KVR Audio

e-crooner · Post by **e-crooner** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 12:03 pm

chk071 wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 10:20 am Every mid tier to bigger company: Spends hundreds of thousands or millions of $ on beta testing.

KVR Audio: Beta testers are not needed.

The usual looney asylum here.

That is certainly not what I said, I was talking about public beta testing, like here via KVR, the way TAL is doing it with their J8, releasing one release candidate after another, which gives the impression that it is an immature product thrown on the market too early.
I prefer the classic approach of an external, but closed beta test team, who do the testing, including wrong as in unexpected things, for months before release. I think they are even bound to an NDA, if I am not mistaken.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 12:07 pm

I think the problem with audio software is that it's such a niche market, and, if you get some beta testers, they're either not paid, or a handful of company internals. Or musicians who try a few things, but don't take the plugins "hard", meaning that they try every single thing you can do with them. Thus, there'll be a couple more bugs than usually with software.

That said, I never really saw many bugs with the Tone2 plugins. They're quite solid in that regard. Even though Electra2's filters leak low frequencies when you fully close them for years now. I don't remember now though if I ever reported that one.

HcDoom · Post by **HcDoom** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 1:47 pm

Whats the status? I hope for a release next week.

VELLTONE MUSIC · Post by **VELLTONE MUSIC** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 2:17 pm

It doesn't matter beta stage or after release bug,if the developer isn't german strict on everything,count the synth full with bugs,same with cars - BMW and the rest

:):)
Cheers

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 2:44 pm

Private beta teams are normally made up of average users such as many members of KVR. Their only "pay" is to get the plugin(s) they are testing for free. They don't work for the developer they work with the developer.

Although beta testing can mean spending far more hours testing a plugin than it would take to work a job and pay for the plugin the great advantage is to have some input on the development of that plugin. To make feature requests and suggestions on functions, appearance, etc.

No matter how large a beta team is and no matter how diligent they are in testing it's almost inevitable that someone in the general user base will find some obscure issue. People using old DAWs or legacy hardware etc.

The point is to find all the obvious bugs and issues and help deliver the most stable and mature product possible. Of course even achieving that some people will still find something to complain about.

Holding back a plugin for months just to try and find all the obscure issues someone may find serves no one. The developer can't sell the product and the vast majority of the users who will have no issues don't get to enjoy the product.

simmo75 · Post by **simmo75** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 3:40 pm

Why are you arguing about beta testers ffs, it’s Tone2’s choice to what they want.

e-crooner · Post by **e-crooner** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 4:41 pm

simmo75 wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 3:40 pm Why are you arguing about beta testers ffs, it’s Tone2’s choice to what they want.

Sure, I made my comment merely because some posters seem to think there will be a public beta, public as in accessible to everyone like here on KVR. I don't think that will happen. After all, according to the developer professional sound designers have been making factory presets for weeks now. Since a public beta version often leads to changes to a synth, they might have to adapt hundreds of presets to any changes. That makes me think that there will not be a public beta version. This thread might turn into a little bug report thread after release, though.
At least that's the way I see it.

VELLTONE MUSIC · Post by **VELLTONE MUSIC** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 5:22 pm

It's super non professional to have 5000 crashes per minute,aliasing,digital distortion and so on.
If u have contract with big company and date for release and can't rely on your workhorses,immediately exchange of gear

Tone2 and U-he are super stable,probably are related to my favorite car brand BMW

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 5:34 pm

simmo75 wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 3:40 pm Why are you arguing about beta testers ffs, it’s Tone2’s choice to what they want.

Since you didn't quote anyone in particular and your post was right after mine I feel the need to respond. I'm not arguing about beta testing simply explaining how it usually works.

e-crooner wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 4:41 pm Since a public beta version often leads to changes to a synth, they might have to adapt hundreds of presets to any changes. That makes me think that there will not be a public beta version. This thread might turn into a little bug report thread after release, though.
At least that's the way I see it.

A public beta would usually mean that it times out at some point and that the plugin is not release ready in the eyes of the developer. I don't think that's the case here.

Releasing a Demo of the final release version of Warlock is quite another thing and I expect that's what will happen here as it's the most common scenario when a plugin is released. I trust that it will be release ready.

Even a demo of the release version can lead to feature requests and suggestions for changes so that's no different than a public beta. I'll give Tal J-8 as a perfect example.

Either way I can almost guarantee someone near and dear to us will be complaining about something.

Anyway I'm looking forward to trying the Warlock Demo whenever it's ready.

e-crooner · Post by **e-crooner** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 6:09 pm

I am not complaining. I am pretty sure Tone2 will release a finished product, not some immature version full of embarrassing bugs. I am looking forward to demoing it

IrionDaRonin · Post by **IrionDaRonin** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 6:22 am

GUI looks good to me. Thanks for sharing, Markus.

LeVzi · Post by **LeVzi** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:52 am

I cant remember a time when a Tone2 release was so borked it never worked properly, and Markus is pretty accurate from the get go, so hardly ever needs many updates afterwards too. The beta team always been on point in the past, quick to find issues if there are any and they get sorted fast. If a public beta comes too, great, even more scope to test. Either way, Warlock won't be far from 100% when it's released. Should be a good one too.

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 11:29 am

So when can we expect this? Look forward to try it.

Markus Krause · Post by **Markus Krause** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:03 pm

Q: Is there a closed beta and who is in the team?
A: We started with this in December. The team consists of sound-designers.

Q: Will there be a public beta?
A: There will be a public beta and/or an early-access version

Q: When will it be available?
A: We plan to release a first version in the middle or end of February

Q: Why does this take so long?
A: We are a small company and have limited resources. Apart from Warlock-development we also must handle support and maintenance for the existing products, website, bureaucracy and taxes.
Porting and testing on Apple M1 did take longer than expected. It was not as easy as Apple advertised.
VST3.7 together with keeping VST2.4 compatibility together with Audiounits was very difficult to do.

Markus Krause · Post by **Markus Krause** » Fri Jan 22, 2021 10:19 am

Status update:
I finished polishing and sorting the factory sounds. Warlock will come with 2070 patches

Tone2 Warlock (synthesizer) - available now!