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Gear Disses that Need To Die


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Here's another diss: Someone wants to get into recording, tries out a DAW, and says "it isn't user-friendly."

 

Of course it isn't! It's duplicating the function of a half-million dollar studio of a couple decades ago...good luck figuring that out if you'd never done recording before.

New software can be very confusing at first, and often the manuals are not a big help.

 

Sometimes Internet tutorials can help, sometimes they can even confuse. It depends.

 

The way to go about it is to take it one step at a time and gradually learn how to use it. I know we all want instant gratification, and that's possible with some things, but remember how long it took you to read and write. It's pretty user friendly now.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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Here's another diss: Someone wants to get into recording, tries out a DAW, and says "it isn't user-friendly."

 

Of course it isn't! It's duplicating the function of a half-million dollar studio of a couple decades ago...good luck figuring that out if you'd never done recording before.

 

This is why ever since I've been writing about recording I've encouraged first-timers to start out with a simple analog system. But back then DAWs were new and, while analog gear isn't wasn't as inexpensive as some of it is today, you could get something functional together that's good enough so that if you don't like what you're getting out of it, you can't blame the equipment.

 

But today, with a "free" computer (you've already bought it for something else), DAW software that's under $100. and you have to wait for someone to tell you that you need better monitor speakers than what's built into the sides of your laptop computer, and that - oh, there's a better way to get audio into your computer than a $50 microphone plugged into that little jack on your computer. You're in the univers where you can blame the equipment for your mediocre sounds.

 

But then, music production at home by the hobbyist musician is different now than it was in the 70s and 80s. Who needs a band and all the headaches when recording one, when you have all those virtual instruments?

 

But, for me, 50 years later, DAW software is still still not user-friendly.

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New software can be very confusing at first, and often the manuals are not a big help.

 

I think a big roadblock to user-friendliness is the computer itself, especially with Windows - latency, buffers, file paths, all that stuff. I've mentioned this story before, but it bears repeating. Sony wanted me to write a quick article on how to transfer files you'd made in Acid to a USB music player. They said it should only take 3-4 steps, and I could bash it out in an afternoon.

 

Over 20 steps later (23 IIRC), they got the article and were quite upset. "We told you to keep it short!" I told them if they would tell me which steps could be left out, I'd be happy to rewrite. None of the steps were superfluous, and almost all of them dealt with what had to be done at the computer end.

 

I've recommended to companies that they design software with levels, like a video game. Level one would look like an ADAT: Transport, level faders, meters, record buttons. Level 2 would add cut and paste editing...and so on. The only company that adopted that kind of approach was Cakewalk with their "lenses" feature. But it wasn't about levels, it was about a customizable workspace and those aren't the same thing.

 

I still think levels are the answer, but what do I know? I just use the stuff :)

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New software can be very confusing at first, and often the manuals are not a big help.

 

I think a big roadblock to user-friendliness is the computer itself, especially with Windows - latency, buffers, file paths, all that stuff.

 

I am NOT trying to start yet another pointless Windows vs Mac war, in fact I've been considering buying a Windows computer for everything but recording and taking my Mac offline.

I've used both platforms since forever, working in graphic design, printing etc. you must have both since files will be submitted that cannot be opened without a W/M workflow.

 

That said, just as an example - I have a Presonus Quantum and Presonus Universal Control is the companion software. I'm running 2 screens, the laptop screen is to the "right" of the 27" monitor even though technically it is directly below it. I wanted Universal Control to appear in the lower righthand corner of the large monitor and behind the DAW screen, which I have stretched out but left a bit of space on the right so I can select UC. I did have to click the Preferences in UC to tell it to stay underneath other programs, simple.

I also wanted the UC pop up screen (controls for the Quantum) to pop up in the laptop screen and sized to fill that 15" screen.

 

After 3 or 4 times of simply dragging everything into place, re-sizing as needed, and leaving everything in place when I shut down, it now does that every time. That was literally all I had to do to tell it where I wanted things located and what size I wanted them.

 

I honestly don't know if Windows 10 can do that, I briefly used 7 at the end of my graphics career. I can tell you that XP would not do that without considerable jumping through of hoops.

And older Mac systems didn't do it either (fair is fair after all!). I sure like being able to keep things simple!

 

Yes, computers are a complex part of using a DAW, any way you slice it.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I am NOT trying to start yet another pointless Windows vs Mac war, in fact I've been considering buying a Windows computer for everything but recording and taking my Mac offline. I've used both platforms since forever...

 

Same here, I use both but currently "lean Windows" for creative endeavors, because of programs that are available only on that platform. I think I can summarize the bottom line as:

 

* Macs cost more than Windows machines with the same general capabilities.

* If you go to an audio-oriented systems integrator and buy a Windows machine, it will overall be as easy to use as a Mac for music, but will cost about as much as a Mac.

 

So add these to the list of disses:

 

"Macs are much more expensive than Windows machines"

"Windows machines are too complicated for mere mortals to use"

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Since I already have the Mac up and running smoothly and a Windows machine that will be fine for my other purposes will be less expensive than a Mac, that's why I am leaning in that direction.

 

There will be less at stake if it gets cyber-boogered and I need to nuke and pave, just for one thing.

 

I am not particularly brand phobic and when I am it's usually because I don't like how the company runs their business more than that the product does not serve my purpose.

 

Smackintosh, Billy G Box, whatever...

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Here's an "anti-diss" that itself deserves to be dissed:

 

 

[breathless reviewer] "The XYZ TurboMega studio monitor revealed sounds I hadn't heard before!"

 

That's because speakers have different frequency responses :)

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Here's an "anti-diss" that itself deserves to be dissed:

 

 

[breathless reviewer] "The XYZ TurboMega studio monitor revealed sounds I hadn't heard before!"

 

That's because speakers have different frequency responses :)

 

Possibly also because it just happens. I can record something today and a week later I will hear something "I hadn't heard before.", probably because I was listening intently to something else.

 

All speaker reviews are subjective and subject to change. If somebody had an anechoic chamber and all the finest testing equipment used properly and consistently they could tell us what the colorful, meaningful charts and graphs say and it will not help anybody much when they try the same speaker in their own environment and use their own ears - which are not a consistent testing tool.

 

It's a tricky one, no?

 

Wait, I'll make it worse!!! I've been using a pair of Mackie HR824 monitors for 10+ years, old USA ones I got used. Recently I bought a Mackie MR5 for $6 - thrift store find.

When I listen to it I can hear that the transients seem "faster" from the range played by the 5" speaker as compared to an 8" speaker with an active low frequency radiator in back.

It sounds clearer at the crossover point too, less intermodulation distortion?

 

So it could be transient response and/or intermodulation distortion as well as frequency response or probably "all of the above?"

 

I don't know, it will be a good reference and the price was good.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Another: why didn't they add feature/spec XX? It only costs a few cents/dollars. Or it's easy to do.
Yeah, 5-pin MIDI jacks only cost what, 50 cents? (not realizing the additional electronics required). Or wanting to be able to send a different signal to the headphones than what's going to the main outputs (no, it's not just software, but would require a whole separate audio output chain).

 

And one more - "They shouldn't have put the Pitch Bend and Mod wheels so far back, they should be closer to the keys." Those wheels aren't just sitting on the surface: there's a whole rest of the wheel which needs to fit with the keys extending behind the fallboard.

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Yeah, 5-pin MIDI jacks only cost what, 50 cents? (not realizing the additional electronics required).

 

I think it's $2 total to add old-school MIDI to synths.

 

Including R and D for laying out the PC board, parts and labor?

 

Here's one I saw somewhere "While this does sound really good, it doesn't quite capture that vintage tone."

Or something like that anyway. Never mind that the vintage piece is umpty bajillion and the new piece is "very affordable."

 

New caps will do that to ya, just for one. New tubes for another. If it's a guitar, how old are the magnets? Alnico loses magnetism, pickups sound mellower and sweeter.

My late 50's Danelectro lipstick pickups do not sound like Seymour Duncan's meticulous replicas, probably because magnets.

 

Or it could just be because it is all solid state with digital modeling? Hmm...

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I think it's $2 total to add old-school MIDI to synths.

 

That might be the manufacturing cost, but in the old days, generally the retail cost for adding a feature increased by nearly 20 times the apparent cost. I don't know if that formula still applies, but end price isn't just the price of the parts and a few more holes punched in the chassis.

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Yeah, 5-pin MIDI jacks only cost what, 50 cents? (not realizing the additional electronics required).

 

I think it's $2 total to add old-school MIDI to synths.

 

Including R and D for laying out the PC board, parts and labor?

 

I'm not sure, that's the figure manufacturers quoted to me. But it sounds about right for the parts cost.

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"I don't want to pay for features i'll never use". Well if you don't need the arpeggiator don't use it, but the company isn't going to be able to make a cheaper version for you by eliminating something that the R&D has already been paid for.

Good one.

 

I answer they should buy it for what they want. If what they want is worth the price, consider buying it, if not, don't. And I add questions:

 

Do you watch every channel on your TV?

 

Do you listen to every station on your radio?

 

Do you visit every site on the Internet?

 

Do you make every recipe in a cookbook?

 

Do you look up every word in a dictionary?

 

Do you ask for a discount if you don't?

 

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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  • It's not as warm as Vinyl (or tubes)
  • The clonewheel engine included for free in your $2000 workstation provides only 98% of the experience I get with a $5000 Goff rebuilt B3 and a $2800 customized Leslie 122, and so it's no good.
  • IEMs are too complicated.

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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Music gear is the domain of generalization, anecdotal evidence pretending to be science, and confirmation bias.

 

"True bypass is always better"

"Vinyl is better than digital"

"Digital distortions suck"

"192k is overkill"

"192k is vital"

"Analog synths are warmer"

"DJs are not musicians"

"Behringer's synths don't sound anything like the synths they are cloning"

"Behringer's synths sound exactly like the synths they are cloning"

"Zero frets/fretboard wood/massive bridges/body wood make a practical, discernable difference to the sound of an electric guitar or bass in a modern rock or pop song"

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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Music gear is the domain of generalization, anecdotal evidence pretending to be science, and confirmation bias.

 

And also things that are sometimes right and sometimes wrong, like...

 

"True bypass is always better""

 

...or cables, which can make a big difference when driven by high impedance outputs but not make a difference otherwise.

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"Zero frets/fretboard wood/massive bridges/body wood make a practical, discernable difference to the sound of an electric guitar or bass in a modern rock or pop song"

 

I'll take this one, it's easy. Massive bridges can make a BIG difference in the way an electric guitar or bass will sound. That other stuff can be "iffy", I've tried out quite a few Les Pauls that were heavy but sounded like a wet log. Wood varies, if it rings it absorbs energy from the strings.

 

Whether anybody/everybody/nobody can discern the difference - that would require testing.

I can say with certainty that the many times I've installed a heavier, more massive bridge the instrument had a more even response and much longer sustain. It is possible in my experience to immediately notice extra clarity, eveness and sustain.

 

That might not be noticed in terms of the tone - depending the signal path at the recording and all production after that, but it could inspire the musician to play differently.

I have some guitars/basses with stout hardware, even the mass and mounting of the tuners will change the tone of some guitars. The length of the string path behind the bridge changes the tone, so does not having any - wraparound bridge like Les Paul Jr.

 

The effect of the mass is to dampen the resonance that robs strings of energy. Think of the difference between a banjo and a Les Paul. That's an exaggeration, this is a much smaller increment of change but I vote yes.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Massive bridges can make a BIG difference in the way an electric guitar or bass will sound.

 

I haven't investigated this to the extent you have, but I have a bass with a Babicz bridge and my sense is it supports what you say - more even response and much longer sustain. When I sampled it, I was determined not to loop the string and that often meant samples that lasted for over a minute before the level went under -60.

 

In your experience, does the massive bridge make more of a difference with bass than guitar?

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Massive bridges can make a BIG difference in the way an electric guitar or bass will sound.

 

I haven't investigated this to the extent you have, but I have a bass with a Babicz bridge and my sense is it supports what you say - more even response and much longer sustain. When I sampled it, I was determined not to loop the string and that often meant samples that lasted for over a minute before the level went under -60.

 

In your experience, does the massive bridge make more of a difference with bass than guitar?

 

There are so many variables. It partially comes down to rigidity. That which moves will vibrate, strings will transmit energy to anything that in proximity. Sometimes it's just a particular note.

An extreme would be a hollow body bass, most of them have notes that roar and notes that just sort of die. The result of a couple of specific resonant structure, the air volume in a hollow bass is tuned to a specific frequency. It may be random but it is there. Make the same hollow bass out of brass and I bet it sounds completely different.

 

I've noticed significant differences on guitars more often, I don't seem to work on as many basses. When I got the Schecter TriLok bridge and bolted it down solid on my 335 it transformed that guitar into a sustain monster. It still had resonances but they were more fun - easier to control.

 

I dunno, tossup?

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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