Flowstone Guru Download area

[Exo]

The Download Area for Flowstone is now fully functional.

Features...

*Site member uploads. (currently on request via contact page)
*Each download is categorised for easy searching.
*Version numbers, Author, file size and number of downloads.
*Rate each download.
*Each download has its own support forum.
*Share the downloads page via Social media.
*List all downloads for Author by clicking author name.

Currently uploading is on request only so if you want to share your modules on Flowstone Guru then please sign up to the site and then use the contact page to request it.

Let me know what you think! I have wanted something like this for ages.

[billv]

Well done.

[Perfect Human Interface]

What I think... I guess I just wonder about the need for yet another website to look for schematics.

[Exo]

What I think... I guess I just wonder about the need for yet another website to look for schematics.

I believe there is a need but I see what you mean. We now have 3 websites to look for modules.

The forum is very unorganised when it comes to modules and finding things is difficult. And a lot of the time modules are just beta or alpha quality because people post stuff up to get feedback and possibly to help make it better. This is great and will I think always be the case.

Flowstone Gurus download area is purely for 'finished' modules so you can be assured of a certain level of quality. Of course there will still be issues/bugs but no modules should be of beta quality.

So that is the first benefit. The second is visibility, modules will be very easy to find in Flowstone Guru, building a synth? Click the synth category and you will get a list if all the available modules designed for a synth. Saves searching the forum for hours!

If other module authors get involved then it could become a home for all the best modules that have been posted over the years. If this happens then you will clearly only have one site you need to search!

I know Trog is busy at the moment but I am sure he is going to get involved with adding modules so that will be a lot of quality stuff there. If the other gurus get involved then Flowstone Guru Could become the 'place to go' for Flowstone modules (which is my aim).

Another benefit is being able to rate downloads ect...and I will see about adding search by Author.

This can be and is so much better than just plonking modules on a forum. Synthmaker was always supposed to be getting something like this but never did. People are still asking Malc for something like this, so here it is

I could also expand into other area, it is quite easy to allow people to upload music ect and to listen to it directly from the page without needed to download. But I have no plans for that but is a possibility.

[Perfect Human Interface]

I can see where you're coming from. Although I don't believe in "finished" modules. I've picked up all sorts of amazing doodads others have made for my own toolbox, and many of them I've modified, in some cases heavily, for my own tastes and needs. I like the continual flow of progress, where something wasn't at all broken but it got some cool bells and whistles anyways. Or someone shows up out of the woodwork with a more efficient way to do the exact same thing.

To me, that's what Flowstone is all about. Everything is malleable and everyone can build upon each other's work. There's always more that can be done.

But as long as those Gurus don't end up getting too snobby to post their stuff on the forums too I'm OK with it.

[Exo]

I guess a better term than "finished" would have been "stable" or "mature".
I do agree that software is never really finished but it can be very close, at least to the original authors vision. I'm sure when someone downloads a module it is definitely not finished to them because for them they are just getting started with there own vision for it.

And yes that is what is so great about releasing here on the forum the feedback and improvements that come from the community, people branching off and doing things that where never intended. That is what has always been great about this community and I think Flowstone Guru will only add and not take anything away from that.

A case in point is my Free running oscillators I released that on the forum and straight away was told it didn't work! Many iterations later and will help from adamszabo and Malc I got it working correctly. Now the "finished" module lives on Flowstone Guru. This is the approach I will continue to take, release beta versions on the forum for people to test and learn from and get involved with and then when I have completed my vision for it it will find a permanent home in Flowstone Guru.


As well part of my intention for the site is to make Flowstone more visible to people outside of our community, and to give an accessible place to go for information and modules for people that are not forum dwellers.
Not everyone that uses the software will visit the forum but they might like reading blogs and so Flowstone Guru will suit them better.

So really it is just about expanding out into areas not covered by the forum and is meant as a supplement.


I'm in a bit of a crazy mission at the moment to fill as many holes in Flowstone as possible.
The first one was free running oscillators which has taken nearly a decade of people making synths before I grabbed the bull by the horns and made it possible.

Other missions include a 64bit wrapper, VST3 wrapper, a proper GUI toolkit for Ruby (Trog and I are teaming up for that) and plenty of other things that are now possible because of the dll component.
The pace of development of Flowstone has always been frustrating so I'm pushing in as many areas as I can!

Anyway that us enough of my rambling!

[trogluddite]

Looking great Exo! Just the kind of resource we need.

I know Trog is busy at the moment but I am sure he is going to get involved with adding modules

Oh yes, I'll be along as soon as I can. It's been driving me nuts watching from the sidelines while I've re-arranged everything. Just a load of cleaning up to do and the last few cables and I can get back to business in my new cave.

[Exo]

Looking great Exo! Just the kind of resource we need.

I know Trog is busy at the moment but I am sure he is going to get involved with adding modules

Oh yes, I'll be along as soon as I can. It's been driving me nuts watching from the sidelines while I've re-arranged everything. Just a load of cleaning up to do and the last few cables and I can get back to business in my new cave.

Great news!

[tester]

Exo has better chances to make something good and not crap, because he is actively involved in FS, and because he seems to know (hopefully) how to configure what he does on the web. I give him 60% chances of longterm success.

But honestly speaking - it would be better to have some harvester on this and SM forum, that gathers available downloadable stuff automatically, so that some sort of re-indexing can be done (project=stays / issue=away / solved=depends-on-content // + cattegory selection). Basically something that combines forum capabilities with conceptual threading (use posts or redirected quotes as descriptors) as well; so that nobody has to begin from scratch. And in that ocean new ideas could emerge. It has to be non-one-person so to speak.

[KG_is_back]

I think the download area is a very good idea. This forum is marked as Support and mainly serves that purse. 95% topics are questions about features, bugs and similar discussions. only 5% are actual module posts and even those usually have long discussion in them that is not very interesting or helpful for someone who's searching for finish product aka. working module (in topic that has 3 or more pages it is hard to find the actual finished module, the tpic is about). It is very hard to find anything usable on here (it is more efficient to ask if someone had this or that in their toolbox to share that was made million years ago).
Flowstone guru download area is something like public toolbox, which has it's own support forum per module. Even if there will be 100modules it still be easy to find them and maintain them. Time is money people!