PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic The developer side of the fence.

All.

ive put the following in the off topic forum to give an idea of the challenges faceing music app developers….

i get the many many user needs etc etc re pg products working with many different non pg products and standards …but please allow me to comment having worked for many years on pretty big difficult industry system apps. (not music creation apps.).with many zillions lines of source code.
ie give you a taste of the developer side of the fence trying to keep a large base of users happy.
A trick I used with some users was to actually sit them down with the devs and show them actually what is involved on the dev side of the fence.
(includeing CEO's who often said 'oh my goodness i never knew…and never gave me flack again…lol.).
lots of people like the aforementioned CEO's often just dont know whats involved.

1..a basic problem for a developer is if a dev implemented all the competing user wishes the app would be a massive exe. Thus there is a problem re running such an app on an old clunky pc that might not have sufficient resources. the problem for pg being not everyone has custom built for recording studio pc's with intel i9 or xeon or threadripper processors costing much moolah....ie thousands.
i would love to have one of these but choose instead
to treat my ever patient wife occasionally as she treats me so wonderfully in our life together.

https://www.adkproaudio.com/audio-v...duZfH6SYoamv_lUB-jzFb1VcxXRoCom8QAvD_BwE

only very affluent users could afford such. most pg users i'm sure are running run of the mill pc's costing under 1k that they probably also use for non music creation apps and which havent been optimised for music production. (see my tips in the tips forum re using a pc for music production and thus why i created the tips.)
in addition…
2..as an app grows and grows, maintenance becomes a huge issue.
its sorta like if I have…lol…a couple of relatives over for xmas i have a place for them to sleep and i can maintain them with a few meals…BUT…if i had too many relatives at xmas i would be unable to look after them food wise and they would have to sleep in the garden…lol....not forgetting also many relatives might not get on with each other plus after a short time i would be kaput financially…lol.
3..now let's talk about a major problem for a dev like pg interfacing with other companies apps whose products pg has no control over. and this is a huge issue we faced in industry.
the BASIC PROBLEM is the dev like pg has to REACT if suddenly the other company changes things. or even the standards change in the industry. this can really complicate things as, in order to keep the user base happy in a constantly changing tech world often the dev is in constant react mode.
Then of course there are the resource issues and the cost of keeping up with industry standards different groups of users would like pg products to interface with. Seriously, it's a nightmare for a dev. been there and done that…lol. What happens if the OS changes ? etc etc.

In summary it's a challenge for any developer. it's sorta like when my wife and i sit down at xmas and try to figure out an affordable way to keep the various local and distant friends and family happy with their presents ... .lol. So what to do ? one has to compromise.
just the way life is.

I hope the above gives a smattering of the issues a dev like pg faces.
I invite anyone to take a few programming courses like C++ and assembler and how to program dsp routines etc etc and you will see after many months trying to code a music app that its actually rather amazing that pg have managed to bring their products this far and the work involved. it gives one a respect for what a dev like pg has achieved. its remarkable frankly.
i'm just a user like all here…but maybe you might comment on the following idea ive proposed to pg in the past. re keeping the user base happy…as follows..

1..pg post a sticky list of all the major top 30 user wishes frequently asked for then…
2..users can vote re order of priorities.
for example i want better audio/midi editing in the new fab bb tracks view…but other users might have a different priority.

democracy at work…lol.
I hope I make some sense. I wish all the best.

silly old ex dev om.