Modstep update ! 1.1.4

Littlewoodg

Seems to me that getting to do stuff you couldn't do before involves learning things you didn't already know. (Which necessarily involves inner struggle)

Having successfully and unsuccessfully taught both children an adults, I can share that there is an additional inner struggle for grown ups when learning new things: adults want all the shit that they already know to somehow count for something, and it's always tough to find out that it usually doesn't count for much, and frequently gets in the way.

That we think these days that the way people learn has changed, (because it's the 21st century, or because the topic is Apple products, software, GUIs, UX) is just the fallout of a huge load of often Apple-originated marketing bullshit. And the truth is, as noted above, learning in the digital realm can be even more of an inner struggle: the affective barrier to learning new tech can be extraordinarily high. An "intuitive" GUI isn't intuitive if the very idea of a using a GUI to do anything, at all, goes against your every intuition

Modstep has been the hub of my indevice stuff (all my IOS softsynths, fx, and DAW) for several months now, and lately the hub of extra-device stuff integrating all my beloved iOS synths with hardware synths, DSP driven synths, studio software, and PC DAW. Joy! Outstanding!

This only after I deleted the thing in frustration at least 5 times, always due to my own misunderstandings of the software. Then there were the bugs that have since been squashed.

Now I don't even remember the learning process. (Though I'm still in the process, I hear new tricks all the time and I'm not yet building templates.).

Along with sequencing, I use it as a performing musical instrument, with its keyboard and cc x/y's, but also in the realtime performance DJ/cliplaunch sense - so the analogy made above to learning other musical instruments is well taken! Getting listenable sounds, let alone music, out of trumpet or sax was an unholy b#tch...talk about problematic user experience

anickt

@wim said:

@lovadamusic said:
Today, though, most of us are trying to learn a bunch of computer instruments and input schemes.

@u0421793 said:
It isn't the same as learning a musical instrument, unless we're trying to learn the entire music shop's instruments or an entire orchestra's instruments at once, together. If you're learning a piano or a guitar, you're generally learning only that one instrument, not a whole bunch.

These are very good points! That helps me to understand better. I do think people would be a lot happier if they were more accepting of the idiosyncrasies of the platform and apps and focused more on the amazing things they can do.

==================================

OK ... So once again, not directed at anyone. Just the pondering a of a guy with apparently too much time on his hands ...

I work in IT. All the time I see people coming completely unglued because of some small stumbling block, a few more mouse clicks, or having to type a few extra words, or something that is a little challenging to learn. The simplest difficulties can ruin their whole day. They can sometimes demand alterations that would take months of man hours to accomplish to save them 10 minutes a week. For some reason if it's on a computer it has to be brain-dead simple and work exactly the way they think it should. Some times I just have to sit them down and put it in perspective for them. Often I will start with asking them "Did you drive to work today?" Or "Did you eat breakfast this morning?" And lead them through just a little bit of the complexity that they master every day just to start their day. Some times it works, and I can talk them off the ledge. Sometimes not.

This making music on iOS shit is FUN! Perfect, no. Fun, hell yes! Complicated and idiosyncratic ? Sure. But not really more so than hundreds of things we do every single day. I look at it more like learning and playing a game like backgammon, poker, or angry birds.

OK, I'm done.

It is very, true that the ModStep developers could have made their app more accessible to so many more people by leveraging the consistencies and familiarity with basic interface behavior that Apple and Microsoft have built up over the years. But to anyone reading this thread and feeling like it is too hard to learn, it's not that difficult! With the latest release, which so far seems remarkably stable, it's totally worth the effort IMO.

I agree with much of what you say. It's like some won't put any effort into anything and just expect things to work for them.

I sometimes ask myself, "How do they get out of bed in the morning?"

What if you had to learn to walk again?

u0421793

No, look. If a thing is incorrectly designed such that it uses stupid ineffective graphics where it should have used real words, and you only use that thing once or twice every few weekends at the most, often not even that, with months going by between, and each time you return to it the meaningless icons are forgotten yet again, then it really is a case of starting from zero each time. Who would persist faced with this? Well obviously a lot of us, but it needn't have had such hindrance in the way.

Will

@Korakios said:
Now I am waiting for a "reverse midi clip" feature

That sounds fun. MIDI effects in general would be fun.

Will

@u0421793 said:
I've been thinking about why modstep presents an initial barrier to potential users. It shares this affront with some other apps also, and I think it's for the same reason.

As a graphic designer, I will posit the notion that icon and logo design is a careful art, and not as simple as it seems. Similarly with infographics (to the point that very few of them actually are). Icons, glyphs and representative graphics need a proper design process, and testing, the same as any other part of a program. Probably more, as this is the user surface, and it has to work fluidly. Visual Communication in Product Design is therefore far more important than any of the gubbins inside that somehow make a thing work.

Totally agree with this. I'd add that the other big stumbler, at least it was for me, is that there are very very few apps that employ 'drag and drop' and 'double tap' on iOS and can't think of one that uses either so heavily, let alone both. Users learn interaction models and if you're going to depart from the known, you really gotta let people know. Cryptic symbols and very rare prompts to let the user know they should drag and drop or double tap makes getting going tough in this app. Even as I get more comfortable with it (and have grown to really enjoy it), I still seem to go through a brief battery of actions (tap, double tap, long tap, tap and drag...) trying to find out how to do whatever I'm trying to do.

I also still get caught on 'clip has to be running in order to record'. Makes sense when you have 5 clips on a track (so that you don't mistakenly blow something out) but if there's only one clip—or there's an empty clip—think it orta just go ahead and record to the empty clip.

I really hope they're making some money with app. Think it's really good now and still has a very bright future.

Will

@lukesleepwalker said:
All research on "affordances" indicate that words are superior to abstract symbols.

That said, Modstep is deep and wide software (amazing, really!) that doesn't offer the user actionable options. It's a giant maze without a start here indicator.

I find Loopy to be quite the opposite. It is also deep software but it is very actionable to the user--from the initial walkthrough to the simple screen of circles. The depth and complexity reveals itself only when you go looking for it.

My two cents.

Very agree. Loopy hides complexity behind somewhat complex interactions but if you simply touch a circle you're recording (or no longer recording). Touch another, record another. You're cooking with gas immediately. Modstep ain't that.

AudioGus

@u0421793 said:
No, look. If a thing is incorrectly designed such that it uses stupid ineffective graphics where it should have used real words, and you only use that thing once or twice every few weekends at the most, often not even that, with months going by between, and each time you return to it the meaningless icons are forgotten yet again, then it really is a case of starting from zero each time. Who would persist faced with this? Well obviously a lot of us, but it needn't have had such hindrance in the way.

Everyone is different. For me i get and recall everything about Modstep well enough to easily build my own templates, use the sampler, step sequencer etc etc. I don't find myself frustrated with any aspect aside from note entering and editing, maybe because that facet of Modstep shows no logical advantage over Cubasis, Gadget or Auria and requires more fragmented steps. Maybe they had to take the route they did simply because of performance issues when dealing with gestures manipulating notes. Anyway, @wim mentioned how people freak out over a few extra clicks and i get that we can be silly bitches but those clicks add up fast and can drag the creative down. I am pretty spoiled from using photoshop, 3dsmax and maya for a living which have massive development budgets and ultra fine tuned workflows.

OscarSouth

Modstep is pretty easy. I understood pretty much every technical detail after reading the manual and having a good play. Got to know the minutia and get the creative flow down from a few good creative sessions and bit of interaction with the community here. Few hours max investment all in all, and at a leisurely and enjoyable pace too.

Try to master pretty much any desktop music software in that timespan!

AudioGus

@OscarSouth said:
Modstep is pretty easy. I understood pretty much every technical detail after reading the manual and having a good play. Got to know the minutia and get the creative flow down from a few good creative sessions and bit of interaction with the community here. Few hours max investment all in all, and at a leisurely and enjoyable pace too.

Try to master pretty much any desktop music software in that timespan!

Heh, I am still learning Samplitude after twenty years.

Wally

Making a simpler interface doesn't necessarily make an app easier to use ,
& experienced midi users can be just as confused precisely because they can't find functions they would expect from previous hardware / software experience .

So as a case in point as to my confusion , its called Modstep , it's raison d'etre is in the name right ?
There are two different modulation lanes & an X/Y pad to enter modulation data , as well as recording external CC input .

So where can I read the value ? & How do I PRECISELY set or edit my CC# to e.g 97 .
please correct me if I'm mistaken , but it seems it's not possible .

wim

@u0421793 said:
No, look. If a thing is incorrectly designed such that it uses stupid ineffective graphics where it should have used real words....

No argument there. But I still maintain the main hang up with ModStep less to do with graphics vs. words than tossing out of conventions. For example, the edit / delete / copy thingy is effective enough once you get used to it, but wow, getting used to it is amazingly difficult. It's not like anything else on any other platform that I know of. With MacOS/OSX/Windows/iOS, there are certain things we've all gotten used to, and apps that leverage that consistency are so much easier to grasp. Now, departure from expected behavior is great if there's a particular need, or if expected behavior would get in the way. ModStep seems to me like it just tosses all that out the window ... Just because, not for any good reason. That to me is why it's off-putting for many (not me though).

I know it's heresy, and I'm probably in the tiny majority, but icons or not, words or not, colors, shadows, etc. ... Once I get used to them I don't even really see them any more. But, yes, when learning an app, words would be 10 times more helpful than trying to figure out everyone's cute little icons. On the other hand, some, like the little diskette that means save, though ridiculous when you think about it, is instantly recognizable even by people who never saw a floppy disk in their life. It's a stupid icon, but effective.

Meh. That's enough navel gazing for me. Y'all have fun.

Shaken&Stirred

@Samu said:
And the 'loop recording' is finally glitch-free!!

(Before I had an issue where a small portion of the beginning of the next 'loop' was at the end of the recording causing a click. Apparently it was a small buffer miss-alignment or something like that, but I'm happy it works perfectly now!!!).

I'm still having this issue, after the update. First note of the loop sometimes isn't recorded. Anyone else experiencing this, or know of a workaround?

Novation Launchkey MIDI keyboard -> ICA4+ -> iPad Air 2 running Modstep.

JohnnyGoodyear

@Matver61 said:

@JohnnyGoodyear said:
Everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die.

This is yours ??

Or maybe:

The truth is that I've never been able to find the original 'poster' for that quote, but it's one I carry around with me and one that gets lots of use; applicable in many different ways...

Matver61

@JohnnyGoodyear said:

@Matver61 said:

@JohnnyGoodyear said:
Everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die.

This is yours ??

Or maybe:

The truth is that I've never been able to find the original 'poster' for that quote, but it's one I carry around with me and one that gets lots of use; applicable in many different ways...

Ok, nice, thank you.

SashaPonkratov

@Artmuzz said:
I'm still having problems with loading project on Modstep with AU-X plugin PPG Phonem playing back on wrong preset. Also, I've noticed a new bug where sounds don't playback once project is loaded.

still doesn't work in 2018...
tried with ppg infinite and BASSalicious - presets are not saved.
how do you use modstep with au plugins?

Philippe

Editing icons sub-menus hidding other editing icons in the toolbar is a litteral JOKE.
1 button/ 1 fonction, no sub menu PLEASE!

echoopera

Just host your AU instruments in AUM and use modstep to sequence them. Point the midi out in modstep to AUM and you’re in business.

SashaPonkratov

Thank you.
I hope, modstep developers will fix this bug with AU state loading.

echoopera

Or you can just use Audiobus 3 as well.