In the previous newsletter I sent out a customer survey for the first time ever.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. I was truly overwhelmed with the amount and the positivity of your feedback. This work can be isolating sometimes when I'm typing away here in my half-basement and thinking about new sounds and new UIs, so let me get a little mushy on you and say from deep in my feels: your kind messages gave me more certainty that I'm doing the right stuff, and more energy to continue on the path.
I have some tangible results to share that might be of interest to you too, so let's dive in!
Aalto being our most popular synth jibes with what I've been seeing over the years. It's something special and I'll work to keep it that way. Kaivo and then the new Sumu come after that, and Virta and Aaltoverb a ways down. again, no surprises.
This is cool because along with the first question it gives us a (bought / used it recently) ratio, which is the best quantative measure I can think of for “did I make something useful?” Aalto here is a perennial favorite, and Sumu leads the pack—though that's skewed of course because it has not been out for that long. Virta is looking the saddest and that gives me some ideas for how to make it more accessible. Honestly I think the “it's a synth, it's an effect too!” approach makes it a bit confusing. That’s something I can work on.
Let the OS wars begin! (seriously tho, ack, no no no let's not.) Um, I work hard to make good interfaces that are sometimes opinionated and design-forward, and it makes sense this would connect with a Mac crowd. Windows is well-represented though, and definitely not a second-class citizen here. Honestly given the missteps made by both Apple and Microsoft in software over the last year (UI eye candy nobody wants, forcing adware and AI slop on us, ignoring fundamental usability problems), both companies are on my shit-list right now. So to that 4% of Linux folks, I completely get it and we're making slow but real moves in your direction.
Ableton Live? Never heard of it, I'll have to try that one someday. Just kidding, it's my daily driver and it's no surprise that's true for a lot of you as well. Bitwig beating out Logic for second place is a bit of a surprise. I'm happy to see our affordable weird cousin Reaper rounding out the top 4.
This was interesting. Combined interest in new effect plugins is about twice that of interest in a new app. Now that doesn't mean we will take one course and not the other. (¿Por qué no los dos?) There are good reasons for making an app even if it's only the top pick of 25% of our customers. But honestly I guessed these numbers would be the other way around. Amazing what you learn when you ask people!
As far as the quantitative data go, this one makes me feel good about letting our freak flag fly. Sorry about the formatting here, but you can get the idea. Novel, experimental effects are in the lead, followed closely by other kinds of tools that could frankly also be in the novel/experimental category. What there's not much interest in is "Established effects with that Madrona Labs sauce." I love all the software bebs, including Aaltoverb, but my understanding now is that we should keep fishing for ideas deeper down in the ocean of new and different sounds. It's kind of what we do, and I'm happy to see it's why you're here.
Wow, nice! As a User Research Professional and mediocre Data Analyst, I love to see these insights. Always a good idea to ask the people :)
The response is the message. It looks like you're still tapped into the hive-mind, and even without the nuance of the data, your efforts are inherently hip.
Exploration is what makes creating so exhilarating, and neat sounds are so much more accessible than descending the Challenger Deep or space tourism.