Ideas for Riffworks.

[d3drocks]

just some simple Ideas that could make riffworks more interesting in my opinion.
I know that riffworks goes for a really hardwareish feel, and instant drummer semi-fits for that.
I personally think that Riffworks needs a programmable drum machine. dont get me wrong, I absolutely love instant drummer. its great backup for my songs, but I feel less lazy when I program the drums myself. now, to stay with the feeling of hardware is not something thats all that hard to do (no pun intended). MPC would be a great thing to base it off of.





not your style? heres another absolute classic:



you could for sure fit a tab for this kind of thing in the "percussion" part, but this brings me to another small but possibly important feature.

multi-window setup.
one of the devs mentioned somewhere on here that its getting hard to fit new things into riffworks. multiple windows is a good route to go. it wont make riffworks any more difficult to use, since you already have VSTs in a seperate window, and it should feel right at home if you follow a simmilar workflow on the second/third/etc how many windows you use.

onto my next cool and quite simple Idea.
Custom skinning. this is definately not a must by any means, but I think it would be awesome to have a feature to load custom usermade skins on riffworks. ide personally love to have (or do) a dark skin, with blue lightups much as ReFX Nexus 2 does.

Quantize:
for those who dont know what quantize does, its for detecting off notes, and ajusting them to fit the time. this is generally done with midi, but it does however, work on audio recordings. melodyne does this quite well.

Time-Streching to tempo:
this is another usefull idea to help people get their really difficult riffs in without a hitch. while time streching algorythms generally sound really bad when you slow down audio with them, they work flawlessly almost 100% of the time when speeding the audio up. this would be great when you have an incredibly difficult lick, and you need to play it slower to get it in. if you have time streching attached to tempo, you could simply slow the song down, record, then speed it back up to its original speed.


thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope other users will find these to be interesting ideas as well.

[d3drocks]

...no one else likes these ideas?

[kwjolin]

I think a programmable drum machine would be good, there always seems to be something missing from Instant Drummers (a good build up, or a fill in the right spot).

My concern is that adding too much would take away from the simplicity of Riffworks that got me hooked on it.

Perhaps a Riffworks Pro version with all the bells & whistles for people wanting more?

I think Riffworks is perfect for a beginner at recording, but can easily see how people would want more without going to a different DAW (Acid Pro, Cubase, Ableton etc).

[Guitarshredder557]

Maybe they could develop this and sell it as an addon!

[Guitarshredder557]

And some other not so large of ideas or improvements could be.

1. Dragable layers to reorder them
2. Mix to riff, without dragging to song layer.
3. Improved file management system. (Recently opened file list for one thing)

[ShadowShredder]

And some other not so large of ideas or improvements could be.

1. Dragable layers to reorder them
2. Mix to riff, without dragging to song layer.
3. Improved file management system. (Recently opened file list for one thing)

4. Dragging a couple riffs to a seprate, smaller song box for soloing and singing instead of over the entire song

[Les]

Or this

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/maschine/

[atalwar]

I doubt drum programming would be possible in RW without implementing midi capability in it. and seriously it might be a bit overkill for RW as any decent sounding (acoustic) drum kit needs multi samples and velocity mappings etc.

Perhaps once riffworld and rifflink issues are fixed SW can look into making RW a bit extensible so they can release add on's and users can purchase as per need.

[ShredRex]

I have to agree with kwjolin on this one.........all great suggestions don't get me wrong........but what you are describing is why I am experimenting with Ableton. All of those features I wanted are in that program. Having said that Riffworks is all about keeping it simple, and still being able to record amazing quality tunes.

Inevitably as you learn and progress, you want more other things that seem to be lacking. But these additional features (like midi mapping drums) take more time, and is "over the head" of the average RW user. Not that i am saying the average RWS user is daft, but most of us are RWS users because we appreciate the simplicity.

I doubt RWS will ever start heading down the road of the DAW like program, because honestly there are already a million out there. But what RWS does, it does beautifully. From what you described, I would suggest you look at Ableton. If you have ever purchased a TonePort or some other Line 6 gear, you may already have a free workable copy..if not check out the demo.

No disrespect to Sonoma, I am not promoting Ableton, just pointing out it may better suit your needs if those features are something you are wanting in a recording program. Take it from me, as I am mapping my kits......I really start missing the instant drummer.......lol

[Wedgebill]

Now I'm not sure if I'm less than average and undaft or above average and completely daft. As daft as it might seem, I always thought I was about average and quite daft :rolleyes:

[pooterpatty]

Bill you're completely banana sandwich.

[blue4u]

Perhaps once riffworld and rifflink issues are fixed SW can look into making RW a bit extensible so they can release add on's and users can purchase as per need.

I wouldn't hold out for that but if it happens... MIDI and VSTi support as well as better implementation of VSTs on input and output are a must!

edit: ...removed pointless banter...

rock on! :rolleyes:

[michelle]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your suggestions as always! As many of you know we do read these threads, we can't always chime in too much publicly, but your suggestions help us plan future RiffWorks updates.

In response to "We haven't seen a new version in how long? Seems like it's been a couple of years at least!"

RiffWorks v2.5 update was in December 2008, just 7 months ago.
RiffWorks v2.2 in July 2008, less than a year ago.
RiffWorks v2.1 February 2007, 2 and a half years ago.

In response to, "RiffWorks T4! That was a step DOWN in functionality to get people using RiffLink."

In order to afford to put more development into RiffWorks Standard, we needed more people to buy it. So RiffWorks T4 (free edition) was launched and thankfully it's working. Because people like RiffWorks T4 and upgrade for more features, sales of RiffWorks Standard are at a record high. Luckily T4 users enjoy RiffWorks for many reasons, not just RiffLink . We know that people want more, and we plan to offer more in the future.

Thanks for enjoying RiffWorks, for your suggestions and for hanging in there.

Cheers,
Michelle

[d3drocks]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your suggestions as always! As many of you know we do read these threads, we can't always chime in too much publicly, but your suggestions help us plan future RiffWorks updates.

In response to "We haven't seen a new version in how long? Seems like it's been a couple of years at least!"

RiffWorks v2.5 update was in December 2008, just 7 months ago.
RiffWorks v2.2 in July 2008, less than a year ago.
RiffWorks v2.1 February 2007, 2 and a half years ago.

In response to, "RiffWorks T4! That was a step DOWN in functionality to get people using RiffLink."

In order to afford to put more development into RiffWorks Standard, we needed more people to buy it. So RiffWorks T4 (free edition) was launched and thankfully it's working. Because people like RiffWorks T4 and upgrade for more features, sales of RiffWorks Standard are at a record high. Luckily T4 users enjoy RiffWorks for many reasons, not just RiffLink . We know that people want more, and we plan to offer more in the future.

Thanks for enjoying RiffWorks, for your suggestions and for hanging in there.

Cheers,
Michelle

offoring a free version is ALWAYS a better marketing ploy. alot of companies put annoyances in demos which turns people off. if it wasnt for T4, I probably wouldnt have bought riffworks as well.

[ShredRex]

You never know maybe Riffworks will continue to evolve, and eventually have more advanced features......I as well as many of you (even the complete banana sandwich) would probably welcome that. I am pretty sure it has been discussed before, there could/should be a lite version with the great basics we all know and love.......and then fuller more DAW like and maybe even midi capable version.

I for one would support that, and gladly pay the additional amount to upgrade to a midi capable version. There was also talk, or more of wish list suggestion, to add some sort of mastering suites or software.......again I would pay for that. If I can figure out how to use it all.............lol

Bottom line is RWS still kicks serious bootay....and could be a whole heap better with some small additions. Mind you my idea of a small addition, like integrating a programmable drum machine....and Sonoma's idea of simple in comparion to the programming involved to implement such an idea....may be vastly different