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Is it just me, or do "Reviews" feel like Commercials
Just thinking out loud... All these "Reviews" do not feel critical or honest.. These reviews only list the positive features and make everything seem like the "best thing ever! And the buzzwords..... "GAME Changer" , or this will improve you 'WORKFLOW"... this product will make you "more creative" ...
don't get me wrong, I love tech, love love love it, and apps changed my life! BUT Im realizing for most of the sites we visit, or youtube pages for them its a business and the business isn't the make you a better musician, its to sell shit.,
even for our youtubers.. they want to get sponsors to send them free shit. (so they can have it) .. and the way they do that is to positively speak about all products...
Im not hating... but my question to you all is, who are the actually honest and critical reviewers? please let me know
Comments
Tim Webb.
Honest and very funny.
I take em all with a pinch of sodium, especially the glossy magazines and websites.
There is no money in encouraging people to make the most of what they have and not chase the new shiny thing.
This forum is great though, most people will tell it like it is. You get to know the regulars after a while and so can map their expectations onto your own.
Glenn at SpectreSoundStudios does some hilarious “Honest Gear Reviews” but they are few and far between mostly consisting of demolishing (physically) Line6 products.
I miss John Walden!!
I think the reviews coming out of this place are good, aggregated, especially if you live to read a few months after release, the rise and fall and balance thereafter, but more often than not i watch things to have them demonstrated to me and to learn. I also think, like a favorite movie reviewer, one gets to know the flavors you share. Doug @thesoundtestroom (as one example and as a good friend to this forum) is certainly enthusiastic more often than not, his beans are largely cool, but I learn and hear and understand so much from his videos.
Absolutely. He was upbeat and enthusiastic, but scrupously honest and forthright.
I like some reviews. Not the vloggy type or excessive sales pitch stuff.
Loopop does some good things. Unbiased in my opinion.
Some reviewers restrict themselves to apps that they like. I think their enthusiasm tends to be honest and that they will tend not to review apps they don't like.
This is the TapeOp Reviews ethos. Basically, “most things are shit so we’ll highlight the good bits from things that aren’t [shit].”
It’s also down to practicality. No single, authoritative entity gets everything that’s put out with time/budget to review it “fairly”. I put fairly in quotes because what’s considered “fair” is totally up for debate and is entirely based on the perspective/needs of the reviewer and the consumer of said review.
I relish bad and so-so reviews as long as they’re reasonably comprehensive. That’s just very very rare and I understand why.
Maybe worth mentioning that none of this is new or related to music gear, blogs, YouTube, etc. it’s very much the same with regard to books, movies, etc and has been since opinions.
So yeah, grain of salt, etc.
And superhuman-fast. I would send him a promocode when releasing an app, and within seconds he'd reply "oh cool and here's the link to my 4-page in-depth review with lots of images and stuff" .
Some of the reviews I've watched from popular YouTubers aren't even reviews, it's 15 minutes of them fumbling around an app like have no idea how to really use it, swirling their finger all over the place trying to find something and making awful music. I'm not trying to sound like a hater, but it's true, I just read what people say here, and eventually end up testing it myself if it looks like it'll fit into my workflow, but I'd rather read what you guys say then waste time on a video that isn't even going to show me anything I can't assume the app does already
I did a few written reviews once. Hopefully they were as fair and honest as I could be. I did turn down some due to the product not being right for review in my opinion.
It’s always difficult to gauge that perfect review for everyone and every app. Some apps cost mere pence and while I gave a few great features and could be improved areas, the price has to be realistically kept in mind. Whatever your opinions of iOS store pricing, I would never expect a few pound app to do it all!
I think people have already mentioned this above, but really there are very few actual reviews out there, especially on you tube.
Having spent way too much on apps, I can say hand on heart, until I actually live with an app for a while, it’s pretty unfair to judge it to any really critical degree.
That’s why I like Doug of The Soundtest Room fame. He does not do real reviews and often he quite funnily seems to muddle through how he uses the apps he has on his show. I find this quite interesting and fun to watch, as he is probably quite representative of the vast majority of us iOS music makers - we know some stuff, but we are often just muddling through and having fun!
@reasOne and @Fruitbat1919 pretty much hit the nail - and IOS apps are somewhat specific for the low budget ecosystem.
But 'official' reviews in mags and their online sections are practically all paid ads since about y2k.
Iirc it started to become a serious business back then and you could simply buy reviews with a positive bottomline. Pretending to be individual works, in fact all was coordinated by a few companies operating in the background.
I've started to unsubscribe from youtube channels where the reviews are obviously paid or sponsored for in one form or another.
Unfortunately that's the way marketing works, 'pay for exposure'. When a company needs to reach out to a target audience it's a 'cheap marketing' to get in touch with content creators who have a following and let them keep the 'review object' as long as the review is 'positive'. Give a negative review and the probability of getting to review their next 'thing' will go down.
To the OP, You're NOT alone...
i reviewed Unklepop drum and I was honest and i got my post removed. honesty = deletion.
Totally agree.
People like Loopop or Nick are doing true reviews.
On the other side, IMHO, I refuse “reviews” like Andrew or BoBeats. This is pure advertising.
I find him obnoxious to be fair
There is lot of emphasis on what to buy, in independent media made about music gear, and not very much on “now that you bought the thing, how do you use it?” Which is weird, because a lot of reviewers on the internet don’t get paid, and yet they are still doing the work on behalf of the companies rather than the musicians, hoping to make better music.
It’s sad when artists turn into collectors, and it is sad to encourage that. We need art to prove that we’re human beings, not piles of dusty studio gear. I would LOVE to see more technique videos on how to get good sounds out of what we have.
You are right
I rarely watch iOS app videos these days
I know he is mr popular here and there is much love and sympathy towards him but Doug tends to waffle on and drag videos out when all that’s needed is a quick tour and how the app sounds
He is unrehearsed and makes mistakes
Jakob I cannot take seriously at all, I simply don’t watch
Apart from his scathing review of KEW, dj puzzle knows how to present an App from a producers point of view and that is what’s needed
SHOW US HOW WE CAN GET THE END RESULT FROM AN APP
in other words, a complete song
This reminds me of an irk. It’s not quite relevant to the thrust of this thread, but when has that ever stopped anyone from posting a reply anyway? It’s not as if starting a thread makes it your property is it? I mean, who’d think that?
I’m not thinking of YouTube reviews here, and not thinking of music apps specifically, but:
I quite like living in the 21st century for the most part, but one thing that I dismay of is: who thought it was a good idea to let the general public loose on doing reviews of products? I suspect Amazon is to blame for this paradigm. It doesn’t work. The general public can’t and shouldn’t do what they call reviews. They’re just voxpop points of view, they’re not reviews by a long chalk.
A review by the average member of the public on some commercial site is substandard because:
I take a harsh line on it because I used to write reviews for a living back in the 80s on an Atari ST magazine “ST World” and I know what it’s like to be in the groove of professional reviewing of software and hardware. I couldn’t do it now, I’d sound like a member of the public now, with the same deficiencies and inefficiencies, except I’d know it.
Absolutely and the same here...
So, maybe the best we all can do, is to send him a message that he is missed!
Best,
Lars
Doug (thesoundtestroom) is a very enthusiastic and super friendly guy, same as Jakob (haQ attaQ).
We are very happy and humbled to see their love for Cubasis, resulting in many great videos!
Best,
Lars
There are some really good videos out there but sadly also a lot of this. Eats your time and make it hard to find the info you want. I mainly read opinions shared on this board.
I also like Jacob’s videos because his (excellent) musicianship and creativity is presented front and centre. I’d categorise what he makes as art.
There are some who are utterly UNWATCHABLE.
I am actually thinking about doing my own Youtube because so many suck to me anyway.
I know "everyone loves everyone" and all the "thanks for the great vid' comments.
But that is crap.
There is one person in particular that may be a super nice guy.
BUT HIS VIDS MAKE ME WANT TO SMASH MY MACBOOK!
I'm happy we have choices. Different reviewers attract their own audiences. Many love Doug's first to press videos because it's often the very first, other than the beta testers, any of us have to see these apps and I personally feel like he’s invited me into his home for a cup of tea and crumpets. Agreed they go on for a bit, and he pokes fun at himself for it but he's almost always the first out of the gate. Jacob and D.J. Puzzle are more polished and to the point with Puzzle occasionally questioning why the heck an app acts this way. Then for those who like the shock jock punk rock sneer aesthetics there's brutally honest seriously opinionated guy with the whiny voice.
I watch them all when there’s a new app on the scene or I’m curious about a specific workflow. Hopefully the reviewers have found a way to make a little bit of money at it in this tiny nitch iOS market. Support them any way you can or get off your lazy butt and show us what you got. 
Plus 1000
I blame rock/pop music criticism.
Jazz and classical criticism generally require more background than "Hey, I've bought a lot of records in my day!"
Film reviewers should also shoulder some of the blame.
Of course we now want to read a name.
TRUE
FACTS