Module Designer released!

[Cherry Garcia]

Lalo,

Voltage Module Designer is free to use for as long as you want. In order to publish to our server and use newly created modules in Voltage Modular, you will need a license for Module Designer. Currently, its only $99. You can still test and use all your modules in Module Designer. Watch the video, if you haven't already. This is a great opportunity and small investment for independent devs. Give it a try. (=

[josep]

There are a few misunderstanding going on here:

1) People can use Module Designer for free to develop modules. They can use them in Module Designer and test them with any modules they own.

But how can i use my own modules in my own Voltage Modular?
Would be nice to bypass the Store publishing for this purpose.

I think there could be a good solution to do that ... which would be the possibility within Module Designer to upload the module to own library so it could be available only to you alone ... That could be a good solution for cherryaudio also ... who could try the modules uploaded and if they find it good enough offer the possibility to the user to sell it in the store, getting some % from the selling ... That way users would be happy and cherryaudio too

But i'm afraid that this will never happen ... cause what really matters here is to make money money ... no matter (it seems) what the users may suggest honestly.

[josep]

In order to publish to our server and use newly created modules in Voltage Modular, you will need a license for Module Designer.

With regard to my solution above ... Let's say i buy a Module Designer but i don't want to sell anything but just try to create modules for my own use and experimentation ... What is the "circuit" from my Modular Designer to my Voltage Modular without passing by the Store?

Thanks!

[josep]

Anyone has been able to download Module Designer demo? ... cause I can't!

I can see the button to download the demo version if i'm not logged in, but as soon as i click it and login into my account the button disappears and i can only see the button to buy it ... Yesterday i accomplished to make the order but i had to leave in a hurry and when i got back the download links in the order page did not work anymore (i had a blank page with this message in bold red "Whoops, looks like something went wrong." - i guess they expired)

Anyway, I'm really, really upset because i would like to check Module Designer and i can't
Any hint/solution, please?!

[Cherry Garcia]

With regard to my solution above ... Let's say i buy a Module Designer but i don't want to sell anything but just try to create modules for my own use and experimentation ... What is the "circuit" from my Modular Designer to my Voltage Modular without passing by the Store?

All modules go through our server and are custom encrypted for your account. Only you (or developers on your same manufacturer account) will have access to your modules, and you can even put your modules into Beta and share them with a limited number of other Voltage Modular users. You can publish modules to your own copy of Voltage Modular via our server. This is a separate process from submitting the modules to our store. You can create your own modules and use them in your Voltage Modular patches all you want, once you've purchased Module Designer.

[Cherry Garcia]

Anyone has been able to download Module Designer demo? ... cause I can't!

I can see the button to download the demo version if i'm not logged in, but as soon as i click it and login into my account the button disappears and i can only see the button to buy it ... Yesterday i accomplished to make the order but i had to leave in a hurry and when i got back the download links in the order page did not work anymore (i had a blank page with this message in bold red "Whoops, looks like something went wrong." - i guess they expired)

Anyway, I'm really, really upset because i would like to check Module Designer and i can't
Any hint/solution, please?!

After logging in, did you click on the "Library" link? From there, you'll be able to click on the download links. The delay could have caused it. Let me know if that helps.

[lalo]

With regard to my solution above ... Let's say i buy a Module Designer but i don't want to sell anything but just try to create modules for my own use and experimentation ... What is the "circuit" from my Modular Designer to my Voltage Modular without passing by the Store?

All modules go through our server and are custom encrypted for your account. Only you (or developers on your same manufacturer account) will have access to your modules, and you can even put your modules into Beta and share them with a limited number of other Voltage Modular users. You can publish modules to your own copy of Voltage Modular via our server. This is a separate process from submitting the modules to our store. You can create your own modules and use them in your Voltage Modular patches all you want, once you've purchased Module Designer.

Yeah i got it. Humbly reporting my opinion. I think in the long run this is a kind of "limiting" policy for the whole VM scene. But i may be wrong. Let's see what happens. I'm still in the process of acquiring better java and dsp skills.

[NothanUmber]

Yeah i got it. Humbly reporting my opinion. I think in the long run this is a kind of "limiting" policy for the whole VM scene. But i may be wrong. Let's see what happens. I'm still in the process of acquiring better java and dsp skills.

I'm in the same camp. Don't like the dependency from the CA servers - and I have concerns about "leaching" on the fruits of the open source community without giving anything back. In the worst case people repackaging open source modules and selling them with slight or no alternations - would piss me off if I were the original author of said module and would boycott such a platform as a customer. So I hope the CherryAudio quality control also involves consequent and extensive license clearing of the entries. (Porting between program languages, renaming a few variables and removing the copyright header doesn't produce original work... I assume this "payware-obligation" will in turn piss off developers who converted modules and are then told they cannot release them because they have already reached their two "free" modules. But that is then between Cherry Audio and said developer, not between Cherry Audio and the Open Source community)

But if this is ensured then I look forward to how this develops. Doesn't have to be everybody's cup of tea, several options for different priorities.

[Cherry Garcia]

Thanks for your feedback. Cherry Audio cannot see the original source code. We recieve compiled code. One could take/"leach" some open source code and make a new plugin based off a module. Of couse, one should not do that...but someone with low morals or respect for open source software could. Our store agreement requires all devs to have proper permissions to use any soure code or resources included in a module and we will do our best to ascertain individuals attempting to spoof someone else's work. We have a limit of two free modules at a time This is clear. Its in the faq and store agreement. They choose what modules are free if they desire. They can rotate what modules are free, so there is flexibility. Our software is 100% original and uses the JUCE crossplatform SDK, which we purchased, of course. We have invested alot of time and manpower into this and we are very proud of VM and MD. I wouldn't be surprised to have 1000s of modules within the next few months, because this system of development is so easy and the potential is there for 3rd parties to make a nice business on our platform.

Thanks again for your input!

[NothanUmber]

Ok, thanks for the feedback also. Didn't put your credibility into question - am convinced that everything that is currently in your products is legitimate.
Imho the approach of forcing people to ask for money for a module might favor such a behavior from third parties - not because of pure evilness but because it's the easiest (and perhaps only) way to get some interesting plugin code from other platforms running (and shared) inside Voltage Modular as the legal way to provide such a module is severely limited.

But on second thought there could be a way around this: Open Source licenses don't require people to share binaries. They just require that *if* you have the binary you also have to be able to get your hands on the source code. And that this source code has to be compilable.
So an open source component could be put into the store (even for sale) as long as the source code is available and as long as everybody is able to build the module on their own. So you can decide to either buy the module (which is convenient) or - if you plan to use several open source modules - to buy a Module Designer license and build the modules yourself. (As far as I understood I can have as many self-uploaded modules as I want and can use these for myself, right?).
So this might be a way out to legally use Open Source code with your approach.
Still a little bit sad that you are forced to ask for money when you want to provide pre-built binaries for essentially somebody else's work. But with the build-it-yourself-option this could be acceptable. (Also for you as people would still have to buy both Voltage Modular as well as Module Designer licenses).