Re: FilterMeister: First Public Beta

["Alex Hunter" <alex@afh.com>]

> From: Thomas Bernt <TBernt@t-online.de>

> I DL Filter Meister yesterday and I'm missing some information, 
> as e.g.: a function reference ,

A complete reference to all FM functions/variables/constants, etc.,
will be posted soon on the FM web site; the PDF-format "FM Reference
Manual" will appear some time thereafter.


> will it work on the Mac?,

There are no current plans for a Mac version of FM, though we have
been giving it some thought.


> price?, 

Pricing has not been set yet, but there will be three versions and
three price points:

o "FM Free" will always be freeware.  It has all the capabilities
  of FM Lite except the ability to generate standalone filters.

o "FM Lite" will be low-cost shareware, and includes the ability to
  generate royalty-free standalone filters.

o "FM Pro" contains advanced features and optimizations for the
  professional filter designer.


> But you have to declare every control in the code. 
> (FIFO has a dialog for this purpose).

This is a deliberate design decision.  The advantage is that you can
always completely describe a filter as a simple text file (*.ffp).  This
makes it very easy to exchange FF+ filter ideas via e-mail, etc.
One simple cut-and-paste from the e-mail into FM's source edit
window, hit Compile, and -- voilą -- you have a complete filter.

However, for those who prefer to lay out the filter GUI in a visual
manner, we plan to add a visual designer to the Pro version of FM.


> You have custom colors and custom coordinates in FIFO, 
> I miss them in FM.

Coming soon to FM.


> FM seem to be slower and seem to produce slightly larger files 
> (about +20K). OK, it's a beta.

Yep, it's a beta version and is bloated with debugging code, etc.
A number of code speed-ups are coming soon to FM Free/Lite,
but major code optimizations are reserved for FM Pro.

Cheers,
-Alex Hunter
FM programmer