Freesound Forums

Hi there,

I have a Kickstarter project - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/524560875/kangasound-creating-music-and-sound-effects-from-s?ref=nav_search - that relates to a program known as Kangas Sound Editor that I have been developing. All the 39 sounds I have uploaded under my freesound account have in fact been synthesized using this software.

I was wondering whether any of you would consider backing this project? Although it looks like there is a long way to go funding-wise and only 10 days left at the time of writing this, I think if I got a few backers from here it could encourage others on the Internet to back the project, with a snowball type of effect.

In case you're not aware about Kickstarter, backers only pay if the project is fully-funded, so nobody ends up backing a partly-funded project.

Anyway, if any of you reading this do decide to back this project and help out a fellow freesounder, know that this is very much appreciated.

Best regards
Paul

Hi there Paul

Appreciate that you are creating something, which is great especially as it's Mac OSX compatible.

I hope you intend on drastically improving the GUI and UX for your product. It looks a bit Microsoft Publisher 95

Headphaze wrote:
Hi there Paul

Appreciate that you are creating something, which is great especially as it's Mac OSX compatible.

I hope you intend on drastically improving the GUI and UX for your product. It looks a bit Microsoft Publisher 95

Hi Headphaze,

Thank you for your comment. I'm just doing the stuff I've mentioned in the Kickstarter project page - this includes one user interface improvement (making the drag-and-drop boxes used in the Edit pane configurable in size) but otherwise concentrates on other areas. I'm not ruling out other user interface improvements in the future, but I believe the stuff I am promising in the Kickstarter project would make the whole KangaSound project more useful to more people, even if it isn't about creating the beautiful user interface some people would like.

Absolutely, focus on functionality is better to get a decent core product. I mean, the free-ware program "Paul Stretch" is very primitive and ugly looking but it works and has the right parameters. Yet, for a program that offers some sort of sequencing, you shouldn't overlook ergonomics and the GUI as an important factor in the success of your product. It doesn't have to look like a futuristic control panel on an alien spacecraft, but it certainly does need to have a factor of accessibility in the UX if you are to get people to adopt the program in certain contexts.

This isn't something I'd be inclined to use in my studio due to the output value, in all honesty. But, I was thinking that this might be useful in a school educational context for music students, but you know what kids are like these days, unless the GUI looks similar to something modern, they get disinterested, I think because youngsters generally speaking tend to have a shorter attention span for unknown technological concepts; maybe I'm wrong though. My standards are a bit lower because I grew up using software from the late 80s and 90s which had really horrific GUIs, but generic standards in computing culture are much higher these days. I'm still struggling to understand who this software is aimed at, it's not my demographic of sound designers, and it's probably not modern music producers.

Also, I'm not convinced on the output of this software, I've listened to the sounds you've uploaded here and they appear to be very basic, I'm wondering if there is much application for this calibre of sound output these days, again, standards are also higher for sound form.

Sorry if I sound overly critical, I mean no discontent, just trying to help you in your development journey with some speculation.

Headphaze wrote:
Absolutely, focus on functionality is better to get a decent core product. I mean, the free-ware program "Paul Stretch" is very primitive and ugly looking but it works and has the right parameters. Yet, for a program that offers some sort of sequencing, you shouldn't overlook ergonomics and the GUI as an important factor in the success of your product. It doesn't have to look like a futuristic control panel on an alien spacecraft, but it certainly does need to have a factor of accessibility in the UX if you are to get people to adopt the program in certain contexts.

This isn't something I'd be inclined to use in my studio due to the output value, in all honesty. But, I was thinking that this might be useful in a school educational context for music students, but you know what kids are like these days, unless the GUI looks similar to something modern, they get disinterested, I think because youngsters generally speaking tend to have a shorter attention span for unknown technological concepts; maybe I'm wrong though. My standards are a bit lower because I grew up using software from the late 80s and 90s which had really horrific GUIs, but generic standards in computing culture are much higher these days. I'm still struggling to understand who this software is aimed at, it's not my demographic of sound designers, and it's probably not modern music producers.

Also, I'm not convinced on the output of this software, I've listened to the sounds you've uploaded here and they appear to be very basic, I'm wondering if there is much application for this calibre of sound output these days, again, standards are also higher for sound form.

Sorry if I sound overly critical, I mean no discontent, just trying to help you in your development journey with some speculation.

Hi Headphaze, thank you for your latest comments. From what you have said, I am not sure whether you came across the list of distinguishing features for this software? see:

http://www.kangasound.com/features/features.html

If after reading the features web-page, you decide the software is of no interest to you, fair enough. It is an alternative software solution that I believe appeals to some people - for example last year there were over 4700 downloads on sourceforge.net in over 110 countries ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/kangasound/files/stats/map?dates=2014-01-01+to+2014-12-31 ), which I think is an indication of interest, if nothing else.

Regarding the sounds I have uploaded and that you criticised as being very basic: Some of these sounds have nethertheless been downloaded hundreds of times, and some have good ratings and favourable comments; a search using Google indicates that some have been used in games and videos, so are still useful to some people in various projects even if they are not the mind-blowing sounds that you are creating. Part of my Kickstarter project is aimed at giving more options for sound synthesis by allowing a user-definable oscillator graph to be used in the sound engine (at present it is effectively hard-coded as sinusoidal). Even without this planned enhancement, it is still possible to create more sophisticated sounds using Kangas Sound Editor: I think the facilities to do this are there, even if you don't like the user interface or the way the program works.

Out of interest, have you actually downloaded and installed the software, and tried to use it? I'm not sure whether you have reached your damning verdict on the software from general impression, or on hitting a problem when trying to use it.

I did read the features page before the second reply.

I'm pleased that you are gaining traction on downloads and use, that's good news. I know there are lots of people out there who have a certain use for anything. I just don't believe what you have is ground breaking in it's current form, which is of course my own opinion. Yes, I am enthusiastic about differing ways in which to produce sound in it's fundamental form especially if i'm allowed full control over parameter sets, which is pretty much a given for any professional sound designer. A testament to this would be the fact that I have used CDP (composers desktop project) run from Apple OS X command line, and Praat, so you can understand that my judgement on sound creation software isn't entirely based on ease of use.

I have to admit, I was speaking at face-value, because yesterday I couldn't test out the application. Hence I was commenting with broad speculation given the information on your website. But my judgement on whether it's useful for me personally was an impression left by hearing the demo sounds and seeing the functionality, which actually paints a broad picture of the kind of sound output that can be achieved.

However, I have just used the software...

After testing the application properly, I can only confirm my initial judgement. Although I appreciate the absolute control over parameters we have available here (which is a very good thing) the whole interface and UXD is counter-intuitive and looks chaotic, especially the sequencing pane.

Is this the first criticism you have received? I'm interested to know, because I'm pretty certain that anyone in the sound design industry looking to create the same sort of output, with relative ease can do so with things like ESE and other synthesiser units. I see no major difference in the potential output when compared with other more work-flow friendly synthesis units, even if the methodology differs.

I'm really sorry that my honesty isn't proving favourable for you, but I hate to sugar coat matters.

Hi Headphaze,

Thanks for your latest reply, and for actually trying it out.

Sure, other people have criticised the software - but I have had some good or mixed feedback too - one was from a lady who signed the guestbook on the Kangasound website saying she had enjoyed the vibrating sounds immensely (but she did complain about the length of time it took her to make a song record). While I am aware there are plenty of other solutions out there, I have gone in a particular direction with the software, and the point of my Kickstarter project was to see if there are enough people willing to back the project to enable me to take KangaSound (which includes the supporting website as well as the software) to a more advanced state, which I have outlined in the Kickstarter web-page.

Barring a last minute rush, it looks like I'm not going to get backing for this project. Crowdfunding was something I hadn't tried before, and there didn't seem to be much to lose - either the project gets funded to take it to a more advanced state quickly, or it doesn't get funded and so will probably remain in a pretty dormant state unless something happens; for example, somebody out there creates something pretty amazing with it and credits the Kangasound project.

Dude, I wish you the best of luck with your project, I really do. Sorry I couldn't provide any funding.

Do you have a mailing list? I'd like to see how the application evolves. Sourceforge wasn't allowing me to sign up for updates.

Thanks Headphaze, no worries about the funding thing.

Good question! I'm going to try and set-up a mailing list through Sourceforge - I'll invite you to join once it's been created.

I've got a URL for the new Kangas Sound Editor mailing list on Sourceforge:

https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/kangasound-updates

Great! Thanks Paul

Just joined the mailing list! Looking forward to the new releases.

Hi,

I have just added a new reward to this Kickstarter project, which is at the £6 or more level.

I hope this new reward appeals to some of you

Hi,

I was just wondering whether any of you have ever heard a well-known tune synthesized using Kangas Sound Editor? If not, and you would like to listen to one, I have posted it to the updates page (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/524560875/kangasound-creating-music-and-sound-effects-from-s/posts of my Kickstarter project.

This update is accessible to backers only; however, I do not mind if you pledge the minimum amount, which I think you won't have to actually pay anyway (no backers pay on Kickstarter unless a project is fully-funded, which doesn't look likely for my project).

Hi,

There are now under 24 hours left to fund this project! If you would like to be one of the exceptional few people who did at least pledge support for this project, now is the time to act!

Regards
Paul

There is now just 83 minutes left to back this project (less by the time you read this). If you are kind enough to back this project I will send you some Kangas Sound Editor synthesized ringtones/text-alert tones (just mention you are from Freesound.org), even though the project will not be funded (so you won't have to pay anything).

The race starts now!!!!

Hi,

I have relaunched this Kickstarter project with some changes:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/524560875/kangasound-music-and-sound-effect-synthesis-track

Hi,

There is now a "Kangasound Jukebox Challenge" on my Kickstarter project. As part of that, I am reconstructing a well-known song that someone has suggested, using Kangas Sound Editor to do so. So far, no-one has managed to identify the original song. I was wondering whether any of you guys would be able to? Here is the link to my latest version of the song:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/524560875/kangasound-music-and-sound-effect-synthesis-track/posts/1156407

Hi,

I have posted update 13 (hopefully not too unlucky!) to my KangaSound Kickstarter project, which I think may be of interest to some of you:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/524560875/kangasound-music-and-sound-effect-synthesis-track/posts/1166697

First of all, I must give kudos to you for your dedication.
Just out of curiosity, what's the target audience, and have you tried to scale the usefulness of this to your target audience in general? By usefulness, I also mean the frequency of use.