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Comment by n_sonic | Hacker News Reader

Hello! So I was very excited to hear that this app made stereo recordings. I make field recordings to use in my own compositions, so the idea of an app that does this was intriguing (and there seem to be none currently on the app store, unless I'm missing them?)

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but it's not recording in stereo? I verified by opening the file in Audacity (sent via AirDrop).

I tried holding my phone (iPhone 12 Pro) in both portrait and horizontal orientations (because I'm not sure if you needed to do this to make it work?)

Is there a way to make the stereo recording work (at least, can I verify it somehow before committing to a purchase?)

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High quality stereo recording is only available in our premium subscription (20$/year). The subscription comes with a one month free trial, which should give you some time to try it and see if you like it :)

So, I don't mind trials and subscriptions. And I will give this another go, however..

When I went to make my initial recording, the app asked me if I wanted to "try [Stereo HD]". I did this thinking that I could verify that stereo worked.

If you're not going to let me try it without committing, you may want to rethink the onboarding flow a bit?

But still, personally I'd consider giving users a proper taste of the power of the app, without commitment. Allowing them to try stereo for just the first recording would be a great introduction to the app. You could even time limit it to 10 seconds or something.

If you imply that the app is recording in "stereo" / "HD", but then exporting the audio results in a mono audio file, just makes me think it doesn't work. (The app even adds a [HD] label under the recording, which makes it even more confusing when you export it and it's mono.)

Apart from the above (hopefully constructive criticism) I'm looking forward to seeing this develop :)

Interesting. That is actually how the app works today: you actually have to tap try Stereo HD, then make a stereo recording that is at least 10 seconds long before pressing "try Stereo HD" again presents you with the paywall.

We got a lot of feedback from users (and from Apple in their App Review -.-) that that was confusing; they wanted to see the paywall straight away. So now we're considering removing that try-it-once-without-starting-a-trial mode.

Regarding exporting to mono: no, that shouldn't happen. It should definitely export to stereo. The exporting process doesn't touch the file. Would you mind sending me that audio file to thomas@tape.it if it's not a very private recording (of course we'll treat it privately; just for internal debugging)?

Another option might be to let users have access to a shorter length Stereo HD recording without subscribing as a way to try it out? Maybe something between 10-30 seconds?

Hey again.

So, after doing a few more tests, it seems like I was incorrect, my initial recording was in stereo (I'm happy to admit when I'm wrong!)

I feel like the issue was more to do with a lack of stereo separation than anything being wrong.

For example, I tried making sounds on either side of the sound field, but I really couldn't hear any change positioning in the stereo image (and I'm using studio monitors).

Sounds like this might be more of a limitation of using the portrait orientation microphone positions that anything else.

So, I'd would definitely consider offering some flexibility there if that's possible. It would also be great if the UI showed twin level meters or similar to confirm the stereo (would help to push the idea of the additional value offered by stereo as well?)

I assumed the parent was using the “try stereo” option. Does that button not record in stereo?

It didn't for me. The app does seem to imply that it will / did record in stereo. But, it didn't.

That might be a design problem - sorry for that.

The app has to say "trying Stereo HD" to record in stereo, and the background of the rectangle will change to solid blue. If it just says "try Stereo HD", it's meant as an encouragement to tap on it to enable that mode.

Clearly, if this is confusing, that's of course our fault, and we'll work on improving the UX to avoid this misunderstanding. I'd just be interested - did I describe the misunderstanding correctly?

Oh, sorry, my bad. Currently, you can do one recording in high quality stereo without having to subscribe or commit to anything. To do that, tap the "Try Stereo HD" button. It should then say "Trying Stereo HD" and the resulting recording should be in stereo.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I hope I could clarify :)

Hi. Sorry, I missed this reply. That's exactly what I did do actually. So, maybe I've done something wrong? I'll double check Audacity again.

I don't think you missed the reply, it just took me a while :D

If, while recording, the button said "Trying Stereo HD", it should have recorded in Stereo. Thanks for double checking :)

So, I'm now on the trial and I'm trying it out again! :)

I have a silly question - does stereo recording work in both portrait and landscape orientations? I'll do more tests, but I'm hearing less stereo separation than I do when I shoot video (and I'm wondering if it needs to be held in landscape or something?)

We designed it to be used in portrait mode so that you don't have to rotate the app. Whether one should hold it in portrait or landscape can be configured in code.

Landscape mode would of course have much better microphone arrangement, with one being on the left and one on the right.

I will test this out myself to compare the difference again. Thank you so much for your feedback, it's super valuable!

> High quality stereo recording is only available in our premium subscription (20$/year).

Is this the world you want to live in?

Do you expect them to provide it for free?

No, but I do personally expect a single, one-time price. There's no justification for a subscription fee for something like this. Especially a fee this high.

Yes, I do. Linus seems to be doing fine.

I release all of the software that I write into the public domain.

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