The Future of Audiolense XO: What is the roadmap?

[mccarty350]

This is more a question for Bernt:
1. Are there any new versions of convolver or XO currently being worked on?
2. Are there any new features/enhancements in the pipe?
3. Any new bug fixes that are in process?

Thanks,

John

 

[sshd]

I am really interested in this as well.
My XO licence stops September 2020 and I cannot see any reason to extend it without anything new.

 

[mccarty350]

Agreed, that is the incentive for us to keep paying, to get upgrades that provide either functionality or issue resolution. I have seen a lot of folks propose enhancements that proved difficult to implement or that were not on the roadmap so my interest is in what lies in the future. If there is sufficient draw as far as refinement I absolutely am willing to contribute but looking at the history they were bug fixes and at best once or twice a year. I am vested in the future of audiolense, the results are in my opinion best of breed but I cannot open the software - ever - without something crashing or failing. It is frustrating and time consuming and I'm interested in seeing things become stable and predictable in their result and have the will to fund that. Some of the issues are hardware conflicts or bit cases but there are a lot of software platforms out there that take measurements, etc. that are stable regardless of what hardware a user leverages and I believe that this platform could operate in the same manner. I can also state that there are a lot of tasks that could become batch processes or made easier. For example, how many of you have several room curves and every time they take measurements and create correction files to experiment like to listen to several curves to determine how effective the correction was? Would it be tough to create a batch process to select a myriad of curves and just batch generate correction files from them so that someone doesn't have to do it manually? About 1/3 of my measurements crash even with consistent settings. I have figured out how to work around it and to keep it moving but that is something I shouldn't have to learn. I also have maybe in a 1 in 5 chance of having a correction using maximum filters crashing and asking me to report to the error. I can re-open the software and do it again and have it not happen or have it happen again. Very hard to predict. I have not encountered any software that is as powerful or capable of creating great sound as audiolense and the product is priced to reflect that as it should but but the quantity of issues and the amount of time I've lost working around crashes is very high. There is a lot of opportunity there to make this consistently stable. There are also a lot of items that could make life easier feature-wise for users that have been willing to invest substantially in purchasing Audiolense.

I remain a focal proponent of the software but would also like to know that there's a future providing more features or less grief.

 

[Omid]

I for one am happy that Audiolense products do not follow an annual subscription model. If one is still happy with version 6.3 (for example) and the filters that it produces, one can create new filters under that version forever. Same with the convolver, as long as it’s stable in your system you don’t have to have the newest one.

If an upgrade has a feature that’s particularly appealing, then one is welcome to buy that version, and then use it forever without any further subscription fees. This is how Photoshop and all sorts of software used to work, before the days of annual subscriptions.

The only caveat I’d like to add is that I wish bug fixes were free. New features on the other hand would come at a cost.

By the way, I have noticed that for me, often, when I get an error in audiolense during filter creation, it’s because I have clicked on the button to create a filter twice not realizing that the machine is already working on creating a filter.

 

[mccarty350]

I like that I don't have to pay an annual subscription either but I'd pay if it worked in a stable manner. I took measurements from 6 positions doing nothing but moving the mic and re-measuring and it crashed 3 times, that was a 50% failure rate on measurements. I'm used to it and know that I should probably open and close it every two measurements but there is room for improvement in stability.

Annual subscriptions are part of the new 'software as a service' paradigm - I'm not a fan of it and just wouldn't buy a product that required it.

For clarity, let's say you saw an upgrade that was great that occurred 4 years from now you wouldn't be able to buy just that version. In this model you would have to pay to 'catch up' for the 3 previous years of support as well or at least that's the understanding that I got from discussing this with Bernt.

 

[kevinzoe]

Software roadmaps are usually vague so as not to educate the competitors . . .
You might get the answers / reassurance you seek via a private email exchange with Bernt.
Just an idea . . .

 

[juicehifi]

Audiolense: Right now I have made improvements to the Roon filters. Roon only accepts configurations with 2 6 or 8 channels out it seems, so that is being implemented. In addition, there are a couple of graphic bugs on the main form that I'm working on. The DPI scaling that Microsoft have made are riddled with bugs, so this is a dirty trial & error job. There are new features in the pipeline, but I do not know when I get there if I ever do, so I have no announcements on new features. Main priority is to keep up with an environment that changes frequently and eliminate problems that users are experiencing.

@mccarty350, I hardly ever have stability problems with Audiolense. It literally never crashes on my 4 computers. So while your description may be a true reflection of what you're experiencing I am not convinced that your experience is representative.

There was a batch filter generator prior to Audiolense 6, but my impression was that it was not being used, and I did not need it myself either. So I took it out to reduce the maintenance workload.

Regarding measurement software that works stable: Which are you referring to? Which of them are multi channel? And how do you know that ithey provide reliable results? Audio devices and their drivers often have issues and it is not always easy to find a work around. If I can improve the measurement module I will, but right now I do not know what I could possibly do. I'm open to suggestions here.

Audiolense Convolver: I am working on an SDK for the convolver to enable 3rd party GUI development. I am doing this in response to a few guys who are using a separate device for the gui. One of them is an experienced programmer... Long term, I hope this will pave the way for different gui solutions. There are a bunch of other features that can be improved or introduced in the convolver, but I will most likely prioritize whatever surfaces among existing users first.

 

[mccarty350]

Thanks Bernt, I appreciate it. I knew you had made fixes for roon but I wasn't sure of the constraints.

I'm not sure either, I'd like to see what others encounter. I'm using the same sound card that you used to own in the past (Asus Xonar UII) and when I'm taking measurements or building convolution files I make sure to close all other items of software. Other than that I'm running vanilla windows 10 pro with the default vendor sound card drivers + ASIO4ALL latest version.

If there's something I am doing wrong that I could fix to improve my experience I'd love to do so or get guidelines for minimizing my issues. I am constantly building convolvers because I have an 8 channel modular active system and I'm always swapping in new drivers or changing them out so I'm taking at minimum weekly measurements in some form as I change things so I'm probably taking measurements far more frequently than your average user.

That's a bummer, I would have liked to have a batch filter generator, I didn't know that that was ever in the cards or in use somewhere.

As far as measurement software that works well I almost never have a crash with the freeware room eq wizard, it's rock solid but as you stated is not feeding out of multiple channels. I have my channels set in stone i.e. I know what maps to what and how to set it up but I get a random crash even using the same settings in Audiolense. I'd be happy to troubleshoot or provide whatever I can to provide a stable solution.

I'm not meaning this thread to be challenging, I'm meaning it to improve the user experience for a piece of software that I am vested in but have issues with. I'm willing go do whatever is necessary to provide details, I am not a software developer so I don't know what can be done from a development perspective to make it more stable.

Convolver is pretty stable for me, the only oddity I have is the one I mentioned where it automatically mutes when I switch convolution files but that actually probably helps me to some degree by keeping me from experiencing unanticipated volume changes.

 

[mccarty350]

Software roadmaps are usually vague so as not to educate the competitors . . .
You might get the answers / reassurance you seek via a private email exchange with Bernt.
Just an idea . . .

They can be, my recent experiences with Jriver have been great regarding what the new version will bring and what feature requests will be incorporated, etc. But they have a much larger development team and operate using an agile methodology using sprints, etc. (my day job involves Agile propagation) with incremental delivery.