The new SoundCloud sucks – how to switch back
Don’t worry, it’s still possible to use the old version. In the upper right corner, click “more”, and then click “switch back to classic SoundCloud”.
Things I like about the new SoundCloud:
- Better search
- Even though it’s horrible, my amazing music contacts and discoveries are still there.
Things I dislike about the new SoundCloud
- Dashboard only shows tracks; not what the people I follow are up to. Entries like “Owsey, Jernalism, Sorrow and 50 others favorited this track” are great ways to discover new music.
- “Follow fjern, Linkin Park, Big Boi and more on SoundCloud”. Seriously? I use SoundCloud primarily to discover and interact with other hobby musicians, and I’m not interested in promoting Linkin Park and Big Boi in any way. Nor am I interested in seeing random suggestions on who to follow.
- Sets don’t display track lists unless I click on them, and they’re all displayed as one waveform.
- Comment avatars are tiny, and the whole commenting system is very awkward to use.
- I don’t want 3 of my favourites to suddenly play after one of my individual uploads. They’re not “related”.
- “Follow back”, “reposts”, sets with other people tracks – it all seems quite spammy.
- From 5 to 3 spotlight items, number of people an artist follows being shown, comment content, – it’s all being shrinked and reduced.
- The “stylish” design has poor usability, and doesn’t clearly indicate where I am or what’s going on. The trend of fancy large minimalist AJAX designs like this is like a step back to websites made in Flash back in 2000. What was wrong with the old tab layout on profiles? Everything about the old design made sense.
- It all seems to be catered towards listeners and known artists, and going away from the paying users’ sense of community and collaboration.
- Where are the groups my song is in?
- Everyone hates it; quite literally – just read the comments: http://blog.soundcloud.com/2012/12/04/next-becomes-soundcloud/
SoundCloud fav. friday #004
Like everyone else who knows it’s possible to switch, I’m still using the not-broken-so-why-fix-it classic version. I uploaded trappetrinnlagende skylys to lots of moderated groups, and discovered a whole bunch of great music in the process.
Julien Mier – Glorious Pencil Drops
Title says it all really. Julien is easily among my top 5 SoundCloud discoveries ever.
Mountain Range – Sky Chatter – Fireworks (Grey Owl Remix)
Grey Owl’s atmospheric and visual style is a wonderful thing to experience.
Sorrow – 2 Much Gassin’ (preview)
The king of atmospherics, basslines and britishness continues to reign superbly.
Graciellita – Piggyback Ride (to Happy Tree)
Such a unique style and imagination – I also like her vocals.
Meeke – SB-129
Head-bopping futuristic experimentalities from the master of such things.
Lumeet – Lupolo
Contemplative techno for rainy days.
Julien Mier – Jumbled
Rapid ingeniousness from the one and only. If there’s one thing you should do after checking out these entries, it’s to go through Julien’s uploads.
Toby Hedges – Square One
I do like the occasional Above & Beyond’ish dance anthem.
Lessov – Odyssey
Prog house with depth and wonder. (Also check out the very lengthy Lessov interview)
K37 – Koma
Hybrid-level symphonic breakbeat grandness.
Cantarin Antonio – SounDream Demo Reel
I found some cool and varied game music, ranging from action to symphonic to jolly blip-blop-esque stuff.
SwitchOnSID – Old Abandoned Cave
Chiptune action with irresistible charm.
Indigolab – Conscious
Psychedelic chill, with similar depth and feels as Solar Fields and Ishq.
Indigolab – Sleepwalking (feat. Cyra Morgan)
Hypnotic softly distorted hypnotic ambient lushness
Brunch – Chestnuts in Autumn
Energetic chill; I guess. Very uplifting and inspiring.
Seath & Daojia – Water Margin
This one would have been perfect on an Ultimae compilation. Beats + piano goodness with such wonderful flow.
Amomus – Elements of the Universe
Delightful fireworks of retro-futuristic electronic space music.
Amomus – Modular Clairvoyance Projector
It does sound like a modular clairvoyance projector! Delightful!
Kettel & Secede – When Can (album)
Collaboration between two of my favourite artists ever. It’s like the best platform game ever is taking place in my head. Make sure to get the album here: http://www.sendingorbs.com/products-page/artists/kettel-secede-when-can/
Applescal – Fab 40
Mysterious synthy techno, with a touch of autumn and lush detunedness.
Koven‘s amazing dubstep tunes, which are of depth and substance.
