RiffCaster and RiffLink down for updates Fri Jan 11th - Wed

[dug]

Hi!

The Sonoma Wire Works development team will be taking the RiffCaster and RiffLink servers down Friday Jan 11th through Monday Jan 16th (or until is done:)

Check back to hear about our progress. We're looking forward to showing you all what we've been up to.

cheers!
dug


UPDATE: Monday Jan 14th: We've finished copying the member profiles, RiffLink collaborations and RiffCasts over to the new server. We are currently updating all the data with the changes to the database tables and other geeky stuff. Things are going a little slower than anticipated, but no major snafus so far. Updated projection is probably Wednesday to go live on the new site, but don't make any large cash bets:)

UPDATE: Friday Jan 18th 2:34AM : RiffWorld (oops, did I just say that) is just about ready. Just tying up a couple of loose ends here and then we'll post the updaters. We're gonna roll them out in stages. First we'll post the Standard mac and windows updaters. Just launch RiffWorks and it will prompt you to download them. Line 6 Edition updaters will be posted on Monday or Tuesday. We don't want to kill the servers over the weekend while we're down in LA at the show. This will help spread the load out. I know Line 6 Edition people will be sad they have to wait a couple more days, but it will be better for everyone this way.

dug

[scott]

Can't wait guys!

Ooh! It's just like Christmas all over again!!

[mickeymix]

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scotty get busy my man!!!!!! Muahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[beauzeau]

DOH! MAAAAAN! I just reinstalled EVERYTHING on my computer tryin to get rid of an annoying little pop I was hearing. Yesterday, I logged on to rifflink and was able to jam for the first time in like two months. I had cleared my weekend for nothing but riffs. Oh well, guess I'll have to play with myself all weekend.

So does this mean the end of "beta" for rifflink (a year and 4 months in the making)? Sure will be interesting to see what's been in the works. And since NAMM is right around the corner, I hope for your sake that it's working and the switchover this weekend goes smoothly.

I CAN say that it's been nice not having to anticipate something this time around. It really sucked last time with the whole "end of first quarter 2006" thing. What made it so bad wasn't the waiting and waiting and waiting. What made it so bad was that we KNEW we were waiting, for something that promised to be really great (and it is). Thank you guys for not doing that to us again this time around. As it stands now, I only have to pull my hair out with anticipation for a few days while I ponder what you guys have added to an already stellar program!

Will we all get to hear everyone's drums? I remember someone telling me about a plan (tentative of course) to implement some sort of tiered thing whereby free members could hear but not change the drums, and paid members could hear and change the drums, or something like that. That does sound like a decent plan, but to me, ANYTHING that would allow everyone to at least HEAR the drums as arranged by the song author will be a welcome change.

Will the song author have the ability to lock the song bar somehow? I agree that "collaboration" means each contributor gets control. But also agree that each contributor shouldn't have ALL control if the author so desires. Ideally, I think there should be at least three levels of "control". Author, which has complete control, Artist, which is able to add layers to any existing riff (but not change anything about the song), and engineer, which would be a level similar to Author that is bestowed upon any artist by the song author. Of course, the song author could always opt to "override author control" and allow anyone to do anything they want to the song (kinda like it is now).

Another improvement, would be some way to limit the number of layers each artist gets on a particular riff. Yeah, I know, this is a touchy subject. Why stifle creativity huh? Well, not everyone realizes that if they leave 23 muted takes on a single riff, those takes STILL have to download every time someone opens the song, even though they aren't be used. Not everyone knows that you should delete all the other takes that you don't want to use. If it's not a keeper, it's not a keeper, and in the interest of keeping the song file as small as possible, takes that aren't needed, need to be deleted somehow, without relying on the original creator to do so. OR, there could be a limit, like 6 layers on a particular riff by a particular contributor. I can't imagine anyone needing more than six layers on a particular riff. Again, giving the author control over this would be great. When you create the song, there would be a little box where you can type in how many layers each contributor is allowed per riff.

What improvements, if any, have been made in regards to the UI? Are there more intuitive chat features for instance? (that one line of text per msg gets old quick, especially to verbose old farts like me). One thing I always thought would be nice is a talkback button so that we could opt to listen in on a dedicated talkback channel for any particular song.

Well, if any of you know what they're cooking up (beta testers,etc) feel free to chime in and let me know. I haven't been rifflinking over the last few months. Now that the slow season is upon me, I'm ready to once again spend some time jammin with the junkies. It's a bonus if Rifflink is getting a revamp!

[pooterpatty]

Oh well, guess I'll have to play with myself all weekend.

*insert joke here*

I do agree on almost all your points though. Especially about limiting the number of layers per riff/per contributor, though maybe instead of making that Sonoma's problem, we should all operate with a Riffworks "Code of Honor". There are certain Rifflinkers that will do 30 takes for one riff. No problem with that, I do it myself. But delete your unused layers after you're done please! If I see a song that has these few contributors in the list, I won't even try to open the song, as many times it crashes my RW completely. Not trying to start a pissing match, just stating a fact

[beauzeau]

Well, so far, the server hasn't been down. So I didn't have to play with myself today after all (insert joke here).

I didn't want to come right out and say "clean up after your guitar, and pick up your pooterpatties when you're done recording". But yeah, that's exactly what I meant. But I do assume that not everyone knows what bandwidth is. Not everyone realizes that for every one second of audio they upload, it means infinitely more time on the download side. In other words, you only have to upload it once, whereas, it has to be downloaded EVERY time the song is opened (if the person opening it hasn't opened it already of course). So if you leave 3 minutes of unused layers on a contrib, three hours of total collective jam time could be wasted within the next few days. BY THE GODS!

[pooterpatty]

Double word score for using my nick intelligently in a sentence, not an easy thing to do. Triple word score for using it in a way that pertains to the original conversation. Methinks there may be a bit of cunning linguist in you.


*insert joke here*

[Wedgebill]

Even I'm not going there on that one Pooter

[davenz]

Ah the old cunning linguist gag - an oldie but one that can't be beaten!

[Wedgebill]

You got an L in cunning Dave, slip of the tongue maybe ?

[davenz]

You got an L in cunning Dave, slip of the tongue maybe ?

Almost freudian!

[pooterpatty]

This thread has really gone downhill.


My work here is done

[chickshannon]

I'm just a blushing young new guy firstposter here, but this thread is leaving a nasty taste in my mouth.....

Greetings to you all. Hope to collaborate sometime when I've finally figured out how to do the wretched drums properly, get smooth transitions between riffs and ooohh...just about everything else !!
Cheers
Chick

[beauzeau]

Methinks there may be a bit of cunning linguist in you.


*insert joke here*

My wife says she doesn't get it.......

[beauzeau]

Hi Chick. And welcome! Hope we've made you feel right at home, right out of the box, so to speak. Don't let us discourage you in any way. Not all of the guys here are rude, insensitive, smertasses with nothing more to do than hijack threads and add our own spices (that's where that taste you mentioned is coming from), but we ARE trying as hard as we can to convert everyone. We will try to make it as comfortable as possible for ya.

And I commend you on your timing! They just took the server down and you likely won't be able to rifflink for the next few days! Exciting isn't it?!