Hello all, miRack developer here. Happy to answer any of your concerns here, if @Vortico doesn’t mind. Also any plugin developers having issues with me including their work are welcome to contact me privately. Several things I want to point out myself first:
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All included plugins are taken from their public GitHub repositories, and their license terms are fully followed. For example, it’s a common practice among repositories related to VCV to restrict the use of the included graphics files - such plugins were not included. Of course only plugins with permissive BSD/MIT licenses were ever considered for inclusion with the app.
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I am assuming that developers chose the license for their plugins consciously and know that the chosen license allows commercial use of their work. Therefore, I do not understand allegations I received from some people that I’m stealing or selling someone else’s work. I (and anyone else) have the right to use such work as long as the license terms (mainly regarding attribution and promotion) are followed. The same as for numerous other software libraries used in almost any app, free or paid.
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I make every possible effort to clearly state and emphasise that the plugins are open-source and come from third-party developers. First, in the app description, second, in a message displayed the first time user launches the app, third, on a separate screen listing authors, licenses and donation links (where available).
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For anyone not familiar with iOS music software, here are some prices:
Audiobus (mixer to mix audio from other apps) - $9.99
AUM (similar to above) - $18.99
Animoog (synth) - $29.99
Moog Model 15 (synth) - $29.99
Minimoog Model D (synth) - $14.99
Audulus (modular synth) - $19.99
zMors Modular (modular synth) - $9.99
Ripplemaker (modular synth) - $8.99
miRack is currently priced $7.99 I think it’s a fair price for the work I’ve done myself and it shows that the included plugins basically come for free.
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Despite there being some allegations of me using graphics content created for VCV Rack by Grayscale, I can confirm again that none of the files owned by Grayscale were ever included in the application and replacements have been drawn by me from scratch. However to avoid any confusion, I’ve made another version of my graphics, with even more distinct appearance, and made the updated version available as soon as the App Store review process allowed me. I have neither desire nor need for miRack to look similar to VCV Rack by using any of the copyrighted content.
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Despite this not being stated anywhere in corresponding repositories, I was told I was not allowed to use panel graphics for certain hardware-based modules. I’ve contacted developers of such hardware modules and either obtained permission or removed their panels and brand names.
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miRack has been wonderfully received by iOS music making community, it currently has 4.88 star rating in the US App Store. Instead of saying “buggy software” I suggest anyone interested to contact me for a promo code or another way to try the app. Specifically, all plugin authors are entitled to a promocode, should they want one.
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I want to thank all the plugin creators again for their work. Without it, neither miRack, nor VCV Rack would be possible.