Good Sounds, Amateur Programming

This is my favorite sounds program (I use the computer version on my laptop). The sound library is fantastic. However there are constant beta like flaws in the programs interface which make it feel very prototype (unfinished) and amateur. First, every time I go to the library if a mix or sound is playing, the sounds all stop, stutter, and start playing again. Very rough. Then when the Library loads (and this takes several seconds so you’re left waiting for a while) none of the sounds are sorted, even if one of the tabs such as “category” or “date” are selected. The program just ignores the sorting, and has them listed randomly. To make the Library sort itself according to the tabs you have to click a different tab, then click back to the one you had it on. You have to do this EVERY TIME you return to the library from a mix, so going back and forth editing a mix or finding a new sound is a real unpleasant and clumsy chore. Also, and this is a design gap rather than bad programming, you can’t play a sound while a mix is playing — for instance to see if a new sound will blend with the mix you already made. So you have to drag the new sound into the mix and play the whole mix to see if it works, then delete it from within the mix if it sounds bad. It’s a very clunky method of editing the mix. Third bug; when you start playing a mix, only the first sound will be shown in the right hand window. You can’t see all of the sounds that are in it, they are hidden by a bug. To make it show all of the sounds that are in the mix, you have to pause the mix by clicking on the one visible sound, and then play it again. At that point the sounds will grudgingly appear. And finally, sometimes the program just bombs and quits for no reason. Buggy buggy buggy. And there are about a dozen other lesser annoyances which all come from a lack of polishing out the programming. Basically this thing is just rough, rough, rough and not nearly enough time has been spent ironing it out or improving the interface. Like eveyrone else, I keep hoping for an update to this very beta attempt so that we can have a fully finished product that is able to synch between computer and iPhone, among other things. So I hope they keep working on it, although sadly at this point the program seems to be an abandoned project.

Adah Lael about Ambiance