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On Esoteric musical tastes, refunds, and my welcoming home for apps dying in the last stages of IAA

I love noisy experimental synths, and will give almost any one of them a pass for flaws. I don't even shun IAA apps, as long as they launch, offer a novel sound experience, and hopefully continue to work for at least a coupla years. I'd buy Shoom again in a hearbeat, and still recommend it, IAA and all.

This Esoteric synth I just purchased may be my first refund request after lo, these hundreds of purchases. What an unfriendly thing, beyond even what is suggested by its Satanic motif. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/esoteric-synth/id1454932009

The presets hint at an intriguing array of soundcrafting possibilites, but dialing values in directly is unworkable. When a control has values that range between 0-5000, and each twiddle increases that value by 100, you have to wonder what is going on. Is it a mistake? Am I missing something?

I turned to ApeMatrix's venerable and convenient LFOs to help me with slow knob prob, as they can twiddle at 1000x the speed of a human twiddling master, but the interface of Esoteric doesn't even show the controls reacting in response to this effort. Which suggests that some of the controls aren't even "connected" to anything? Funny because ApeSoft is thanked in Esoteric's credits.

How likely is any given refund request to work? If the odds are small, I don't even want to bother as I would be left more irritated than I already am. I suppose I could contact the developer and ask if he could license some other app for me, but are any of his items worthwhile? Or do I just need to learn the mysterious but ultimately fulfilling secrets of Esoteric?

I suppose the best that could come of this is it actually brings an end to my worrisome app acquisition affliction, which I have losing my battle against.

Comments

  • edited April 2023

    I share your frustration with the impenetrable UI and lack of meaningful connectivity, but Esoteric retains a space in my heart because it sounds so unique and, er, well, esoteric. I decided long ago that the best way to work with it was to screen capture a live, manual performance, player recorded in AUM, then slice and dice the resultant wav as you see fit. Koala is ideal for this. Or just set a drone running by ear as a foundation, and build your track out from there.

  • @Svetlovska said:
    I share your frustration with the impenetrable UI and lack of meaningful connectivity, but Esoteric retains a space in my heart because it sounds so unique and, er, well, esoteric. I decided long ago that the best way to work with it was to screen capture a live performance, strip the audio from that, and use the resulting wav sliced and diced as you see fit. Koala is custom made for this task.

    Yeah, this would be my first return if I attempted it, partly because I figure the developer is at least trying, and partly because I just dislike customer servicey stuff. It does have some very cool sounds, so I may well just hang on to it for that, but it's a close one because it is SOO impenetrable... I suppose I have a number of apps that really only function to the extent that I can record their output and use it in a different context.

  • @gravytop said:

    I love noisy experimental synths, and will give almost any one of them a pass for flaws. I don't even shun IAA apps, as long as they launch, offer a novel sound experience, and hopefully continue to work for at least a coupla years. I'd buy Shoom again in a hearbeat, and still recommend it, IAA and all.

    This Esoteric synth I just purchased may be my first refund request after lo, these hundreds of purchases. What an unfriendly thing, beyond even what is suggested by its Satanic motif. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/esoteric-synth/id1454932009

    The presets hint at an intriguing array of soundcrafting possibilites, but dialing values in directly is unworkable. When a control has values that range between 0-5000, and each twiddle increases that value by 100, you have to wonder what is going on. Is it a mistake? Am I missing something?

    I turned to ApeMatrix's venerable and convenient LFOs to help me with slow knob prob, as they can twiddle at 1000x the speed of a human twiddling master, but the interface of Esoteric doesn't even show the controls reacting in response to this effort. Which suggests that some of the controls aren't even "connected" to anything? Funny because ApeSoft is thanked in Esoteric's credits.

    How likely is any given refund request to work? If the odds are small, I don't even want to bother as I would be left more irritated than I already am. I suppose I could contact the developer and ask if he could license some other app for me, but are any of his items worthwhile? Or do I just need to learn the mysterious but ultimately fulfilling secrets of Esoteric?

    I suppose the best that could come of this is it actually brings an end to my worrisome app acquisition affliction, which I have losing my battle against.

    For more granular adjustment tap on the arrows either side of the parameter - they change in intensity according to the amount of each increment - the brighter the left arrow, the smaller the increment and the brighter the right arrow, the larger the increment.

  • @enkaytee said:

    @gravytop said:

    I love noisy experimental synths, and will give almost any one of them a pass for flaws. I don't even shun IAA apps, as long as they launch, offer a novel sound experience, and hopefully continue to work for at least a coupla years. I'd buy Shoom again in a hearbeat, and still recommend it, IAA and all.

    This Esoteric synth I just purchased may be my first refund request after lo, these hundreds of purchases. What an unfriendly thing, beyond even what is suggested by its Satanic motif. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/esoteric-synth/id1454932009

    The presets hint at an intriguing array of soundcrafting possibilites, but dialing values in directly is unworkable. When a control has values that range between 0-5000, and each twiddle increases that value by 100, you have to wonder what is going on. Is it a mistake? Am I missing something?

    I turned to ApeMatrix's venerable and convenient LFOs to help me with slow knob prob, as they can twiddle at 1000x the speed of a human twiddling master, but the interface of Esoteric doesn't even show the controls reacting in response to this effort. Which suggests that some of the controls aren't even "connected" to anything? Funny because ApeSoft is thanked in Esoteric's credits.

    How likely is any given refund request to work? If the odds are small, I don't even want to bother as I would be left more irritated than I already am. I suppose I could contact the developer and ask if he could license some other app for me, but are any of his items worthwhile? Or do I just need to learn the mysterious but ultimately fulfilling secrets of Esoteric?

    I suppose the best that could come of this is it actually brings an end to my worrisome app acquisition affliction, which I have losing my battle against.

    For more granular adjustment tap on the arrows either side of the parameter - they change in intensity according to the amount of each increment - the brighter the left arrow, the smaller the increment and the brighter the right arrow, the larger the increment.

    So they do! I'll have to see if that resolves my issues with this baby overall -- thanks for the tip.

  • @Svetlovska said:
    I share your frustration with the impenetrable UI and lack of meaningful connectivity, but Esoteric retains a space in my heart because it sounds so unique and, er, well, esoteric. I decided long ago that the best way to work with it was to screen capture a live, manual performance, player recorded in AUM, then slice and dice the resultant wav as you see fit. Koala is ideal for this. Or just set a drone running by ear as a foundation, and build your track out from there.

    Agreed. My first released track from a couple weeks ago made heavy use of it.

  • It’s definitely a bit frustrating but I’ll never part with it. There’s something about it that I just enjoy. And I’ve found my ways to work around its fortress haha.

    The devs effects apps are more straightforward yet equally experimental. And pretty cheap!

  • Can it do bass and lead sounds, or is it mostly a soundscape synth?

  • Yeah, the control over knob movements is one of the nice things in these apps actually - the point is to give you very minute control if you want it - ie the same as you would get from very large knobs.

    Overall though, many aspects of the UIs and colour schemes in these apps clearly aren't to many people's taste. This dev hasn't released anything in a while, I'd imagine he sold very few apps and may have given up.

    About using lfos for modulation, IAA apps don't have parameters exposed, do they? So unless the manual actually has a list of CCs and what they control, or has midi learn (which I think would only work with external controllers not with apesoft system, with which I'm not that familiar any more) I think you'll often have trouble modulating IAA apps in the way you're used to being able to do with AUv3 ones.

    If you're from the EU you'll get a refund no questions asked as long as you ask quickly enough (within 2 weeks?) and choose whatever the right option is - something about your statutory right to a refund or however it's worded. In other places getting a refund might be more hit and miss but if you've never asked for a refund before I'll be surprised if you're refused. You might be best choosing 'app does not work as expected'.

    Maybe though, understanding the way to adjust the knobs will make you decide to keep it anyway - it's pretty cheap, if I remember! But yeah, a lot of cheap apps over time ends being a lot of money overall, and if you're barely using most of them it's better to get that addiction under control. It's a real thing for sure!

    @gravytop said:

    @enkaytee said:

    @gravytop said:

    I love noisy experimental synths, and will give almost any one of them a pass for flaws. I don't even shun IAA apps, as long as they launch, offer a novel sound experience, and hopefully continue to work for at least a coupla years. I'd buy Shoom again in a hearbeat, and still recommend it, IAA and all.

    This Esoteric synth I just purchased may be my first refund request after lo, these hundreds of purchases. What an unfriendly thing, beyond even what is suggested by its Satanic motif. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/esoteric-synth/id1454932009

    The presets hint at an intriguing array of soundcrafting possibilites, but dialing values in directly is unworkable. When a control has values that range between 0-5000, and each twiddle increases that value by 100, you have to wonder what is going on. Is it a mistake? Am I missing something?

    I turned to ApeMatrix's venerable and convenient LFOs to help me with slow knob prob, as they can twiddle at 1000x the speed of a human twiddling master, but the interface of Esoteric doesn't even show the controls reacting in response to this effort. Which suggests that some of the controls aren't even "connected" to anything? Funny because ApeSoft is thanked in Esoteric's credits.

    How likely is any given refund request to work? If the odds are small, I don't even want to bother as I would be left more irritated than I already am. I suppose I could contact the developer and ask if he could license some other app for me, but are any of his items worthwhile? Or do I just need to learn the mysterious but ultimately fulfilling secrets of Esoteric?

    I suppose the best that could come of this is it actually brings an end to my worrisome app acquisition affliction, which I have losing my battle against.

    For more granular adjustment tap on the arrows either side of the parameter - they change in intensity according to the amount of each increment - the brighter the left arrow, the smaller the increment and the brighter the right arrow, the larger the increment.

    So they do! I'll have to see if that resolves my issues with this baby overall -- thanks for the tip.

  • @gravytop said:

    @enkaytee said:

    @gravytop said:

    I love noisy experimental synths, and will give almost any one of them a pass for flaws. I don't even shun IAA apps, as long as they launch, offer a novel sound experience, and hopefully continue to work for at least a coupla years. I'd buy Shoom again in a hearbeat, and still recommend it, IAA and all.

    This Esoteric synth I just purchased may be my first refund request after lo, these hundreds of purchases. What an unfriendly thing, beyond even what is suggested by its Satanic motif. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/esoteric-synth/id1454932009

    The presets hint at an intriguing array of soundcrafting possibilites, but dialing values in directly is unworkable. When a control has values that range between 0-5000, and each twiddle increases that value by 100, you have to wonder what is going on. Is it a mistake? Am I missing something?

    I turned to ApeMatrix's venerable and convenient LFOs to help me with slow knob prob, as they can twiddle at 1000x the speed of a human twiddling master, but the interface of Esoteric doesn't even show the controls reacting in response to this effort. Which suggests that some of the controls aren't even "connected" to anything? Funny because ApeSoft is thanked in Esoteric's credits.

    How likely is any given refund request to work? If the odds are small, I don't even want to bother as I would be left more irritated than I already am. I suppose I could contact the developer and ask if he could license some other app for me, but are any of his items worthwhile? Or do I just need to learn the mysterious but ultimately fulfilling secrets of Esoteric?

    I suppose the best that could come of this is it actually brings an end to my worrisome app acquisition affliction, which I have losing my battle against.

    For more granular adjustment tap on the arrows either side of the parameter - they change in intensity according to the amount of each increment - the brighter the left arrow, the smaller the increment and the brighter the right arrow, the larger the increment.

    So they do! I'll have to see if that resolves my issues with this baby overall -- thanks for the tip.

    No problem. I like this type of approach to parameter control and wish more devs would do something similar.

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