I released my project!

[TNTHM]

@d-healey This is really awesome! You're incredibly talented.

[Lindon]

@d-healey very nice release mate well done.

[Matt_SF]

@d-healey Sounds very nice. Congrats !

[Matt_SF]

This post is deleted!

[hisefilo]

@d-healey Bravooooooo!! I like it

[gorangrooves]

@d-healey Very well thought-out and put together, Dave! I think you've done a particularly good job with the software implementation. Meticulous planning and work invested are evident in every detail.

I have a couple of critical observations if you don't mind.

The color coding of keys is a bit too much for my tastes. I am not sure whether I would remember what color is what or whether there is a better way to accomplish that.

While the samples were recorded very cleanly and with multiple mics, you seem to have overlooked the most important set of mics for making this sound like a real acoustic instrument: room mics.
The way it sounds in the demo is if you were to stick your head right inside the drum, which is not the way anyone, not even the performer, will ever hear the instrument that way. To me, this sounds closer to a synth drum than an actual percussion instrument played by a person in an acoustic space. To my taste, you missing the "dirt."

What we are accustomed to hearing live is not only the instrument that produces the sound but, just as equally important, the acoustic environment in which the instrument is played and how it interacts with it. Additionally, the direct sound produced by percussion instruments is very different from up close to a bit further away.

Of course, there are users who will want this type of sound and control, and I would highly and gladly recommend this to them. And for those who are after a virtual bodhran that sounds like the actual acoustic instrument played in an acoustic space with the "dirt" that accompanies it, I think I will create one myself.

[d.healey]

Thanks guys!

@gorangrooves We did actually record a stereo room pair but I didn't include them because I wasn't happy with the sound. Maybe I'll work on them a bit and release them in an update if I can get them to a point I'm happy with.

For a "dirty" sound you might prefer my other bodhran library.

[gorangrooves]

@d-healey Thanks for sharing that. Yes, I like the sound character of the older library. While it may not appear as pristine as your new one, it sounds more realistic to me. And don't get me wrong: the sound quality of your latest release is superb. I was talking purely from a stylistic point.

It is a bummer that you were not pleased with the room mics recordings of your latest library. Unless something is seriously wrong with it (phase issues), perhaps when carefully blended with the close mics, it can all sound wonderful together.

[ustk]

@gorangrooves @d-healey Just my 2 cents as I am not a big user of those kind of libraries (the sound is amazing BTW). Room mics are nice to have indeed when you play the instrument in solo. But once you mix it with other libraries you end up with a blend of different room spaces that are often not matching together very well. So in the end it is better to recreate the room ambience with a reverb so all instrument share the same feeling.

[T.B.Guang]

Congratulations Bro!!

[d.healey]

I've just released a major update to Rhapsody. Rhapsody 2.0 introduces a home screen for Rhapsody where all your libraries can be viewed, searched, installed, and managed.

This is an improvement over the previous version that used a library column within the preset browser. The library column was perfectly nice with only a few libraries but will quickly get cluttered and difficult to manage when your Rhapsody library collection grows.

With this latest version there is also an integrated downloader/installer to simplify the installation process (this is one thing I keep getting support tickets about). The manual installation method is still there of course so you don't have to login if you don't want to and you don't require an internet connection.

This update makes it easier for third-party developers to create Rhapsody libraries, and I'll be making some developer focused tutorials very soon.

After installing the update you should also update any Rhapsody instruments you have installed.

Please let me know if you find any bugs and I'll squash them as fast as I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyqy9pPDRFk

[AHTV]

Congrats @d-healey !
I have benefited from your video tutorial since I'm new to HISE. Thank you for that!

[Christoph Hart]

@d-healey Great stuff there! The only thing that is a bit unclear from an UX point is the state of the libraries - those outlines are way too subtle (I wouldn't have seen it if you wouldn't have mentioned them). I would suggest to make it way more visible - if you want to use known patterns you could add a number tag indicating an update and a clowd symbol indicating that the product isn't downloaded on this system.

[d.healey]

@Christoph-Hart

The only thing that is a bit unclear from an UX point is the state of the libraries - those outlines are way too subtle

Actually in my various development versions I was using icons over the product images but I found that they didn't show up well on some backgrounds, and they looked like buttons that should be clicked. To solve the first problem I put them in contrasting coloured circles, but this increased the second problem.

Do you also think the icons should be placed over the product images, or somewhere else?

[Christoph Hart]

@d-healey You already got that black bar with the library name below the image, so just slap in on there:

I would also recommend overlaying the non-downloaded libraries with some grey so people can see that they are not available.

As for clickability, why not make it a button? If you don't want to add another button into the panel, you can use event.x / event.y to check whether it's within the circle.

[Christoph Hart]

the update icon is bad, but I couldn't think of a better one...

[d.healey]

@Christoph-Hart That's pretty much what I was doing in my hub downloader app. I was using (grand) child panels for the additional buttons in each product child panel.

But it really reduces the space for the instrument name. Also it would not be one button. I'd need download, update, relocate, and uninstall. I don't think it's good to split the functionality into two different locations.

But I think I will try to combine your ideas. If I grey out the image, then the icon will be more visible.

[Christoph Hart]

• if the library is not downloaded, you only have one option: download
• if the library has an update, you have three options: update, relocate, uninstall
• if the library hasn't an update you have relocate and uninstall.

I would only show the download and update as button and hide the "always available" options with a context menu with three vertical dots - takes almost no space and doesn't clutter too much.

[d.healey]

@Christoph-Hart Looks nice, I'll give it a go, thanks!

What do you think about making it so to load the instrument you just click the image and then click a confirmation popup? Since the click action would no longer be required to show the toolbar.

[Christoph Hart]

@d-healey ah yes definitely, I overlooked the load library button. Not even sure if you need a confirmation dialog, it's not the most unreversible action known to mankind...