least in part we are being heard and some things are getting fixed. But this was true as far back as the summer and I'm not seeing any updates actually getting released.

The silence is disturbing.

I agree with this, at least in part. They have hinted at version 13, which would seem to be their focus.

I don't personally have any bugs that are holding me back but I am getting tired of telling new users that the presets in Micro Drum Sampler are hopeless. That really should be an easy fix.

[talby]

[quote=pough post_id=8823422 time=1704483385 user_id=5257]
So at least in part we are being heard and some things are getting fixed. But this was true as far back as the summer and I'm not seeing any updates actually getting released.
(...)
They have hinted at version 13, which would seem to be their focus.
[/quote]

It can be found in the Internet that there is continuous work going on for a new feature nicknamed "Launcher" to become part of the open-sourced "tracktion-engine". The engine obviously is based on the JUCE framework, and the Waveform developer seems to be also active in that open-source project. Somewhere in that community a WF version 13 was mentioned in a way that I believe it is seriously aspired to publish a WF13 in the future.

However, I couldn't find information about what activity is taking place besides works on the JUCE framework and tracktion-engine. While the JUCE framework and tracktion-engine are open-sourced, the WF app itself (its GUI and add-ons to the engine) is not, and programming activity targeting the app stays invisible to us as long as the developer wouldn't drop some comment about activities taking place there. Crossing fingers that he is fixing bugs in the WF app as well!

[jabe]

Typically the new version first appears at the NAMM show in Anaheim, USA, towards the end of January each year. Videos showing glimpses of the new release appear at about the same time. Usually one or two unrelated YouTubers manage to talk to Tracktion staff on the Tracktion stand and create videos to give us another taste of the forthcoming joys.

NAMM 2024 runs from Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th.

After this, we await the actual release...

Some of the real releases happened soon after NAMM. Some recent NAMM shows were delayed, including one that turned into a summer show. Anyway, the approx release dates for each version from 4 onwards were as follows (note: v4 was the first after the software was rescued from the Wicked Scoundrels at Mackie; v8 was the first called Waveform; v9 was the first in 64-bit only):

4 2013 Jan 24
5 2014 Feb 1 +8 days later than last year
6 2015 Feb 12 + 11
7 2016 March 1 + 18
8 2017 March 30 + 29
9 2018 Beta from Jan 6. full on Feb 18
10 2019 Beta from Jan 4, full on Mar 23?
11 2020 Beta from Feb 9, full on Mar 18
11.5 2021 Feb 13 free update
12 2022 Mar 21
12.5 2023 May 27 free update

[UnionS8]

We even don't know if our complains are heard. Nor they're being fixed.

If you're bored enough to have read most of this forum, like I have been, you will know through some of the users on the beta team that there are some fixes ready. So at least in part we are being heard and some things are getting fixed. But this was true as far back as the summer and I'm not seeing any updates actually getting released.

I remember times, when at least one of the developers were active here on KVR. It's not that way anymore, and being this the only "official" channel, it's not much. We simply don't get any form of feedback from the dev team. Not only on bugfixes, but also on feature requests nad so on. Even simple "it's not on our roadmap right now" would be better than nothing. I've seen several feature requests in the past years, which shouldn't be hard to implement, but nothing happened. They were much easier, much more helpful and much more requested than the leaked Clip Launcher or the DJ mixer...

[talby]

If you carefully listen to the "Tracktion Universe 2023" video on their YouTube channel then you will hear that the presenting people are kind of invited or short time contracted contributors to the portfolio of Tracktion by producing some output for a single product, like soundpacks for one of the various Tracktion synths. Then there is one person clearly identified with the task to be a Waveform programmer, and this person is accordingly the one you can find to be active in the JUCE and tracktion-engine projects. Concerning the product Waveform my current conclusion is that Tracktion has 1 person hired to dedicate time on the Waveform product, and this time supposably has to be dedicated to the development of the new Launcher feature but maybe not with any noteworthy priority on bug fixes and help desk activities. Just my impression.

The programmer owes my full respect for his gigantic work and for standing the pressure burdened on him. As a One-Man-Show he is holding up for us the future of Waveform! The Waveform app was created by someone else, having pushed it largely and succesfully forward, then changed focus on the JUCE framework, and meanwhile appear to change interests again, this time to a new audio focussed programming language. A genius mind and highly gifted programmer, but from the user's point of view unfortunately not bringing a product to an eventuallty full functional state before moving on.

What can [b]we[/b] do?
I suggest to support our desired Waveform future by supporting the current programmer as good as possible.
I purchased the PRO version for supporting the currently supposably one programmer, although knowing already from testing the FREE version that there are some nasty bugs present to stumble upon right in the first minutes of exploring the app. These bugs are for sure putting off future customers but also new and even long time users. Obviously we current users would prefer that the time spent on programming would first target bug fixes instead of new feature developlement. But even more important might be to not lose the current programmer.
In a [i]separate thread[/i] I will suggest to pick up the initiative of @jabe from 2014, who tried to set up a Wiki for improving the Tracktion4 manual that time. Establishing up-to-date documentation, publishing receipts for accomplishing task with Waveform, and also publishing there workarounds for unfixed bugs (and hopefully soon removing them from there again) sounds still in 2024 to be a very good idea and might help attract new paying customers and taking off some burden from the current supposably One-Man-Show in the Waveform development team.

[dysjoint]

tracktion engine seems to be (maybe?) the core product, it's hard to know exactly how it is structured. But I can't see any reason that Waveform would be discarded, even if it was just a by product of the underlying engine development, which I don't think it is. Version 13 seems to be on the way as normal. As far as AI goes it will definitely disrupt all manner of things in a lot of areas. As long as people want to do something there will be a product to sell them, and I don't see people not wanting to create music anytime soon. Whether Waveform and tracktion engine survive is anyones guess, but I don't know why OP is so sure they won't. Hopefully AI will help fix the bugs

Also, the wiki page is a good idea. Or should I say, a community based manual is probably the closest we'll get to the real thing anytime soon. Could be better than an official version anyway.