# Dog Days... - Site: Analog Industries - Author: Chris Randall - Date: 2012-07-10 - URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/07/dog-days/ It's that chunk of summer we see every year, when the entire continent is sweating under a heat wave (except for here, where it's always hot; a dry heat, but hot nonetheless) and not much is happening in the music industry. We have several things going on at AD right now, but as I said a couple weeks ago, I can't talk about them. So that's no fun at all. I'm also doing a couple other non-AD things that would be interesting to you, the reader, but that I also can't talk about. I have a stack of NDAs on my desk an inch thick, and they all basically say the same thing: "talk about this shit on your blog, and we'll unleash a plague of lawyers on you that will make the Borgia Popes' machinations seem tame." While my nature is to scoff at such things when someone else's signature is on them, when it's my signature on them, I internalize the scoffing and soldier on. Related: is there a band named The Borgia Popes? If not, why not? Anyhow, I'm heading to Oregon on Thursday for five days at the coast. Nothing but fun and sun! Oh, wait, it's a family reunion. So fun is out of the question, especially in an election year (although I've received word that the ultra-Teabaggers aren't coming, so that should tone things down a bit). And sun? The Oregon coast and "sun" rarely, if ever, meet. My sister, thoughtful person that she is, secured a campground that has both electricity and wi-fi. So I should theoretically only have a brief interruption to my regularly scheduled vitriol. We'll see how that works out. So this is a semi-open thread. If something newsworthy happens between now and Thursday I'll swap it out. Possible subjects of interest: the Microsoft Surface's imminent arrival (I'm looking forward to a slate that actually can compute), Bitwig Studio in beta (lighting a fire under Ableton's ass), the now-almost-certain implosion of Avid and what that means for the music industry. I bet I know which one you guys will want to talk about. ## Comments (29) **shamann** (2012-07-10): I think Microsoft has shown some good ideas with Surface, but that thing is made of so much vapour at the moment, I'm not sure when we'll see it. I'd love the tablet model to move towards a full-on computing device to properly replace laptops (unlike previous Windows efforts), instead of the additional media consumption device that Apple and Amazon would prefer it to be. I'm inclined to be supportive of the guys behind Bitwig, my previous encounters with them have been mostly positive, but I'm still disappointed just how much like Live it looks to be. I'm not sure how excited I can get about "Live only more so." Avid. Trainwreck. We should start a pool on when they finally crash and burn, how much divvying up of their assets will take place, which ones die in the transaction, and just how sad face the old pros will get when shit all comes down. I've also been thinking about the future of music a lot lately. We haven't had one of those open threads in a long time around here. I'm wondering what new directions folk are eager to explore with their music? **valis** (2012-07-10): The part of surface that I'm not thrilled with is MS's insistence of pushing interface paradigms across the board. Plus MS seems insistent on making radical changes to their non-Metro UI every few years just for the sake of it. Once you get used to one bland interface designed by committee, the next committee is impatient to show their own results I suppose. Being able to compute though, how about having access to a real file system and clipboard without 3rd party efforts having to bridge that gap (iOS here's lookina t you kid). And sure Android offers that right now but what a fractured landscape that is at present... Bitwig...I'd like to see how well it works. I don't have the angst towards Ableton that some users do, as I have other tools in my toolshed and so have the option of using what I want for a given situation (at least to a greater degree than if I only had 1 Ableton circa the early 8.x days). Not sure what to say about Avid. There was a REAL reason to use their video tools in the early/mid 90's when 'nonlinear editing' was something that made producers of short run television spots (aka commercials) cream their pants. And Pro Tools (which is presumably what Chris & the audio aficionados here are closest to) is nowhere near as necessary as it was in the days when a normal 'cpu tower' could barely mix 4 tracks of audio and so having PT branded Motorola muscle in your box gave things serious legs. These days the only reason to use either is to interact with Avid's own product ecosystem, and opening PT10 up to 'any interface' was certainly seen as a sign. But implode? Maybe... **chaircrusher** (2012-07-10): I'm more excited about the under the hood changes in Windows 8 than any touch screen shiny. They've apparently gotten it to be faster than earlier Windows versions. I've been happy by & large with Windows 7, if it can be Windows 7, but a bit faster, that would be great. Touch screen and I don't really mesh; my phone and an old Archos thinger I have seem to be hard to control with my fingers. I am constantly smudging up the glass. I feel way more in control with a mouse or a track pad. Though I think I have a hate-hate relationship with GUIs in general, because there's always SOMETHING about them that means I waste time trying to get them to do what I want to do, even if I actually know the interface well. Case in point, if you try and change the crossfades in Ableton Live's FX Rack -- you know where you add lanes, and then set the cross fade between them? It's a bitch getting a handle on the right thing to drag. I'm always trying to do something where there's apparently 3 pixels play, where the mouse cursor changes 5 times every time you nudge one pixel. Or for a vanishingly small pet peeve -- every time I want to use a loudness maximizer, I want to set the output limit to -0.03dB. And it's either a slider that's constantly missing the target value, or clicking in the value box and typing '-0.03dB.' Annoying. Avid? Fuck Avid. Starting from my have an abiding hatred for Pro Tools -- ugly, clumsy, and needlessly obtuse UI -- it's plain to see they don't know what they're doing, buying up companies, and then a few years later dumping them? That's some bullshit. It's like Gibson acquiring Opcode, or Sony acquiring Sonic Foundry -- nobody wins. Bitwig -- well I bet it will be a fun application, but I don't change music applications easily. It can take months to really get comfortable in a new environment, during which my musical out tends towards zero. Live may not be a perfect application, but I know where all the levers and pulleys are now, and I can work on the music without having to think about how to do things. There's nothing worse than going to the studio with an idea, and having technical difficulties slow you down until the idea fizzles. **shamann** (2012-07-10): Sony buying Sonic Foundry really bugged me at the time. They took a growing product like Sound Forge and then just sat on it for a few years, having annual paid upgrades with little added benefit. I hung on to the old SF version until last year, I figured all the cumulative small updates added up to something worthwhile by now. To Sony's credit, they stuck by the product and Sound Forge actually is now better than it used to be. It took seven years, mind you, and I'm not really sure the same can be said for Acid or Vegas, but my resentment has long abated. I never gave a shit about most of the things Avid bought up, so never felt any impact. But they really have become a textbook case on how growth through M&A alone is a poor model for growth. **beauty pill** (2012-07-10): The Avid thing will be an interesting to watch, won't it? One of those building demolition films in slow motion. I'm pretty sure I now want Soundcloud -- a company I once loved, but whose Anakin-to-Vader trajectory I now find tiresome -- to fail too. No, I guess I don't want them to FAIL. They're just not interested in me anymore, that's fine. I just want -- what's the word? -- an ALTERNATIVE. Yes, that's it. I want an alternative. For people like me who just need some basic shit: a simple, stylish interface, archive-grade dependability, and downloadable sets for starters. - c **beauty pill** (2012-07-10): This is what I'm talking about, btw. https://twitter.com/beautypill/status/222737136368091136 - c **beauty pill** (2012-07-10): Also, shrill dubstep product demos make me want to stab someone. Most likely myself. http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/vst/padshop/padshop_pro.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IP6RUbkoOY - c **seancostello** (2012-07-10): I have nothing intelligent to say about MS Surface. Bitwig: I haven't paid that close of attention, but I am interested in the idea of a built-in "Reaktor." I wonder if they have incorporated Pd? Avid: I'm semi-limited as to what I can say. I do wonder if they are aiming towards an acquisition, and in which direction they will aim. If they get bought by a prosumer music company, I doubt that the HD/HDX side of Pro Tools will stay around. If someone like Dolby or DTS buys them, I would think that the emphasis would remain on the high end products, with the prosumer versions of Pro Tools remaining as a crippled build option of the full software. It all depends on where the most money is being made within Avid, and if there are enough large post-production houses out there to keep HDX as a viable product. Weather: The West Coast is really mild right now. Seattle is currently cloudy, but the clouds will burn off, with highs predicted in the high 70s or low 80s. The Oregon coast is a crapshoot as far as weather. The family spent a few days at Rockaway Beach (or "Innsmouth") last week, and it was super rainy and crappy. Drove up the coast to Cannon Beach, and it was sunny and beautiful. **shamann** (2012-07-10): "I wonder if they have incorporated Pd?" I'd guess they're more likely to have built a boxes and wires version out of the vemberaudio IP, since Claes from vemberaudio is one of the company founders. **Chris Randall** (2012-07-10): Yeah, I agree with Steve on that. There are other DAWs that have similar modular systems (Logic started that ball rolling 'lo these many years ago) so that's not anything groundbreaking. Plus they already have the tech handy, so why not? Regarding weather on the Oregon coast, I've spent nearly half my life in that state, and a large chunk of that living in coastal towns. The only thing you can say with certainty is that it will be changeable. You can say with _near_ certainty that it will be shitty. Whatever it is, it'll be the opposite of here. I go prepared for snow, and I'll be pleasantly surprised if that's not the case. -CR **DL White** (2012-07-10): http://www.myspace.com/borgiapopes My Friend Wes Gurley was in this band in the previous decade. Never had a chance to see them, but I have their sticker on my bass case. **boobs** (2012-07-10): speaking of software.. anyone checked out twisted tools S-layer? holy WTF. http://youtu.be/MTa6ODTNGdQ and bitwig.. whatever. i don't care. in a year or two when it is 'established' and fleshed out i might take a look at it but by then ableton will maybe have their shit together. so meh. the only DAW i tend to pay attention to is logic. every other music tool i use i'm happy with and know what's going on with... audiomulch, numerology.. all the plug ins.. yada yada yada... sure.. the more the better and something awesome is always appreciated but it's not like i can't do any damn thing i need to do with existing apps... is there ever going to be a DAW that doesn't have some kind of annoying thing or stupid bug? new DAW's just mean you trade one annoying thing for a different annoying thing. harumph. but when there's a better mouse trap i'll use it. AVID.. ha! hopefully it only means they'll somehow focus on the 1 thing that people need/want... whatever that is. **bongo_x** (2012-07-10): Avid is a huge concern for me. If you are recording an actual bunch of musicians in a studio (and editing the same) Pro Tools has virtually no competition, as far as I'm concerned. There aren't even tape machines in most studios anymore (at least properly working ones that aren't just for decoration and have been turned on in the last few years). I seriously don't know what most people would do if Avid went away (maybe a RADAR renaissance?) except keep using PT9 and OS 10.6.8 forever. Now that I think about it, maybe that's not so bad. Hmmm... If you are creating tracks on your own it's a different story. I don't even use PT for that, and I've made a living with PT for the last 96 years. Not that it would be bad at all, but there are other choices, and those other choices don't use iloks and do use audio units and/or vst's. bb **boobs** (2012-07-10): bongo_x - if avid died a flaming death i predict pro tools would be some part to survive the blaze. **shamann** (2012-07-10): I agree, Pro Tools should survive as a brand in some fashion. How much of Pro Tools' guts survive, it's hard to say. That will depend on where it ends up. **puffer** (2012-07-10): I know the guys at Mercenary have a RADAR setup that they swear by. The RADAR box is just basically an audio dump, much like a 24 track, and all their major mixing/processing is done on the board and with their racks. Of course Mercenary have access to outboard most people can't even dream of using. Actually, they do have a Mac and Logic patched in for editing and plugs, but I get the sense it is ancillary. BitWig. I guess. I barely use Live. Like others, since I don't do this full-time or get paid, when I sit down to music I don't want to spend a lot of time wrapping me head around process. For me that means Sonar. I tried to break away a year or so ago, started a bunch of projects in Live, installed the NAMM version of StudioOne. But SO "lite" version has no VST, which is IMO boneheaded; I'd rather have restricted track count so I can see how i like the VST environment. Live, at least for me, thus far requires too big a tonal shift for the track view and my mind can't commit to the leap. I also dig the modular view in energyXT but, again, for building tracks I quickly get frustrated that it's not setup as I'm familiar. So when I needed to crank out two projects fast I just reached for Sonar. The devil I know. There's a lot of legacy/crap code in there (I'm looking at you tempo view... Grrrr) but its very configurable, and, for me, robust. Avid. I just find it sort of interesting that it is the victim of corporate vultures. As Steve Hamann & CR suggested on twitter that it was pretty obvious their run of acquisitions, mergers and outsourcing was to inflated growth and value then cash In. I read that the CEO quadrupled his salary this year. Now they're slashing everything. Like I said on twitter, I usually think of the music tech Industry being helmed by people who at least dig music tech. Roland may not be what it once was but they're apparently committed to the industry, likewise Mackie, Yamaha, et al. It looks like Avid/Digidesign was basically a pawn in some slick yuppie's scheme to make a pile of cash. **33degrees** (2012-07-10): Myself, I'm REALLY looking forward to Bitwig; it addresses a lot of the stuff I wasn't happy with in Live, and at the very least it'll light a fire under Ableton's ass. Anybody have any idea what this is? http://finallyonthemac.com/ Soundforge for mac? **soup** (2012-07-10): Since Avid started calling everything Avid there has been a huge schism between marketing and development to the point that from the outside it seems that neither have any clue what the other is doing and they often seem to have opposite agendas. As messy as things are I don't think Avid is going anywhere, at least in post production there is no longer any competition to either Pro Tools or Media Composer. I just feel sorry for the Sibelius users. They were all woken up one morning from what they thought were their happy lives to realize they were in bed with a crazy bitch with a knife cutting off their limbs. While those of us who rely on Pro Tools to make our living grew callused long ago and are grateful for the occasional tendernesses. **inteliko** (2012-07-11): Mergers and Acquisitions = Quality goes down but more shit gets sold due to it being hyped to the 10th power. **boobs** (2012-07-11): murders and executions? **renderful** (2012-07-11): /me cues Information Society Gorbachev is not downstairs **Lindon-CR** (2012-07-11): I'm with boobs. **Lindon-CR** (2012-07-11): boobs: "speaking of software.. anyone checked out twisted tools S-layer? holy WTF. link " ..I like Twisted Tools stuff, but this looks at first glance a lot like the loop mixer in our GRID MACHINE // SLICE, which is a bunch cheaper...I guess they're different products, and I'm a bit cautious to be using Chris blog to point at my own products...but here a page w/ a video: http://www.loopmasters.com/product/details/1022/Grid-Machine-Slice-House-Percussion (Chris - delete away if you think this pointer is inappropriate...) **boobs** (2012-07-11): @Lindon-CR - did you watch the tutorial? looks pretty awesome to me.. i think it's the best thing they've done. also, at first glance, it isn't anything like the grid machine slice thing you linked to. S-Layer is a a sample layering sound design tool + all that amazing twistedtools/reaktor insanity thrown in. it's not a loop slicer thing. **Jonah** (2012-07-11): If you're still making stuff, this could be an interesting welding musical project. Maybe attach it to a bike wheel and spin it around. What could go wrong... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB02ii6DZ1Y I hope apple or better yet image-line buys pro-tools just for the hilarity. **takokichi** (2012-07-12): I have serious geek wood re: MS Surface. I've been running the consumer preview and the release preview since they've been available. The Iconia tablet (provided by my employer) that I use came w/ Windows 7 and was unusable. Severely underpowered + the fact that W7 has no touch-friendly features = recipe for suck. Same machine w/ Windows 8 is a joy. I can do all of my web-based shit (that doesn't involve Flash) via the Metro interface and I can *finally* practice with and learn to use my newest plugins by using a free, small DAW. My iOS envy is gone. No matter what Apple offers, it ain't gonna do that. The price for the Pro version of Surface looks like it could be anywhere from $600-$1000, and the RTM version won't run the legacy shit. Can't wait to see pricing and what other companies offer. Related: Axon isn't so much fun on touch because you don't have a keyboard that doesn't cover part of what you are trying to touch. I promise that makes sense. Fucking about with presets in Axon and breaking them w/ Automaton is fun. As is messing around with Tattoo and Automaton. Not related: unsuspected sounds fucking rocks. Sabama and Milkfish have made me reconsider religion. **Lindon-CR** (2012-07-12): Hey boobs, yeah I checked the video tutorial, I agree twisted tools do some really really cool things, this included. If you check out the video at the URL I pointed to and go to about 3:54 you'll see GM//S is also "a sample layering sound design tool" less layers for sure, but adding in the ability to re-order the steps, plus drills, fx etc. so I guess it has similar "insanity". But hey, I think I'm furiously agreeing that S-Layer looks a cool tool. just pointing at something similar... **brsclts** (2012-07-12): 'Twas SO close to pulling the trigger on the purchase of Sibelius aboot afortnight ago... really glad now that I held off. I was avoiding it solely because I hate Avid, but a recommendation that it would be a "time saver" and an "easy switch" from Finale by a colleague of my teacher made me consider it. Needless to spew, I'll be letting that 30-day trial die hard. **boobs** (2012-07-13): @Lindon-CR - i'll check your link again :) i confess.. didn't watch through to the end.