Reader Tim Webb contacted us about the new iPad DJ app, Mashup, from Waves Audio and MusicSoft Arts and he didn’t mince words:
“I want to get the word out on this pernicious shit from Waves, before anyone else wastes $40.”
There’s all kinds of music apps coming out for the iPad, and while a lot of it’s great, a lot of it’s junk, too. Webb puts Mashup in the latter category.
He’s reviewed it and has some harsh words for the DJ app:
With a purchase of $40, you can own a two-deck DJ app that most people would sensibly charge $10-20 for. The premium price carries with it some very premium bugs!
This half-baked cluster-fuck will anger you almost immediately, as you load up your first track from your library. You’ll discover that the Beat Grid, available on the built-in songs, is not available on any of your own.
Webb goes on to suggest that ‘Waves should pull this from the App Store immediately.’ See Webb’s full Mashup review at his site, Discchord.com.
We have not tried out Mashup – so we’d welcome other perspectives, from the developers or readers. If you’ve tried Mashup, let us know if you’d agree with Webb’s perspective on it or not.
Note: We encourage reader feedback whenever we post a news item on a new app. If you have a great experience with a new app – or a terrible one – we encourage you to share it. Reader comments on posts give other readers context and perspective on new applications that would be hard to get, otherwise.
So do these people that post 5 Star reviews in the app store actually use these apps before ther rate it? lol
The “open secret” on iTunes reviews is that people with promo-codes can write them, just like people who actually pay for the app. Developers get 50+ codes with each version of the app, so it is a matter of little effort to make fake iTunes accounts and use some of them.
This is sadly true of all iTunes reviews, and not just this one. However, if you look at the iTunes reviews on Mashup, they are all either 5 stars or 1 stars… guess which ones are which.
Hi Tim,
I could of sworn I read almost a year or so ago that Apple stopped letting people with Promo Codes and Beta-Testers write reviews on said apps. This is the only reason I put a litle trust in the app store rating system. I guess that was all rumors since the info did come from macrumors. Apple really needs to adopt and enforce that rule. Thanks!
Edit: Here are the links
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-bans-promo-code-incentivized-app-ratings-and-reviews/
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1146820
It’s not true that recipients of promo codes can review apps anymore. See: http://thetechjournal.com/electronics/iphone/no-more-app-reviews-from-promo-codes-in-itunes-app-store.xhtml
I had been under the impression that promo codes couldn’t be used for reviews, but a recent review for one of my apps makes me think otherwise. I was asked by a web blogger for a promo code, and shortly after sending the code, a (nice) review showed up in iTunes. Maybe he went out and purchased a copy, but my guess is that he just used the promo.
If you click on the reviewer name in iTunes, you can see what other apps they reviewed — sometimes you see 5 star reviews for everything offered by a developer, and 1 star for every competing app. It can be pretty brazen in some cases. There are also companies that will “provide reviews for a nominal fee” — a couple of bucks, plus the cost of the app (which the developer would then get 70% back) per review. A hundred bogus reviews can cost less than a banner ad for a month.
Reviews should be taken with multiple grains of salt. And as a developer — if you buy an app, please please please put in a review, whether you like the app or not. With better quality reviews, developers who produce good apps will rise to the top (and find out more about what users like and don’t like), scam artists will sink, app purchasers will get screwed less often, and everyone (except the scum bags) wins.
>It can be pretty brazen in some cases
You create a hybrid culture by mixing the computer business with the music business and you get some dishonesty?
Even in his grave I bet Steve Jobs isn’t too dead to be laughing a little bit right now.
@Tim thanks for the warning!
I rate Tim Webb’s opinion highly, as he has been reviewing Apps for some time now, he knows his Apps!
another reason i dont feel bad about using cracked waves software
I see what you did there 😉
It’s funny, I did just that – I clicked on the positive comments on this Mashup App, and then I looked at the other comments those users had posted.
Now it could be co-incidence, but almost all of the positive reviews for Mashup are given by users who have only reviewed MusicSoft Arts products, and only ever given them five stars. Then there are the comments for which this is the first and only app that user has ever reviewed.
I call shenanigans!! I mean, CMON! That’s so clearly and demonstrably a blatant disregard for the supposed honesty of the app review system. If Waves and MusicSoft Arts figure the only way to get people to buy this crummy app is by manufacturing reviews, that’s downright dishonest and they should be thrown off the app store for that!
The only app reviews that are obviously from third parties that I’ve read either on the app store or online are all negative, and the positive ones are clearly by employees of the company. Try it for yourself, click through those comments.
I feel cheated out of my $40, and that is not going to inspire me to buy more Waves or MusicSoft Arts products.
The example posted above does show that beat matching is not perfect, however it is wrong to say that it does not work in general. It needs fixing but I too had situations where it did not work. Also, it is possible to enter the correct BPM value (if known) by tapping a track in the playlist (music library screen), tapping view details, tapping the BPM disclosure triangle and enter the value (or assign double/half).
I totally disagree if somebody thinks he/she should use this an excuse for “using cracked Waves software”. Write to Waves if you are unsatisfied or ask Apple for a refund. It´s that easy. But stealing is definitely no solution just because it´s easier in bits and bytes than in the real world.
There are nice features in Mashup (like to EQ settings) and I am confident the issues posted here and in the mentioned review will be sorted out. For sure this app won´t stay at version 1.0 forever.
(and for the sake of it: No, I am neither a Waves nor MusicSoft Arts employee).
I dont know what you doing in life and honestly I dont want to know but i have been a Professional Dj all over the world for 24 years and using all kind of formats and I’m telling you as a fact that unless you are planning to entertain your furniture in your bedroom, this app is totally useless … Period.
Glad I saw this post, was quite tempted to get Mashup thanks to its supposed dual stereo output capabilities.
Will stick with the excellent Djay for now.
People still make mashups?
Dude relax and grow up sorry you cant see that a 40 dollar app is less than 10% of what the actual hardware costs to do this stuff also the cpu on ipad isnt that of a mixing dedicated turntable set up. So before you go around cursing shit out that is hard to do why dont you look at the posetive this great device has been manipulated for it to be easier for anyone to get in to mixing music. STOP HATING
Before I explain why I rated this app so low, please understand that i have been an International Dj for over 20 years, along a Music Producer for 18 years and worked with numerous famous artist from the industry in my life. I am more than savvy with technology and tried many apps for testing purposes and do a lot of reviews for brands like Pioneer and Native Instruments.
So you’ll understand i got very excited when I saw that Waves, which reputation for excellency in plugins business has gone worldwide many years ago, was involved in a Dj software project. Specially as we are talking about an app working on an iPad or iPhone without a decent audio interface, knowing that the audio signal going out is processed by the MAXXX Technology would be a very important factor in your decision of buying Mashup.
Well unfortunately, even though the developper is insisting on this fact that the Waves processor alone should make a difference with the other apps available on the market, this app then totally lacks in doing what it is supposed to do : be a Dj software and not just another fancy MP3 player.
The fact is that honestly, the interface looks really good, specially if you have a retina display, and the access to the different layers is rather smart and easy. But as fast as the rush raised when i launched the app, then even faster did my enthousiasm crashed and faded away when i tried to just mix a couple of songs from my library. A total fiasco if you’d ask me ! I quickly started to be upset, got aggrevated as all my attempts to try basic things you are supposed to do with this kind of software ended in a succession of failures and desapointments.
As a summary of this terrible and expensive experience ( $35.00 for the app + $5.00 for the Waves Maxxx ) the sync engine is one of the worst i ever tried or beta tested in the last 2 years. I COULD NOT EVEN SYNC THE EXACT SAME TRACK LOADED IN BOTH DECKS !!! After a couple of seconds the sync is lost and you have no way to nudge nor bend manually so the mix stay put … only solution then is to stop the player, seriously ??? can you afford this when you are actually in front of 500 people or more ???
This app is not for you if you are a professional Dj as all your expectations will be turned down by this pathetic attempt of a Dj Software. Don’t get fooled by the whole Waves gimmick as they only provided an audio process for the audio output, period.
Stay away and look for much more cheaper apps that will do a much better job overall.
Peace out !!!