What If You Were Gear God?

[Anderton]

Let's suppose some manufacturers appointed you Gear God and said "Okay, what would you change about today's instruments? What should we be doing a couple years down the line?"

Let's hear your priorities...I'll kick things off with a couple of mine in the next post.

[Anderton]

The first thing is real time control we can actually use. Some of these boxes have real cool functions, but are controlled by knobs and switches you need to be a midget to operate. I think Electrix really got it right with their processors in terms of making them easy to use live. More data sliders! Bigger knobs! Stuff you can turn without thinking it's going to break!!

[Anderton]

And while we're at it, bring back polyphonic aftertouch -- that's the main reason I hold on to my ancient Ensoniq gear.

[h.metznertelekom.de]

I'd like to have a typewriter keyboard i can use on any device i have to type letters in. I hate scrolling from a to z and back when giving my prgs, sounds and mixes names.

 

I hate softwareplugins that try to look like real machos with round knobs, so you have to turn a round knob on screen with a mouse without beeing able to type in any values.

 

Give me a card with a brief description of all parameters on one side, so i can work my way fast through a macho without allways having to use the manual.

 

Harald

(more to come...)

[Anderton]

>>I'd like to have a typewriter keyboard i can use on any device i have to type letters in. I hate scrolling from a to z and back when giving my prgs, sounds and mixes names.

<<

 

Yes! It seems like it wouldn't be that difficult to include a connector for a PC-compatible keyboard, so you wouldn't even need to build it into the unit.

[Mr. G]

I'd like to see every piece of digital gear (including effects, synths, samplers, drum machines...everything) include an external word clock input. I've tried three times now to assemble a completely digital studio, and have been soundly defeated each time because of clock issues.

 

 

------------------

Mitch Gallagher

Editor

EQ magazine

[Guest]

I'd definitely move all phantom-power switches to the fronts of the units on all mic-pre's.

 

Especially the GML 8300.

 

Rich...

[garthchickensys.com]

Poly-aftertouch is RIGHT - for me it's difficult to play anything else. I wonder if it's really Fatar's choice in the matter, since they supply the majority of keyboard mechanisms.

 

I'd like to see (on the synth/sampler end) a refocusing on good envelopes and well functioning parameter sets. In several instances, older keyboards have better parameter sets then the new ones - what happened? For example, the Ensoniq EPS in 1988 had complete 5 stage envelopes. Some modern samplers (Akai S5000, for example) are still twiddling with ADSR's.

 

And many more could be added.

 

Also,

 

------------------

Garth Hjelte

Customer Relations

Chicken Systems, Inc.

[alphajerk]

rich, the next version is supposed to fix that problem [already have my chuck of change waiting for it]

 

i would QUIT USING PLASTIC so much! faster MIDI [a LOT FASTER] seems to me if you can get 24 tracks of digital audio down a firewire, then midi could be made to travel down usb [or a pci slut to breakoutbox, then usb to the devices] make a standard digital connection among devices. have digital I/O on all outboard gear. fix this latency issue somehow. get rid of those stupid GUI's for the plugins that are supposed to be like the original physical product [bomb factory stuff (except maybe the la2a is nice and clean, but that rotory/trem or the moogerfoogers or the organ sims, give my video ram a break, i would rather have more accurate metering (with peakhold)] make them simple but effective [although pluggo could use a little help from bomb factory].

[Guest]

As far as typewriter keyboards go, E-Mu's Eos samplers (E5000, E4K, etc) have an option that lets you connect a standard ASCII keyboard. I think the Akai S5000 and S6000 have this option, too. It would be nice to see it more prevalent.

 

As far as the round knobs in software, I HATE THEM. If I were gear god I would banish them to the underworld. They are completely counterintuitive to use with a mouse. In fact, if I were gear god, I would banish all interfaces that try to mimic the "real world." I know that people like what they're used to, and in most cases, that means knobs. But these people need to display some adaptability and get accustomed to interfaces that work in a different way -- a way that plays off the strengths (rather than the weeknesses) of the human to computer connection.

 

I like ReBirth a lot, and it's sort of cool that they've created exact duplicates of the TB303, TR808 and 909, but inputting notes into the TB303 section absoutely sucks. I don't care if something is historically accurate -- if it isn't easy to use, there's no point to it. There's a reason that the TB303's interface never survived past the last day of production of the the TB303 (not counting the recent revival) -- it sucked.

 

Also, if I were gear god, I would banish wall wart power supplies and encourage internal power supplies. I would force all company presidents to spend one day with each new piece of equipment their company releases and make them go through the manuals page by page and follow the examples to see if they actually make sense (in the laguage of the country for which the manual is intended).

 

I would also make all synthesizer manufacturers put all presets in RAM rather than ROM, and I would setup a Internation Bureau of Gimmicky Preset Auditing (the IBGPA) that would monitor radio broadcasts and new CD releases to listen for gimmicky synth presets. When it was determined that those presets had reached a certain saturation point (say five CD releases within one year), the manufacturer would be forced to delete that preset from any synthesizers they make in the future. Such a bureau would ensure that sounds like DigitalNativeDance would never become the basis for more than a handful of songs.

 

Jonathan

[Anderton]

Jonathan -- what a great post!

 

>>As far as the round knobs in software, I HATE THEM. If I were gear god I would banish them to the underworld. They are completely counterintuitive to use with a mouse. In fact, if I were gear god, I would banish all interfaces that try to mimic the "real world." I know that people like what they're used to, and in most cases, that means knobs. But these people need to display some adaptability and get accustomed to interfaces that work in a different way -- a way that plays off the strengths (rather than the weaknesses) of the human to computer connection.<<

 

This is so very true. I wrote an article about this for EQ, and one of the examples I gave was how word processors default to black type on a white page because we're used to ink and paper. Yellow on blue would be more legible and easier on the eyes; why not default to that?

 

I like the approach Emagic has taken on their plug-ins, where you can "compact" the artsy version down to something more useful.

 

The worst part about software knobs is when you have to TURN them with the mouse!! At least some programs let you change the rotation by moving linearly.

[Anderton]

>>I would force all company presidents to spend one day with each new piece of equipment their company releases and make them go through the manuals page by page and follow the examples to see if they actually make sense<<

 

I won't use any names to protect all concerned, but in the 80s there was a company with a reputation for lousy manuals. That was back in the days when I was getting Electronic Musician off the ground, and we ran a lot of reviews that were critical of this company's manuals. One of the marketing people was always trying to tell me that really, the manuals weren't that bad, and couldn't I lighten up?

 

Well, one day she wanted to install some music-oriented software and a sound card from her company. The next time I saw her, she told me of her exasperating experience, and said that we were right, the manuals really did suck! After that, an attempt was made to improve the manuals, which I think did make a difference. So your idea is pretty darn good! I also love the idea of the Patch Police. "Fantasia" is outta here...

[trick fall]

I would personally change the gear buying "experience". I don't think the level of nonservice, bad attitudes, and general aggravation would be accepted in any other retail enviornment. Cept maybe used cars, anyway the large chains are the worst for this, but I've had lousy experiences at about 90% of the places I've gone to and I've been to a lot.

[Anderton]

Originally posted by trickfall@yahoo.com:

I would personally change the gear buying "experience". I don't think the level of nonservice, bad attitudes, and general aggravation would be accepted in any other retail enviornment.

 

I think part of the problem is you get what you pay for, and music stores work on such thin margins that it's difficult to hold on to quality people. It seems when competent people surface, companies snatch them up as reps or whatever. So,the question is, how can the buying experience be improved in the face of highly limited budgets?

[Guest]

I would make all software base multitrakers use the same app for a song, so you can open a set of tracks in a diferent program other that the one the sesion was created on, without loosing your arrengement, edit points, fades, etc..

 

I'll tell bill gates to go and f**k himself. and create a OS for audio that would work as a dedicated DAW housed in a pc, this system would conect itself to the internet, look for upgrades, and download and upgrade every time you shut down.

 

I'll will love to have a AES/EBU type interface that would carry only one signal,(instead of two) so i can rout it everywere i want to without having to worry about losing a output or a input just because i want to aply prossesing to only one track.

 

And there are a lot of more things i can list but i dont have the time to do so.. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

Cheers

[THE MIX FIX]

Gee, I'll make it REAL simple.

 

GREAT stuff that ALWAYS works, or it doesn't get demo-ed, or go to market!!

 

This is NOT impossible, even with cheaper gear!!

 

You know a GML EQ will always work, and very seldom give you trouble, but so will am ART Tube Pac Compressor!! (At least in my experience). http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

The BIGGEST culprits are poorly software, or Digital hardware products!!

 

The ONLY time there should be a software update, is to add features, NOT to fix bugs. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/tongue.gif

 

So they could spend a little time, in both Beta testing, and development, so that their products aren't the AOL of audio.

 

I LIKE it when I turn something on, it works, and I can depend on it.

 

Imagine if the failure rate of cars or jets were 1/1,000,000th that of Digital gear!! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

 

MOST of us would be dead, by now, and the government would have banned the stuff!! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/eek.gif

 

Betcha Bill Gate's planes are built better than his OS, and HIS computers never crash!! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

 

 

 

------------------

Bob.

[JES]

What a great thread!

 

Here are my suggestions in no particular order:

 

1. For all "studio in a box" setups -- Roland VS, Akai DPS, etc., have a standard SVGA card and plug in the back so that you could plug the thing into a computer monitor and see a great big display. I don't even care if it's in color. This would make these things so much more attractive.

 

2. Just one hardware control surface for native DAW's where the faders and knobs work in realtime.

 

3. I would ban all vaporware -- no product announcements until the thing is actually for sale.

 

4. I love the idea about making the company president use the gear and manual.

 

5. I'd ban the publishing of incomplete specs. All or nothing.

 

6. I'd slow down all the rate of new releases on the part of all software companies, and require much more testing so that all the basic functions and the new frills work without bugs. What good are all the new bells and whistles of the new setup if you can't perform basic functions because of some silly error?

 

7. I'd make all software companies post known bugs and incompatibilities with each version, so people could know what they're getting into and what's involved in setting up their systems.

 

8. I'd hire more tech support people, pay them more, and make it a higher prestige part of the company.

 

9. I'd ban the terms "warm" "punchy" and "transparent" in advertising.

 

10. I'd build an inexpensive MIDI pickup system that tracks well on bass.

 

That's all for now.

 

JES

[trick fall]

Hey Craig, one thing I'd like to point out about the gear buying "experience" is a certain photo, video, audio store in NYC that, while not always the most pleasant to deal with at least lets you test things out in a great way. I recently needed to buy a new microphone and at some places was looked at with ridicule when I wanted to plug one in and hear it. At this other store there is a soundproof room where you can try every mike with every preamp and record up to 8 takes of the different selections for comparison, simply amazing.

There is also another music store here that has a soundproofed room for trying out guitar amps. I can't tell you how many times I've been playing a thousand dollar guitar amp and they don't want you to go past one on the volume.

I think a lot of people wind up with bad gear choices because of an inability to try this stuff out in the retail enviornment.

One last thing I will pay a little more to use these stores. It is totally worth the premium.

[alphajerk]

i was in a storee once buying a guitar amp [a half stack] and the owner wouldnt let me turn it up so i walked on down the road to a store that would. not plugging a mic in is ridiculous, LETS GET RID OF RETAIL [george is already doing it and i can afford his stuff becuase of it, plus im sure he is seeing some extra profit too]

[Guest]

Originally posted by h.metzner@telekom.de:

I'd like to have a typewriter keyboard i can use on any device i have to type letters in. I hate scrolling from a to z and back when giving my prgs, sounds and mixes names.

 

 

Harald

(more to come...)

 

I've just bought a Tascam MD301mkII MiniDisc recorder. The feature that made me buy it was the keyboard input on the front panel. I wish Tascam would have used this feature on their MX2424.

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by billmusic@theglobe.com (edited 09-02-2000).]

[Anderton]

>>One last thing I will pay a little more to use these stores. It is totally worth the premium.<<

 

I appreciate your not turning your post into a commercial for these stores, but if they're that good, let's give them some online strokes and mention their names.

[Anderton]

>>I'd ban the terms "warm" "punchy" and "transparent" in advertising.<<

 

Great comment, this could be its own thread! Let's also eliminate "CD-quality sound"

and "limited only by your imagination." Oh yes, and "fat," too.

[benfuryix.netcom.com]

Yeah Craig, and Phat too! There is no magic gear. There are only magical talents, and they get magic music from ANY musical equipment. Music manufacturers make big bucks from convincing people who shouldn't quit there day jobs that they can be the next BIG thing. And who can blame them? They'll never stay in business selling a couple dozen units a year to the few TRUE musical geniuses on the planet! Keep the dream alive... YOU can make BIG PHAT PUNCHY CREAMY SMOOTH music with the latest Acme whizzamagig! Buy, buy BUY!!!! Ahahahahahahahaha!!!

[trick fall]

Craig, B&H Photo for the microphones and Matt Umanov Guitars, not necessarily the cheapest, but good service and the ability to really try things is the best I've encountered. If anyone can say any other places that rock in NYC I'd love to check them out.

[JohnBartus]

If I were Gear God, I would...

 

1) Force Apple to adopt OMS as its de facto MIDI standard for OS 9, X, and beyond, and become much more multimedia-friendly by including more than a couple of expansion slots in their new machines (as well as enable backwards compatibility with all of our not-so-old-yet-expensive hardware interfaces).

 

2) Require all products to be sold with complete, comprehensive, and comprehensible documentation. Software manuals should show the user how to do everything possible within the program (and should be cross-indexed for easy access to all menus, pages, and commands). Hardware products should come with service manuals (where possible) so that the tech-inclined can effect minor repairs without having to waste time getting it to the distant service center.

 

3) Limit sales hype to within a month or two before the product's actual release date -- no more vaporware.

 

4) Perhaps the most important: I would require that all manufacturers offer REAL product support. I'd make them publish answers to nearly every conceivable question on their website, AND make them offer telephone tech support that wouldn't keep you waiting on interminable hold on YOUR long distance dime. This really wouldn't be that difficult if the manuals were easy to use in the first place.

 

 

 

------------------

John Bartus

Radio Active Productions

We Make Great Radio Happen - Guaranteed.

1-888-93-RADIO

www.radioactivedigital.com

[alphajerk]

how about then they say warm and transparent in the same sentence [to me, warm means slightly distorting the signal (along with fat) and transparent means NO COLOR ADDED]

 

and vaporware REALLY PISSES ME OFF. i say products must be released with a month of first ad or suffer a vapor ad rate [double the regular rate]

 

and only cd quality sound if it is 16/44.1 UNCOMPRESSED sound.

[Anderton]

>>and only cd quality sound if it is 16/44.1 UNCOMPRESSED sound<<

 

CD-quality sound has been bandied about so much it has lost its meaning. Minidiscs have "CD-quality sound?" Hey, I love MD, but give me a break!! And digital signals with 32 kHz sampling rates? No way. Where are the Advertising Police when you need them?

[Guest]

Originally posted by Anderton:

Where are the Advertising Police when you need them?[/b]

 

 

I thought that mag's had that responsability. they should have some saing about what gets publish eveen advertizing wise. regardless of company and what that company pays for such ad's. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif

 

Is just an idea but in a trade magazine, full with people verse in the technical aspect of the trade, there sould be somebody that should do a greate deal of reserch so false advertising wont get publish. remember that thanks to the readers a magazine has it's bissnes , and a lot of those readers are not as knolegeble.

 

[This message has been edited by ccintriago@yahoo.com (edited 09-06-2000).]

[Anderton]

The problem is magazines just can't arbitrarily decide if something's true or not. As there is no legal definition of "CD-quality," if we pulled an ad just because it used that phrase for something that wasn't 44/16 uncompressed, we could be accused of restraint of trade.

 

And what about ad claims? Again, you need a legal basis. I think the object of magazines is to educate their audience enough so they can spot B.S. wherever they see it!

 

Just remember, TV stations can't pull political advertising, even if what is said is a known, outright lie.

[Guest]

i didnot had idea that magaziness have to comply with a "restrain of trade" law.

 

considering that audio magaziness are not made for a general population, but for a specific trade. or for the education of a specific trade. i thought that such type of legal crap would not apply. i do think that readers ( unaware of such restrains, like me ) tent to links the ad's with the mags. is like saing: if it appear in X mag then it sould be true. it is sad that magazines dont have a final saing on this things. !there wouldnt be a better ad police!

 

and by the way. u do a greate job educating about the gear out there, and how to use it. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif