Arturia team, can you please make a statement on a possible update?

[Edouard_Arturia]

Hello guys.

I just reread the thread and I realized, the mediocre sync is indeed not the no. 1 reason not to use the brute, that are the LFO divisions of course! 

You may end up with some dust on your fingers after updating, who knows...

It is a shame that people have to beg for a flagship update for years.
And then after years of waiting we do not get any information regarding the updater scope
or release date.
And now the people are still waiting and do not know when the update will be finally released.
I'm am working for an IT company, if we had an update policy like Arturia, then I would be jobless.
It is just ridiculous, Arturia is able to release new Hardware without problems but are not able to
deliver simple bug fixes.

Sorry but I don't want to wait anymore, I will sell all my Arturia gear also the Matrixbrute, and with
the money I get I will support other companies.
And it doe's not matter if the Matrixbrute sounds good, there are enough Synths on the market with similar
or better sound performance.
I don't want to support a company that treats his customers like sh##.

I understand your frustration.
I tried to post regularly here and on Gearslutz to keep everyone updated, but maybe you missed my posts.
Right now we have the beta 6 firmware being tested internally and to be sent in beta test tomorrow.
We were supposed to release this week, but Florian and myself found some new bugs on Monday 

Best

[standingwave]

Good work Edouard, sniff out those bugs! As long as we are kept abreast, take whatever time the firmware needs to be the best it can be.
 Cheers!

[Chromat1c]

You may end up with some dust on your fingers after updating, who know...

I hear those triplets coming. Personally I feel that LFO note divisions are a bit lacking in the implementation of many products. What I would REALLY like is the ability to get to ANY possible division. Imagine two columns. One with the division size and one with the amount of divisions within the master clock. That would enable me to use a division of 7/16ths for example or 4 quarters or how about flamenco style 11/8ths etc etc etc. I know that most will be satisfied with just even, dotted and triplet values but this misses out a huge amount of musical possibilities. I know this is probably not practical for the MxB but just saying synth manufactures don't necessarily have the depth of musicology knowledge they could have. After all these are "musical instruments". The implementation of features that deal with note divisions like an LFO needs to evolve to cover these missing areas.

[Erlking]

Hello Edouard,

thank you for the response.
In my opinion, software without bugs does not exists.
The question is, is the bug you found a showstopper?
I think it is better to have sprint based releases then
trying to make the software 100% bug free and never releasing.
Because with every line of code there is a chance to create a new bug.
I can guarantee that after the release someone will find an other bug.
And then we again have to wait for some years?

A smaller feature/bugfix scope is also easier to test for the testers.
Why not handle it like Synthstrom? They released a nice 3.0 Update
for the Deluge, after some weeks they also released a patch for the reported
bugs.
I also do not understand why a flagship product like the Matrixbrute get so
less attention in the company, because how many devs are responsible for this product?
One or maybe two?
Arturia should also have a Quality Management department for software testing, so every
task can be reviewed and tested after the development.

Arturia also increased the price for the Matrixbrute without any improvement.
As a dev I can totally understand that you are under pressure now and that development takes time,
but I also know that it is better to have a sprint plan and releasing continuously to keep the
customers happy.
To get customers trust is really hard, but loosing it is really easy.
When all customers leave, also Arturia will leave the market.

But to be honest, theres something wrong with Arturias Management, because as I can
see they don't care.
The just want to release new products, make the money and forget about the product and customer
support again.

But these are only my two cents.

[Lunatic Sound]

Well, as has been stated before, chances are sadly p4etty high, that this will be the last time this company will have someone look at this code, which means it is indeed better for us, if they get it as right as possible at release. Also, I will be playing a really big show in Dec., so I really can't afford bugs right now 

By the way, Edouardo, I hope you don't feel personally stressed too much by all the frustration here,  as it is not your fault whats happening, if I understand you correctly... So lets bring this thing to perfection as far as possible and then maybe find a new company all of us   

I'm just teasing, thanks for being the only one available here.

[MajorFubar]

The question is, is the bug you found a showstopper?
I think it is better to have sprint based releases than trying to make the software 100% bug free and never releasing.

We have been passing that very same message up the chain via this forum for several years, but unfortunately it has always fallen on deaf ears. It's way better for the customer experience to issue more frequent 'dot' releases which gradually and methodically improve the product, even if some of those releases are bug fixes to address bugs accidentally introduced previously. Instead Arturia opt for a big bang approach, whose release date has slipped more times than an octopus on rollerskates.

(Edit just for clarity, I intend no criticism towards Edouard: it seems pretty obvious to me, probably to all of us, that the problems endemic in the company are not the fault of the employees tasked with liaising with us)

[Edouard_Arturia]

Hey guys.

We have been passing that very same message up the chain via this forum for several years, but unfortunately it has always fallen on deaf ears. It's way better for the customer experience to issue more frequent 'dot' releases which gradually and methodically improve their experience, even if some of those releases are bug fixes to address bugs accidentally introduced previously. Instead Arturia opt for a big bang approach, whose release date has slipped more times than an octopus on rollerskates.

But to be honest, theres something wrong with Arturias Management, because as I can
see they don't care.

We had difficulties with that because the company grew faster than the workforce. But right now, we have more structure in the whole company, more QA processes and we are able to leave more room in plannings to update our products to keep them alive and make the community happy. Of course this is not as easy as it looks, but we are really committed to do as good as we can, and continue improving day by day.

(Edit just for clarity, I intend no personal criticism of Edouard: it's seems pretty obvious to me, probably to all of us, that the problems endemic in the company are not at his level)

By the way, Edouardo, I hope you don't feel personally stressed too much by all the frustration here,  as it is not your fault whats happening, if I understand you correctly... So lets bring this thing to perfection as far as possible and then maybe find a new company all of us 
I'm just teasing, thanks for being the only one available here.

I appreciate the words guys. Indeed, i'm basically Support Manager but not developer or product manager.
But as I love this product, and I'm actually one of the person in the company who has direct contacts with you, I took the lead of the update, wrote the specifications etc...
This is my first step in the product management world, and even though the situation was kind of hectic and scary when first posting here, I was really happy to do it.
The upcoming update is really exciting and being able to feel the hope coming back in the community is really rewarding.

Right now we have the beta 6 firmware being tested internally and to be sent in beta test tomorrow.
We were supposed to release this week, but Florian and myself found some new bugs on Monday 

Beta 6 has been released this afternoon as is pretty clean, our dear beta testers will be able to user their MatrixBrute almost flawlessly, in the meantime, we will continue to work on the latest bugs we sniffed this week. (mostly LFO & SEQ sync/phase )
By the way, as the firmware is now pretty clean, if some of you are up to join the beta test, you can contact me...
Right now you could use the MatrixBrute pretty much without being embarrassed by bugs as the ones remaining are really hard to spot.
And if you spot bugs, more feedbacks are always welcome 

[MajorFubar]

You're doing a fine job, Edouard. We all appreciate you, even those like myself who have been critical of the company's methods of support and maintenance.

Arturia diversified into too many different market categories before it had the resources to cope with the demands such diversification would bring. But when Arturia management recognised that, they should have put a break on launching new products every new moon and concentrated on maximising the potential of the products they already sold. The fact that they didn't was just an obvious decision to attract oniomaniacs, but it's an approach which doesn't win returning customers.

What I've seen happen many times is you [Arturia] launch a new piece of hardware or software, then for the first six weeks it gets the lion's share of post-release R&D with patches and updates coming thick and fast. After that brief window has closed, developers' attention gets moved onto the next new thing and future updates and bug fixes have to battle for importance with all the other products waiting for the same, and it becomes a case of he who screams loudest gets listened to. That's not the best way to manage product support.

[yeskeys]

"You may end up with some dust on your fingers after updating, who knows..."

What does this even mean???

What is the deal with this company's communications concerning the update of a synthesizer'?
It feels like they have to keep this all on the super down low because of ... what??  Why can't they just say here's what we're planning on making happen, we tried this and we couldn't make it work, we have this new feature coming, etc - just statements that COMMUNICATE WTF is happening.  This is ridiculous and has something I'd expect in fifth grade.

No offense to Eduard, I'm sure he's got management dictating these policies. 

[jocksbeat]

Hi Edouard, thanks for your replies on this subject :-)
So you're saying that Arturia is getting close to a release, after this Beta 6 release? May we now get a hint of these new features now?
Perhaps a list of upcoming features

[rens]

Edouard, thanks so much for your efforts! Look forward to the release when it comes.  Rens

[Edouard_Arturia]

There will be an official announcement.
At this moment, all the features will be revealed, along with a new updated manual, tutorials, and more

[MichaelMonkey]

There will be an official announcement.
At this moment, all the features will be revealed, along with a new updated manual, tutorials, and more

Although I am sure the new and improved features will be a godsend, especially for those of us here who have been complaining about needed improvements for a long, long time, for me, a new actually usable manual would be really great.  I just bought a beat step pro.  It is a very simple machine compared to the MatrixBrute, yet its manual is nearly twice the length, with much more details on features and uses.  I cannot understand how the MatrixBrute ever made it to a public release with such a crappy manual.  It seems like a document that was created for pre-release reviewers of the product.  In fact, I bet that's exactly what it was, and it just never was updated again.  So, please do a real manual this time, even if it is only pdf, that's totally fine.  The reason a manual is really good for people like me is that I use my MatrixBrute maybe once a week, or sometimes not for two weeks (I have a very demanding job right now).  I sit down and sometimes can't remember all the things I learned last time I used it. A good manual can help me get right back to what I knew last time. 

[WytchCrypt]

The reason a manual is really good for people like me is that I use my MatrixBrute maybe once a week, or sometimes not for two weeks (I have a very demanding job right now).  I sit down and sometimes can't remember all the things I learned last time I used it. A good manual can help me get right back to what I knew last time.

I hear you and to make things more complicated I run my MxB through an Elektron Octatrack (which is an even more confusing piece of gear) as a stereo signal processor.  Instead of depending on a less than comprehensive manual, I write my own detailed procedures for myself.  That way I can pick up where I left off a few weeks or months ago without spending too much time relearning my tricks 

[MichaelMonkey]

That's a really good idea.  I used to do that when I was first using Logic's environment back in the eMagic days (yowza)!