Has the vibe of this forum worsened, and - if so - what can we do to improve it?

Svetlovska

HotStrange

I’d say definitely yes. As others have mentioned it’s far better than what you see in the comments of a YouTube or Instagram video but it does seem to have its moments more and more lately. It’s less extreme than other social media sites no doubt but as others mentioned there is an air of negativity on occasions and a wealth of people replying to someone looking for advice just to be negative and unhelpful on purpose (it seems). I see a bit of entitlement also. People expecting every app to be $10 or less but still have every feature of a $30-$40 app, etc.

I think the best way to avoid that is to just avoid certain topics altogether, which sucks for people asking for help, but there’s certain threads and topics that lots of people won’t even touch now because it’s bound to start arguments.

I appreciate most people here and the mods are amazing at banning the ones that actually need to be banned. The other comments are nothing worth banning but it does get quite annoying at times lol.

At the end of the day I’m happy to be here with you guys. I’ve made some actual friends here and mostly enjoy coming by and chatting.

Tovokas

I’ve been a relatively quiet member of the forum for (egad!) 9 years, and I think it’s much the same as always: a quality forum filled with generally nice folks, a few useful curmudgeons, and a tiny rotating cast of soon-to-be-banned nutters who might all be the same guy under different guises.

That being said, the vibe does ebb and flow on a macro level based on world conditions and musical flash points (Logic, TE, Drambo, etc). I think it’s important to stay on top of thing, such as with the introduction of Doug’s service, but also to not read too much into, or personally over-react to, a temporary increase in heat.. that only adds to the problem.

wim

tbh, I haven't noticed any notable changes outside of the regular ebb and flow of such things here over the last 10 years.

(I'm glad that experimental Off-Topic thread got nuked though. That became a cesspit.)

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Krupa

@HotRatz said:

@Krupa said:
I think for me it’s been a combination of slightly low energy/mood, and being distracted by finishing some projects while hunting for others. There was a period of heightened drama a while back that put me off a bit, but it seems pretty mellow just now. I should look at the creations category more, but time just seems to be evaporating at the moment…

Yes, too little time to get all my projects done, however I feel like the time I’ve invested researching here has saved me an enormous amount of time in the long run.
For instance I needed a sampler that fit very specific criteria for my projects and found a Jakob Haq video here that has really saved me a ton of work through more efficient work flow.
On a different note, my Uncle played Trumpet for Gene Krupa, is that your user name reference?

Cheers!

Ha that’s pretty cool! It’s my surname, I guess I’m related to him at some level, although it is a relatively common Polish / Eastern European name…

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sevenape

I like this forum, personally I haven’t found it to be too negative or tetchy but… if it has or if people feel that it has, it’s completely understandable. We are under so much stress, the world is falling to pieces, we are destroying each other, plus we have to buy bloody Christmas presents on top of all that…

I haven’t posted much recently, but it’s more new job, wife’s new job, balancing the whole real world stuff than anything else.

sevenape

@wim said:
tbh, I haven't noticed any notable changes outside of the regular ebb and flow of such things here over the last 10 years.

(I'm glad that experimental Off-Topic thread got nuked though. That became a cesspit.)

I miss off topic stuff a little, it must be said, ok I don’t wanna fight with Q-anon guys, but it’s nice to speak about other stuff occasionally.

Svetlovska

Luxthor

@Gavinski said:
I've spoken to a few people who say they now rarely come around the Audiobus Forum because they think the vibe has deteriorated compared to what it used to be like. Some of those people still browse from time to time, but engage less.

I'm curious how ppl feel about that, whether they agree or not.

If you do agree, feel free to share thoughts on what the causes might be and how the atmosphere could be improved.

Those people should be involved in the forum activity more, spread the goodwill, and help to make this forum a good place to be.

Without involvement and hard work, they will never have a forum like this. Waiting for someone else to do the job is ignorance.

My advice to them is to please return, engage, make improvements, and cherish what we already have. 🤩

HotStrange

@sevenape said:

@wim said:
tbh, I haven't noticed any notable changes outside of the regular ebb and flow of such things here over the last 10 years.

(I'm glad that experimental Off-Topic thread got nuked though. That became a cesspit.)

I miss off topic stuff a little, it must be said, ok I don’t wanna fight with Q-anon guys, but it’s nice to speak about other stuff occasionally.

Agreed on both fronts.

Pxlhg

no..

HotStrange

@HotRatz said:

@HotStrange said:
I’d say definitely yes. As others have mentioned it’s far better than what you see in the comments of a YouTube or Instagram video but it does seem to have its moments more and more lately. It’s less extreme than other social media sites no doubt but as others mentioned there is an air of negativity on occasions and a wealth of people replying to someone looking for advice just to be negative and unhelpful on purpose (it seems). I see a bit of entitlement also. People expecting every app to be $10 or less but still have every feature of a $30-$40 app, etc.

>

Yes, this blows my mind, I’m coming from the desktop world where the same plugs cost an order of magnitude more. Ive been doing this for a long time, since the days when the onl6 real choices were Pro Tools or MOTU DIGITAL Performer and Waves plugs, I was using Ableton in Beta for a long time which really was a revelation.
Now I’m on the iPad almost entirely and I can’t believe how good it is and how efficient the work flow is, just the idea that I can now save projects in the cloud and collaborate on large projects via the web blows my mind.
I was just thinking of a job I had where just rendering the recorded tracks on MOTU took hours and hours, then you had to back up the drives…jesus, anyone remember raid arrays?
What a nightmare!
These dam kids…get off my porch!

I never used desktop to a huge extent. It was mostly a vessel to record my hardware into, and even then I mostly recording to 4/8 tracks and then exporting that. Then once I got into the iPad workflow, it became only iPad and hardware. And that’s still how I work to this day. It just clicks with me.

Crazy how many amazing plugins we have for so cheap and how easy it is to get things going. Just open up my iPad and there’s an entire world of every kind of synth, sampler, drum machines, effect, etc.

[Deleted User]

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rs2000

100% @Luxthor.

HotStrange

@mambonassau said:
I can only speak for myself, but: at some point, I just grew tired of the “gotta have it” consumerist beatitudes of this place. I mean, how many synths does one really need? Why should I spend my time &/or money tracking the slow virtual rollout of Hainbach’s signal chain? What soul-level enrichment is achieved by watching a group of folks talk themselves into buying $2000 pieces of hardware? On the ABF, I often feel like I’m learning a lesson about the effectiveness of “sticky” Internet-era advertising, but that’s about it; the sense of discovery, shared struggle, & hard-won wisdom I sometimes feel on other music forums rarely crop up for me here. It’s not like it’s dystopian or anything: at its best, the ABF is good-natured, informative, & full of that specific camaraderie only devotion to a niche musical product can provide. But at its worst, this place can also feel like happy hour at a Best Buy - cheery, sure, but ultimately bound to tech-drunk commerce above all else. Sure, I still visit to see what’s on the “shelves” - thanks Poppacraddock! - but, beyond that, I have simply lost the impulse to hang out here.

I disagree. Seems kinda needlessly cynical but I guess to each their own.

GeoTony

100% with @Spidericemidas on this one, theres a big difference between thinking that somebody is a twat and posting a comment explicitly saying they are. Be generous with your comments and most of the time people will respond similarly. Stating opinions as facts will never lead to a happy conclusion 😊

Gavinski

@mambonassau said:
I can only speak for myself, but: at some point, I just grew tired of the “gotta have it” consumerist beatitudes of this place. I mean, how many synths does one really need? Why should I spend my time &/or money tracking the slow virtual rollout of Hainbach’s signal chain? What soul-level enrichment is achieved by watching a group of folks talk themselves into buying $2000 pieces of hardware? On the ABF, I often feel like I’m learning a lesson about the effectiveness of “sticky” Internet-era advertising, but that’s about it; the sense of discovery, shared struggle, & hard-won wisdom I sometimes feel on other music forums rarely crop up for me here. It’s not like it’s dystopian or anything: at its best, the ABF is good-natured, informative, & full of that specific camaraderie only devotion to a niche musical product can provide. But at its worst, this place can also feel like happy hour at a Best Buy - cheery, sure, but ultimately bound to tech-drunk commerce above all else. I still visit to see what’s on the “shelves” - thanks Poppacraddock! - but, beyond that, I have otherwise lost the impulse to hang out here.

Actually this resonates for me

Spidericemidas

@GeoTony said:
100% with @Spidericemidas on this one, theres a big difference between thinking that somebody is a twat and posting a comment explicitly saying they are. Be generous with your comments and most of the time people will respond similarly. Stating opinions as facts will never lead to a happy conclusion 😊

Yes indeed. I probably could've reduced my essay of a comment down to simply "treat others as you wish to be treated yourself". 😊

Simon

@mambonassau said:
I can only speak for myself, but: at some point, I just grew tired of the “gotta have it” consumerist beatitudes of this place. I mean, how many synths does one really need? Why should I spend my time &/or money tracking the slow virtual rollout of Hainbach’s signal chain? What soul-level enrichment is achieved by watching a group of folks talk themselves into buying $2000 pieces of hardware?

I feel the same way.

But, at the end of the day, what does it matter? If people are into that stuff and have the money then good for them. It's cheaper than yachting.

[Deleted User]

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138389

.

Simon

Probably worth reminding people that this is not the offical "iOS Musicians Forum" or anything like that... it is the AudioBus Forum - a forum that sprang up from a tech support forum for an iOS app, "AudioBus".

Whatever it is today has mutated organically without the owner (Michael) trying to make it one thing or another.

What it is today was shaped by the people who come here and leave content.

You may like it or not like it, but I guess it is an honest expression of those who hang out here.

Power to the people (or something like that) in action, maybe?

Gratouilli

I REALLY like this forum and didn't see it worsen that much over the years... nothing that would make me stop reading it every day. There's so many great members here! As english isn't my mother tongue, I sometimes don't understand everything (so I wouldn't even understand if someone would be rude with me 😂) and often have difficulties to express myself, that's why I don't post as much as I would like to.
Also, I regret that Flo26's leaved...

Robin2

@Spidericemidas said:

@GeoTony said:
100% with @Spidericemidas on this one, theres a big difference between thinking that somebody is a twat and posting a comment explicitly saying they are. Be generous with your comments and most of the time people will respond similarly. Stating opinions as facts will never lead to a happy conclusion 😊

Yes indeed. I probably could've reduced my essay of a comment down to simply "treat others as you wish to be treated yourself". 😊

Absolutely. Right now, people are happily posting their views on the person who got banned yesterday on the Sales thread. Fine words spoken in this thread but simultaneously on another thread it is seen as fair game to mock and give negative opinions on someone.

CapnWillie

@Robin2 said:

Absolutely. Right now, people are happily posting their views on the person who got banned yesterday on the Sales thread. Fine words spoken in this thread but simultaneously on another thread it is seen as fair game to mock and give negative opinions on someone.

That thread was certainly unacceptable and the like won’t be tolerated. It was dealt with as soon as we noticed it. Mods sleep and miss things from time to time. Also, due to the advance of AI, there is exponentially more effort required to tame bots and spam then in years past.

Gavinski

@Robin2 said:

@Spidericemidas said:

@GeoTony said:
100% with @Spidericemidas on this one, theres a big difference between thinking that somebody is a twat and posting a comment explicitly saying they are. Be generous with your comments and most of the time people will respond similarly. Stating opinions as facts will never lead to a happy conclusion 😊

Yes indeed. I probably could've reduced my essay of a comment down to simply "treat others as you wish to be treated yourself". 😊

Absolutely. Right now, people are happily posting their views on the person who got banned yesterday on the Sales thread. Fine words spoken in this thread but simultaneously on another thread it is seen as fair game to mock and give negative opinions on someone.

Yeah that's not good... Ppl who get banned can still read the Forum. Seems like people forget this sometimes.

exuser123

zzz

SirMcp

I rarely participate but I stop by often to see whats new. Everyone has been nothing short of kind and gracious to me while I am here. Every question I have asked has been answered. Do people complain about gear and prices? Yes but look at KVR and every other forum. Plus there is more GAS being passed here than in a chili parlor in Cincinnati. Some off the off topic stuff devolved into chaos but politics and ufos get heated as passions rise. This forum is the most civil place I go to on the internet. I come here to escape from the crappy world and relax, unwind. With that said, i will shut up for another six months.

Oh and I forgot, if there is a problem….it can always be solved by Drambo.