Q. How did you get into programming plugins?
Arie: it started in 2006 when I bought a soundcard for a home recording, then got a free bundled Tracktion DAW and some free VSTs. At that time, my cousin also doing a thesis about digital guitar effects for Windows PC without a prior knowledge about ASIO drivers and the VST standard. The thesis also inspired me to learn C++ then it got me dive into the vast world of VST plugins and learn to code it myself with the release of my prior project: Aradaz Amp in April 2008 after 1.5 years of research, even the first freeware's GUI is also done by myself :) http://aradaz.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-guitar-amp-vst.html
Q. What are some of the challenges and benefits working in this industry from Indonesia?
The challenges of course are the gap with our primary market both in the US and Europe, while most of the partnership and business relationship are better done face-to-face.
About the benefits, we are located in Bandung which widely regarded as Creative City and Capital City of Indie Scene in Indonesia with a large number of bands of various thriving scenes - Metal, Jazz, Indie, Pop, Pock, Electronic. It helps us to shape our taste and knowledge regarding music and entrepreneurship. Apart from that, the biggest Universities in Indonesia are also located in Bandung with many great talents available here.
Q. Can you tell us what the strong points of your plugins are?
We are very confident with our straightforward UX which gives users an immediate experience to get great tone faster and better. Sometimes, we are too overwhelmed with too many in one screen while users are simply just need to get the job done, fast.
Most of the guys in the office have their own musical project, either it's an indie band, composing music for games, or even just making music for fun after hours. So we know very well how when you're in the mood to make/play music, but the inspiration disappears when you need to figure out how the plugin works. We want our product to be as straightforward as possible, as simple as buying a set of new amps and microphones straight from your local music shop.
Q. How did you find out about XCHANGE?
Ray contacted us first and pitch to us about Xchange via e-mail, then we are immediately loved the idea about the XCHANGE platform.
Q. How has XCHANGE impacted your business?
Being a small developer in another part of the world, XCHANGE helps us to build contacts and relationship with resellers, and simplify all the process in one platform. This is major for us.
Q. What are some of the challenges in using XCHANGE?
Sometimes just sending out invitations won't immediately works, then we need to contact the reseller manually, and that also goes for invoicing. And automatic invoicing would be a killer feature, and some better notification system for invitations would be great.
Q. What can you tell us about new products you are working on?
It's another new guitar amp sim featuring a same third generation Kuassa DSP engine like our last amp; Amplifikation Caliburn. And... the UI design are the prettiest compared with our previous amps.
Q. How can we make XCHANGE work better for Kuassa Teknika?
Other than the answers we provided for the "What are some of the challenges in using XCHANGE?" , helping us to get more exposure within the industry will really help us with the distance/gap challenge we have. Many thanks for asking this :)