Though I’ve primarily been building this for my own use, I’ve decided to at least write about the roadmap or any issues as Astarte comes along. Singing into the void, as usual.

As it is now, Astarte is a very basic tool for enabling project studio engineers or artist-cum-engineer types to be able to run around the studio while being able to control their DAW’s transport functions without the need for new hardware or cables.

After using it a while, it’s true—there is no substitute for a well-designed physical tool with physical buttons. Maybe that is an ideal project to succeed this one.

But for now, the phone and it’s endlessly configurable touch screen works well enough.

What's next?

After using Astarte for some time in the attic studio here in Hamilton, I’ve settled on a few additional features that are currently in development.

Schedules permitting, they may be released all at once or in several stages over the coming months.

• Channel select and control - this will include a fader, as well as typical controls like mute, solo, and record enable. Too often, I’ve forgotten to set a channel to record and blown a good take that way. This is more of an error in my own workflow, but having the ability to save good take is everything.
• More colour settings - Some studios have a defined aesthetic and Astarte should blend with that beautifully.
  • Initially, the plan is to add more control over individual colours throughout the app as well as enabling and disabling system colour mode.
  • In a subsequent update, I imagine adding themes would be a nice touch.
• Other usability features - There are methods for checking the connection status of the device, but they are not consistent across DAWs, and so I neglected to include this feature in the first release. It’s a rare issue after running the setup that there are any MIDI disruptions, but it can happen. Further development into improving the reliability of the connection will be a priority. Accompanying that will be a connectivity indicator.

Stay tuned for more information on coming updates, and expected release dates.

Cheers,

Rob