Alchemy Mobile, a Marketing Lesson.

EDIT: Syncing your own sounds is now possible according to the changelog, but I had no time to test this.

Alchemy on desktop is one of my absolute favorite synths ever. As I learned that there will be a mobile version I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I got it now and played around with it.

Though, Alchemy mobile is more like Alchemy player mobile rather then full Alchemy, but this is ok since the initial download is free :D
Just like the player it consists basically of the synth engine, the performance area and basic tweaking knobs for filter and envelopes. In addition it features a neat loop player, allowing you to import loops for playalong.

The pro version is available as in app purchase allowing you to remote control Alchemy on your computer and import sounds from libraries you purchased. But other then Alchemy or Alchemy player: It is not possible to import the sounds that you created yourself. According to Camel audio this feature is planned for the future.

But the features are not very inovative, I have the same control surface already created in midi touch and touch OSC. Furthermore the bold marketing claims of Camel audio set the wrong expectations, toning the experience down a bit: Alchemy is not the most powerfull synth on the iPhone, this does injustice to Jasuto, Crystal etc. who allow you to create your own patches and not just alter existing ones at a lower pricetag. Also the claim that Alchemy is the first dedicated remote for a soft synth is not true: Spectrasonic Omnisphere TR is out since ages. 

Don't get me wrong. All in all Alchemy Mobile is great fun but the price for the pro version is completely injustified for a mere toy. This will change as soon as it will be possible to import your own sounds, but until then let this be a marketing lesson in how not to advertise your product. It is also not a good idea to start with a high intro price and lower it later. It is better practice to announce a low intro price period: you will sell shitloads of software and then later go to a regular price. This way you do not annoy your early adopters.

That said, I encourage everyone to get the other amazing products from Camel Audio: Alchemy and Camel phat end up in almost every track I create and are rock solid, efficient, inspiring and versatile tools!

The Future of Media Production

Now, this is some interesting development. Novacut, a Project financed by a Kickstarter campaign implements a webkit based user interface. 

Big deal, Apple did it with iOS and Google did it with Android, so are you about to tell us something new?

Hopefully yes: I have a dream, the dream is a software that provides raw functionality for media editing and generating. 

It needs a timeline, to arrange, syncronize, animate and automate in order to ultimately enable telling of stories,  

The timeline has to be able to sequence all kinds of data. 

The accuracy should be infinitely divisible (beyond tick/frame)

It needs absolute, raw data routing flexibility ( I mean that literally, I want to route a video to an audio channel and listen to the raw data stream, or maybe only the variations of red from the 3rd pixel)

In order to make use of this raw data routing requires intelligent interpretations of the media. This counts for copy/paste as well.

It needs a powerful database to quickly find stuff from your stock, let that be samples/loops, film clips, or a control lane. 

Alongside the database it needs a metadata miner using audio analysis and computer vision.

It shall be cross platform and support as many current extension standards as possible (VST, AU, FxPlug, Ladspa, dssi, directX etc…)

those features I am talking about should not be implemented into a GUI, but a server.

This server shall be accessible over different protocols to provide maximum flexibility how to interface functionality.

All functionality needs to be implemented modular, as plugin to the core server.

Plugins shall be available in central repository (lets not say app store :P ), available for installation if required.

All this will allow for maximum flexibility and scalability.

Some practical examples:

A http Interface: 

Open your browser, enter the servers address, use a HTML5, or better, a WebGL GUI and start producing.

Thanks to the abstraction of interface and function server the way you create can look however you want. 

Do you like music trackers like renoise? 

Connect with a terminal and off you go.

Running out of DSP power on one of your machines?

Add a second server as a slave.

Want to use a mac AU that is not available on your Linux workstation?

Start the server on the mac and slave it to your localhost

Do you like collaborative jamming or bouncing ideas?

Connect to the same server with multiple users.

User interfaces could be as simple as one record button or as complex as a modular patch bay with non interlocking tracks on different speeds in the timeline.

This would even be a way to move media production into the cloud.

Why should anyone desire this kind of inconsistent environment?

Well, this kind of framework would enable more people to build simple access to media production.

I was looking at whats happening with REAPER, Usine, Max for live or Renoise.

Decentralizing this kind of power, making it platform independent, open it up wider. That would be amazing wouldn't it?

I hope someone crazy enough to take that kind of project on has read this article. 

Sound Design VS Instrument Design

Back in the 90s people spent thousands in order to get a few presets on a hardware. Devices like the EMU Proteus 2000 where basically nothing else but a ROM chip full of samples and some subtractive synthesis modules (cool filters) and an FX chip. Today is not much different, but you usually get Kontakt player or something similar instead. Both times have something in common though: the buyers usually use the presets as given and only modify them with the pre mapped controllers. My point is that there is more to sound design then just engineering or recording the audio material, but a good sound designer programs a complete instrument. Something that allows, or even better, inspires a good performance. Back in the days people shelled out a grand in order to get the "Virus" or "Supernova" sounds. But you always got an inspiring interface along. Today all the mapping is often up to the musician... no wonder everyone is drawing automation instead of performing it.

Sound collections should be delivered with mappings for popular controllers,  touchscreen devices have made it extremely simple to create custom and inspiring interfaces wich could be bundled with any digitally distributed sound set. And even dedicated hardware controllers have become very cheap, such as the Novation remote SL series providing xy pads, Pitch mod sticks and after touch (not polyphonic though) close enough together to control all of them with two hands (I think the Impulse with mod/pitch wheel is a step back).

The importance of a good controller mapping is very well illustrated by this video showing the use of an Haken Audio controller to control the sounds recorded earlier:

Amon Tobin's Making of ISAM sounds

It is not the sounds alone that make the magic happen, but the performance manipulating them afterwards.
This is the reason why I am looking forward to the future, at things like the Linnstrument. Or maybe we might even get a velocity and touch sensitive smartphone/tablet computer one day? Who knows, but today a simple mapping could lead to more interesting songs and productions. I think people who purchase sounds want to perform, not map or worse spend their time programming controller modulation behavior  I hope someone creating a sound set right now finds this inspiring :)