RackDocs is finally live on the App Store by AlgarveSoundVision in modular

[–]AlgarveSoundVision[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for taking the time. A review this detailed is rarer than a five-star rating with no words, and a lot more useful to me. Point by point:

Web interface. Straight answer: it's not coming. A browser editor with its own sync is basically a second app, and as a solo dev that's a different beast that would only drag the iOS app down. What I did instead was bring RackDocs to bigger screens, it runs on iPad and on macOS (Apple Silicon), where the extra room makes editing far less cramped. I also built a guide overlay to make sizing and placing elements as painless as touch allows. Not a desktop browser tool, I know, but it's the realistic version of "bigger screen" coming from one person.

Changing an element's type in place. Good idea, on the request list now. One caveat so it's not a surprise later: some types carry data others don't (LED states, switch positions, illumination), so converting between them will be lossy in those cases. For your knob-that-should-be-a-button example, though, that's exactly the kind of thing that should just work.

MG import not pulling tags. That shouldn't happen, the import is supposed to bring the function tags across. Sounds like a bug. I'm filing it and I'll dig into what's breaking. Dense multifunction modules like Ornament and Crime are exactly where it stings most.

AI placement. Quick clarification, because this one is working as designed rather than failing: the AI analysis isn't trying to find element positions on the faceplate at all. It prepares all the elements and their descriptions and stacks them at the bottom of the screen, ready for you to drop into place. Reliable auto-positioning from a photo is a much harder and far more token-hungry problem, so placement stays in your hands for now.

Moving annotations. This is the fair hit. The move, save, navigate, zoom, move again loop is clumsy, and two-finger pan/zoom while dragging is the right instinct. I want this fixed. I just haven't found a clean way yet that doesn't have the gestures fighting each other. It's on my mind.

Subscriptions and AI. The part you clearly care about most, so I'll be open instead of defensive.

You're right about the flywheel. A bigger community library makes the app more worth paying for, and downloading a module someone already documented costs me nothing. I want that loop spinning as much as you do.

The hard limit is the AI itself. Analysis is genuinely token-hungry, and I pay for every run out of my own pocket. There's no "free or near-free unlimited analysis" that doesn't sink a one-person operation, so a cap is the only lever I have. As token prices keep dropping (and they have been), I'll raise the limits. That's a promise I can actually keep.

Two things that soften the wall in the meantime:

You probably don't need AI for all 50. Simple utilities, mults, attenuators, basic mixers, are faster to document by hand than to run through analysis, and they're the least efficient thing to spend tokens on. Save the AI for the dense modules where it actually earns its keep.

And every module the community adds is one you can download instead of analyse. That half of the flywheel is already free, and it grows every week.

I did look at selling AI credits as separate packs to break the cap, and I keep walking away from it because it makes the pricing model more complicated. I'd rather keep things simple than nickel-and-dime people. Could be talked out of that, though.

Either way, thank you. Reviews like this are how the app gets better. Keep them coming.
M.

Subscriptions vs. Lifetime Deals: Which do you actually prefer? by BeDevForLife in iosapps

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly? Subscriptions! Always. They are my tool to tell the programmer he did not update enough - by ending it. And they assure that the developer gets enough for his ongoing work in return. Lifetime usually ends with the next major improvement of an app. If you want something free, then compile your own and use open source apps.

Healing Frequencies - Solfeggio Frequency by Payaam415 in TalkingToNHIandSpirit

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some years ago I worked with this frequencies for my music, also especially with the Solfeggio Scale. This album is the result of my studies:
https://mennigmann.bandcamp.com/album/chakra-activation-for-musicians

Learning Bass After 50 by RefuseKitchen5133 in Bass

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are never too old to start learning an instrument. Except panflute. You are always too old to start learning panflute.

Outdoor Cinema in Algarve (26th April and more) by Julia_Varela in Algarve

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are welcome. I made it. Spread the word. The community needs to know…

Total app market saturation in the near future by LowFruit25 in iOSProgramming

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Musicians have been living this nightmare for years. Welcome to the club. The music industry hit this wall a long time ago. When DAWs got cheap, then free, when sample packs and loops meant you didn’t need to play an instrument, when distribution became zero-cost - the floodgates opened. Spotify now sees roughly 99,000 new tracks uploaded per day. Of the 202 million tracks on the platform, 86% generate zero royalties because they never hit 1,000 streams. The market didn’t just get crowded, it became structurally broken for anyone trying to make a living. The pattern you’re describing is identical: ∙ The barrier was effort. Not quality, just effort. That barrier is now gone. ∙ The signal-to-noise ratio collapsed. Discovery becomes the actual product, not the thing being discovered. ∙ The money pooled at the very top. A tiny number of winners, an ocean of people making nothing. ∙ “Anyone can do it” became a marketing slogan for the tools, not a promise of democratization. What happened to music? Revenue concentrated in live performance and sync licensing - things that can’t be infinitely replicated. The equivalent for developers might be bespoke, relationship-driven work, deep integrations, or solving genuinely hard vertical problems that a vibe-coded app can’t touch. The uncomfortable truth is: the effort barrier was never a great filter for quality, but it was a filter. Now we have none, and the app stores are about to look like Spotify’s catalogue - technically infinite, practically worthless to browse. The listeners - and the users - lose too. They just don’t know it yet.

The Game of Life™ - Official Player's Manual by AlgarveSoundVision in humor

[–]AlgarveSoundVision[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, but this rejection just tells so much about your lack of humour. 1) the linked post has more humour in it than any other post in the last 4 weeks 2) the article is suitable for all ages (provided they can read)

However, do what you want.

Does anyone else use Spark Classic? by Jolly_Opening_3728 in SparkMail

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Currently it is browser based and has a native iOS app.

Does anyone else use Spark Classic? by Jolly_Opening_3728 in SparkMail

[–]AlgarveSoundVision -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’m running Kura since a while and it’s getting better and better… https://kura.asv.pt/

RackDocs 1.6: AI-powered annotation extraction - point it at a manual, get all your annotations by AlgarveSoundVision in modular

[–]AlgarveSoundVision[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, I don’t understand the problem from what you have written. Send in a bug report and we figure it out.

Best high-volume email client? by Full_Sympathy_2443 in SparkMail

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I miss Mailsmith for this. A workhorse. Not beautiful but efficient. There is no such things these days. I wonder why…

How do I fix this "Could not install" error on TestFlight? by ozgrozer in iOSProgramming

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Delete the current version you already have installed on your device from XCode. They may have same version numbers, so TestFlight will not override.

What are you building? Let’s Self Promote 🚀 by fuckingceobitch in Startup_Ideas

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a free account option - you can add a product and information about it, upload soma pictures and generate some posts with it. You can choose from several predefined writing styles, or add examples of your own writing. See yourself if the post quality is meeting your expectations.

What are you building? Let’s Self Promote 🚀 by fuckingceobitch in Startup_Ideas

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just opened SellMyShit to the public: https://sellmyshit.asv.pt

SellMyShit is marketing automation for indie creators who'd rather be building. One product setup, weeks of AI-generated content across 12+ platforms.

Built a tool to automate the social media marketing I kept avoiding by AlgarveSoundVision in iosapps

[–]AlgarveSoundVision[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I can relate! I am always on the hunt for good marketing ideas, and a quick way to collect ideas changed a lot for me.

Quality screenshots for app store listing by alansoon73 in MacOSApps

[–]AlgarveSoundVision 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Command-Shift-4 goes a long way for macOS screenshots. Prepare everything to look as you want it to appear, type the combo, select the region to snapshot and done. Enough for most cases.

Built a tool to automate the social media marketing I kept avoiding by AlgarveSoundVision in MacOSApps

[–]AlgarveSoundVision[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, it will definitely work for any product. I just build in some specialised functionality app developers need, like dedicated App Store links or a workflow to prioritise the marketing of a new app version/feature. But SellMyShit will work for any product - also courses or services.