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This looks impressive, but I'm most curious about the Alexa integration. How do you do that without having to say "ask <app name> to <x>" every time?

ricardobeat 7y ago
In the video at the end of the page that is exactly how it works: 'Alexa, ask Nexus to open Back in Black by AC/DC'.
- StavrosK 7y ago
  He does say "Alexa, give me some metal EQ" and similar things multiple times.
- fivedogit 7y ago
  He's making a subtle point here. There's "do x" vs "Alexa, do x" vs "Alexa, ask AppName to do x" The first is when the skill does a thing and then immediately starts listening again. The blue bar is already there and you don't need to say "Alexa". The second is when the skill is still open but not currently listening. Takes a bit of hackery to keep the skill from constantly closing, namely, long-running APL commands. The third is when the skill is closed and you're trying to get it to do something. I call this "deep launching" but it almost never works. Amazon has built an amazing system here, but the Alexa system needs work on recognizing skill names for deep launching.
TylerE 7y ago
It isn’t impressive at all. It’s a toy completely unsuited to performance. The fact that he brags about “no knobs, no switch’s” shows how he completely fails to understand the market. This is top class /r/shittykickstarters (and do t be fooled, this entire post exists just to shill a kickstarter) There are plenty of mature, established modeling solutions on the market.
- ricardobeat 7y ago
  It is clearly for practice / home use and not for live performance. The main value seems to be the automation for switching tones based on song presets. This is also the focus in one of the mainstream modelling apps, ToneBridge, except it doesn't play along with tabs, so there is clearly a market for it.
  - TylerE 7y ago
    All of the existing modelers support toggling based on midi commands
    - irscott 7y ago
      Those modellers are expensive as hell and super complex. With this you don't need to dig into sub menus or even need to know how a tone stack works. You just tell Alexa what you're trying to do and it does it. This definitely is very useful to a huge chunk of the guitar player market.
- fivedogit 7y ago
  Why the hate? Do you know of any modeling solution where you can pick up your guitar and play without your hands ever leaving the guitar? Do you know of any modeling solution that will automatically change your guitar tones during playback? And automate your loopers? And scroll lyrics and chords in perfect time? And (eventually) automate your vocal effects, lights, fog machines, drone cameras and dancing baby Groot? For < $150? Thingamagig understands the underlying composition which is a critical component of advanced automation. No other solution on the market does this. If it did, I would have bought it and been done with it.
  - blackguardx 7y ago
    Launching products is super hard I wish you luck. Getting detractors means you are doing something that at least garners a reaction from people. If there are negative reactions, there will also be positive ones.
fivedogit 7y ago
Yeah good question. Alexa skills don't want to be long-lived so you have to force them to stay open so you're not constantly saying "Alexa ask <app name> to <x>" which, by the way, hardly ever works. With a video skill like this, I can submit APL documents and then long-running commands to make it keep "doing something" throughout the playback. There is a limit to how long you can command it to "delay" but I think it's more than 5 minutes or something. I haven't tried it, but for non-video skills I've read that you can play silent audio for a period of time to keep the skill open. Janky, for sure.

ricardobeat 7y ago

In the video at the end of the page that is exactly how it works: 'Alexa, ask Nexus to open Back in Black by AC/DC'.

StavrosK 7y ago
He does say "Alexa, give me some metal EQ" and similar things multiple times.
fivedogit 7y ago
He's making a subtle point here. There's "do x" vs "Alexa, do x" vs "Alexa, ask AppName to do x" The first is when the skill does a thing and then immediately starts listening again. The blue bar is already there and you don't need to say "Alexa". The second is when the skill is still open but not currently listening. Takes a bit of hackery to keep the skill from constantly closing, namely, long-running APL commands. The third is when the skill is closed and you're trying to get it to do something. I call this "deep launching" but it almost never works. Amazon has built an amazing system here, but the Alexa system needs work on recognizing skill names for deep launching.

TylerE 7y ago

It isn’t impressive at all. It’s a toy completely unsuited to performance. The fact that he brags about “no knobs, no switch’s” shows how he completely fails to understand the market. This is top class /r/shittykickstarters (and do t be fooled, this entire post exists just to shill a kickstarter) There are plenty of mature, established modeling solutions on the market.

ricardobeat 7y ago
It is clearly for practice / home use and not for live performance. The main value seems to be the automation for switching tones based on song presets. This is also the focus in one of the mainstream modelling apps, ToneBridge, except it doesn't play along with tabs, so there is clearly a market for it.
- TylerE 7y ago
  All of the existing modelers support toggling based on midi commands
  - irscott 7y ago
    Those modellers are expensive as hell and super complex. With this you don't need to dig into sub menus or even need to know how a tone stack works. You just tell Alexa what you're trying to do and it does it. This definitely is very useful to a huge chunk of the guitar player market.
fivedogit 7y ago
Why the hate? Do you know of any modeling solution where you can pick up your guitar and play without your hands ever leaving the guitar? Do you know of any modeling solution that will automatically change your guitar tones during playback? And automate your loopers? And scroll lyrics and chords in perfect time? And (eventually) automate your vocal effects, lights, fog machines, drone cameras and dancing baby Groot? For < $150? Thingamagig understands the underlying composition which is a critical component of advanced automation. No other solution on the market does this. If it did, I would have bought it and been done with it.
- blackguardx 7y ago
  Launching products is super hard I wish you luck. Getting detractors means you are doing something that at least garners a reaction from people. If there are negative reactions, there will also be positive ones.

fivedogit 7y ago

Yeah good question. Alexa skills don't want to be long-lived so you have to force them to stay open so you're not constantly saying "Alexa ask <app name> to <x>" which, by the way, hardly ever works. With a video skill like this, I can submit APL documents and then long-running commands to make it keep "doing something" throughout the playback. There is a limit to how long you can command it to "delay" but I think it's more than 5 minutes or something. I haven't tried it, but for non-video skills I've read that you can play silent audio for a period of time to keep the skill open. Janky, for sure.