1) New upload tool – most of the feedback we had, was that the upload process, well.. lets be honest, was a bit over complicated. We’ve added some more help text and it’ll now ask for the information on only two screens with auto-complete where possible (if you add remixer names but not any information on the remix name, it’ll name it for you).

2) we’ve changed the site background, just because I wanted to really and a few other bits, the design side is still in progress.

3) Edit screen – you can now edit track information after you’ve uploaded.

4) RSS feed of new files – this’ll update as new tracks are added.

To come (very soon) – a bulk uploader! Say what? Download the exe file, point it to a folder with warp files in, it’ll take what info it can from the ID3 tags, prompt you to fill in the rest then upload to the site. It’s working, we’re just doing a few more tests then we’ll make it available.

To come (soon-ish) – an API – yep, query our database via XML something clever and we’ll pass back info.

Love to know your thoughts on our beta!

If you signed up as an alpha tester and have used the site or provided us with help in other ways, we’ll be sending you voucher codes to invite your mates – email coming this week.

PS Sorry we left this post in draft for so long, forgot to click publish!

Also… and frankly, much more exciting…

We’ve finished phase 1 of our bulk upload tool

At the moment, it operates via CSV + warp files in a zip… phase 2 will be one you can use yourselves (that will be a while).

If you have a large collection of warp files you’d be willing to share, we’ll credit your account as normal AND in the near-ish future, if your account has surplus credits to your needs – we’ll pay you! WIN

For more details on the bulk upload please hit me up.

Luke

PS added another batch of files (latest beatport top 10) and will be doing 100s more this week

Comments as ever welcome:

Wow. Thank you! We’ve had loads of RT’s on twitter and some really encouraging feedback so far.

Thought I’d write a quick post to respond to some of the questions we’ve had:

1) I’m on the alpha list but I can’t login with the email address

If you’re on the alpha list you will need to register your full details to use warpsauce – make sure you use the email address you signed up with.

2) Can I register as an alpha tester please?

No, sorry. Anyone who registers now, who is not already on the alpha list will not be able to use the site until we move into public beta.

3) Why a closed alpha?

We wanted to get the site to a certain level of stability / usability / content before we unleashed it on the general public – we’re also now finishing off the admin side of it, so we can cope with more users once it’s live.

4) (along the lines of…) what no mp3’s?

NO – this is purely for the .asd files – which are user created content and as such, not covered by copyright (for more details, please see our T+C+P on the main site)

5) “the .asd file doesn’t maintain the warping; in some circumstances it is overwritten. For this to *really* work, you should ask for the .alc (clip) file, which records the warping information (and lots of other goodies) reliably.”

Now this is an interesting one and I’d love more feedback on this – we’ve focussed the site on .asd files for whole tunes for a couple of reasons, my understanding – and I will be double checking in case I’m wrong, which does happen – is that the clip file contains audio as well (and so is copyrighted), and also would be unique to the loop size you chose?

Rather than be a site hosting lots of (illegal) clips, we choose to focus on full tracks.

If I’ve got this wrong, please do tell me!

6) There’s not that many files on here yet?

We’ve provided a tool for YOU to swap warp files, we will be importing all of my personal warp files (400+) really soon, but for now we’re focussed on bugs + admin panel.

All feedback gratefully received, I really do hope that together we can create a great re-sauce

Luke

If you are one of our lucky testers, don’t forget you have 10 free credits waiting for you to use as you try it out. As promised, once we launch the full site you’ll also be receiving a unique download code for you to share with 20 people (5 credits per friend – 2 for you, 3 for them).

Whilst up and running in alpha mode, we are focused on ironing out any last few bugs as well as continuing to make warpsauce your number one ‘sauce’ for Ableton warp files. We’ll be doing things like uploading a couple hundred warp files for your browsing and downloading pleasure very soon so keep those eyes peeled.

For those of you who didn’t get chance to sign up as alpha testers, if you register via the site, we’ll keep your details at hand and let you know when it’s time to join in on all the warpsauce-ing!

One final note for all, if you come across any bugs when navigating through the site, please let us know via http://www.warpsauce.com/Contact.

Happy warpsauce-ing alpha style!

PS If you received an email from us where the text was in one big block we are very sorry!

During our pre-flight checks, we identified a “rain stops play” incident. I took a parachute overview and thought outside the box to use as many cliches as I could to basically say… we found an issue, its taking us a while to fix it, we’re sorry.

The upside of this has been that we’ve now developed much more comprehensive feedback/faq/help system based on the issue we found and an aha moment that came while solving it!

In parallel to us fixing this issue, our good friends at The Boy In the Corner have been warping popular files for us to include from launch (inc. the beatport top 10 each week), so we’ll also have a bigger inventory than we would otherwise of had.

issue + delay = -1 point

better FAQ = +1 point

more warp files = +1 point

Score = 1 point = WIN

Luke
PS We’ll also be having prizes for the top warp file creator when we go from alpha > beta… ladies + gentlemen start your warping!

If you’d like to join us, please RSVP on the facebook event and come to iBar FRUIT, Bournemouth from 7-10pm.  Afterwards we’re carrying on the party with the Cut Up Boys @ Be Club.

UPDATE: Ok, so 30mins after we posted this, we got a call to say that iBar has been flooded and can’t open at all this weekend. Luckily our friends at Fruit have helped out, so the party is still on!

Originally set up in 2003 by a group of passionate audio professionals to deliver better service and greater value than anywhere else, Absolute Music has grown in to one of the UK’s leading music retailers.

Absolute Music guarantees huge choice, expert advice, friendly service and the best prices. It’s Poole, Dorset, based store boasts a large guitar and bass showroom, acoustic guitar room, guitar workshop, pro audio studio, keyboard/piano showroom and live stage. In a nearby warehouse, Absolute also has thousands of products in stock, most of which available for next-day delivery.

“Absolute Music is delighted to be on board with warpsauce. It’s great to see users developing their own resources outside of what’s commercially available,” comments Andy from Absolute Music. “With warpsauce in Luke’s hands, we’re confident that it will grow to be a force to be reckoned with. We’re looking forward to helping warpsauce develop into the number one Ableton resource site.”

Luke from warpsauce added, “We are really pleased to be associated with Absolute Music and are excited for the mutual benefits the partnership will bring. Absolute Music is a market leader in its sector and has an established and loyal customer base. I personally have also always used their equipment, so know first-hand how fantastic their products and services are.”

In other news, warpsauce is now using the services of web hosting solutions partner C4L (http://www.c4l.co.uk/) who are amongst leaders in the UK network connectivity for data centres and one of the largest independent Internet Service Providers in the UK.

Morning,

We were talking about moving hosts this week, and it’s happened. We’ve arranged for our new hosting to come on-line today, but our existing hosting has been taken off-line a few days early.

The site should be available in the next day or two, once again, apologies for the downtime, hopefully this will be the end of it.

Tom