Well Mike, here is my take: you need better GUIs. Much better GUIs. I won't stress their importance as everybody else did before me. Going by the demos, your products sound great - you clearly have what it takes to make super cool sounding instruments. However, your site and your instruments need an overhaul (aesthetic that is) RIGHT NOW.
I have no idea about design but if you're going to do it yourself - keep it simple! Use a nice sans-serif font (Helvetica, Roboto) or something, use clean lines and use that same aesthetic to your instruments too. Get inspired by something like Cableguys' Curve. Create a distinct style. I'm not saying that minimalism is easy but to me it's certainly better than cheesy maximalism and much more difficult to screw up. Aalto is another great example of simple but nice design.
I hope this helps - like everyone else on this thread I wish you the best of luck. I will certainly purchase something of yours if it becomes better looking. As shallow as it sounds it's true.
One more thing: forget about all those flash/weekend/whatever sales you do regularly. Do one per year. And provide killer support - that's going to make a huge difference.
Groove Blox Live Virtual Instrument - 30 day demo now available for download
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- angelboy
- 4586 posts since 21 Aug, 2001 from Larnaca, Cyprus
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- KVRAF
- 2336 posts since 13 Oct, 2002 from Terra Firma
Karmacomposer wrote:Munchkin,munchkin wrote:I quite like the green.glokraw wrote:The green is hideous, followed by the pink/sienna accents. The PlasticCZ
example, has decent color complements. Choosing neutral tones instead of
bright green, and the smaller elements without clashing colors, would
enhance the overall concept. Girls and GUIs that slap, don't get a
second date.The GUI designer who created Plasticz would have either created the GUI files from scratch or had access to prototypes - they wouldn't be trying to Photoshop an image downloaded from a thread. Trying to offer some help without proper access to the files together with the reluctance of the developer doesn't seem very encouraging or inspiring. Perhaps that's why no one else is bothering.
Sorry - no mixed signals and no reluctance. If you would have PMd me, I would have given you the files. Simply put, no one asked.
Anyway. I am using Skinman - so download and install that if you have not (it's a GREAT program to create skins - a lot like photoshop and corel combined) and I will make the project file freely available.
Here they are:
http://www.mfelkerco.com/skins/grooveblox_skins.rar
I look forward to seeing what people can do with these.
If anyone wants to take the design a skin challenge seriously and create something top notch, I will give all of my products to up to five individuals that do so.
To make it interesting, if over 5 people take this challenge on, I will host a public poll here and the top 5 get the entire enchilada and my total gratitude.
Mike
Thanks Mike, I'm happy to give it another go over the weekend. I don't mind if people don't always like the results I just think it's interesting to find out what others like in a GUI. I read your helpful feedback about my design and what you would like a GUI to look like. I don't claim to have the answer to what makes a great GUI either but at least if there's a few people giving it a go then maybe we can create some really inspiring designs. I'm motivated by my interest in design but I think a little prize for the best designs might inspire others to give it a go too.
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- KVRian
- 1068 posts since 25 Jul, 2007 from Calgary
I actually like the orange waveform box- seems to give it a unique and recognizeable look now.
Man, everyone loves bashing Mike- leave the poor guy alone. He is trying his best and is likely ADD like the rest of us creative guys
.
Mike, you mentioned RMX a few times- would like to see an option for the soundset to be released in a REX format. Then it will appeal to others looking to add to the Stylus RMX library. I am personally done with extra synths- I have enough and look for what I can add to them- like Kontakt or RMX. Just my opinion though. It might be worth the effor to rex each file and offer that up- I would likely be interested in buying it.
Man, everyone loves bashing Mike- leave the poor guy alone. He is trying his best and is likely ADD like the rest of us creative guys
.Mike, you mentioned RMX a few times- would like to see an option for the soundset to be released in a REX format. Then it will appeal to others looking to add to the Stylus RMX library. I am personally done with extra synths- I have enough and look for what I can add to them- like Kontakt or RMX. Just my opinion though. It might be worth the effor to rex each file and offer that up- I would likely be interested in buying it.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4420 posts since 7 Nov, 2005 from Florida
JavaJ,JavaJ wrote:I actually like the orange waveform box- seems to give it a unique and recognizeable look now.
Man, everyone loves bashing Mike- leave the poor guy alone. He is trying his best and is likely ADD like the rest of us creative guys
Mike, you mentioned RMX a few times- would like to see an option for the soundset to be released in a REX format. Then it will appeal to others looking to add to the Stylus RMX library. I am personally done with extra synths- I have enough and look for what I can add to them- like Kontakt or RMX. Just my opinion though. It might be worth the effor to rex each file and offer that up- I would likely be interested in buying it.
Thanks.
Unless a seriously talented module programmer creates a synthedit module that allows the loading of rex files in synthedit, I doubt that is going to happen.
However, Groove Blox Live loads WAVE FILES. Probably the most common audio file format on the planet. You can load ANYTHING you want into Groove Blox Live, not just Groove Blox.
The nice thing is you don't need a separate editor to slice the grooves. You have it in each layer. I will release a video demo as soon as I finish the website, which I am currently working on. It's going to be very clean and very simple.
Mike
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- KVRAF
- 2628 posts since 30 Mar, 2007 from In and Out Burger
Karmacomposer wrote:OK,
Took your advice and 3D'd it up a bit (just a tiny bit) and made the entire waveform area a 3D orange which looks a bit lit up (I am not an artist, so this is the best I can do with my meager petty abilities).
Full image:
http://www.supersynths.com/extimages/gr ... lue_v2.png
Hopefully this is acceptable to all so I can work on the website and release this.
Mike
love it! the colors are perfect! very warm and inviting. nice nice work, Mike
now...if you could just get rid of the Synth Edit elements left in the GUI, you'd have a much more appealing synth here!
~Brendan
Last edited by bailees7irish on Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
- 2628 posts since 30 Mar, 2007 from In and Out Burger
not one person in this thread was bashing him - and he himself ASKED for advice...JavaJ wrote:Man, everyone loves bashing Mike- leave the poor guy alone.
[Insert Signature Here]
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4420 posts since 7 Nov, 2005 from Florida
This is true, for the most part. Maybe one or two have been a bit overly negative for some odd reason. I chalk up to synthedit phobia or general hatred.bailees7irish wrote:not one person in this thread was bashing him - and he himself ASKED for advice...JavaJ wrote:Man, everyone loves bashing Mike- leave the poor guy alone.
Mike
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- KVRist
- 135 posts since 2 Apr, 2011
minor suggestions with the gui - I don't see the point of the "0" "100" indicators on the knobs. They don't add any information. I'd also consider a different font on the effects (e.g. "TH" "A" "REL") - I think I remember that font as the default font in windows 3.1 or something like that.
Good luck, it's really tough to start a business.
Good luck, it's really tough to start a business.
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- KVRist
- 72 posts since 4 Jul, 2007
Mike, it is not my intention to bash anyone here but you did ask and I am a former customer who will think twice and then some before making another purchase. First purchase was Monstrous, which was way over-hyped and rather disappointing, at least to me. No big deal - it was a cheap impulse buy and who knows I may find a use for it somewhere even though I already have gigabytes of screams and squeaky doors. Next was Prizm, which really was a tedious exercise in annoyance that I have no wish to experience again.
When I read through this thread I took another look at Prizm and my impressions remain unchanged. The samples themselves are indeed very good but:
1) The download was extremely slow and tedious, with numerous dropouts, corrupted files etc.
2) Dealing with Zip Genius or whatever it was called was really painful.
3) Once the files were extracted there were many problems with the presets such as missing samples, unlooped samples etc. I just checked and yep ... Those missing samples are still missing and those lovely pads still don't loop.
4) Attempting to get any of this mess sorted out was just too much of a muddled confusion that I didn't and still don't have time for. You were going to redo loop points and check missing samples but you were always so frightfully busy. There would be new Rar files or an ISO or something, there would be a news letter, customers would be notified by email and so on, none of which ever happened as far as I know. End result for me is a bunch of very nice samples that maybe one day I will find a use for, after I sort them out, loop them, compile them into patches etc.
The bottom line with all this is that while you provided the core of a very good product you also provided a pretty poor customer experience, at least in my case, and a half baked package that was nowhere near ready for release. I hope you address these issues and that business improves. As I recall saying at the time, I do like the basis of what you do, just not how you do it.
Cheers
Mothballs
When I read through this thread I took another look at Prizm and my impressions remain unchanged. The samples themselves are indeed very good but:
1) The download was extremely slow and tedious, with numerous dropouts, corrupted files etc.
2) Dealing with Zip Genius or whatever it was called was really painful.
3) Once the files were extracted there were many problems with the presets such as missing samples, unlooped samples etc. I just checked and yep ... Those missing samples are still missing and those lovely pads still don't loop.
4) Attempting to get any of this mess sorted out was just too much of a muddled confusion that I didn't and still don't have time for. You were going to redo loop points and check missing samples but you were always so frightfully busy. There would be new Rar files or an ISO or something, there would be a news letter, customers would be notified by email and so on, none of which ever happened as far as I know. End result for me is a bunch of very nice samples that maybe one day I will find a use for, after I sort them out, loop them, compile them into patches etc.
The bottom line with all this is that while you provided the core of a very good product you also provided a pretty poor customer experience, at least in my case, and a half baked package that was nowhere near ready for release. I hope you address these issues and that business improves. As I recall saying at the time, I do like the basis of what you do, just not how you do it.
Cheers
Mothballs
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4420 posts since 7 Nov, 2005 from Florida
I did address the download/installation issues of PRIZM - mostly surrounding the use of a crappy compression product - a while ago. First, they are on new, faster servers.
Second, no more zip genius (that was probably my biggest original mistake - trying so hard to copy-protect my work that I chose a faulty product that did nothing but piss people off).
Now you just download a few ISO files which you can either burn to DVDs or decompress with winrar and copy over. There was nothing ever wrong with the synth portion - you just install that normally like any windows installer.
It IS 16GB after all and will take time to d/l. If you had dropouts while downloading, more than likely it was your ISP or my servers. Either way, that's beyond me to fix. If your files were corrupt, just d/l again. The originals work 100%. I give everyone unlimited time to d/l the files.
Out of the people that bought, only a small few truly had problems - a very noisy few - and I feel I bent over backwards for every single person who bought PRIZM and had some kind of problem with it. The problems were always the same and once they realized their mistakes, the rest went without issue.
As far as the presets - some loved the organization, some hated it. I am not changing them. They're done and they work (except for a few faulty presets that just kept creeping in with sounds that were excluded from the final product - but all you had to do was replace that sound with something else and they worked fine - later on I made those sounds available as a d/l for those that really wanted them, although to me they did nothing to improve the product and just made the library even larger).
Addressing the loop 'issues' - PRIZM was made to take advantage of Wusik's ability to morph wusikSND files together in the dual wave sequencers and that was a truly major point I was trying to make. In fact, it was 100% the entire impetus as to why I created PRIZM to begin with.
Because of this, I made most sounds extra long to allow for morphing (or cross-fading) from one to the other. I did not bother looping much of it for this same reason. I still stick to that design philosophy. If I was going for a looped product, I would have looped everything (like I did with Groove Blox). There are quite a few presets that show off this morphing/cross-fading with never ending soundscapes. There's no need for looping when you can do that.
I may have a fix for the looping issue. I plan on re-doing PRIZM and have new and powerful looping software to create loops. I will be converting all the sound files to a new format and also creating PRIZM sample sets that do not need an engine to use. When I do this, I will AUTO-LOOP anything that warrants looping (obviously, piano, plucked strings, etc should not and could not be looped for obvious reasons. When done, I will even convert the newly looped files BACK to WusikSND and thus have looped samples. However, I cannot promise a time frame on this. I get to it when I get to it. These newly looped samples will be made available to all PRIZM purchasers in the format they purchased at no charge.
I use PRIZM in my own productions with no problems and have done so for years - because I use it as I intended it to be used.
As far as Monstrous, personally, I love it EXACTLY as it is - nice and quirky with a solid sound and a true synthedit interface. I won't change a thing on that one.
PRIZM and Monstrous are solid products with plenty of use and for not much money and I KNOW that plenty of people use them without incident and with good results.
Mike
Second, no more zip genius (that was probably my biggest original mistake - trying so hard to copy-protect my work that I chose a faulty product that did nothing but piss people off).
Now you just download a few ISO files which you can either burn to DVDs or decompress with winrar and copy over. There was nothing ever wrong with the synth portion - you just install that normally like any windows installer.
It IS 16GB after all and will take time to d/l. If you had dropouts while downloading, more than likely it was your ISP or my servers. Either way, that's beyond me to fix. If your files were corrupt, just d/l again. The originals work 100%. I give everyone unlimited time to d/l the files.
Out of the people that bought, only a small few truly had problems - a very noisy few - and I feel I bent over backwards for every single person who bought PRIZM and had some kind of problem with it. The problems were always the same and once they realized their mistakes, the rest went without issue.
As far as the presets - some loved the organization, some hated it. I am not changing them. They're done and they work (except for a few faulty presets that just kept creeping in with sounds that were excluded from the final product - but all you had to do was replace that sound with something else and they worked fine - later on I made those sounds available as a d/l for those that really wanted them, although to me they did nothing to improve the product and just made the library even larger).
Addressing the loop 'issues' - PRIZM was made to take advantage of Wusik's ability to morph wusikSND files together in the dual wave sequencers and that was a truly major point I was trying to make. In fact, it was 100% the entire impetus as to why I created PRIZM to begin with.
Because of this, I made most sounds extra long to allow for morphing (or cross-fading) from one to the other. I did not bother looping much of it for this same reason. I still stick to that design philosophy. If I was going for a looped product, I would have looped everything (like I did with Groove Blox). There are quite a few presets that show off this morphing/cross-fading with never ending soundscapes. There's no need for looping when you can do that.
I may have a fix for the looping issue. I plan on re-doing PRIZM and have new and powerful looping software to create loops. I will be converting all the sound files to a new format and also creating PRIZM sample sets that do not need an engine to use. When I do this, I will AUTO-LOOP anything that warrants looping (obviously, piano, plucked strings, etc should not and could not be looped for obvious reasons. When done, I will even convert the newly looped files BACK to WusikSND and thus have looped samples. However, I cannot promise a time frame on this. I get to it when I get to it. These newly looped samples will be made available to all PRIZM purchasers in the format they purchased at no charge.
I use PRIZM in my own productions with no problems and have done so for years - because I use it as I intended it to be used.
As far as Monstrous, personally, I love it EXACTLY as it is - nice and quirky with a solid sound and a true synthedit interface. I won't change a thing on that one.
PRIZM and Monstrous are solid products with plenty of use and for not much money and I KNOW that plenty of people use them without incident and with good results.
Mike
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- KVRAF
- 2973 posts since 10 Sep, 2003 from Karlskoga, Stockholm, Sweden
Blox looks good! I would have to try it though, to see what it can do. Maybe i could find room for it .. my head is already starting to ponder on possibilities ..
Edit: I am one of those who only use my own homemade loops so any samplelibrary is not a sellingpoint for me.
As for your other products. I only use samples for drums so that rules out a few of your synths. Klang for drums doesn't offer any more features than my samplers already have (Maschine, GeistCM, Poise). A sequencer is a HUGE plus, but samples must be loaded effortlessly. Folders and samples should be ready for drag'n'drop (like it seems to be in Blox). I also want velocity to be tied to every parameter.. that makes it easy to make very cool grooves. None of my samplers offer this, only a few parameters.
Copy protection.. well, i will not use any products that i don't own. I even feel like using other peoples loops or presets a moral thievery ...
Now please, release a demo! Only once before i have bought something without trying (StripBus) but that was something i had longed for.
Im very interested to see how Blox works...
Edit: I am one of those who only use my own homemade loops so any samplelibrary is not a sellingpoint for me.
As for your other products. I only use samples for drums so that rules out a few of your synths. Klang for drums doesn't offer any more features than my samplers already have (Maschine, GeistCM, Poise). A sequencer is a HUGE plus, but samples must be loaded effortlessly. Folders and samples should be ready for drag'n'drop (like it seems to be in Blox). I also want velocity to be tied to every parameter.. that makes it easy to make very cool grooves. None of my samplers offer this, only a few parameters.
Copy protection.. well, i will not use any products that i don't own. I even feel like using other peoples loops or presets a moral thievery ...
Now please, release a demo! Only once before i have bought something without trying (StripBus) but that was something i had longed for.
Im very interested to see how Blox works...
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4420 posts since 7 Nov, 2005 from Florida
I am almost finished with the website re-design. I will release the demo as soon as its done.
I will follow that up with a tutorial video on how to use GrooveBlox Live.
Mike
I will follow that up with a tutorial video on how to use GrooveBlox Live.
Mike
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- KVRer
- 2 posts since 6 Apr, 2012
My only complaint with groove blox so far was that I purchased it yesterday for $30 and I still can't use it over 24 hrs later because I haven't been provided a download link. I'm still pretty excited to check it out, it looks and sounds great but it's disappointing that it takes longer than 24 hrs from payment to use it, especially when Mike's purchase confirmation email states "Your download links are sent manually and will come in a separate email. Please allow up to 24 hours, although most of the time you will receive it within an hour" in reference to the download link. I've emailed Mike to see if there's something holding up my download link like an update to the GUI but I haven't received a response. I'd be happy with an email stating that it's going to be delayed until "pick any date" due to updates, but I've received nothing. Unless Groove Blox is unreal this is the last purchase from supersynths I'll be making.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4420 posts since 7 Nov, 2005 from Florida
That is because I have been working day and night to finish the website, upload GrooveBlox Live and get everything ready.rez311 wrote:My only complaint with groove blox so far was that I purchased it yesterday for $30 and I still can't use it over 24 hrs later because I haven't been provided a download link. I'm still pretty excited to check it out, it looks and sounds great but it's disappointing that it takes longer than 24 hrs from payment to use it, especially when Mike's purchase confirmation email states "Your download links are sent manually and will come in a separate email. Please allow up to 24 hours, although most of the time you will receive it within an hour" in reference to the download link. I've emailed Mike to see if there's something holding up my download link like an update to the GUI but I haven't received a response. I'd be happy with an email stating that it's going to be delayed until "pick any date" due to updates, but I've received nothing. Unless Groove Blox is unreal this is the last purchase from supersynths I'll be making.
You may notice the new website is now in place. I need to upload the GrooveBlox Live demo and get the download center in place.
I sincerely thank you for your order. You will receive your download links sometime tonight.
Where did you send the email, because I did not receive any emails on any of my normal accounts I check all day long.
Mike
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4420 posts since 7 Nov, 2005 from Florida
Dave,
Found your email and responded to it. I don't normally check that one - I will now.
Mike
Found your email and responded to it. I don't normally check that one - I will now.
Mike