Ongel, Synthmaker is better than a 4GL in that you can use a subset of Assembly language inside your controls. So, its not really like an interpreted language like Java, it is compiled into a Native Windows DLL. The Assembly module is how we have made our convolver, tubes, filters, etc. Like Ronald says, its not perfect, but for me its the quickest way to develop. Its very visual in nature and if you use SSE properly you can get reasonable CPU Usage. There are limitations however, above and beyond what is expected in a development platform, Things like Registry access, File Parsing, COM Communication, etc, are all missing from Synthmaker, so, sometimes you have to do a little dance around these things, but, once you get a handle on the limitations, you can get some work done.
It has taken me about a year to come to grips with it, but I am a lot more confident now than I was when I first started with it. This is primarily because I come from a software development background of like 20+ years, so, I naturally tried to develop in SM in the conventional sense of development. Which does not work in SM, You have to do things the way SM wants you to do them, not how they are done in a standard development platform.
SM has had a lot of bad press because with it you do have the ability to simply connect things together and call it an effect. It has a ton of stock modules, which people use to do this. However, we don't do that other than stuff like knobs and buttons(why reinvent the wheel). You just simply cannot get an original plug by doing that, and you certainly will not be able to get the type of quality that Ronald gets or Bootsy..who won the KVR Developers challenge this year...Its because of Outsim's smart move to include an Assembly module that allows for these types of quality plugs..
Anyways, I thought I would elaborate for you a little...
KM
