Voltage Modular Feature Requests

For discussion of the Voltage Modular synthesis ecosystem.
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GusGranite
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by GusGranite »

SA2K wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 3:18 am Silly me just noticed this feature request list. Great feature list. I second the Serge Buchla feature addition and the collapsible module feature and have another major feature request - *iLok or eLicenser support* to eliminate the necessity to login to activate your already activated modules & Cherry instruments/effects when you get a new computer or reinstall your OS. OS backups aren't safe enough for the type of investment made in Cherry products. I am not looking forward to the day companies that require online registration or logins go under and I spent tons on Cherry modules & instruments/effects so I really hope the userbase can persuade Cherry Audio to adopt some sort of USB authenticator even if prices have to go up.
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GusGranite
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by GusGranite »

@cherryaudio Robert - I started this thread because Voltage Modular is amazing but might receive a little less push or attention from Cherry Audio compared with the CA synths and I think there is a good little Voltage Modular community to grow. I was really hoping a CA developer would jump in to this thread and give some feedback on the requests, ask some questions, and share some VM roadmap info with us. It would be a very appreciated little gesture. 🙏
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SpaceDog
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by SpaceDog »

GusGranite wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 4:21 am @cherryaudio Robert - I started this thread because Voltage Modular is amazing but might receive a little less push or attention from Cherry Audio compared with the CA synths and I think there is a good little Voltage Modular community to grow. I was really hoping a CA developer would jump in to this thread and give some feedback on the requests, ask some questions, and share some VM roadmap info with us. It would be a very appreciated little gesture. 🙏
I did check back through this thread and it is now quite long, detailed, and somewhat intricate. Having said that, there has been no acknowledgement of anything here by CA. I'm not a CA apologist, however it is quite difficult to pull the meat out the large amount of writing here (I did have a go). I have noticed that CA have responded to requests via the FB Group (OK, usually with something akin to "noted" or "we'll bring that to the attention of the developers"),but these have been faults/issues, not feature requests, in the main.

I'll go out on a limb and say that it appears that CA are leaving VM to the third party developers at the moment so that they can concentrate on the other instruments. There may be an update to VM on the way, and maybe even a new set of modules, but I don't see them having the time or energy to respond to what is now the huge body of requests contained here.

Perhaps some prioritisation, or grouping of requests would get better attention...? To my untrained eyes, there is simply too much detail here now for someone to respond - and expecting a response to unsolicited requests in real-time would be foolish. A curated set of requests might stand a better chance of gaining the traction some of the requests deserve.

I'm always willing to be wrong, this is just how this thread would appear to me, should I be working for CA :) We could just keep banging away, most likely with the same result, or we could adapt to a different method.

As somebody once said, "... there are simply too many notes, that's all."
GusGranite
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by GusGranite »

SpaceDog wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 10:34 am
GusGranite wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 4:21 am @cherryaudio Robert - I started this thread because Voltage Modular is amazing but might receive a little less push or attention from Cherry Audio compared with the CA synths and I think there is a good little Voltage Modular community to grow. I was really hoping a CA developer would jump in to this thread and give some feedback on the requests, ask some questions, and share some VM roadmap info with us. It would be a very appreciated little gesture. 🙏
I did check back through this thread and it is now quite long, detailed, and somewhat intricate. Having said that, there has been no acknowledgement of anything here by CA. I'm not a CA apologist, however it is quite difficult to pull the meat out the large amount of writing here (I did have a go). I have noticed that CA have responded to requests via the FB Group (OK, usually with something akin to "noted" or "we'll bring that to the attention of the developers"),but these have been faults/issues, not feature requests, in the main.

I'll go out on a limb and say that it appears that CA are leaving VM to the third party developers at the moment so that they can concentrate on the other instruments. There may be an update to VM on the way, and maybe even a new set of modules, but I don't see them having the time or energy to respond to what is now the huge body of requests contained here.

Perhaps some prioritisation, or grouping of requests would get better attention...? To my untrained eyes, there is simply too much detail here now for someone to respond - and expecting a response to unsolicited requests in real-time would be foolish. A curated set of requests might stand a better chance of gaining the traction some of the requests deserve.

I'm always willing to be wrong, this is just how this thread would appear to me, should I be working for CA :) We could just keep banging away, most likely with the same result, or we could adapt to a different method.

As somebody once said, "... there are simply too many notes, that's all."
They only need to read the first post lol. I add all requests to the initial list in the OP 🙂
SA2K
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by SA2K »

GusGranite wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 1:30 pm
SpaceDog wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 10:34 am
GusGranite wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 4:21 am @cherryaudio Robert - I started this thread because Voltage Modular is amazing but might receive a little less push or attention from Cherry Audio compared with the CA synths and I think there is a good little Voltage Modular community to grow. I was really hoping a CA developer would jump in to this thread and give some feedback on the requests, ask some questions, and share some VM roadmap info with us. It would be a very appreciated little gesture. 🙏
I did check back through this thread and it is now quite long, detailed, and somewhat intricate. Having said that, there has been no acknowledgement of anything here by CA. I'm not a CA apologist, however it is quite difficult to pull the meat out the large amount of writing here (I did have a go). I have noticed that CA have responded to requests via the FB Group (OK, usually with something akin to "noted" or "we'll bring that to the attention of the developers"),but these have been faults/issues, not feature requests, in the main.

I'll go out on a limb and say that it appears that CA are leaving VM to the third party developers at the moment so that they can concentrate on the other instruments. There may be an update to VM on the way, and maybe even a new set of modules, but I don't see them having the time or energy to respond to what is now the huge body of requests contained here.

Perhaps some prioritisation, or grouping of requests would get better attention...? To my untrained eyes, there is simply too much detail here now for someone to respond - and expecting a response to unsolicited requests in real-time would be foolish. A curated set of requests might stand a better chance of gaining the traction some of the requests deserve.

I'm always willing to be wrong, this is just how this thread would appear to me, should I be working for CA :) We could just keep banging away, most likely with the same result, or we could adapt to a different method.

As somebody once said, "... there are simply too many notes, that's all."
They only need to read the first post lol. I add all requests to the initial list in the OP 🙂

Could you add my USB authenticator software protection support request?
GusGranite
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by GusGranite »

SA2K wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 7:44 pm
GusGranite wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 1:30 pm
SpaceDog wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 10:34 am

I did check back through this thread and it is now quite long, detailed, and somewhat intricate. Having said that, there has been no acknowledgement of anything here by CA. I'm not a CA apologist, however it is quite difficult to pull the meat out the large amount of writing here (I did have a go). I have noticed that CA have responded to requests via the FB Group (OK, usually with something akin to "noted" or "we'll bring that to the attention of the developers"),but these have been faults/issues, not feature requests, in the main.

I'll go out on a limb and say that it appears that CA are leaving VM to the third party developers at the moment so that they can concentrate on the other instruments. There may be an update to VM on the way, and maybe even a new set of modules, but I don't see them having the time or energy to respond to what is now the huge body of requests contained here.

Perhaps some prioritisation, or grouping of requests would get better attention...? To my untrained eyes, there is simply too much detail here now for someone to respond - and expecting a response to unsolicited requests in real-time would be foolish. A curated set of requests might stand a better chance of gaining the traction some of the requests deserve.

I'm always willing to be wrong, this is just how this thread would appear to me, should I be working for CA :) We could just keep banging away, most likely with the same result, or we could adapt to a different method.

As somebody once said, "... there are simply too many notes, that's all."
They only need to read the first post lol. I add all requests to the initial list in the OP 🙂

Could you add my USB authenticator software protection support request?
For sure. I already had but I didn’t summarize it well so I updated it with your wording.
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SpaceDog
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by SpaceDog »

GusGranite wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 1:30 pm
[...]

They only need to read the first post lol. I add all requests to the initial list in the OP 🙂
Don't get me wrong, this is a good idea and I appreciate your work in collating a huge set of requests. My purpose is more to give us the best chance of gaining some traction with CA. I'll be honest and say that I'm not convinced they will respond; however, I'm more than happy to be proved wrong on this one.

I had spotted the list; however, it's still a long, non-curated list. It would appear that CA aren't responding, so doing the same thing is likely to get the same response. How about folding up requests into groups, and maybe then prioritising and amalgamating...? For example:

Authentication and synchronisation
GUI (both global and module) changes/adaptations
Cable changes/adaptations
Library changes/adaptations
Cabinet changes/adaptations
Module requests
Other (to mop up some of the very specific requests)

Cable/library/cabinet are specific areas of the GUI and could be amalgamated, but that might be too much. I don't really like the "other" category, but it does give everything a place.

My other thought is that we could be a bit more self-selective, with challenge (there is some, I admit), this would start to reduce the sheer number of requests. Bluntly, not all requests are equal and treating them as such weakens the overall ask. There are also items that will be divisive, e.g. an iLok authorisation. I like this, but it suits my way of working. For some, it is treated as a necessary evil, and for a few it is a reason never to buy that software. I would say that I want it, but 30 others might not. We have to be careful about everything having equal weight.

The real point here is to get interest from CA, and it may be that they are already beavering away on the new version of VM that incorporates all of our wishes. Personally, I don't think they're going to engage, but I'd love to be wrong. Presenting something more pithy might help to engender that engagement.
GusGranite
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by GusGranite »

SpaceDog wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 10:23 am
GusGranite wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 1:30 pm
[...]

They only need to read the first post lol. I add all requests to the initial list in the OP 🙂
Don't get me wrong, this is a good idea and I appreciate your work in collating a huge set of requests. My purpose is more to give us the best chance of gaining some traction with CA. I'll be honest and say that I'm not convinced they will respond; however, I'm more than happy to be proved wrong on this one.

I had spotted the list; however, it's still a long, non-curated list. It would appear that CA aren't responding, so doing the same thing is likely to get the same response. How about folding up requests into groups, and maybe then prioritising and amalgamating...? For example:

Authentication and synchronisation
GUI (both global and module) changes/adaptations
Cable changes/adaptations
Library changes/adaptations
Cabinet changes/adaptations
Module requests
Other (to mop up some of the very specific requests)

Cable/library/cabinet are specific areas of the GUI and could be amalgamated, but that might be too much. I don't really like the "other" category, but it does give everything a place.

My other thought is that we could be a bit more self-selective, with challenge (there is some, I admit), this would start to reduce the sheer number of requests. Bluntly, not all requests are equal and treating them as such weakens the overall ask. There are also items that will be divisive, e.g. an iLok authorisation. I like this, but it suits my way of working. For some, it is treated as a necessary evil, and for a few it is a reason never to buy that software. I would say that I want it, but 30 others might not. We have to be careful about everything having equal weight.

The real point here is to get interest from CA, and it may be that they are already beavering away on the new version of VM that incorporates all of our wishes. Personally, I don't think they're going to engage, but I'd love to be wrong. Presenting something more pithy might help to engender that engagement.
Thank you, I do appreciate your input. You have some nice ideas.

However, I do not want to be too precious with the Cherry Audio developers. I speak with plugin, app and module developers every week. They jump in and out of their Discord servers, forums, Facebook groups. They answer questions, give feedback on idea submissions, etc. They don’t make their engaged customers work too hard. I think Cherry Audio have the opportunity to step this up a little after our efforts to share some requests. It definitely isn’t for me to try to prioritize the requests in any way. That is developer work achieved through follow up questions and internal assessment. Hopefully this thread will serve as a little nudge on how awesome Voltage Modular is and how much we care about it’s future.
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cherryaudio Robert
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by cherryaudio Robert »

We are watching this thread, and the items listed will be considered for future iterations of Voltage Modular. But I also need to be clear about a few other things.

- We are not working on the next major version of Voltage Modular at this time. We have some roadmap concepts, and plenty of good ideas exist in this thread and elsewhere (mostly from developers, we note). But a major version with significant features while maintaining backward compatibility with a massive number of modules is no small thing.
- As I said, the list is good and valuable. There is no need to prioritize it. That is indeed our job. Only we can judge what is possible in our platform and what features make sense, both technical challenges and market value.
- Voltage Modular is not abandoned. There have been two updates since the release of 2.5 last year, and twelve updates since the release of 2.0. We run several promotions each year, and Marketing continues to feature VM, the developers, and their modules on social media, the website, and the newsletter. If we did not care, there are more effective ways to kill a product. There has been absolutely zero discussion here about allowing VM to languish. We acknowledge that users in this business often equate a lack of major annual (at least) updates to "end of life." We just don't accept it.
- All those efforts take time and resources, and Voltage Modular and VM Designer represent about 10% of the catalog. As you say, Gus, "There is a good little Voltage Modular community to grow." Yes, it is little, but we still do what we can to grow it. The fact is that, just like the hardware market, the virtual modular market is a fraction of the entirety of what we'll call the desktop music market. We allocate our time and resources accordingly.
- We are still a small company with a small development team. The developers pay attention to this forum, the Facebook groups, and the items that Support and Marketing make sure they should see. Bugs and suggestions do go into our database and are tracked.
- But they do not necessarily have time to come into this thread and interact. This is why we don't hang on the Discord server. We regret that, but it's just a fact. We release about ten products a year and may do the same this year. We're working on multiple products at once. The development team has to be allowed to focus on what they do best. We appreciate that you started and maintain this thread in the forum we host, but that doesn't come with a promise that we'll meet your expectations about involvement.
- I'm sorry that some feel that we do not engage enough with our customers and that we have to "step up." We're going to have to agree to disagree. Frankly, I spend too much of my personal time engaging with Cherry Audio's customers on social media, email, YouTube, and other forums to accept your position. I'm not complaining. I love my job and our customers, fans, and partners. I think you're possibly viewing this through the narrow silo of Voltage Modular, which is just a portion of Cherry Audio's business. I understand that VM is the topic at hand here. But there is no single Voltage Modular developer, support team, or marketing team. There is Cherry Audio.
- We update (for free, of course) all of our products (including Voltage) with new features and to keep up in what seems to be the never-ending race of operating system and processor changes. That is not free, that is not easy, that is not profitable. But it's necessary for our business, for the developers, and for the users. Another macOS update is coming, and we want to avoid a repeat of the Ventura situation we dealt with last year.
- As others have "noted," there's little point in me coming in here and saying "noted" on a semi-regular basis :lol: That doesn't mean I'm not reading and noting. If I'm quiet, I'm probably busy doing the weekly newsletter, posting new content to the website, interacting on social media as Cherry Audio, or working on projects with the other team members.

I don't know if this puts anyone's mind at ease. For some, I suspect that nothing short of an announcement of Voltage Modular 3.0 with half the features in this thread would do that. But with the release of Novachord + Solovox behind me and the next thing in front of me, I at least wanted to add a frank reply that acknowledged that we're paying attention even if we can't meet the expectations on our level of engagement.

In the meantime, please keep them coming. There's no such thing as feedback that isn't valuable. Just keep in mind that we often have to weigh the suggestions from a different perspective.
Robert
--
Robert Saint John, Director of Marketing
Cherry Audio
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SpaceDog
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Re: Voltage Modular Feature Requests

Post by SpaceDog »

cherryaudio Robert wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 8:58 pm We are watching this thread, and the items listed will be considered for future iterations of Voltage Modular. But I also need to be clear about a few other things.

[...]

In the meantime, please keep them coming. There's no such thing as feedback that isn't valuable. Just keep in mind that we often have to weigh the suggestions from a different perspective.
Thanks, Robert. I'm a latecomer to the discussion, and Gus is doing all of the heavy lifting, so I'll be brief.

Whilst I didn't put my point in the same way as you replied, I couldn't see you engaging with a long wish list - but that didn't mean that I thought you were abandoning VM, just that in a world of limited resources this might not be an attractive place to use those resources. It seems that you are engaging, and in your own way, which is great to read and my thoughts on giving you something more pithy were needless. Thanks again.
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