RiffWorks review on Macsimumnews.com

[dug]

Frank Petrie at Macsimum News reviewed RiffWorks today. He didn't exactly love it, giving it a 4/10. He sited three issues that bothered him, saying "Not ready for primetime", but he didn't ask any questions about these problems, here in the forums or to support before publishing his article.

1. The "pan button" didn't work. I think he's talking about the Monitor pan knob which is disabled when hardware monitoring is turned on. If he's going to be harsh on me for using Enter instead of Return (see #2 below) what's with interchanging "button" and "knob?"

2. He says the manual says the "Enter" key will start recording, but on his keyboard, it's only the "Return" key. C'mon, that's picking nits at best! Both of my mac laptops say both Enter and Return on the same key, and the Kinesis Advantage that I use to keep my wrists healthy with all the coding I do, and so I can still play guitar, only says Enter on that key. Maybe it's different on the keyboard that came with his mac, but that's an easy fix in the documentation (which I've already updated), hardly a bug due to a bad "port".

3. Not enough drum content. He didn't even download the InstantDrummers that come with RiffWorks Standard, or ask us why he didn't have anything but the demo drummer installed. It says that it comes with 8 Instant Drummers all over our site, and they show up in the downloads directory. But rather than double-check, he just slammed us for having a quick way to go buy more. How selfish of us!

As you all know we take a lot of pride in our support and try to listen to our users when they have problems, so I'm pretty disappointed that he didn't take the time to even contact us about the couple of problems he had. We're very open to criticism so I'd love to hear about what you think about these problems or any others like them from you guys.

Feel free to read his article and post some feedback here:
http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/freshly_squeezed_reviews_an_affordable_drummer/

thanks,
dug

[ian]

It's just a poor review in my opinion. As you say, if he hasn't even bothered to ask about the features he had issues with, hardly worth paying attention to it.

As for the comment about the enter/return key...mercy. I bundle that comment with the customers I speak to looking for the 'any' key to get past the 'Press any key to continue' prompts.

I've been using Riffworks since release of v1. It has increased my guitar playing and enjoyment in making music immensely. I couldn't knock it if I tried.

Keep up the good work I say, super program.

[mickeymix]

Mos Def a poor review , probably written by a keyboard player ha ha....NOT a guitarist!

I left the reviewer a review of my own..short but sweet .

..
.
.humbly yours .........................Mike

[Maxe]

I'm not sure I've found the right review... The one I found is okay - not an in-depht review - that's for sure. But not negative at all. Here's a link

http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/riffworks_standard_gets_podcasting_features_more

It must be the wrong one - right?

[mickeymix]

I'm not sure I've found the right review... The one I found is okay - not an in-depht review - that's for sure. But not negative at all.
It must be the wrong one - right?

4/10 is not negative?
how about this

The Rind

This is, hopefully, a port. Nothing this ineffective should be a release candidate. For example, one of the Pan buttons did not function at all. And the manual says that I can turn on recording by hitting the Enter key. Wrong! It only worked when I hit the Return key.

And it’s extremely crass to pull down the menu to the different kits, only to have your browser launched and whisk you to a page with an assortment of different kits and rhythms at $10 a pop!

......
.
.

.......Mike

[ian]

Yeah Maxe, that is a different review, the one in question is linked at the bottom of Dug's post.

I've posted a lot of reviews on Harmony Central for gear I have owned and used over the years, and each time I have taken the time to fully use and understand each product, wether it was software or a guitar. Just seems to me this guy posted this review without really thoroughly looking at Riffworks.

It just riled me a bit when I read it, even my very first impression of RW was very good, and it hardly took a lot of brain power to work it out (i'm not one for reading instructions... =D)

[Maxe]

Okay I found the "right" review.... Auch! Should have been 10/4 - really.
I commented / spoke my mind out about RW and Sonoma. Read!
http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/freshly_squeezed_reviews_an_affordable_drummer/

Let's all tell them the truth!

[flytrap]

He's not worthy! These internet reviewers are so jaded by the piles of software that comes across their desk that they miss the diamond in the rough. All I could think about after trying out Riffworks was how killer an app it was and why it didn't come out sooner.

[Gerry]

Pretty poor reviewer, I think.

However, not very mature of you, Dug, to attack the reviewer on this forum to boost your ego from the chorus of "how dare you" from your established fans.

Either way, you must admit from reading this forum that your v2 drummer installation/availability is causing lots of confusion and issues for quite a few people, and most of them aren't novices with RW.

Perhaps you should consider packaging everything that is free and standard and "default" inside the same download and get rid of the oddness of seperately downloading bits and peices that are really part of what you've paid for.

[ShredRex]

Clearly the reviewer did not take the time to give the program a chance, but it also points out some deficiencies in the installation package, and documentation.

Alot of Mac users, and more technically proficient old school recording guys will dismiss Riffworks as a recording toy. I have heard that before.

Obviously he was expecting/looking for something else. Most guitarists will agree this is the best and easiest method to record guitar, and subsequently create songs. Granted it is not meant to be a "professional" platform. But I am proud of what I can and have produced from RW, and I do not consider it to be inferior to any other computer based recordings produced with any other software or methods.

Pretty harsh indeed at 4/10, but he is ill informed to say the least.

[strychninekid]

Well I had to put my 2 cents in. I agree ShredRex that old schoolers won't like it but I think with it's simplicity I think it rivals some good software. most need to realize it's made for the guitarist and they should get the most benefit from it. I know I do

Rich

[michelle]

I'll remove all comments about a person's character. Let's keep discussion related to the RiffWorks product please. No personal flames.

We appreciate fair and constructive criticism of RiffWorks, and enjoy reading all the kind words of support from RiffWorks users. It's hard working for years to produce a high-quality product like this that has gotten such rave reviews by its customers, then reading a harsh review. Pardon the emotion and sorry if it comes off as immature. We are just passionate about this product. We take criticism into consideration and we'll do all we can to make RiffWorks even better! That is our focus!

I reviewed Mac software at CNET for years and lead the Mac side of Download.com. RiffWorks is not a Mac port - it was designed from day one to be cross-platform. We love Macs. We went to MacWorld last year and had crowds of interested people who were impressed with what RiffWorks could do - and that was a beta. We let people play with the RiffWorks beta in between our demos at our MacWorld booth and some turned into immature artists who didn't want to give the demo machine back to the demo guy because they were having fun creating an entire song right there on the show floor. Now the full release of RiffWorks is even better! We'll probably be at MacWorld again next year and I hope we can impress Frank and other reviewers by showing it to them there. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about RiffWorks, though, and we can handle it . I know of other Mac software editors who already think RiffWorks is awesome and ready for prime time. However, we know there will be people who don't find what they need in RiffWorks, and that's fine. There are thousands of people who have found exactly what they need with RiffWorks and many more every day are finding that they love it! There's always room for improvement and that is what we strive to do.

[gatorjj]

Oh man...I flamed Michelle! Sorry Michelle...

[michelle]

Naw...I can handle it

[dug]

Gerry said:
"However, not very mature of you, Dug, to attack the reviewer on this forum to boost your ego from the chorus of "how dare you" from your established fans."

I didn't attack the reviewer. I rebutted the three things he dinged us on. I admit, my ego does feel good when people say they like RiffWorks, but I clearly asked for feedback on the things he criticized us for instead of hiding the fact that we got a bad review. These forums are here for everyone to read and post, not just our biggest fans.

and Gerry also said:
"Either way, you must admit from reading this forum that your v2 drummer installation/availability is causing lots of confusion and issues for quite a few people, and most of them aren't novices with RW."

Agreed. We have been updating documentation and trying to improve things as these issues come up. Many of the drummer installation issues are related to Line 6 Edition upgrades (which this reviewer was not.) I did immediately edit both the InstantDrummer page in the guide and the page with the horrible "ENTER" key on it in response to his article. Had he given me the chance, I would have edited them for him.

ShredRex said:
"but it also points out some deficiencies in the installation package, and documentation."

Yep. The documentation is a work in progress, and I have edited the two pages that were indicated in the review as insufficient. The guide will be set up soon to have users post their own experiences as well, which will be welcome input. It's really hard to write about the software that you understand all too well and explain it from the perspective of a total novice sometimes. Please let us know if there is anything else you feel is missing or incorrect in the documentation.

The main reason that all the InstantDrummers are not in the same install package with RiffWorks Standard, is they would make the download around 600MB. Breaking the download up into 150MB for RW and average of about 50MB each for the drummers seems like a good idea to me. I could be wrong. Tell us what you think.

The issues for Line 6 Edition users are more complex because they get 6 of their included drummers from Line 6, and they have to register to get the other 2 from us. Upgrading users also have old drummers from v1 that need to get copied to the new location. It's not dirt simple, we know, but we're trying to put the best possible support behind getting people up and running quickly, so they can get back to recording. Once you put that pain behind you, I think the new system we have makes getting more drums really easy to do when that new song idea hits and you want to find the right drums for it.

Again, criticism is welcome. Let us have it.

thanks,
dug