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Percussive Synth by Vadym Rostok

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Comments

  • @vadymrostok said:
    Thanks, @Jumpercollins, @cazel!

    Does it have multi-out?

    @panthera86 I don't get the question, sorry. If you mean separate recordings per track - no. In the standalone app, all synths' outputs are merged into one audio stream for playback and for recording. But I believe one can set up AudioUnits in AUM in a way so that there would be separate recordings for each AU synth node.

    Yes, that's what i basically meant.

  • Percussive Synth is great, updates are great. Google and Facebook Analytics in a drum synth is not. Is this really necessary? I understand that this might be helpful for a dev from a marketing point of view but it's just very annoying for privacy minded users.

  • thanks for the heads up @yokotate
    -one of those privacy minded users-

  • @vadymrostok maybe you could use plausible instead? 👀

  • edited October 2022

    interesting information

  • @yokotate, @cazel, yeah, I planned to post an update explaining why I did that, but you were faster :)
    I believe the app has the potential to find more users, but I don't see a better way to promote it than running Google and Facebook ad campaigns. I could sponsor a YouTube video or podcast, but that's far above my budget. I have run ad campaigns on both platforms already, but they had marginal success. I tried different kinds of campaigns, but none led to more downloads. The Google/Facebook docs state that it needs to track app installs for the algorithm to learn what potential customers to show the ad to. Also, I consulted with a person specializing in mobile app promotions, and that was the first thing they advised me to do. That's why I added Facebook and Google trackers.
    As you know, on iOS 14.5 or higher, you can disable tracking by asking the app not to track, so it's not forced on you. Also, I don't process personal information in any way, only app installs are tracked, and a few usage metrics, like a count of import/export presets and clicks on the play button. Tbh, I'm not happy with that update, I liked how my app used to treat users completely anonymous, but it can get only so far thanks to this forum. The ads I used to run had no real success, so I decided to sacrifice the benefit of being fully private if that'd help the app find a bigger audience.

  • New release 1.3 is out.

    • Fixed import synths preset target file extension - it used to allow any kind of file.
    • New presets are provided by an independent creator - I ended up setting up an Upwork job to create presets :) I'm happy with the result. If anyone's willing to share - please do it at any time. You can put an easter egg as a preset name, or I can pay a small bonus for a couple of presets via Upwork.
    • A new UI cue intended to make it easier to get acquainted with the sequencer - I've encountered another review where someone struggled to figure out how the sequencer works. The main issue is distinguishing between navigator, where you select an active region, and workspace, where you enter actual notes. Now, if users try to enter notes using the navigator, e.g. tapping on the same place multiple times, the warning text appears (as it used to do since an earlier release), but now it's highlighted by the bright background, and the whole navigator becomes dimmed for a few seconds.
    • Google and Facebook analytics were added for running app promotion - For Google and Facebook algorithms to know what advertisement strategies and audiences are successful - they need to track app installs, and that requires integration with their SDKs. The app does not process personal information in any way. It only notifies Google and Facebook of app installs and collects some usage information - play and export/import preset actions. With that done, I hope to run effective ad campaigns.

    Also, I've updated the landing page - https://percussive-synth.rocks/
    I hope now it looks more attractive and informative.

  • I can promise you this - if my ad campaigns' effectiveness doesn't improve thanks to that trackers - I'll remove them. But if it does - I'll have to balance between the prospect of finding new users and annoying privacy-minded users. Still, if most of you will say against it - I'll remove it even if it'll be effective. I don't want to annoy existing users.

  • Great update...Would it be possible to have Midi Learn on the synth parts?

  • Thanks @vadymrostok, I get it. Yet, as a user and customer, I want as little tracking code in as little apps as possible. I understand some apps need it for support reasons etc. but I don’t like to use apps who just use it for marketing purposes with no benefit for me as an user. I don’t trust Facebook at all, same for Google and while I don’t fear anything immediate from this update, I’ll sit it out until tracking is removed and consequently will not use the app. It’s a matter of principle and a slippery slope. I don’t want to support tracking and loss of privacy in any way. I understand your predicament and I wish you success but I’m not convinced this is the right way to go about it. I’m not specialized in promoting mobile apps though, so what do I know.

    In regards to video promotion - is no one willing to give it a go, in exchange of some free give away codes? It’s a great app already but clearly needs more visibility. I wonder why Gavinski, Jakob Haq or The Sound Test Room haven’t covered it yet. I don’t want to tag them but maybe they see the discussion and reach out. Would love to see what they’d do with it. I certainly enjoyed e y l v y’s little demo

  • Congrats on the new site btw, looks fab. The end of the page is propper trippy B)

  • @Sergiu, thanks!
    I added it to the roadmap. Right now, it's just fixed to these values (https://percussive-synth.rocks/midi-cc.html). You can learn the other way around, e.g. enable MIDI learn in DAW and tweak a knob in the app. But having an option to do vice-versa will be nice.

  • @yokotate, totally understandable. I respect your principle. Facebook and Google are cenzorship-inflicting monopolies. That alone is enough to despise them.
    There's no other option for me at this point, though. I hope the app will get tracktion with these ads, and I'll remove the trackers in favour of other promotion methods. Maybe the word of mouth or the new users' reviews will do their magic, so no trackers will be required. I understand that most music creation apps don't gather data. Some are tagged "details not provided", but most don't. In any case, I'll let you and everyone here know once the trackers are removed, thanks for sharing your views on this!

    People's demos and creations with the app are fantastic. I gathered a list of links to them here - https://blog.percussive-synth.rocks/resouces/

  • I created a form to vote for the next features - https://blog.percussive-synth.rocks/feature-vote/

  • @yokotate's comment perfectly sums up my feelings on the tracking too. While I'm hoping for huge success for your app, I also won't use it with tracking in. It's also worth remembering how often Facebook break their own APIs causing every app using the SDK to fail to even launch - that could be a pretty big stumbling block for musicians.

  • @FastGhost, well, I expected that existing users wouldn't be happy about the trackers' addition, but I didn't expect such a radical position from many people. Ok, I'll submit a new release in a week or two with the trackers' removal immediately after I exhaust the current ad budget. I don't want to upset people who are already using the app.
    Does all of the apps you're using are tracker-free, though? One can always opt-out of it with modern iOS.

  • This is fantastic - Thank You @vadymrostok !

  • Beautiful website presentation.

  • edited October 2022

    @vadymrostok said:
    In any case, I'll let you and everyone here know once the trackers are removed, thanks for sharing your views on this!

    looking forward

  • @vadymrostok said:
    @FastGhost, well, I expected that existing users wouldn't be happy about the trackers' addition, but I didn't expect such a radical position from many people. Ok, I'll submit a new release in a week or two with the trackers' removal immediately after I exhaust the current ad budget. I don't want to upset people who are already using the app.
    Does all of the apps you're using are tracker-free, though? One can always opt-out of it with modern iOS.

    I’m a bit of a special case as I go to great lengths to stop Facebook ever getting any data from me, so don't take me as a typical user. But yeah, I don’t think any of my other music apps have tracking built in. Last time Facebook broke their own SDK I went through all my apps seeing which ones would fail to launch, and then deleted the ones that did. It was quite useful.

  • Thank you, @Proppa, @Slush.
    I tried my best with that landing. That pesky sticky header took a lot of my effort. For many years my full-time job has been JavaScript/TypeScript development, but it rarely involves working on layouts (HTML, styling). So I'm glad it looks nice now, and not only to myself :)

  • @FastGhost, I see. You are a truly privacy-conscious person.
    I came to like how tracking works for me on Instagram. Weirdly enough. They showed me an ad from local carpentry once, I liked it, and now all of my Ig ads are fine woodwork. I don't buy anything, but the algorithm works better than if I would've searched it on Google, they show exactly the kind of tables I like from all around the county. It's even sad that they spend their ad money on me. I just like to watch it. But a negative experience is just as likely. I see how it's intrusive and even creepy sometimes, so going out of your way to stop it is totally understandable.

  • Luckily, I didn't buy this app. Tracking in a music app is an absolute no-go... The only apps I use on my iPad are for music purposes only and not for spy software. If there is a problem with an app, I can send an error report on my own. It's enough that we've been the beta testers at software for a long time. I wish you the best with your apps.
    Marketing: Ask some people here to create videos from your app and give them free codes. I think a lot of people here don't use fakebook. So it doesn't make sense to share our data with Big Tech.

  • @headmademusic iOS itself is a tracker, wouldn't you agree? The only difference is that it gives away personal data for government purposes instead of advertisement purposes.
    Doing promotion is not as easy as it seems. I'd happily give away promo codes in exchange for any kind of media attention. I'll even pay a small bonus on top of that. How do I do it, though? I don't have a network of content creators willing to exchange promo codes for a video, not even a single person. If anyone's willing to do that - I'll happily cooperate.
    Also, I promised I'll remove the tracker rather soon. So let's view at it as a failed experiment...

  • While the move re trackers has been ill perceived by some, including me, let’s not forget that it is a lot of work and headache to develop an app as a sole developer. Same for marketing. Vadym, thank you for listening and engaging. Thank you for removing trackers soon. I bought Percussive Synth early on and it got improved with every update. It’s a really fun and capable drum synth and sequencer and I hope the "recent controversy" doesn’t overshadow that.

    Have you contacted any (youtube) content creators yet? The only thing I can think of why there is no interest as of now is that the AUv3 side of things is still a bit rough and confusing. Everything seems about AUv3 these days and rightfully so IMO. Maybe that is where the hesitation is coming from, but I’m just guessing.

  • Yeah, thanks, @yokotate!
    So far, it seems it wasn't worth it. In two days, Google managed to sell and track app installs 6 times, but the cost of ads per install is 2x-3x of the app's price, so totally not worth it. It can learn over time, but I doubt it'd be able to optimize installs over 3 times cheaper. Also, it managed to achieve 1k clicks on an ad that leads to a landing page for half the price compared to the ad that tracks installs, so I guess I'm good without the tracker. I'll rely solely on landing and Facebook/Instagram pages.

    Just sent a new build with trackers removed to Apple for review.

    Have you contacted any (youtube) content creators yet?

    I don't know anyone. Please PM me some links if you have someone on your mind. I do watch youtube, but not this particular niche - iOS music creation apps reviews.

    AUv3 seem to work as good as the standalone version, if only lacking some features irrelevant for plugins, like recorder functionality and preset system - AUv3 has its own preset system and it seems to work fine. I guess I need to work on default presets for AUv3 because, right now, they are present only in the standalone version. Apart from that - I don't know what's lacking from AUv3s. If you have any ideas - please share them. I might be missing something.

    I imagined the main use case for the app being jamming with guitar or some other instrument, but most people seem to be using it exclusively as an AUv3 plugin indeed... Yeah, I'll think about it. Thank you.

  • @vadymrostok said:
    @headmademusic iOS itself is a tracker, wouldn't you agree? The only difference is that it gives away personal data for government purposes instead of advertisement purposes.

    privacy+security and anonymity are two completely different things. and it all depends on your threat model.
    ex. VPNs are useful for privacy+security but they cant provide anonymity -providers see your real IP address and has money trail that can be linked back to you if not paid with anonymous forms- so we just try to choose a provider that we trust -open-source, audited, no logging policy etc-

    apple is def not a tracker if your threat model is privacy+security.
    yes, its a closed ecosystem but you have the possibility to disable services-apps-cloud sync-icloud backups and opt-out sharing diagnostics+analytics. and yes, I choose to trust apple and have an icloud account -only for app store- but thats all.
    you dont have to trust their e2ee policies+services. there are great alternatives to use. proton,bitwarden,mullvad,cryptomator etc.

    I only use my ipads for music apps + dont download anything with tracking.

    trusting apple for icloud account doesnt mean I want+let my data to be sold or exposed in a data-breach. -privacy+security-

  • dumb question but how do i link the sequencer to the midi clock in aum? 🙈

  • @drewhino, midi clock sync is present only in the standalone app, and it's more of a proof-of-concept because now you get a way more precise Ableton Link everywhere, including AUM. Now it took a while for me to find the setting in AUM. You'll need to tap on the bpm label, it'll reveal 3 dot sub-menu, and there you'll find Ableton Link setting. Ableton Link is enabled in AUv3 sequencer by default.

    Now adding midi clock sync to the AUv3 sequencer is an option if there're arguments for it. E.g. if sometimes Ableton Link is not an option. So not a dumb question at all.

  • @cazel, to be clear, I'm also trusing Apple with my everything. But would they really not log my location after I disable all services? Not sure. One has to prove it using sophisticated experiments. A data package with my location may be encrypted and look like a weather forecast request, so there is no way to prove it without breaking the iOS. And you can't break the actual iOS that's getting installed on your device, you can examine a jail-broken version and disassemble it, but that's a different thing. Our best "hope" is that a next Snowden-type from Apple's security department will reveal "the truth" to the world, but I don't want it to happen. Even if that's true, the data they collect will most likely never get sold as Facebook probably does. Unless a non-Snowden type from Apple's security department decides to get rich this way :smile:

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