7 Months and Counting Waiting For Full Midi

[leesinthemix]

"we are still working future updates to further increase the potential of the Wolfmix"

It would be nice to get some indication of what these future updates actually are, especially as you have now said publicly that you are "working" on them.

[willm]

Hi Lee,

I have just replied to your other post with regards to this to avoid having duplicate discussions on different threads.

Kind regards,
Will

[Jethrobowdean]

Will

Lee in the previous post quoted you as saying: "we are still working future updates to further increase the potential of the Wolfmix"
. . . and then Lee commented:
"It would be nice to get some indication of what these future updates actually are, especially as you have now said publicly that you are "working" on them.
. . . and then you replied:
"I have just replied to your other post with regards to this to avoid having duplicate discussions on different threads."

So you are having separate posts conversations with individuals on what will be in your next release? So, we should pour through every posts and see if we can dig out all the things that you are planning to include in your next release ?

I am confused. "we are still working future updates to further increase the potential of the Wolfmix"
. So you know what you are working on, right? but despite having a list of things that you are actually working on you feel that it is better to keep that a secret from your users, or obscure what you're working on by burying the pieces of your list in individual post conversations for us to hunt for like hidden easter eggs, despite your users explicitly asking you for a list of planned enhancements/development?

[willm]

Hi Jethro,

I will copy/paste the response that I was referring to here for your reference:

"With regards to speaking on the future direction of the product- I am afraid we need to operate within a certain level of discretion. As much as I would love to shout about all the ideas and plans for the future of Wolfmix, I think that might just land me in some trouble as a tech support worker! As I have mentioned on a previous post- we are always working on improvements and whilst I can't exactly confirm what or when... There is always work going on to make this product even better."

Kind regards,
Will

[leesinthemix]

Hi Jethro,

I will copy/paste the response that I was referring to here for your reference:

"With regards to speaking on the future direction of the product- I am afraid we need to operate within a certain level of discretion. As much as I would love to shout about all the ideas and plans for the future of Wolfmix, I think that might just land me in some trouble as a tech support worker! As I have mentioned on a previous post- we are always working on improvements and whilst I can't exactly confirm what or when... There is always work going on to make this product even better."

Kind regards,
Will

"Ideas and plans"

Aren't examples of your one developer (Simon) actually working on any updates.

You're treating your customers like fools.

[Jethrobowdean]

Hi Will

You lost me entirely in that last response: "we need to operate within a certain level of discretion" ? Why ? Are there Russian spies around or something? Who are we keeping secrets from? You totally lost me on this one, simply sounds absurd!!! And then the comment: "As much as I would love to shout about all the ideas and plans for the future of Wolfmix" . . . I think most companies simply call that marketing, marketing isn't terribly effective if you keep it in secret and don't tell anyone. But I would think that you WOULD WANT TO Shout, advertise, market and spread the word (maybe even put it into print--heaven forbid it be a list--for all your customers and prospective customers. Your customers or prospective customers might actually want to buy more of this product as a result of this outrageous indiscretion of shouting about your new product features and plans. On a practical note, if you shout, market, advertise or inform early about your new planned features and you get positive feedback you'll know better that your tech support workers are putting in hours and effort that will pay dividends or if you get some critical feedback you can course correct early before you've wasted a bunch of effort on something that no-one really wanted anyway. The difference is better communication carving a few months of misdirection off. Seems like that benefits EVERYONE. Maybe you can explain this need and the benefits of this discretion you mentioned?

Sincerely CONFUSED
Jeff

[leesinthemix]

Hi Will

You lost me entirely in that last response: "we need to operate within a certain level of discretion" ? Why ? Are there Russian spies around or something? Who are we keeping secrets from? You totally lost me on this one, simply sounds absurd!!! And then the comment: "As much as I would love to shout about all the ideas and plans for the future of Wolfmix" . . . I think most companies simply call that marketing, marketing isn't terribly effective if you keep it in secret and don't tell anyone. But I would think that you WOULD WANT TO Shout, advertise, market and spread the word (maybe even put it into print--heaven forbid it be a list--for all your customers and prospective customers. Your customers or prospective customers might actually want to buy more of this product as a result of this outrageous indiscretion of shouting about your new product features and plans. On a practical note, if you shout, market, advertise or inform early about your new planned features and you get positive feedback you'll know better that your tech support workers are putting in hours and effort that will pay dividends or if you get some critical feedback you can course correct early before you've wasted a bunch of effort on something that no-one really wanted anyway. The difference is better communication carving a few months of misdirection off. Seems like that benefits EVERYONE. Maybe you can explain this need and the benefits of this discretion you mentioned?

Sincerely CONFUSED
Jeff

They have nothing to say Jeff, because there isn't actually any work being done

[Milkki]

Hello fellow Wolfs!

I just made account to chime in to these conversations. I do not own a wolfmix yet, but I am about to buy one. Or I was.

First of all, I really appreciate what you have come up with and the work you have done. W1 seems to be amazing controller and eight years ago this was my wet dream. This device gives you so much control with so small footprint and it acts in many ways like a more expensive light controller. It gives you tons of options and even thought I mostly don’t like the add-on approach when buying things, for this I think it is working really well. You give plenty channels and options out of the box and if you need more, only then you pay for it. I can see how many bands and DJ’s have use for this since it gives you great pallet to paint with. And the ‘pad’ design, that allows even the singer to do some light changes mid-show, what a brilliant way to go. This seemed to be perfect, I mean literally perrrrfect device for me, and many of my colleagues and their small/medium sized wedding bands. But now that I came to forums to see more insight, before investing in W1, I’m not that sure it is. And the biggest and maybe the only gripe is the MIDI (I’m sorry, I know you must be sick of this ranting).

I know that you guys designed this controller to be hands on, live performance, easy to approach controller for people without too much experience in lighting; and if you have experience it doesn’t limit you with your creativeness. And it does it very well. But what I see as a consumer is (as someone called it) a low hanging fruit. Nowadays there are so many bands playing with backing tracks that don’t have the budget, knowledge or room in their cars to have big lighting consoles. It means a world to them to have small and easy controller (like W1) that has even slightly better programming possibility with MIDI. You guys said somewhere that controller was design for standalone use without computer and I get that. That’s one of the reasons why I’m attracted to W1. But if you are running tracks in you live performance, you have the computer anyway onsite doing its job. I see it only beneficial to keep tracks / lighting separated. MIDI would be huge possibility for you to make this controller available to even more users who want to do ‘more advance’ stuff with W1 but also need a small standalone controller for other gigs.

Programmable group dimming and presets, I know they were intended to use with external controllers, but it’s a start with pre-programming that you already made possible. If there was a way to program ‘Live Edits’ and ‘Flash FX’ with MIDI notes, that would be enough to do a proper pre-programmed show. Or even just ‘Live Edits’, it would really open some possibilities. The thing is that if I want to do programmable lightshow anyway, I’d have to buy a different interface for that. And if I already have that interface and I have done a ton of programming with my computer, I can always add some midi controllers to that and skip W1. But if I had a way to do it with W1, I and many others would totally skip the interface hassle and unreliability issues that comes with them. W1 is doing its standalone job so well that it could become no-brainer purchase for soooo many people and smaller productions with even slightly bigger needs. I do not know if the problem is in the hardware, software/coding, staff related or are you really saving the feature for possible mk3. And it’s not my cake to bake. What consumer sees: you’ve done it with presets, why not with live edits / flash fx. You’re already halfway there.

Don’t take this as an insult or some kind of an attack. I think W1 is amazing controller, I really do. But I can also see how many potential clients will turn away from almost perfect device and go for more ‘inconvenient’ solutions. To remind you guys at Wolf, you have done something unique with W1 that the consumer market has needed for a long time. We are only trying to help you by communicating our needs and the potential W1 has; cause it still has a lot. If there was all-around better device available, we’d be crying in other manufacturers forums with these things.


So take our tears with joy. There’s a reason why they are falling to you.

Milkki

[back_ache]

number of suggestions and ideas we get- it is unfeasible for us to implement everything that is requested

@willm If you open a full and unrestricted API , those that can could code things they feel passionate enough about, this would free your team to concentrate on you main goals.

For example, I'd like to have a "riggers remote" as in my application the lights are not near the Wolfmix.

[Jethrobowdean]

I originally posted these comments on May 19th and so I need to revise the Subject to: 11 Months and Counting Waiting For Full Midi. The mk2 release is really probably at least a year old and we have an added USB jack and no midi functions available for Live Edits and the global functions (the buttons on the right hand face of the device) really the core of functionality and most important part of a midi implementation. Colossal disappointment.