AmpGUI DP Themes (now at AMPGUIMODS.NET)

[dgraf]

OK - I was hoping against hope that this was a joke - April Fools and all. So I jumped on line this morning fully expecting to see the "ha,ha" waiting. If this is serious it is really tragic. These mods have made DP a joy to work with, and the ability to change things up after staring at the same screens for hours on end (especially the "wee" hours) can sometimes wring a little more "gas" out of the creative process. It seems to me that there must be a "middle path". Why must it be MOTU to the rescue? Though I think it would be great if they did, it seems to me that it is up to us as a community to be willing to pay for what we want/need. They give us what in their opinion is the best possible interface - but lets face it - we are a pretty diverse bunch, and there is no way they are going to please all of us. But they have made it possible to change things up. What I am getting to is a simple question. How many of the folks who have downloaded the mods have made a reasonable donation? I understand that Andy can't outright charge for these things. But I know that I had downloaded 3 different mods, 2 of which I use all the time, before I got around to hitting the "donate" button. I guess what I am saying is that if we all voted with our pocketbooks, perhaps Andy could hang in there a while longer. I personally am heading to his site right now and "voting" again. Andy - we need you!

[Shooshie]

I urge everyone not to get pissed off. That's not appropriate here, and it's the last thing that Amplidude would want. I want to come out in support of what he has done, and iPerformer as well, without coming down on MOTU. They may not realize how important this is to many of us. Technically, it's not even something their EULA allows. But they deliberately made it a lot easier for us to do this in DP 7.1, and it took some programming to make that happen. I think they're aware of us.

It may be that MOTU is just going to let it be "ok" for us to do this, and those who do will have to accept that it's a labor of love with some donations involved. But MOTU could show a little support of this (a blurb on the website) and give these guys a little more latitude to make it worth their while. It's very time consuming to make even a single mod. I doctor up my mods to give me certain things that I want, and it takes me some time to do it if I want it to look professional.

Anyway, MOTU has not committed any evil acts here, so PLEASE do not start a "get down on MOTU" movement. I just think they are making a mistake by not offering a little support to the guys whose mods are making DP look better than any DAW on the planet right now.

Be respectful to Amplidude by keeping this civil and respectful to all involved, I beg you.

Shooshie

[Shooshie]

What I am getting to is a simple question. How many of the folks who have downloaded the mods have made a reasonable donation? I understand that Andy can't outright charge for these things. But I know that I had downloaded 3 different mods, 2 of which I use all the time, before I got around to hitting the "donate" button. I guess what I am saying is that if we all voted with our pocketbooks, perhaps Andy could hang in there a while longer. I personally am heading to his site right now and "voting" again. Andy - we need you!

I think the point is that the mods would need to get a LOT more exposure -- the kind that only MOTU can give -- for it to become worthwhile for Andy and iPerformer to keep doing this. MOTU doesn't have to hire them. They don't have to pay them royalty. But what would it hurt to give them some visibility?

I've donated multiple times, but the core few of us who do so are not going to keep Andy afloat. Only a large number of people can do that, and it would really be helpful if MOTU allowed them to charge something like $10 per mod download. The mistake that I see MOTU making is that this is something that is making DP look great. A lot of people are seeing it and commenting on the great look. That's cheap advertising, MOTU. I hope you will consider giving at least our two guys a break.

Shooshie

[corbo-billy]

For the new GUI that I like, it would have been necessary before artists such as Andy & IPerformer make contact with MOTU before releasing their GUI, perhaps.
If you observe the situation well, the company MOTU is stuck on this problem and it needs to hire, employ such persons on the work of the GUI because I do not think they will do much better.
One must consider that they should be working on version 8 of D.P. and technically or commercially, they can not admit their error in public.
I see it like that but perhaps digress!
This is paradoxical in addition to the good functioning of DP _ (Sorry for the language)

[labman]

If Amplidude throws in the towel, I'm going to be one depressed MOTU-citizen. I thought MOTU were making it easier for us with the "Substitutions" folder in the Resources folder. I thought maybe that was going to lead to an announcement. Some kind of official support. Understand, I'm not down on MOTU; just disappointed that something SO wonderful is being bypassed without a word. If something can make me this excited about using software that I've been using since basically about 1986, plus Composer before that, then there is something very special about that.


Shooshie

100 agree on all counts.

[amplidood]

You know, Corbo has a point. I really thought about all that before I started, but ultimately feel I made the only decision that could be made. I *had* a short dialogue with MOTU very, very early on. I wouldn't feel the way I feel now if I hadn't.

It had to happen this way. I wasn't in a position in the beginning to make anything truly legitimate. That's not true anymore, but the process may have put MOTU in too awkward of a position. Honestly, it's really not awkward at all to me now, but like I've said over and over... noone can make MOTU do anything they don't want to do.

I can't say enough times that it's my love of the app and my desire to see it continue to succeed that drove me to do any of what I did. I didn't start making donations possible till I felt I had something on a truly pro level.

[dave pine]

maybe you can do updates and make donations mandatory, it'll keep money rolling, even if people donate $1X2....3......4.....thousand?

[crduval]

This seems odd. The difference between buying a third party plug in and paying for a ui change is only that MOTU explicitly agreed to provide an interface for plugins as opposed to the ui (which CAN be changed, but there is no explicit agreement that it should be).

I could imagine MOTU might choose to void support for those who change the ui (seems extreme, but is defensible), but I don't understand the opposition to amplidude getting a few bucks for his work.

[James Steele]

I'll tell you right now what a good deal of the problem is and it's why music downloading and piracy is a problem-- most people won't pay for something they can get free. A few of us have made donations but I'm sure we're a very small minority. I used to ask for donations to help defray hosting costs for this board. I limited the donation to $1 per individual. I averaged THREE DOLLARS PER MONTH.

As far as placing blame: to all those who downloaded and have been using Andy's mods and haven't donated so much as a buck, go look in the mirror, you cheap freeloaders.

That reminds me-- I have two pirates to kick off the board today.

[labman]

This is all very interesting, in a very sad kinda way. (Please keep in mind that we here, are huge MOTU users and fans. We actually left go of major PT TDM rigs to go full bore MOTU) Reminds me of 20 or so years back, when I was on a product team that was developing an add-on to MOTU Performer, to fill some of the missing power features set. Everything was developed nicely, and on many occasions the product was pitched directly to MOTU, who said each time that the product wasn't needed, and that they were not interested. Well, low and behold, about two incremental versions later of Performer, almost every one of the concepts and implementations of the third party product were now found to be 'features' directly inside of Performer. You guys probably use these 'features' every day in your work. I cant discuss the specifics due to NDA agreements, but you get the picture. (My personal role was not on the front end in dealing with MOTU. I was just a consultant)

So the real drag is that Andy and iPerformer have done some serious work, and I hope MOTU makes it worth there while somewhere along the line. (To 'my' knowledge, the third party which I was associated with was never compensated by MOTU in any way)

I personally, given my eyes, would not work with DP 6 or 7 w/o something like GOld Complete. End of story.

[James Steele]

So the real drag is that Andy and iPerformer have done some serious work, and I hope MOTU makes it worth there while somewhere along the line. (To 'my' knowledge, the third party which I was associated with was never compensated by MOTU in any way)

I'm sure Andy would probably agree that they took on this venture "speculatively" and that MOTU never entered into any sort of agreement to compensate them or make it "worth their while." There was a time when we were just happy that MOTU never stepped in and asked that these mods not be distributed.

I think any anger directed toward MOTU is displaced and the real blame falls on a user community that has a large contingent of people who were unwilling to put their money where their mouths were and donate for the mods that they were using. Again, as I stated, when this board solicited donations, for all the "talk" about how valuable a resource this board was, I averaged three $1 donations per month. (I purposely limited the donation to $1.) Actually, what happened is there was an initial surge by the hardcore users here, and then it trickled off.

I do hope Andy continues to make the work he has done so far available. Also, as you all know, I don't go out of my way to criticize MOTU, but MOTU should keep in mind that had there not been such widespread dissatisfaction with the post version 5 GUI, we wouldn't even be discussing this right now.

[Radiogal]

I´m still hoping this is an April Fool´s joke..
Loosing Amplidoods GUI would really upset me and have a negative impact on my workflow and experience.
I´m working with DP professionally on a daily basis, using GUI Gold Complete.
Going back to DP´s original GUI would realy kill my eyes, for a start, but also a lot of productivity and ceativity!
Not to forget to mention that the AMP GUI gives me so much more joy, it´s making my DP experience so great and "complete".
For sure DP with the AMPGUI is a "bling factor" for my clients.
I´ve donated several times and will continue doing this as long as I´m using the AMPGUI.
Any idea how we can help and support Amplidood, so he can and is happily willing to keep up his great work?
The fact: We all need this guy!
(This also includes iPerformer)

[donreynolds]

BUMMED!! I can only hope MOTU will implement this in the future, BUT I think they should give credit where it is due, to Andy. Maybe Andy can keep up with the DP upgrades for a "secret " list of donators???

[melenko]

+100000000 with you radiogal!
Amplidood's mods are a real support for Motu to get their customers faithful.
I donated also.
I really don't understand the existing distance between Motu and their customers, it's
incomprehensible.

[crduval]

I haven't downloaded any mods, but I would certainly have no problem compensating him for something that I use daily. If this is the issue, then I feel bad for Amp and lose some respect for the DP community at large.

It sounded though from his post that Motu wanted him to stop. I don't know why they would really care.

As an aside James, I would be happy to donate to you for hosting. I've learned a lot from this forum over the past several months, and appreciate your and the other moderator's efforts.