New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

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John Bowen
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by John Bowen »

I am at Sonic Core this week to discuss this important situation. I will have something to report here soon.
Weston Underwood
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by Weston Underwood »

Thanks John you're a diamond!
John Bowen
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by John Bowen »

Hello all Solaris owners,

I have now returned from Germany, and can tell you the results of our discussions regarding OS bug fixes and updates.

The code is written in C++, and from the beginning of this project, has been written by Julian Schmidt. Last June we had several meetings about the next OS release, as previously Julian had worked on the v1.2 to have it ready for Christmas 2012. At that time, he was working on the Solaris code in his 'off hours' at home, in addition to his regular work for Sonic Core during the day. This meant for a longer development time, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances.
In June, he told me he would be leaving Sonic Core to work on his own projects, mainly a DIY drum kit called LXR (many of you may be familiar with this - it's been getting great reviews!). He also expected that, once free of the daily work for Sonic Core, there would be more free time to also work on the Solaris. And naturally, I hope to have him continue as well, since he was the original author, and obviously knew it better than anyone else.

Several months went by before I heard from Julian again. It was late October, and he apologized for taking so long to get back to me, but the amount of time required to set up his LXR production and start a business took him by surprise. However, he expressed interest in starting back on the Solaris the first part of November, and so I hope to have something ready again by the time Christmas came around.

Unfortunately, nothing came following that, and by mid-December, I discussed things with him via Skype. It was apparent the he was really not going to be able to finish anything more for the Solaris OS, and so agreed to provide me with the files needed so that I could contact someone else to do the work.

Things going at their own pace, it wasn't until this trip in March that all of this was resolved, and I started to look for someone else. By chance, an unplanned meeting in Vienna brought to my attention a very talented coder named Hermann, who has expressed his willingness to take on the job. At this point, he has seen the 'Top Ten' bug list, but we need to prepare a Solaris development system for him, and this will take a bit of time (the work will be more than adressing the 'Top 10' bugs, just so you know). Also, there are some documents that Sonic Core needs him to sign, etc., so I'm not exactly sure when Hermann will be able to start, but I am confident that once he does, we will see progress in a relatively short time.

There's also a possibility with one of our own Solaris owners who has offered to help. Many of you are familiar with galaxiesmerge, who posted about a possible Open Source project to help with development (see the thread here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16123&p=19567&hilit ... rge#p19567 ) . At this point, I've had a couple of emails back and forth with him, but for now my agreement with Sonic Core means I cannot offer an Open Source option for the Solaris.

I am grateful to Julian for the good work and effort that he did contribute to the Solaris, and regret that he was not able to do any more past the v1.2 update. I hope those of you who have been anxiously waiting for a new OS release will understand better now why so much time has gone by with no news. For me it's frustrating, as I know most people are used to larger synth companies who have regular full-time staff working on these things, and expect to have had one or more bug fix updates by now. I hope that we can move forward soon with more development as planned for Solaris, and I want to thank all of you who have been such great customers!

Cheers,
John B.
M-Prod
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by M-Prod »

Wow !! that is amazing news! Respect for your long lasting dedication, persistence and for sharing this with us in your admirable open way of communication.
Weston Underwood
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by Weston Underwood »

Hear hear, any news is always so much better than silence. Life is complicated and I think all of us can appreciate that. The smaller the company the harder it is to keep the plates spinning, but conversely the more likely it is that you can bring your dream to fruition! And thank goodness you have.

Hopefully Hermann can do you and us proud.

Thanks!
Patate le mgae
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by Patate le mgae »

Thanks John for those news, so now, we can hope for bug fix update.

Go Hermann go ! May the force be with you !
jaykeel
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by jaykeel »

Thanks JB!
Neil
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by Neil »

Yes Weston, many of us are in the same situation as you!

Well as patience is a virtue hopefully Hermann will soon give Solaris the code to finally tame it for the studio environment!

My Xpander is starting to look a bit nervous :-)
vargus
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by vargus »

Disappointing, but not unexpected. Hope things will move forward, I'd hate to see this project stagnate. Good luck.
k-Tracker
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by k-Tracker »

That's a tough situation. I've just read complete thread after the registration on the forum. Hope, bugs will be fixed, no matter who will do that. But, I'm sorry to others I can't stay calm about Julian's attitude to the OS development. John was extremely polite. Let's separate new feature implementation from a bug fixing. No matter how he agreed to develop the OS before, he committed to do it. Bugs are the consequences of bad execution, lack of testing or simply human factor. That's debt of honor of that person to correct it. But instead of this he was delaying the start and slight unpleasantness with John. I have no interest to LXR and that's emotionally motivated. I simply do not want to have any deal with such person. Apologies for being so direct in the way of thinking.


just corrected some grammar )
Last edited by k-Tracker on Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Andrei Kudryavtsev,
http://www.deftaudio.ru
M-Prod
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by M-Prod »

A way to latch the sequencer. I know that it is more of a gated sequencer, but really miss this. Right now i balance my iphone on a key if i want it to be held ;-)
John Bowen
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by John Bowen »

The thing about the sequencer - as you say, it is what they call a gated step sequencer....only can work when keys are being held down. You will find the same thing in several other synths, such as most of Dave Smith's synths, and also my plug-ins for Scope.
M-Prod
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by M-Prod »

Thanks, I think I understand the gates sequencer limitation. Still, if it's possible to have the solaris hold a note or to find a workaround i would like that feature and understood at least two other users would too. So it can be operated like a hardware step sequencer. Maybe a switch to make it a monophonic latchable step sequencer (with an easy way to turn off steps eg by turning the pitch all the way down[edit] this can be done by turning the step value all the way up]).
Last edited by M-Prod on Sat Jun 14, 2014 1:43 am, edited 2 times in total.
Neil
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by Neil »

For me it's :
1) Parameter automation (NRPN) with DAW's
2) Recording joystick, ribbon, wheels via midi
3) Reverb
4) arp sync

But I'd settle for reliable midi communication even with just 5 or 10 assignable parameters to 7 bit controllers for now...
I've no problem paying for OS updates or even donating to an account to help with OS development.
Neil
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Re: New version of the OS ? Soon or not ?

Post by Neil »

Btw I have a lot of sympathy for K-Trackers comments..... If I say I'm gonna do something I do it.....
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