Sat Nov 13, 2010 12:12 pm
Hi there, I’m using LMMS intensively only for a few weeks.. So I might not see the whole picture, nevertheless I think LMMS have GREAT potential to become worthy competitor for things like Renoise and FL-studio. But we all know this way is going to long and hard.
You should know I’m a part of the Ubuntu-artwork group. So this isn’t the first community I’m in. When I look at LMMS’s community I can’t help to see some things of which I believe they might work better on another way..
So I’ve looked at FL studio one more time. Rebooted Xubuntu and looked at LMMS. I opened Tomboy note and wrote everything down of which I think improvements can be made. That list of things stands below.
BUT, before I start I want to say that this list, is one that summarizes the improvement points of LMMS. The things that great are already done, therefor they don’t need this special attention. Although I must say that what we have up till now is awesome, major things have already happened. We’ve got ourselves a foundation for a great program!
So, what would make LMMS better. I made three groups out of the notes. The first is one about the structure of the community, the second is about the program itself, and the third is about marketing and getting the word out.
Structure
I’m not going to write a list of points here, it would be to compicated.
First, set short term goals that are thight (f.i.: add velocity). At ubuntu we set a goal and give it a deadline, people hear from it by newsletter and start working, we post the pictures online (flickr)and after that we start rating them (and commenting). Now I’m not a part of the ubuntu development group,only artwork (so I don’t know if you can do something like this with codewriters).
Second, use subgroups, I know we aren’t making a whole OS but artwork-people don’t have something about discussions about the implent of delay codes.
In my opinion the general structure should be like this:
HEAD (few people who set the guidelines and future goals)
subHEAD (this involves 2 or 3 people of every subgroup, they interact with the head and eachother and send newsletters to the members of there subgroups)
subgroup (these recieve the newsletters which include shortterm goals)
I’m not saying HEAD are more then subgroups, we’re a community not a factory, but structure is needed, else the project will explode in non-coherent side projects)
Because development can’t do everything at the same time make an ideabox.
Add an idea shoutbox to the website and make an interface so developers can vote and suggest (like the ubuntu ideabox..).
In general everyone (even users) can submit ideas, developers can then suggest solutions, and give it a like or dislike function.
Finally the head also should provide guidelines (just like was done with the wiki)
Program
To start I would like this to be divided into two groups. the real programming, and the things around it.
PROGRAMMING
skinning: make it go deeper, make the standard skin look slicker and less playfull, make icons smaller. make the images bigger, I know it would make the package bigger, but it would make editing them also simpler.. (or use SVF)
goals: Take a good program and set your goal to make it better that (f.i.: fl studio)
Sample groups: the way the samples are mapped is okay, but if you do it like that, allow grouping them and minimising groups (like a group of layers in gimp or photoshop, or like the beat and bassline editor)
Tooltips: Add more tooltips, some icons don't say much, tooltips would help them alot (select button)
Middlemousebutton: get rit of the middle mouse button map, I use a laptop and don't have a middle mouse button! (or make remapping possible)
window borders: make sure you can’t put frame borders outside of the window.. It sucks!
THINGS AROUND IT
tutorials: make them available from inside LMMS even if it are only links, users don’t want to go to a forum for that; Use todays medium, make youtube tutorials. FLstudio only uses text, be better use video!; get bigger then just LMMS: provide tips as how to get things going with lmms, new user don't know jack nor hydrogen or audacity.. stuff like that
Plugins, effects, samples: Get more of them! I know this stands in the roadmap but make concrete workpoints of it (f.i.: housedrum samples, deadline: 00-00-00)
Plugins, effects, samples list: Velocity
hydrogen: get together with them, flawlessly switching between both get both project further and will be a step ahead of FL studio.
MIDI: make tutorials about that also, let them see how it's done and hint: make sure midi works out of the box, make it your strong point, make it easy to adress midi and to implent it, this is a big gab in many closed source projects (exept ableton)
Marketing
logo: once again LMMS is superb, but the logo isn’t really telling that, it’s telling LMMS is a toy (colorful things often leave that impression); a logo shouldn’t be that doesn’t change in years. in 5 years logo’s will be dated. Ubuntu has a nice way of solving that, they still use the circle of friends, just a bit differently.
name: youtube vid quote:”they shot themselves in the head with that name”. I love the name but windows users hate to see the name linux. I think only using the LMMS and not Linux M... will help with this..
community: get a dense user-community..
I really hope this doesn't provoke anyone. It's not my intention to start a flame or something. I just think LMMS can be more than what it is today, there's so much potential in it..
It would be a shame if we don't get what it's worth.
PS: LMMS has more good things than bad but that part is done, and the best way to show that to the people who developed it this far is by making songs with it that are even better!
website links: change “submit your songs” to “submit your content”
You should know I’m a part of the Ubuntu-artwork group. So this isn’t the first community I’m in. When I look at LMMS’s community I can’t help to see some things of which I believe they might work better on another way..
So I’ve looked at FL studio one more time. Rebooted Xubuntu and looked at LMMS. I opened Tomboy note and wrote everything down of which I think improvements can be made. That list of things stands below.
BUT, before I start I want to say that this list, is one that summarizes the improvement points of LMMS. The things that great are already done, therefor they don’t need this special attention. Although I must say that what we have up till now is awesome, major things have already happened. We’ve got ourselves a foundation for a great program!
So, what would make LMMS better. I made three groups out of the notes. The first is one about the structure of the community, the second is about the program itself, and the third is about marketing and getting the word out.
Structure
I’m not going to write a list of points here, it would be to compicated.
First, set short term goals that are thight (f.i.: add velocity). At ubuntu we set a goal and give it a deadline, people hear from it by newsletter and start working, we post the pictures online (flickr)and after that we start rating them (and commenting). Now I’m not a part of the ubuntu development group,only artwork (so I don’t know if you can do something like this with codewriters).
Second, use subgroups, I know we aren’t making a whole OS but artwork-people don’t have something about discussions about the implent of delay codes.
In my opinion the general structure should be like this:
HEAD (few people who set the guidelines and future goals)
subHEAD (this involves 2 or 3 people of every subgroup, they interact with the head and eachother and send newsletters to the members of there subgroups)
subgroup (these recieve the newsletters which include shortterm goals)
I’m not saying HEAD are more then subgroups, we’re a community not a factory, but structure is needed, else the project will explode in non-coherent side projects)
Because development can’t do everything at the same time make an ideabox.
Add an idea shoutbox to the website and make an interface so developers can vote and suggest (like the ubuntu ideabox..).
In general everyone (even users) can submit ideas, developers can then suggest solutions, and give it a like or dislike function.
Finally the head also should provide guidelines (just like was done with the wiki)
Program
To start I would like this to be divided into two groups. the real programming, and the things around it.
PROGRAMMING
skinning: make it go deeper, make the standard skin look slicker and less playfull, make icons smaller. make the images bigger, I know it would make the package bigger, but it would make editing them also simpler.. (or use SVF)
goals: Take a good program and set your goal to make it better that (f.i.: fl studio)
Sample groups: the way the samples are mapped is okay, but if you do it like that, allow grouping them and minimising groups (like a group of layers in gimp or photoshop, or like the beat and bassline editor)
Tooltips: Add more tooltips, some icons don't say much, tooltips would help them alot (select button)
Middlemousebutton: get rit of the middle mouse button map, I use a laptop and don't have a middle mouse button! (or make remapping possible)
window borders: make sure you can’t put frame borders outside of the window.. It sucks!
THINGS AROUND IT
tutorials: make them available from inside LMMS even if it are only links, users don’t want to go to a forum for that; Use todays medium, make youtube tutorials. FLstudio only uses text, be better use video!; get bigger then just LMMS: provide tips as how to get things going with lmms, new user don't know jack nor hydrogen or audacity.. stuff like that
Plugins, effects, samples: Get more of them! I know this stands in the roadmap but make concrete workpoints of it (f.i.: housedrum samples, deadline: 00-00-00)
Plugins, effects, samples list: Velocity
hydrogen: get together with them, flawlessly switching between both get both project further and will be a step ahead of FL studio.
MIDI: make tutorials about that also, let them see how it's done and hint: make sure midi works out of the box, make it your strong point, make it easy to adress midi and to implent it, this is a big gab in many closed source projects (exept ableton)
Marketing
logo: once again LMMS is superb, but the logo isn’t really telling that, it’s telling LMMS is a toy (colorful things often leave that impression); a logo shouldn’t be that doesn’t change in years. in 5 years logo’s will be dated. Ubuntu has a nice way of solving that, they still use the circle of friends, just a bit differently.
name: youtube vid quote:”they shot themselves in the head with that name”. I love the name but windows users hate to see the name linux. I think only using the LMMS and not Linux M... will help with this..
community: get a dense user-community..
I really hope this doesn't provoke anyone. It's not my intention to start a flame or something. I just think LMMS can be more than what it is today, there's so much potential in it..
It would be a shame if we don't get what it's worth.
PS: LMMS has more good things than bad but that part is done, and the best way to show that to the people who developed it this far is by making songs with it that are even better!
website links: change “submit your songs” to “submit your content”