“Hey, breaking up is an idea that has occurred to far too few groups. Sometimes to the wrong ones.”
–Steve Albini

Just as I don’t really “do” Christmas, I’m not a huge fan of the traditions that usher in a new calendar year. Getting blinding drunk for too much money? No thanks. Thus, not a big fan of the New Year’s resolution.

However, I am a big fan of reflecting on one’s life, taking stock, adjusting one’s life goals. And I’ve been doing that over months leading up to 2009. Specifically, about my music, my life, this blog, my studio. More specifically, this blog in relation to my music, my life and my studio. And this blog in relation to world at large.

Just the other day, the great MusicThing blog closed up shop indefinitely. Like many a gear geek, MusicThing was one of the first music production blogs that I came across – if not the first. And what a delight. It got me more excited about the possibilities of production, the joys of finding and creating sound, than anything outside of actually making music myself. And, yes, it probably pushed me closer to opening my own blog.

But there’s one thing that MusicThing’s open-ended hiatus and possible demise easily illustrates: blogging, while not hard per se, is time consuming. Not just the writing – which it can be, especially for long-winded, discursive fuckers such as myself – but the actual time it takes to digest information. You know, to have something to write about that is of possible interest to people other than you and six of your friends. Setting one up is easy enough; coming up with an idea or an “editorial” mission is even more simple. But keeping it going for any length of time past a year or two can be tiresome, even if you’re not doing your own coding (which I am).

And MusicThing had a clear editorial vision, a keen eye for the interesting, and a strong authorial voice. Someone like me, what exactly am I bringing to the table? Other than I can type well. And I’m reasonably literate. (If overly dependent on adverbs.) Other music tech sites cover releases and how-to and such with far more efficacy than I ever could part-time, esp. on my own dime. So that just leaves me as a feeble editorial voice out here on the edges of CreateDigitalMusic and KvR.

I don’t generate enough traffic to warrant any google revenue or to solicit targeted banners. And at some point I have ask, in a word, why? What I set out to promote – the music I’ve been chiseling away at for pert near a half decade; over 25 years if you count all my years before home recording and digital lofi production – is so lost in the haze of technology and trainspotting as to be almost obscure to me now. I’ve become, more or less, a minor advocate for a small cadre of developers that never really asked for my participation. I’ve had some good conversations with a few of these developers, whom I respect a lot (annoyed a few of the same, I’m sure), I got to review/test drive a couple of awesome products, and hopefully I’ve helped them in some way or another. But the truth is what I need to be concentrating on doesn’t translate into a blog quite so easily as “let me talk about cool music tech”. And even that never turned into quite the conversation I had hoped for.

Beyond this, if you read back a few months, you might divine that my relationship with new music tech is, erm, changing. I’m tired of being a beta tester, of buyer’s remorse (whether for pay or freeware), opening an interface and quickly realizing that despite whatever internet/magazine chatter it’s just another piece of software. In some ways, we’ve hit the point of diminishing returns. So unless I’m just going to comment on a lot of shit I won’t necessarily use, ever, I’m doing what again? It’s not like people are turning to me for advice.

Going into this new year, this new post-birthday, I want to get back to making music. I want to play guitar. I want to write songs. I want to finish CDs. Maybe even play out in some regard.

Already I was leaning toward just using what I have. The tools I want/need for my studio at this point aren’t really impulse purchases. Of course, let’s be honest, I’m sure there will be updates and a few goodies I’ll purchase, mostly from the developers/companies I’ve been championing over the last few years (I’m looking at you, Rough Rider Pro); but, by and large, I’m going to force myself to be way more practical and deliberate in my studio. And, thus, I want the software upkeep to be way more minimal.

So, yeah, this blog. At first I thought I could blog about the process of sifting out the chaff of my plugin folder, reviews of the software/soundware I was keeping. I could to try to revive my Album a Day in a less demanding format. Plus I have a bunch of drafts that I could try to revise into shape. But all of this is time I don’t really want to be putting into something that’s more like a job (keeping up the post count as to not fall of the radar) than something that’s bringing me any joy, or at least bettering my life. I am glad that this has given me an outlet for my writing and helped me rediscover my love of that, albeit in an unexpected form. But I think it’s apparent that even that is better spent elsewhere.

The proverbial ice awaits. In a final act of Me-too-ism, I’m going to follow MusicThing’s lead into the greater unknown. O, I may be over-come by a desire to post something. Maybe I’ll finish off my epic over-view of Poi Dog Pondering’s complete recorded output. Maybe an open plugin standard will finally come to fruition. But once I fall off people’s RSS readers then I truly am writing for myself.

At some point I’ll figure out how this fits into my overall plans, such as they are. With a new mission maybe, or at least new sponsorship that will provide me with the time to type away about my peculiar and narrow obsessions. I’ll be around, and I’m sure I’ll be unable to control my urge to not just shut the fuck up, but this place will most likely be quite for the foreseeable future.

Thanks to those who commented. Thanks to the readers who came here deliberately rather than just following some errant google search. Thanks to the other sites that kept me going even when my ADD (not really) pulled my attention elsewhere. Thanks to the developers who put up with me or encouraged me. And, fuck it, thanks to me for making it this far and knowing when to bow out.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Peace,
C. Puffer

I was thinking that I wasn’t going to do this. It’s not like I have that much to say throughout the year, so “wrapping up” seems a tad redundant. But, really, it’s bitter cold outside, the coffee is strong, and my girlfriend is sleeping off her New Year hangover¹, so why the fuck not?

Top digitallofi.com posts of 2008²:
1. Well, I’m happy to say that a significant portion of my traffic comes through various subscription services, stumbleupon, off my favorite sites, and I have a good number of returning visitors. So, cheers to you all. You’re among probably about a couple hundred other “regular” “readers”.
2. My unintentional backhanded compliment to SynthEdit and some of the better SE authors.
3. A Pre-Sonar8 launch bitch-list of what I thought was the most ripe for updating, and which missed the mark pretty vastly. Really? That had to be one of my weakest posts all year.
4. I’m just going to go ahead and roll up my 2008 Holiday Gift Guide for the Disenfranchised posts into one big pat on the back for myself. Most of this traffic the result of a mention on CreateDigitalMusic.com, which just further illustrates how necessary that blog is. If only on a personal level.
5. Again, thanks to CreateDigitalMusic and the dude who made BeatBurner and released it as donationware.
6. My “review” of SonicCharge’s delightful, “controversial” new musical sound generator. Again, mostly thanks to cdm.com; Peter, if I made any money I would pay royalties or something.
7. SonicCouture’s Gamelan: Believe the hype. Coming in 2009: The Digital LoFi Gamelan EP.³.
8. Found Sound.
9. Part of my misguided, half-hearted but on-going campaign for an open plugin standard.
10. Yeah, even I don’t know what I’m thinking sometimes.

Digital lofi’s top software instruments of 2008:⁴
I don’t know, I guess I’m going to go with the 1-2 punch of GForce’s VSM & MTronPro. And Synplant. And didn’t BFD2 come out in 2008?

digital LoFi’s top DSP plugins of 2008:
Good God this is a tight field. Let’s just give the title to the fuckers at AudioDamage. If they made an EQ there would be little debate their absolute Godhead status among purveyors of DSP. No actually, there would be lots and lots of debate. And let’s give props to Voxengo for continuing to make waves for the rest of us. And the donationware/freeware/perpetual-betaware developers who just keep raising the bar every year.

digitaL LoFi’s top soundware of 2008:
Do I even need to discuss this? Goldbaby, SonicCouture, NineVoltAudio. Independently owned and conceived all. Honorable mention to Homegrown Sounds; I’m looking to see what they have in store. And I look forward to kicking myself for neglecting PureMagnetic for so long.

Puffer’s favorite album of 2008:
Didn’t buy too much new music this year. I want to say Poi Dog Pondering but shamefully I haven’t purchased that yet, only listened to their stream of it. I really was digging the new Slipknot album⁵, but I have a feeling once I really hear the older, harder stuff I won’t find it quite so satisfying. The Eno/Byrne joint really rocks the party. But I haven’t had enough time with it. I’ve probably listened to the General Fuzz catalog more than any other single artist outside my playlist shuffle mode.⁶ And Boards of Canada: Always BoC.

Digital Lofi’s top hardware acquisitions of 2008:
Most definitely my pawn-shop MPC1000. I barely know how to utilize it to its fullest, but I’m determined to learn it and to use it live.

Saddest non-Trend of 2008:
This Was Grindhouse: A site in search of movement and a guiding hand. A movement in search of…

DigitalLoFi’s no-brainer digital audio industry predictions for 2009:
Alas, Project5, we hardly knew ye.

The Digital Lofi Audio Blogosphere 2008:
*CreateDigitalMusic.com: The check’s in the mail.
*AnalogIndustries.com: Jesus, dude, get over yourself.
*MusicThing: Tom, as far as I’m concerned you could post once a year and still be one of the best music blogs out there.
*MatrixSynth: I get tired just thinking of all the posts they’ve put up just while I’ve been writing this. What’s not to love about synthporn? And what could make synthporn even better? Babes!
*http://rekkerd.org/: The only thing that could make ronnie’s site better would be if more people joined in the discussions. And this year I’m going to take part in one of your competitions, I swear.

Most unwelcome Digital Lofi blogging affectation of 2008:
Footnotes.⁷ It didn’t start off as a tribute to David Foster Wallace, more just a ripped-off conceit, but I’m fine with it turning into one. He is a writer I will truly miss.⁸

So, I guess that’s it. It’s approximately my birthday this time of year, so wish me a happy birthday in the comments.

PS – I’ll most likely be updating, correcting and revising this post over the next week or so while I get together my New Year’s Ambitions and Ruminations. Hell, it will take me a week just to sort out the footnotes on this Hindenburg.

^{1I stayed in. For what’s it’s worth. I’m going out on my birthday presently.
2Mostly according to Google Analytics. I really should look more closely at my server reporting. I’m also discounting any older, perennial posts that keep generating traffic. But other than that, these are really the top posts.
3Don’t hold me to that.
4Let’s not be sticklers for release dates, okay? I got ‘em in 2008 and they are all pretty recent.
5Go ahead and mock me. My girlfriend does. As does pretty much everyone else. I don’t know, something about their shtick appeals to the 13 year-old boy in me.
6Honestly, some of it gets a little lite-jazzy in places for my taste. But it is top music, really. And great for coding. Music for coding is important.
7 Really, they’re kinda of a pain in the ass, and roughly double the amount of time to post, no matter how entertaining and useful they are for my long-winded style.
8Though I suppose it could compete with not deciding how I want to type out Digital Lofi/digitallofi/digital lofi/Digital LoFi/Digital Lo-Fi/et al. But I won’t even go into my reasons behind this.}

Well, I know I said I was done for the year, but what the hell. Besides, who doesn’t love to use “Coda” in a blog post title? Really, these two are very cool little gifts, and neither will set you back anything (depending if you own either of the products I’m discussing).

First up, another Digital Lo-fi favorite, for the mighty Zebra2, some kind muso posted a bank of just stellar sounds. I mean, really remarkable. If you spend any time downloading soundbanks for your soft synths you know what a gamble it is, sometimes little more than seemingly randomly generated and randomly named patches; or there’s the huge, elaborate one-finger patches that are all but useless in a real-world context. Anyway, these are playable and inspiring, not to mention aptly named and well organized. Not only are these sounds you’ll be able to use in your music easily but they are a real testament to the depth and breadth of Zebra2.

You can pick it up here: Zebra Food by Menno Meijer

And if you heeded my advice, you picked up the new SonicCharge Synplant. Well, do yourself a favor and fire up your DAW at some point before the clock rolls over today. SonicCharge are already known for the literal “easter egg” in microTonic. Well, this does that one better by, giving a whole new dimension to an already beguiling plugin. I won’t bother trying to explain it, and I’m not sure how “musically” useful it is ultimately, but it sure is neato.

The long and short of it
My Lynx L22 audio driver is not agreeing with my OS, in my case Windows XP Pro SP3. The last software I installed before my recent woes uses PACE copy protection.¹

My supposition and arugement
PACE copy protection software has somehow altered the fundamental workings of my operating system in such a way that is incompatible with my Lynx audio driver’s control software. I can’t say with 100% certainty that PACE specifically hosed my system; but I will say with 90% certainty, if not more, that it was this notorious copy protection that took me down.

The history
First, let’s step into the Wayback Machine: 2002, music tech writer Rip Rowan documents PACE kernel driver taking down his system. (This page was also written about the same time.) Obviously, ancient history in computer audio terms. I mention it here because this was written shortly after I had undertaken my journey into computer-based home production. Along with other DRM concerns happening at more or less the same time, it helped shape my software investing habits.

More recently, Adam Schabtach (1/2 of Audio Damage) took to his blog and chronicled his grief-by-PACE and vowed to boycott their products. That he is a professional in the audio software field gave the post a little more traction and punch than these things get. After being picked up by CDM it really began to take on the first whiffs of smoke.

(While looking to cure my problems, I also came across this. So computer audio musos aren’t the only ones who are occasionally taken down. Gamers are also another group you’ll frequently see dealing with PACE copy protection gone awry.)

PACE and Me
Sometime last week I was across town on Big Box Store Road, checking out the new Trader Joe’s. (Yes, I like it. Though no booze. Damn New England blue laws!) And so I stopped by the local MegaLo Guitar Mart and wandered around. (Yes I am a gear slut, even if I’m just flirting.) In the “Pro Audio” section in the “bargain”/used cabinet I was lured by fancy M-Audio packaging and what looked to be a good deal.² And honestly, I did look to see if there was an a dongle requirement, or if it said anything copy protection; there wasn’t and it didn’t.

Also, a note on software packaging: boxes are fucking stupid.³

Anyway, during the install, after agreeing to the licensing and choosing my folders and it installing the dll and supporting files, up pops a PACE-branded window asking me if I want to register an iLok or via digital signing. Sure, kudos to the developer for the options, and he/they maintain the PACE digital registration is not a kernel-level driver. I am only reporting on my own experiences; draw your own conclusions.

In for a penny, in for a pound, I finished the install, and opened it up in Sonar in demo mode; I even generated my key to send for activation. But in a fit of indecision, I uninstalled the plugin while I deciding if this was a copy protection I wanted to invite myself in on, considering it’s history of randomly singling users out to f**k with. I was paying particular attention the PACE directories in the C:/Documents and Settings/. I figured an uninstall/reinstall will tell you a good amount about how any software reacts to your system in the long run. Unfortunately, I didn’t test how said uninstall would play out. In the same way I took a chance on the install, I took a chance that it would uninstall.

Friday night my friend/band Mark came over and we were plugging him in and I went to launch the Lynx L22 mixer, which is a direct access of driver, from the system tray. Sure enough XP decides to reboot. No BSoD, no error logs. Just straight to the BIOS resetting itself.

When it comes back on, Windows can’t find the device driver. Even after re-installing the latest driver package from Lynx, nothing. The L22 driver will not register, even manually, and the device sets to unknown in the system devices.

My guess, some other software I have uses some iteration of PACE driver digital signing, and the version this installer uses triggered or caused an instability or conflict, the direct result of which was causing my audio driver to become unstable. Something is happening at the core level of my OS that has caused or revealed a vulnerability with my audio driver.

I’ve tried all the usual recipes for bailing myself out of this. I’m relatively resourceful when it comes to operating Windows. I even managed, after a bit of mucking about, to use system restore to an earlier point, before I installed. Nope. For a brief second Windows remembered the Lynx, all it took was for me to launch the Lynx mixer to re-boot the system. Now it’s gone again.

I don’t need this headache.

Frankly, with the wealth of software out there, and the amount of time I’ve put into tweaking and fixing and upgrading my DAW, a piece of software better tickle my balls and freshen my coffee before I’m willing to put up with the aggravation of it fundamentally altering my system. And with all due respect to the coders, certainly not a VA VSTi. There are enough developers around that make quality software, at a reasonable price, or at least with a native copy-protection scheme, that I can make a stance that is both principled and practical.

I’m inclined to think is the last straw. Whether it was actively this PACE installer, or some other software, or even some other system driver falling over, I pretty done paying to be a beta tester. Now more than ever, I’m interested paring the system down to only what has historically worked, by and large, for me. What is the essential free/payware that I use on from session to session. Not the software I think would be cool to use; not the software everyone else thinks is essential. I will invest only in those products I know to be viable, support projects I think are worthy. I want my machine to be 128 track computer workstation. Sure it will crash, but at least I can limit the variables to a smaller pool.

Anyway, just adding my voice to the public record of what PACE iLok drivers can potentially do to your system. Like I said, draw your own conclusions.

–

^{1For the one or two people who might happen upon this that might not already know about it, PACE is a company that makes and licenses software copy protection. They make several different flavors of poison but they’re most known for their iLok USB dongle. They also have a pure software version that works by digital marking your machine and keeping track of said digital mark. Historically, the digital signing is invasive and clandestine.}

An argument sometimes made in favor of PACE/iLok by users is that it somehow protects the user, making it simpler to recover from crashes, as if this somehow makes it more viable in the long run than other C/R systems. But as a whole PACE faults can be triggered by software/hardware changes you could make on your machine tonight, let alone 2 years from now. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that one of the biggest failings of any DRM system is that they are invariably *not* future proof. For them to be effective they have to continually be updated to maintain effectiveness. Dongles do not ensure against obsolescence, they insure that you don’t “loan” your copy out to your “friends.” As in, insurance for the company.

Companies need to keep track of how many users are out there – I will support those companies that to it with the least possible hoop-jumping and margin for error for me. While I find DRM to be a digital folly, I fully see the need for online registrations and activations. And, honestly, we’re not talking about Verizon or GE here – these are small companies with a comparatively small profit margins that count on the revenue from their products. They do not have huge corporate accounts like say, Adobe or Avid/Digi, to offset the rampant piracy of their software. Having some sort of digital signing or registration in place cuts down enormously on casual piracy – friends passing around software – installing, say, iZotope software on a buddy’s laptop. Unless you go primarily open source there is little way around it, esp. if you want to use a certain level of product.

But let’s not kid ourselves, there’s a lot of variables for error on a digital system, and shit happens. With any software, at some point you may just be SOL. This is why we’re all licensing software not buying it, right? Those EULAs we all merrily click through aren’t about protecting us, no?

^{2Out of respect for the producers of this software, because he/they genuinely seem like decent individuals who are interested in supporting their product, I’m not going to call it out the name. Obviously, distributed by M-Audio, a VA that’s not produced by GForce/GMedia. It seems like a fairly clever software, but, alas I will never really know. Also, it turned out to be not much of a bargain and more the standard going rate for it. So, impulse buy.}

^{3This box contain a pamphlet “user’s guide” with a serial number sticker on it, and the CD tucked against the side. It would have fit easily in a envelope. Companies should just make one display box for a store, and then cut out all that stupid packaging.}

No real update, though I’m writing an epic post on my troubles with PACE.

But I did get my font issue with this site sorted out. While certainly not dazzling it should be a whole lot easier to read, and should scale correctly.

So I encourage my few new readers to go back through the archives and/or recent few months and fully enjoy the wit and wisdom¹ of C. Puffer without straining your eyes.

^{1Self-deprecation doesn’t really translated to type very well, does it?}

Well, I’ve been biting my tongue on this one for a couple of weeks, since I got the privilege of a sneak peak. Wake up this morning and, bang, it’s out, and the music tech blogs have weighed in, more or less (here, here and here, as well as others I’m sure).

Just to be clear, what we’re talking about is Sonic Charge Synplant. As I’ve written, Sonic Charge’s brilliant µTonic (or microTonic) is a long-time digital lofi favorite. A fun, useful and versitile drum synth.

Well, the genius behind that, Magnus Lidström (he has a team as well, but I’m not sure if they actually work on the plugins or just keep the commercial/promotional side of the company going) decided to tackle the perennial and gnarly synth forum topic: Is there a new way of interacting with synthesis that doesn’t at least reference the familiar topology¹? Not new synthesis; I’ll leave it for better minds than myself what, how and why on that Gordian Knot. But a new interface. A new way of generating the sounds that doesn’t have an equivalent (more or less) in the hardware world. Even something like Zebra, which I consider one of the most smartly designed synth GUIs I’ve seen ², still under the hood relies on a fairly established synth paradigm, albeit one that is modular and flexible.

Synplant tackles the problem, erm, organically. Each sound is a seed, and utilizing its hypnotic and clever interface, you “grow” sounds. If you want to drill down and micro manage your sound, there’s the DNA screen, that presents the list of editable strands. (A nice bit of simple animation that.)

So how different is it? Well, if you approach it as you might a more conventional synth, you might find it maddening. But if you are generally open to ideas, and/or a part of composition process is equal parts intention, discovery and happy accidents, then you will probably get something out of Synplant. Aside from which, it sounds fantastic.

Anyway, it’s a pretty established fact that synth users are just preset whores, right? Especially with softsynths. Some of us use presets to get in the general ballpark, and tweak from there; sometimes we’ll spend a few hours generating sounds/learning the interface and we’ll use those ideas in our work or as the genesis for new work. And to that end, Synplant has a perfectly workable preset system (the same as microTonic’s). Perhaps not a “bread and butter” tool, but if you just want to dial up a bass or lead you can certainly use it for that.

But I’ll cop to the fact that a lot (not all or even most) of my “electronic” music is me just mucking about and coming up with shit I think sounds cool and then just throwing a lot at the canvas and seeing what sticks. Eventually (hopefully) a picture emerges and I begin a more methodical composition process. And to those ends, Synplant is really a novel and useful way of skinning the cat. And once you get generating sounds it’s pretty hard to stop.

Even better, also like microTonic, it’s very sensibly priced. If you have microTonic you get a little bit of a break on it; if you don’t you can buy a discounted bundle.

So, if you’ve ever found yourself opening up a synth and being uninspired by its architecture, or baffled by obtrusive complexity, or you rely on at least a measure of uncertainty, chance and/or chaos in your process, then I cannot recommend Synplant enough.

^{1i.e. variations on Moogs and modulars.
2Esp. with the new 2.3/2.5 updates that are coming down the pike; on that, more later.}

If you’re a BFD2 user, you’ll probably be interested in the fabled 2.1 update. While not officially released, fxpansion has opened up a public beta, if you’re into those types of things. And it’s tempting, what with the very impressive new improvements that this beta has revealed.¹

The caveat is everything forward is only compatible with v.2.1. I understand theoretically why this is, and normally I wouldn’t let it deter me, but I rely on BFD2 pretty heavily. I don’t want to hose myself if it ends up being a long and crashy time before it’s stable, and have to figure out how to roll back projects that use it. fxpansion themselves are advising to “proceed with caution.”

So, what’s it buy you? A new reverb effect (from Breverb), an internal Vintage Warmer (Lite), improved browsing and kit management, improvements to the Groove editor including a new roll tool. There are some other things in there as well.

Since I was able to get BFD2, I pretty much mix “in the box”. The amount of control and customization you can achieve without even closing the GUI is impressive. I’m really looking forward to these improvements; I’m not sure I can contain myself.

Good grief, I’m such a geek.

^{1I guess since it’s on their public forum it’s alright to talk about here. Also, these may well be public knowledge but it’s the first time I’ve seen them.}

Ron Paul ‘08!

I kid, though you got to admit, it would have made the Republican Convention a hell of a lot more interesting.

To quote The Daily Show “Barack Obama kinda gives me a boner…” He’s smart, articulate, and obviously can run a good organization. I trust him to attempt salvaging what’s left of our Constitution. And while I don’t have strong feelings about Biden, I have abstract roots in Delaware and his debate performance was reassuring.

McCain, I never really liked him, esp. after reading D. Foster Wallace’s profile in “An Supposedly Fun Thing…” but I think I could have suffered through him about as well as I have Bush. At least he’s articulate even if I don’t agree with him and think he’s probably a real unpleasant sonabitch. But Palin. Words can not express my dislike, distrust and scorn of this, erm, politician. An embodiment of all that’s wrong with the US body politic. Really, if McCain was half the independent he claimed to be he would have chosen Olimpia Snow as his running mate. In that case I would have said, well, at least things will completely fall apart on their watch. I no longer have that distant comfort.

Unfortunately, I can make no threat to move elsewhere. While I’m an independent contractor that works from home, I’m still a paycheck-to-paycheck mofo. But if I *could* move anywhere, I think it would be Germany or Amsterdam. Maybe England since I come from a long line of Anglophiles.

If we as a nation are smart/lucky enough to have an Obama/Biden administration I will be glad to continue to participate in the American Experiment. Should they get away with their usual gerrymandering, fraud and suppression, I’m not how I’ll stand another 4 years of not being able to watch the President and Vice-President speak. (Literally, I’m almost physically incapable of watching Bush/Cheney.)

Fortunately, to vote I just have to walk across the street. I live in a very Blue State so I’m going to read up on my local bond initiatives tonight. But beyond that, I hope against hope that our electorate isn’t beyond repair and that Cheney and Co. don’t leave things in such disrepair as to doom us all.

And, yes, the title of this post is tongue in cheek. I will go back to ranting to myself about digital production minutia presently.

No, no. Don’t get your shorts in a bunch. I don’t have any insider info, or a leak or anything.

But my half-abstracted mutterings of the other day, I made a bunch of vague criticisms of Sonar in regards to future of the program. While my speculation came primarily from a grass-is-greener place and not any measurable dissatisfaction, the estimable Peter Kirn of CreateDigitalMusic reasonably wondered what specifically I am finding lacking in Sonar, and where I’d like to see it go with this next supposed version.

So, let’s see…

• ACT (Active controller technology): This is one of Sonar’s biggest “almost there” features. You’ll notice if you watch the promo videos for this feature they always use a particular Edirol controller. Since Edirol is a Cakewalk partner it looks pretty slick, with a nice GUI and and a nice easy handshake between controller and DAW. But I don’t have an Edirol controller. And working with the ACT interface that controls the 95% of the controllers out there is pretty kludgy. In Cake’s effort to make it simple for us musicians, they left out a deeper level of control that doesn’t involve some digging. 75% of the time it works pretty great; it’s that other 25% that’s a bitch.
• Track presets: As I have been trying to “optimize my workflow” I’ve been setting up a bunch of track presets. They’re great: setup a synth you like, or a chain of plugins that has that certain something, complete with folders sends and buses, and call it back up with a few mouse clicks. Sweet. But these aren’t effect chains per se, so if you have an already recorded track it takes a little juggling to make that work. And it doesn’t include buses, and that would be handy.
• Better asset management: That “Audio Pool” feature in Logic sounds awful handy. How about being able to audition MIDI clips? Come on, admit it, the “Clean Audio” utility is pretty long in the tooth.
• Windows… sigh: Come to think of it, some of the modal windows could use a little bit of buffing. It’s pretty apparent there’s at least a bit of legacy code in there that, while perfectly functional and not entirely essential, could stand to be upgraded. And a lot of vst plugins that are more vertical than horizontal (like a few of the fabulous Bootsy plugins) can end up with a swath of dead window space Sonar fills up the Window bar with it’s functions. There’s got to be a more elegant way.
• I refuse to believe that video can’t be improved. I haven’t used it in a while, but last time I tried it was pretty easy to get the video stream to stutter and fall over, even some rudimentary editing, cuing features would be helpful.

Anyway, I’m getting picky. I’m really not that much of a bitch.

I’m sure I’ll think of something later on. So this is subject to revision.

Here’s the big thread at the Cakewalk forums from a lot people who a.) possibly use Sonar a lot more than me. b.) mostly spend more time on the forums than I do.

I was, this morning, pondering the fates of DAWs and my use of them. On one hand, I have a working setup and no desire to upgrade seriously; I’m not getting paid for this and I just want to make some music already. On the other, there may come a point where I want change my mixing or in/out structure, want to take advantage of some new technology, or I’m just sick of whatever bugs are getting in the way of making said music.

More or less my DAW fate will be dictated by what Cakeland¹ decides to with its product line.

If they upgrade Sonar 8 in such a way that it deals with some of the programming deficiencies, without loosing what works, I’ll certainly stick around with it; if they figure out what to do with Project 5, I’ll stick with that.

If they drive Sonar off the cliff, the question becomes what will I use for tracking, editing, and mixing? If they finally admit that they’re not going to anything with Project5, then what?

Live is all the rage and I’m sure and it’s a good VST performance host. But I personally have no conception of recording audio tracks into Live. I mean I know you can do it, but more, will it work for me?

I once again looked at the Reaper screenshots, and, yeah, I just can’t get behind that GUI. I know it’s skinnable and all, but there’s just something about the core aesthetic that I find ungainly. I’m sure if I used it and got used to it it would be fine, and I could strip it down, but why is everything so wide and squat?

So, like a lot of my musings, this is all academic. Cakewalk provides everything I need right now, I’m used to working with it, I’m rededicating myself to taking advantage of shortcuts, templates, fx-chains and using it efficiently. I don’t need/particularly want to drop vast sums money and time into my DAW. The occasional new plugin or soundware. But, I’m really beginning to like the idea of using last year’s tech. There’s just the whole, “if it breaks” thing.

^{1Cakewalk + Roland= get it? Yeah, it’s dumb.}