Ardour 5.0 released

[Numanoid]

I suppose they should update the example, but it's quite clear.

When it is explicitly stated that one will not get v5.0, it is as clear as mud to my eyes

It is an example, for crying out loud. Don't tell us you don't know what "e.g." stands for.

I bet if he'd been using 1.x as the example, you'd have found it clearer...

My thinking is that when i buy something is that I get the latest version. The E.G. in that regard is just confusing in that it stated that I get a previous version, but not the latest one.

Just like your comment is too late in that Ardour already fixed it, so why post about it now?

[glokraw]

Seriously folks - you don't expect to run AudioUnits on Windows - why are you expecting to run Windows VSTs on Linux?

Seriously? Because linux is a musicians toolbox without a corporate padlock, and the purveyors of AudioUnits, are the exact opposite.

I've used reaper for hosting vst plugins in linux/wine since
reaper V2.05 or so... And also use many dongle-free standalones,
from chump-change devs like IK, NI, CW...

I realize the number of pro and $advanced hobbyist$ musicians
who regularly use linux is miniscule, but it's not shrinking.
If m-soft really goes signed-drivers-only for the ten-spot,
the linux musician numbers will get another boost, since
mac pricing will always be whats it be.

[mr.ardour]

Seriously folks - you don't expect to run AudioUnits on Windows - why are you expecting to run Windows VSTs on Linux?

Seriously? Because linux is a musicians toolbox without a corporate padlock, and the purveyors of AudioUnits, are the exact opposite.

Once more: http://www.manual.ardour.org/working-wi ... t-support/

[mr.ardour]

So it's $46 for lifetime updates? That seems fair enough.

That's not what it says. Paying US$45 or more gets you the current version, minor updates and the next major version. That's all.

Btw, there's one thing i didn't get yet. Is there native VST support on Ardour for Windows, or is it some kind of wrapper, which possible won't run some VST's? I know that Vestige in LMMS does not, for example.

We support Windows VST plugins on Windows. We support Linux VST plugins on Linux.

We do NOT run VST plugins in a separate process/wrapper/sandbox, because this approach does not scale to large sessions (Bitwig et. al., take note).

[mr.ardour]

With reaper there is only the demo, and two prices, no drama.

Ardour has wide use in parts of the world where US$50 is a lot of money. 2 prices doesn't really work for that. For people in India, Reaper is expensive. We'd also rather collect a little from a lot of people, rather than a large amount from a smaller number of people. Probably.

You might want the marketing folk(s) to simplify things.

Bwahahahaaa! You think we have marketing folk? Ardour is roughly a 2-1/2 person project. There are no marketing folk, no website developers. There's me and x42 as the only 2 paid developers. The rest of the community are users who do testing, feedback, design ideas.

[chk071]

Thanks mr.ardour.

[mr.ardour]

I find the Ardour payment platform rather confusing now.

Simplification would be a benefit.

Tell me how I can simplify it while retaining the "you name the price" feature and avoiding licensing schemes. Ardour is GPL-licensed and no design in which you download a free copy and then later pay to convert that copy into the full thing is going to be legal.

[Numanoid]

Bwahahahaaa! You think we have marketing folk? Ardour is roughly a 2-1/2 person project. There are no marketing folk, no website developers. There's me and x42 as the only 2 paid developers. The rest of the community are users who do testing, feedback, design ideas.

Your doing a great job, but to make things easier for yourself you would benefit from making things easier to understand from the customer point of you.

Most users will need the "ready to use" version, with support added. Especially if you want to make an impact on the OSX and Win platform that is already saturated when it comes to DAWs.

So to market it for the Win/OSX folks is to accentuate the power in Ardour that will wipe the floor with (for example) Reaper and Tracktion that is priced in the similar range.

[Robert Randolph]

[Numanoid]

I find the Ardour payment platform rather confusing now.

Simplification would be a benefit.

Tell me how I can simplify it while retaining the "you name the price" feature and avoiding licensing schemes. Ardour is GPL-licensed and no design in which you download a free copy and then later pay to convert that copy into the full thing is going to be legal.

You have 3x2 platforms in Windows, OSX, Linux, 32 or 64 bits

On top of that you have a subscription or paid for plan, for each of those platforms, so there are at least a dozen options, which is confusing.

As a customer, I would like two options: I want to pay to get the full version (OSX, Linux or Win), or a free version.

[LawrenceF]

Looking here...

https://community.ardour.org/community

... they appear to be right on target for hitting their financial goal, and I suspect the v5 release will only help that. They seem to be doing ok.

[mr.ardour]

The goal was not reached for the last 3 months, just FYI.

The current goal is very, very modest. I am not sure how many people Cockos employs, but the income from Ardour pays really for just one developer (me). I'm not sure that counts as "doing well". As someone on ycombinator noted,

qualifying 75 k$/yr in the US as "not much money" is hyperbole for a developer with 20 years experience of multithreaded multiplatform C++.

I don't complain about my own income, because I like my life. But the project could certainly use more developers. That isn't easy even if we could pay, but it would help. By FLOSS standards, for a niche as small as DAWs, Ardour has been incredibly successful one every level. But by broader standards (it doesn't help that I'm friends with Gerhard Behles who started Live at the same time I started work on Ardour), we're not really doing "well" at all. Luckily, I don't have to live by those standards, but a lot of users continue to apply them.

[ssj71]

Your doing a great job, but to make things easier for yourself you would benefit from making things easier to understand from the customer point of you.

I just want to point out, that it's not THAT hard to understand its just EXTREMELY new and unusual to most consumers. We're usually used to being told, "this is the price and if you get it any other way you're a pirate." Well here is some free software that more or less says you can get this any way you want, but if you want a convenient, officially supported version you can buy one.

Thats exactly why I think ardour is the coolest DAW ever. (Among other reasons).
Not to say the wording or presentation couldn't be made more clear, but I think they'd need more specifics. I think the current flow when you click "Get Ardour Now" works pretty well, while still making it clear that this isn't like a traditional proprietary DAW.

[Numanoid]

Ardour was originally only for Linux right?

Did the additional Windows and OSX versions, lead to more income, or more work?

[Numanoid]

I just want to point out, that it's not THAT hard to understand its just EXTREMELY new and unusual to most consumers. We're usually used to being told, "this is the price and if you get it any other way you're a pirate." Well here is some free software that more or less says you can get this any way you want, but if you want a convenient, officially supported version you can buy one.

Thats exactly why I think ardour is the coolest DAW ever. (Among other reasons).

In a way I am happy that it costs some money, because it seems too good to just give away.