Please help with Your experience in using Pulsar/Scope

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 8:46 pm

That's a good idea. Cakewalk has a whole section on their site where they interview and advertise artists who use Cakewalk products. If CreamWare has a page like that -- full of happy smiling faces -- it's good marketing. Links to everyone's Web sites. I make it very clear on my own Web site that I use CreamWare products, so it's a good sign for newbies.

CW's Web site MUST be completely redesigned from the ground up. SFP at the moment looks "nice" but doesn't come off as being "cool." In reality it's one of the hottest things on the market, but the marketing text doesn't make it sound that way. It has to sound like the most amazing product ever conceived for the PC, and you'd be a fool not to buy into the best synth and recording platform available. (OK, something along those lines...)

Noah's text is more inviting, but SFP almost sounds boring. It shouldn't be that way.

Shayne

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:22 am

For me, pure ease of use.

I used to have a lot of outboard gear and just turning everything on and making sure that it was all configured correctly for the piece I was working on could take so long that by the time it was all up and running, it was time to turn it all off again...

I'm also starting to get hooked on the modular synth too...a very enjoyable and rewarding learning curve.

Royston

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:54 am

Hi Fortune, or should we say Fortune @ Creamware now?

I would like to point out this thread:
http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... forum=5&58
...where we discussed various ways of marketing SFP. Maybe you'll get inspired by it!

Also it would be good to have some news and updates on the website because everything has gone silent again since the "out of insolvency" announcement more than a month ago, and it's almost another month till Musikmesse.
If you wait till then, it means you've had almost 5 months of silence (since the release of the Prodyssey, and excluding the out of insolvency announcements by Frank, which really didn't give us any confirmations about anything). This is not good for your customers relations! You must let people know what you're working on.

[ This Message was edited by: King of Snake on 2004-03-08 06:54 ]

[ This Message was edited by: King of Snake on 2004-03-08 07:04 ]

fortune · Post by **fortune** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:33 am

Hi,

according to news and more activities on the CW-website I can tell you we are working on that and we hope to have it running within a fourtnight. Well, just yesterday my girlfriend said: double yourself and anything will be fine . But then who is the one to do the job and who the one to have the fun? Ok, both is fun

cheers
Fortune

P.S. Yep! Fortune @ Creamware now!

[ This Message was edited by: fortune on 2004-03-08 07:35 ]

[ This Message was edited by: fortune on 2004-03-08 07:40 ]

scary808 · Post by **scary808** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 3:52 pm

On 2004-03-07 20:46, Shayne White wrote:
Cakewalk has a whole section on their site where they interview and advertise artists who use Cakewalk products.

There are some pretty big names using this stuff. BT for one. Another is a member of planet Z but not a regular poster. His name is Dynamix II(aka Dave Noller). He is one of Electro's pioneers. Interviewing these high profile users & puting it on the website would be a great sales tactic. Native Instruments does this al the time as well. From mainstream to the real underground geniuses, their users always raise my brow.

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 10:45 pm

I think a more pro-active information campaign re: CWA solvency is really important. Ali fron CWA US/CAN support informed me that Steinberg has apparently been telling people that CW is out of business!

The statement on the CWA website is great, but my guess is that a lot of potential customers don't think to check it as it's supposedly a dead & buried company.

As many people (like myself) call/email around to the developers & forums of software they use before they buy anything major, promoting publicly CWs return to black OUTSIDE of its own community is crucial and needs to happen more.

Also, I think the fact that our cards can act as hardware, independant of any other drivers, is pretty important and cool. We sort of take it for granted, but we essentially have hardware synths, tools, & FX without any need for latency inducing ASIO or DirectX drivers. True Plug & Play; more like an amp than a plug!

The more people understand that they're not just buying FX & synths to throw into Cubase/Sonar/Samplitude, but access to just about every Boss effects pedal, filter/processor, (bass)POD, midi tool, patch cable, tone generator, hardware synth rackspace, mixer, merger, splitter, and misc tool they're likely to ever need, a workbench to make what they feel is lacking, without taking up any more space than their PC already does at a fraction of the price of any real-world counterpart --but with no real sacrifice in quality-- BEFORE they open their sequencer and VST/DX stuff, the less likely they will be to be confused about what the SFP platform really is.

THAT'S what separates us from the Powercore and UAD.

Also, this isn't directly related to marketing, but I think changing the timer on plugs to a ping or periodic dropout would allow people to get to know the plugs a little better before we are forced to decide.

Not everyone here is a seasoned audio engineer, and it can really be frustrating to not have enough time to make it all come together.

That's why we've gone the home studio route instead of paying for some schmoe whose more skilled at gear bias than he/she is open to new ideas about what music should be. But that requires us to go through a lot of learning curves (I'm just starting to be able to really start cutting through songs while wearing all the production hats) ...and the one hour we get before a plug demo self-destructs will not be enough to sell most people on anything as they haven't had enough time to learn how to make it sing yet. I've been hesitant to go to the bathroom while demoing plugs cause I didn't want to squander any time. If it has to expire, go the eMagic route and let demoes run for three months. Once a plug is in several projects, we'll HAVE to buy it just to keep working. That's how you sell digital tools like they're crack rocks. Once someone's 'rocked, they can't stop.

Thanks for listening to our suggestions. I look forward to continuing this discussion.

Sam

fortune · Post by **fortune** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 2:45 am

Hi,

thanks a lot for Your postings and please carry on!

@Scary808:
It is very helpful to me to get hints on "pretty big names" i.e. more prominent users. As Soon as I've finished my current task to do the stuff for the new CW-handout I'm going to start the journal on CW-website with interviews, artist-profiles, user tipps & tricks etc. btw.: John Cooper is going to be the 1st to be presented there

@Sam / dehuszar
Very interesting & helpful indeed. Actually I did already point out at CW that routing and get the system running needs to be explained for a far more easy access so a newbie can have his 1st homestudio with a Scope system. I agree "life-time" of a demo-plug has to be more userfriendly. I put this point on my list for the next meeting @ CW.

Cheers
Fortune

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 3:20 am

Yep, in a nutshell, Sam

Ben Walker · Post by **Ben Walker** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:20 am

On 2004-03-09 02:45, fortune wrote:
@Scary808:
It is very helpful to me to get hints on "pretty big names" i.e. more prominent users. As Soon as I've finished my current task to do the stuff for the new CW-handout I'm going to start the journal on CW-website with interviews, artist-profiles, user tipps & tricks etc. btw.: John Cooper is going to be the 1st to be presented there

You've probably already thought of this, but John Bowen would definitely be a prime candidate. As you know, his name is linked to some of the most revered devices in Synth history, he's done bespoke work for Hans Zimmer, the synths he's made for the Pulsar are absolutely outstanding.

An interview / feature with John would not only promote Pulsar as the leading solution for virtual synths, but would also promote the Zarg line, which is good for both Zarg and CWA. In terms of 3rd party developers, John is your most valuable resource in terms of credibility and marketing potential (no offence to the many other outstanding 3rd parties out there.)

Cheers,
Ben

Ben Walker · Post by **Ben Walker** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:25 am

Oh yeah, Stephen Hummel quotes Charlie Clousier from Nine Inch Nails as a Wavelength synth user - don't know if that's still the case, but that's another 'big name' worth investigating.

Also, how about Geoff Downes - you had him promoting your stuff - how but interviewing him about his experiences?

Ben

_________________
<a href="http://www.modularsynth.co.uk" target="_blank">www.ModularSynth.co.uk</a>

[ This Message was edited by: Ben Walker on 2004-03-09 04:26 ]

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 6:12 am

Also, from the Adern website, psy-trance guru's Astral Projection also use CW/Flexor system.

btw. Fortune, how many people are now working on CW's marketing? Or is it just you?

And also: it's great that you seem intent on working together with us users in this way. I hope you and all the other people at CW will keep this level of communication up in the future.

[ This Message was edited by: King of Snake on 2004-03-09 06:15 ]

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 6:36 am

I'am gonna bump the King of Snake thread on marketing that I missed.

In the meantime, I still favor presets showdown instead of songs because there's a probability you just don't like them even if they sound very good + the suspicions they have been enhanced ...

On the other hand presets don't lie, take the most prominent, sort by category : leads, pads, FX ... etc with internal FX, with no FX, so that the purists who seek the true emulations could be satisfied.

I don't know how much space and bandwidth CWA has so try to pack as much as possible and just the necessary time, very quick fades or no fades at all ( a very short silence ).

The difficult part is to balance the encoding ( depending on the space ) less filetime high encoding or the reverse.

mp3 VBR 160 to 224 kbits and over, it's big but ...

Ogg Vorbis would be a winner, but unfortunately not everyone is ready to make an effort if they don't have the proper fileplayer.

Like was said, SFP has many facets, just expose all of them.

I agree partly about the VA's strategy, making more excellent emulations so that the purists could say that the best VA's are on CWA but what annoys me is that there are several duplicate on the native markets.

The person who has bought one of the Minimoog ( Arturia's or the coming Ohmforce ), Oddity, B4 ... many more to come ( an Oscar on SFP ? )

That's already 3 potential missed sales ( on the short term ) and less attraction. On the other hand if the cards comes permanently with " pick one or two synths of your choice ".

I don't know where CWA makes more money ( cards, devices, which one ... etc ) so don't make suicidal choices.

Oh, I wish CWA continues on his emulation trend but balances it somewhat or really expose all the third party creations ( even the freebies ) no doubt with the opening of the DP / SDK, we'll see more and more.

New cards are vital though, I hope this year or the beginning of the next.

Opening of DP / SDK, new site / marketing, new cards to hit the nail ...in that order ... that should hurt the competition !

Stige · Post by **Stige** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 6:43 am

Personally I think SFP as a replacement of Pro Tools (pro fools). But much less expensive and much more versatile. Both has the same concept, complete studio (mixing, FX) running with DSP cards, instead of native CPU. I'm sure, if somebody knows what pro tools is, he/she can get an idea of SFP too. And in addition, SFP offers unique routing which makes it most powerful DSP based solution ever.

[ This Message was edited by: Stige on 2004-03-09 06:45 ]

fortune · Post by **fortune** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 7:22 am

Hi,

@Ben Walker:
Of course John Bowen is VIP! And: You're a candidate on my list as well

And there are quite a lot being relevant to be presented. So by now I'm thinking about splitting the concept: having one artist and one developer with a focus each month. Beside this there might be some kind of list/database with short info on each til the interview or portrait is done.

You see this is something completely new to CW-website and You can imagine how much work this is and even me writing most stuff first not im my native language - but this is a good training

@King of Snake
this conceptual/writing part of the marketing-task is nearly complete on my shoulders at the moment. A colleague of mine from our editorial office is too busy with his project "Inca Hunters" w. Carlos Peron.

>>And also: it's great that you seem intent on working together with us users in this way. I hope you and all the other people at CW will keep this level of communication up in the future.<<
Well, that's my intention!

@decimator
Presets are useful for people having a Scope-System, those having none will get a taste of the sound and posibilities by demosongs. I believe there will be a good variety.

cheers
Fortune

[ This Message was edited by: fortune on 2004-03-09 07:28 ]

[ This Message was edited by: fortune on 2004-03-09 07:29 ]

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 7:32 am

fortune wrote:

You can imagine how much work this is and even me writing most stuff first not im my native language - but this is a good training

Hi Fortune

Nice to hear the voice of Creamware echo in these halls...

If you need any help with proof reading ... I'd be glad to help!

Royston

fortune · Post by **fortune** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:02 am

Hi Royston,

thanks! I think Your help will be valuable when I'm doing the text for the contest.

cheers
Fortune

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:34 am

Fortune, if CWA has plenty of webspace, well go both ways !

But I can't recall *any* song that made me think : oh, I want this synth or FX now !!!

Furthermore songs generally use some presets and don't necessarily show what a synth is capable of.

Ohmforce are doing harsh A/B/C tests : http://www.melohman.com/index.html

Real Minimoog / theirs / Arturia's.

Pain for the ears, but to prove how close / far from the real thing, it's also a way.

They consider including Minimax in the test.

After eating some, I'll post what I've in mind from the files I recorded during my prodyssey demo time : I have it now !

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 10:40 am

@decimator
Presets are useful for people having a Scope-System, those having none will get a taste of the sound and posibilities by demosongs. I believe there will be a good variety.

I think what he meant is mp3/wav recordings of just preset sounds instead of whole songs, not the preset files themselves.
I would tend to agree with this, or do it like the guy who did the Morpheus patch for modular (sorry can't remember who it was). He made some awesome demo's using just one patch at a time.

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:18 am

King of Snake, here's what I meant ...

Mp3 or Ogg Vorbis

27 presets in disorders, 4min 20, 6.5 Mb both

mp3 in 160 to 224 kbits VBR quality 0, quality high, I used Cdex 1.50
Ogg in Oggdrop, quality 5

It's rather loud, sometimes clipping ( sorry ) but I prefer that over " what did you say ? " demos !

4 files like this and it's 100 presets " in your face ".

The goal is to balance the different types of presets a synth or FX has to offer.

It wasn't too much the case in my file.

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 12:56 pm

Another option is AAC. Personally I'm a fan of Ogg Vorbis, but I understand that most people probably don't have an Ogg Vorbis player. Quicktime, however, is quite widespread and most people have it. AAC delivers far better quality than MP3 and has a wide market.

Shayne