Dune 3 Workflow

[Teksonik]

Sales depend on marketing.

First and foremost sales depend on the quality of the product. You can market crap all day long and it will still be crap and smart buyers know the difference.

Will your feature request bring enough additional quality and therefore more buyers to D3 ? More than anyone else's feature request ? For example there are people who would much rather have a Patch Browser, Favorites, and Categories. To them that's what would bring added value.

So who are you to say what "shows lack of foresight and plain business senses" ? Your request is no more or no less important than any other user's feature request and is no more likely to generate additional sales than any other popular request. I don't think you're ever going to get that point.

Anyway as far as sound designers go none of the people who did the factory patches had any problems designing sounds with the current Mod Matrix System. Just because someone else has a problem doesn't make it a high priority for everyone.

I use Drag and Drop Mod routing in Hive and other synths and to be honest it might save three seconds per patch. Click and Drag takes slightly less time than choosing a destination from a drop down.

As has been mentioned before you'd still have to go to the Matrix to set amounts, assign Voices etc. So your feature request would only bring a bit of convenience at best. You're not going to be getting any different sounds that you couldn't get right now.

Let's take the example request of Voice Split/Layer. I've seen that mentioned as a request several times over the years. Now there is a request that would allow you to make sounds you can't now. I gave examples in the other thread on the subject and I'm sure any sound designer could think of a way to use Split Layers in new patches.

So that's the type of feature request I favor. One that expands the range of sounds instead of making thing a little easier. I think you'll find the market would respond just as positively if not more to Split Layer than they would a slightly easier Mod Assignment system.

But like I said good luck to everyone's feature requests. Who knows maybe one day every one of them will be added to Dune in some logical order.

But if you want to take it from a purely business standpoint I'm not sure if it wouldn't be better for Synapse to call Dune a finished product except for bug fixes and move on to a new product.

The monetary return on time invested might be much higher for a new product than trying to tack on a few minor features to D3 in the hopes that it might convince people to buy or upgrade if they haven't already.

But like I said Synapse knows what they are doing. I'm sure they are aware of the feature requests that have been made since D3 was released and I'm sure they have a solid plan for the future.

[bones]

Let's focus on features of function rather than features of convenience. You know features that expand the range of sounds rather features that might make programming sounds in the current range a little easier.

Why? DUNE already has a far broader palette than any one user actually needs so why not focus on convenience features that will benefit all users?

In the end Mod Matrix assignment will not change the way Dune 3 sounds one little bit. It may make things easier for some people but it doesn't make the end sound any different.

Surely that's a good thing? It already sounds amazing and I don't see why anyone would be foolish enough to screw around with that.

Since I already find Dune 3 a breeze to program I'd rather they focus on features that expand the range of sounds D3 can make.....

Since I already find DUNE's sound amazing I'd rather they focus on making it as usable as its competitors, like Thorn or Hive. No product exists in a vacuum, most prospective customers will be comparing it to those synths and others. Right now it is very competitive when it comes to the way it sounds and its versatility but not as competitive when it comes to user-friendliness or usability. To me that says more work needs to be done on making it easier to work with, not making it sound better, if you want to get more customers. That those kinds of improvements will also make things better for every user except you, makes it seem logical to do that stuff first, doesn't it?

Anyway, I don't see much advantage in using right-click menus for modulation assignment, especially when everyone else is using drag'n'drop. D'n'D modulation assignment is a much better, cleaner way to do it and if they were to add visual feedback to modulation, either by animating the knob position or using coloured rings to indicate how the mod affects the value (or both), that would make it even betterer. (For people who speak English as a second language, "betterer" is not a real word, it's sort of like a cultural running joke.)

[Touch The Universe]

ezgif.com-video-to-gif (1).gif

DND would be awesome, but it seems like a lot more work to implement. Right click seems easier, so it's what I'm focusing on. That'll be good enough for now. If it's also possible to add modulation depth right there, like in the serum (see gif), that would be pretty much perfect, even better than DND which actually takes more mechanically movement to use.

[bones]

It all depends on the implantation. The way Massive and Iris 2 do it is great because it's easy to go back and change it at any time without the mod matrix. OTOH, Thorn's implementation is more basic. The thing with right-click is that it's far less discoverable. I could have any number of synths that have it but I wouldn't know because I'd never think to right-click on a control. At least with DnD there is going to be some sort of graphical prompt.

[Teksonik]

Why? DUNE already has a far broader palette than BONES actually needs so why not focus on convenience features that will benefit me?

Fixed that for you.

Every feature request I've ever made for Dune 3 can already be found in VPS Avenger so that's the competition you're up against. Adding feature-ettes to D3 to possibly save a couple of mouse clicks isn't going to do anything to match Avenger's feature set.

If someone actually said "I really love the sound of Dune 3 but I'm not going to buy it because it doesn't have DnD mod assignment" that makes them a....well I'll let you fill in your own derogatory word.

most prospective customers will be comparing it to those synths and others.

While we're talking about the competition....

Avenger 041119-1.png

Full Sample import is an example of a feature that would actually expand D3 by an order of magnitude and demonstrates perfectly the difference between a feature of function and a feature of convenience like possibly saving a couple of mouse clicks with mod assigment.

Would full sample import gain more new customers than modulation assignment tweaks ? I'm betting the house that it would. I can't imagine anyone who calls them self a sound designer would think differently but I'm sure anyone who is still mesmerized by a simple 20 year old synth would disagree.....

[Teksonik]

DND would be awesome,

Let's take Hive for example....You have to select the Mod Source from a Drop Down. Then you can click and drag to a destination, let's say Osc 2 Volume for this example. Now your mouse pointer is way up at the top of the GUI and you have to drag it back down to set the Mod Amount. Or....you could simply leave your pointer in the MM slot and select the Destination from the Drop Down or Pop Out menu.

Either way you're only talking about a difference of a second if that. Not much of a gain if any at all for the work needed to add the feature. You've probably spent more time lobbying for the feature that it's likely to ever save you.

In D3 you'll still need to use the MM to assign Modulation to certain Voices, etc so staying inside the MM would probably still be quicker than DnD or right click.

Even though I've owned Hive longer than D3 I've made more patches in D3. It's really not hard at all.

As I have said many times I'm not totally opposed to the DnD or right click request but it would be so far down my list of priorities that it would probably never be added.

Even though I would never use it I would probably be more in support of an advanced Preset Handling/Tagging/Favorites system than Mod Assignment tweaks. I've seen people ask for Patch Handling features as well so to them it's a priority.

As I have said many times Synapse knows what they are doing so no telling what the future holds.

But I continue to lobby for Dune to be called finished and to move on to another project. I think we're reaching a point of diminishing returns both from a practical and a financial standpoint without a total re-write.

On to the next........