In short, There has been a lot of talk, questions, accusations, and interest in the current situation regarding Audiotool as a Community, and as a Company.
There have always been rumblings, rumors and such, but as of recent, a lot of attention has come to the situation regarding André Michelle Vs Audiotool Inc.
André M. Has provided a statement of his thoughts and stance here:
https://www.andremichelle.io/pdf/UnairedAudiotoolDocumentary.pdf
André (S.) Also provided a statement below, due to being cited / named in the aforementioned (André M.) document:
https://www.audiotool.com/files/as-statement.pdf
Andreas (YES, ANOTHER ANDRE NAMED INDIVIDUAL) cited in both letters / Statements has not released a statement themselves at the time of posting on this board.
There is rumors of a statement coming from Audiotool, to address concerns from the community regarding the future of Audiotool itself, and road map of what is ahead.
At the current time, the community is unsure of the direction, how to contact or interact with Audiotool or staff, What lies ahead for Audiotool itself, Plans for transparency or interaction , and much more.
Below, take this opportunity to discuss any changes, topics, or concerns you'd like to voice.
Comments (55)
I really hope that throughout what’s happening right now with audiotool that everything gets resolved
i second this
also for anyone reading these, please don't just attack/insult the people involved, like andreas. it doesn't move the situation forward at all, in fact it just hinders things... (this should be very important to put on the board post, preferably above the links)
I want to reiterate what @kurpingspace2 said. The lack of direct response right now is out of respect and privacy. Please keep that in mind and do not attack people involved.
The team is discussing ways on how to be more connected with the community. I don't think that there will be a concrete roadmap with dates at first, but things like: Q&As, invitations to beta testing, concept focus groups etc. In fact there were already plans for this for a while, stay tuned!
Good to see that we are moving forward from isolated legitimate criticism over the last years to more substantial, broader discussions about Audiotool's future — that was one of my intentions. I must acknowledge, though, my competing priorities as I'm also fighting for my legacy and granted shares. It's tough to keep these concerns separate, but I promise to do my best. They are intrinsically entangled.
I'd repeat all the statements from my PDF under oath. These events all happened and weren't good for me, but certainly weren't good for you either. That's why Audiotool has suffered from lacking substantial and quality updates for many years. I've heard your criticism all the time and it broke my heart that we could not deliver under those conditions. This lack of options even partly alienated me from the Audiotool community in order to protect myself. I tried everything to change that from the inside, but I failed. I never thought such a bold step as now would be necessary.
I'm saying again that the management has no clear vision, which is cause for alarm. And except for the new and now long-overdue audio engine, we probably won't see any updates for a very long time, because there's just too much disorientation in the leadership and they are rewriting too many things at once from scratch. I want to make this absolutely clear: This team is probably the best team Audiotool has ever had, but even the best team needs guidance and a vision.
Sure enough, there will be more statements, but I encourage you not to be blinded by promises or superficial friendliness. Do not expect magic. If you do not feel them, you should continue asking. This is probably the only time where you have a loud voice here. This window can close quickly.
Thanks again for listening and remain true to Audiotool :) Peace 🤍
I have a feeling there are some conflicting things here. For example, asking the leadership for answers and communication while simultaneously discrediting future statements by implying they consist of "promises or superficial friendliness". I am also a bit concerned by frequent appeal to emotion, especially in replies to my comments here and on Discord. But I thank you for acknowledging you competing priorities and that your communication can be affected by them. Please just take this as feedback. Wishing you all the best and peace.
I wasn't replying to your comment. I am sorry if my revealing of false promises and hypocrisy causes you inconvenience. As long as none of the management is taking any responsibility, you cannot expect that Audiotool will heal itself magically.
I am sorry if my statement was fuelling the fire again. This isn't a simple situation for me either. My biggest apprehension is that things are just phasing out without any consequences. I see now that you guys want to keep it low on emotions. I will now leave you to it.
Every time I have disagreed with or provided feedback to André Michelle in response to his public statements, I have done so in the most respectful and objective way I could. However, every public interaction with him has been followed by direct messages to me on Instagram. These messages have been intense, accusatory, and sometimes abusive. I do not wish to tolerate this anymore out of pity and sympathy for his situation. I do not believe André Michelle is trying to facilitate a fair discussion on the future of Audiotool by attacking those who respectfully challenge his statements.
I've said it already and will repeat it again. So far it's 1 for Andre Michelle and 0 for Audiotool Inc. You try to silence someone (how many accounts of Andre Michelle did they already delete?) for a good reason. Truth stings right in the eyes. On top of that, they haven't made any statements so far (they need time to come up with one) which means they have been caught pants down. Unprepared? I highly doubt that Andre Michelle made all of this up out of blue.
Andre Michelle states that he deserves shares of Audiotool which he has been promised by Audiotool management but never has received any. If that is true, it would be better for Audiotool to give the man those shares.
Remember one thing - You can win a million lawsuits even with lies. You can make yourself look good on "the paper", but this bad, stinky stain will follow you (Audiotool Inc) everywhere and it will not be forgotten. In the future, you'll only make it worse for yourself. Investors finding out about this situation will become cautious. Potential employees finding out about this situation will become cautious. This "stain" will follow you everywhere like a ghost.
If Andre Michelle, deserves the shares of the Audiotool Inc, then give them to him as you have promised. Sort things out in a fair way and stop damaging your own future reputation. At the end of the day you will not fool people. People will see/feel on which side the truth is and it won't matter what will be written on your shiny lawsuit papers that you will flash around, while celebrating a victory which could be potentially built on lies and unfair decisions (which is even worse).
Oh and we are playing the childish games with downvoting the comments? Nice... act like a 12y old
Go ahead and publish our instagram chat and we'll see if your allegations are holding up.
Sad but true. And he tells me I am being unprofessional.
Somebody should probably close this thread. This is getting out of hand. Thanks, Kepz. My original statement wasn't so attacking that you have the right to shoot around.
Sure, where would you like me to publish it?
Make it a PDF and put it on the audiotool server.
One should understand Kepz as well. He hasn't spent 16 y on a project which then has been taken away from him when things transition into the dirty corporate world. So he has no idea how you feel, bro is just chilling on his couch with comfort. And probably downvoting comments (can't confirm that)
And now he washes the management's dirty laundry.
I am interested in seeing this
Yes, let's continue to wash our laundry in public. This is the workspace I am used to.
Again it, like I've said it would be great to not be so hostile and sarcastic ❤️ it hinders communication.
Well, indeed it was Kepz who attacked me out of the blue this morning, just because he cannot take any criticism on the management anymore. He just wants it (me) to go away but this is not how it works. Now he is dragging our private chat into public, because I insulted him in my last message. I do not know how to mediate this. I am not here to say: I am a professional whistleblower. I have all my emotions under control. I have a very long history (ten times longer than Kepz) with Audiotool and I was trying to explain that to him on Instagram, after he wrote me a message on that subject, not the other way around. Well, you'll see it soon. Same for this morning: I did not reply to his comment. In fact, I did not even see his comment after I sent mine. If anything, we should not communicate at all at the moment and I am fine with that. I asked him to back off many times.
Also, it is obvious that Kepz is using his status at Audiotool to downvote comments. There is practically no interaction in this topic other than Kepz, Sila, and myself. A single downvote usually cannot collapse a comment, especially when there is a like, which weighs higher than a downvote.
https://www.audiotool.com/board/news/join_the_audio_engine
the comment below is in reply to andre, not kepz, for anyone looking in the future. account was deleted
Yeah I’m sorry about that. I owe him an apology.
Outside of the issues of some due statements not being said yet... 3rd party plug-in support is probably something many wish for, but I see it as a bit of a pity. I think having to really put in work to create a particular sound was fun. I'm excited for new opportunities, but nothing can replace only having around 3 good synths and FX that won't hand you anything on a plate to create all the sounds with.
I would like to hear more statements on at least why André has been saying that he's been treated unrightfully. I appreciate AT giving insight on what the future plans are, but the topic of withholding shares still seems to be avoided. There's far too much financial maltreatment in the music industry already. I'd like to see that changed and would like to see a company not become an abuser of its employees or artists. I hope for a statement about those shares. That's all I want to know.
Mane, I'm not taking sides, but I feel like we should just chill out on Andreas. Yes, although he messed up (big time) but he needs to at least respond. We're just blasting him with these harsh comments about him. I agree with every single one of you guys. But as a person who got inspired by audiotool, we shouldn't be harming the future of audiotool just because of this. Yes, I believe Andre should get his shares (obviously)
And don’t downvote please. Communication is key
Let me just go ahead nd say. I actually didn’t know this shit was happening, cause this is hurtful for me now.
But in return I don’t take sides, I’m on the fence with pretty much anything that has anything to do with two sides, but I can say this is all selfish bullshit. Selfishness and music don’t get along.
Here is an update and my response to Andre's allegations:
https://www.audiotool.com/files/Openletter_AndreMichelle.pdf
Can you at least document a single allegation against me? Can you say anything of value about why you deny me shares in Audiotool Inc.? This is just another enumeration of lies you like to spread, and this will get a response. Why now? I asked you two days ago to wait for an offer that could potentially bury the hatchet.
https://www.andremichelle.io/pdf/Re_Openletter_AndreMichelle.pdf
@andreas You can delete my account again, but this will not prevent this PDF from spreading.
As an audiotool producer what I can say is, don’t shut the shit down. This program is too good to be taken away over a squabble. But if andreas thinks he can make a better device in time, we can be impressed and congratulate a success.
I jus wanna hear a diss tape come from either side tbh, esketit
so true. andre, andreas release your diss tapes already hahaha. in dub techno rap
This looks to me like a personal attack on André rather than protecting your company. You are implying his intentions ("André’s actions are meant to harm Audiotool" and "André likes and always liked to paint the picture of being the (sole) inventor or (only) originator of Audiotool."), which I highly doubt is up to you to decide. Anyway, commenting on this dead post is not the calm course of action you claim for yourself.
[I created this account to protect my main account]
@thequeenisdead What do you mean "not up to you to decide" whether Andre's actions harm Audiotool. Andre caused outrage with misinformation, sparked false and negative speculations about Audiotool's future, sent a hoard of negativity towards Andreas, is posting on LinkedIn to deter Audiotool's current and future investors and the list goes on.
I witnessed him informally announcing his resignation, both privately to me and in a group message titled 'signing off'. He got terminated ahead of his official resignation as a result of his own actions. Many people on the team agree his relationship with Audiotool was bitter and no longer functional, despite some of us being sad to see him go.
Then several month later, him coming back with a different story (which he changed several times now) about how he got terminated was very disappointing to see (I still had good friendly relationship with him at the time).
I confronted Andre about his intentions with his rampant posting of half-truths and stories and was met with anger and insults rather than any useful clarification. He tried to deflect and appeal to emotion almost every time, saying how I'm "breaking his heart" by going against him. He eventually blocked me on Instagram.
I really hope he just owns and accepts his actions and can focus on his new project without trying to burn down Audiotool. It's his right to go to court if he thinks he's being wronged, but coming to the platform to spread dirt and negativity shouldn't be tolerated. Everyone is free to go follow him on his own channels (instagram, discord or whatever) and believe whoever they want to believe.
All I'm saying is that it's not up to Andreas to assert André's intentions. Andreas can state that in his view André's actions are harming Audiotool. Assigning intentions to André's actions without offering clear evidence undermines his argument. It's important to focus on the impact of the actions rather than speculating on the motives behind them.
I never felt like andre's intentions were to spread negativity when he was around. To quote him, "Please remember: Let’s keep this civil and
respectful." His main intentions were to get the community to ask questions about audiotool. The result of taiko and sila being negative IMO is not really andre's fault. I thought Andre was clear enough that things should be civil multiple times. Most people actually were civil.
I have seen both sides of the story for how andre spoke to kepz and i will just say that from my point of view (of which i have seen both sides) that things could've been a bit more professional but the conversation did not seem like it was purely anger and insults. I respect each other's point of views but i wanted to clear that part up for anyone reading randomly
@thequeenisdead fair enough. Btw I don't understand why you needed an alt account to say it
@kanaris yes there were disclaimers, but actions speak louder. I believe the way he chose to run the narrative was with an intent to evoke an emotional reaction from the community, instead of just stating facts and letting people make up their own mind. Of course that's just my view, but when voicing my view I was faced with increasing amounts of anger rather than a 'civil' conversation. Btw I'm in no way trying to invalidate your neutral stance and I respect it.
Fair enough. Though from the perspective of anyone who isn't invited to the slack group or isn't an insider it is almost impossible to take sides with the other one because there is no public communication to find the facts. I will admit that i never contacted anyone from audiotool but what am i supposed to say other than "What is your response to the entire document?"? Here is the response i guess, but it completely ignores 80% of the document and just makes me lean towards André's side more.
I am still completely open to all facts but the input is all one sided. Even the quality of the responses are all one sided. I guess that's dangerous for a neutral view of things. i did a reality check on André's intentions and it never seemed evil. It's all perfectly reasonable given the circumstances in my opinion.
I will say that andre has always encouraged to form your own opinion and has personally told me to email management about questions, so i think that deserves some merit. But not trying to undermine your argument of "actions speak louder" i can definitely see that and it's reasonable.
Well if you feel like 80% is still unanswered, maybe it's a good time to reach out and ask. Especially if André encourages it. Talking only to André while trying to stay neutral might not work so well
Once again, no intent to make that condensending! Sorry if it came off that way
It didn't come off as condescending. Sure I'll contact them some time. I will need to think of what to ask. My contact information in case anyone wants to reach out to me:
email: kai@kanaris.net
discord: kai_unix
@kepz I've created an alt-account because we've seen how @andreas has been dealing with André's accounts. I no longer feel secure here. Your statements today come across as very biased, and it feels like the situation is much more complex than either side is presenting it. Considering you've been with the company for just a year, it seems odd to see you so loudly jumping on Andreas's bandwagon, especially given the 16-year history between André and Andreas. There's a noticeable passive-aggressive undertone in your response, which doesn't come across well. I reviewed André's LinkedIn post, and if his story about the shares is accurate, he has every right to warn people about potential fraudulent behaviour in my opinion. Given the circumstances, he conveyed his concerns in a remarkably calm manner, especially considering the personal loss he experienced.
@thequeenisdead I'm sorry for sounding passive-agressive, it can be hard to convey the right tone over text.
I'll just try to address your comment in parts, I hope it doesn't come across like I'm annoyed at anyone, I'm happy to just share what I know.
Original Andre Michelle account wes deleted by him. Andre's new accounts were simply deleted for breach of company's and platforms terms. There are many people openly stating their views without fearing a ban. (as long as things don't get out of hand and people start insulting each other)
My length of employment: I at no point spoke about any events happening before my employment, only what I saw during my 1.5 years at Audiotool. I want to reiterate that I liked working with Andre, we personally rarely clashed and I feel lucky that we got to work together, but at the same time I felt the tensions rising in the team as a whole. In my opinion his final 'criticism' was not constructive and it was delivered unprofessionally. No matter the company, this simply wouldn't be tolerated. There were no surprises in the outcome.
The LinkedIn post: How can you know 100% the post is accurate and not leaving out crucial details? I heard Andre's side (when we still talked), and I heard Andreas's side. I trust that the issue at hand is solvable in court and I want to leave it at that. I always wished both parties a fair resolution. And yes you're right, the legal issue is definitely oversimplified in the public communications.
"it can be hard to convey the right tone over text" keep that in mind next time you revisit the situation in your head. That is what I am talking about. I do not know if André's LinkedIn post is 100% accurate. I do not know if your statements are 100% accurate, especially since they may leave out a long history of problems that could root back before your time at Audiotool. The situation seems complex, and it's difficult to determine the full truth from any one perspective.
What I do know is that it’s essential to approach these matters with an open mind and avoid jumping to conclusions based on incomplete information. Both sides have their stories, and the truth likely lies somewhere in between.
@thequeenisdead "keep that in mind next time you revisit the situation", I'm assuming you're referring to the possibility that I misread André's tone when he started posting on Audiotool with alt accounts? That is fair and I appreciate the reminder as I can certainly make that mistake. I openly asked him about his intentions, there was a lot of opportunity for a discussion, but he was blunt, attacked my character and his private messages to me were anything but inviting to a calm dialogue. But overall I have to agree with you and I appreciate the critical thinking based on information you're presented with.
The only feedback I would like to give you in this conversation: Calling my stance "jumping on Andreas's bandwagon" also gives an impression that you might have a bias. Likewise, hoping you can stay open minded in these matters.
@kepz I'm sorry if I came across as biased by calling your stance "jumping on Andreas's bandwagon." I appreciate your openness in this conversation. However, it's clear to me that you hold Andreas in high regard and frequently try to sway people to his side in any discussion. We all could see your clash with André here and on Discord - nobody won this. You present yourself as a communicator with the best interests of everyone in mind, using expressions like "openly asked him," but then immediately turn around and paint a very negative picture of André.
While I recognize it's challenging to convey tone and intention over text and misunderstandings can happen, I find it hard to fully believe your perspective when it consistently seems so one-sided. Let's both strive to stay open-minded and acknowledge the complexity of the situation. I hope we can move forward constructively, keeping in mind that there are always multiple sides to every story.
@thequeenisdead i am simply stating what happened. It happened and it was negative. When I felt like people were being misled by some things André said, i voiced it. That is all, if you want to fact check anything, feel free to reach out on Discord.
Like, I am not a journalist that has to write an detailed analysis of all sides. I'm just a witness and i write what i saw with my own eyes. If the reaction is "your story favours Andreas so i don't believe you" then there's not much more I can do here. But once again, I'm open to talk with no dramas and not revealing your identity.