A DAW is one of the most complex software projects which you can think of… Due to constantly growing complexity in such a project, development naturally will be slower and slower over time. This is a common thing in Informatics. Often you can even observe projects getting stuck, since complexity and dependencies now are not managable anymore. I think modern OSes are an example for this.
That’s why it is wise to also remove features which might be outdated, barely used, to increase development speed and flexibility.
You also could maintain multiple versions of a software: One which keeps (OS) compatibility for a specific feature set, and one slim version which only contains the streamlined feature set.
This thread is meant to have an open discussion about what could be removed in Renoise with only minimal hurting. Remember that you also still can run an older version of the DAW which still has that feature. It is a difficult discussion and quite uncommon for commercial products, because how you can justify the removal of previously announced features. So please see this discussion as a brainstorming where you can also write about pro/cons and/or your strong feelings.
Here are some suggestions:
Audio Unit support - Almost any plugin is available as VST3, too. It is a very Apple-only propretary format, too, and should not be supported, from a political point of view.
VST2 support, if CLAP support and VST2->VST3 conversion support were added first.
Dithering, might be much nicer be done by most dithering plugins.
16 bit audio export.
MIDI hex/pattern automation, could be graphical only, it is not even per-note as the other hex automation.
sorry but removing audiounit is not minimal hurting. it means macOS users will just quit using Renoise. your own antipathy towards Apple shouldn’t be a factor in this.
Audio Unit support is getting on my nerves a bit too. Long list of stuff that I never need. Not from political point of view since I‘m a mac user for almost 20 years but I‘d find it much better if this could be skipped. It would be even better to switch it on and off in the settings with a mouse click, so that when you open Renoise you don’t have to see each time the AU list if you don‘t need it.
I’m a VST developer and that’s why i don’t make also Mac compatible versions of my plugins.
I hate the politics of Apple.
What i mostly hate about Apple, they buy more and more software companies and the software then will be only available for Mac. That is the way to monopolism so you have to buy their overpriced computers if you still want to use the software and should not be supported.
And Apple buys other software companies and make their stuff only available for Mac so you have to buy their overpriced products. That’s bad politics and is not far fom monopolism. So in my opinion Apple is the bad boy!
And as a plugin developer, if you wanna release a Mac version of your freeware plugin you have to create an Apple Account and you have to code sign the plugin for Mac. But Apple wants you to pay money (and not a little) for code signing your plugins, even if they’re freeware. So where’s the sense of releasing plugins that are freeware on Mac when you have to pay for it? No thanks! Apple products never will come into my house.
It is a suggestion for an open discussion. Wasn’t meant as an Apple bashing. AudioUnit in comparison to the other formats has one big disadvantage: It is not cross platform and very dependent on Apple’s decisions. Since it’s extremely proprietary character, it will be never established as a common standard, a goal which Apple actually prevents. So it reality, it is only required for Logic Pro, and maybe iOS, but even here, I think there also is VST3 available. Long story short, this was just one example. Do you have better ideas which stuff could be removed to reduce code complexity? See it as a theoretical game, maybe Taktik even completely disagrees with me.
How bold of a move would it be to replace VST2 for CLAP?
I understand that CLAP is open source and newer, but it’d be best for future proofing, no?
Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong though .
In my experience it is much more expensive to notarise an app for Windows…
Apple - Pay for annual developer license ($99) code sign for free
Windows - Pay a third party for signing certificate anywhere between $200 to $500 depending on the level you opt for, plus you also need a hardware key for the certificate which is another $150+
.