So… a couple ages ago I started talking about the idea of bringing vocals to my music.. and all this time latter.. still no word from me on the subject.. well, that is likely about to change.. and this post will cover some of my preconceptions on the subject…

I “can’t sing.” Err.. maybe I can, I don’t really know.. but the point is that I don’t sing, and so from a “practice makes perfect” perspective.. if I were to start taking singing seriously.. it’ll probably be a while before I get good enough so that the results aren’t painful.. never mind brining them up to the sorta level I’m aiming for which is like… “good enough to be a part of a music I’m aiming at a global market with,” to put it sorta crudely..

Ahh, but my fine bother’s and sisters.. lets get serious.. I’m a producer, right? I’m an electronic studio guy.. I’m a mad scientist of.. well.. music.. do mad scientists really need to sing? No.. mad scientists have there robots do it for them! Or.. you know.. use technology to mitigate the limitations of the situation… which brings us to where we sit today.

UPS Tracking information informs me that the latest bit of production tools.. the “AVOX2 Antaras Vocal Tool Kit” left Ashland MA at around 5:24 this morning.. for delivery.. Ashland is basically in my back yard.. which suggests its not at all unlikely that it could show up today! Oh the excitement of it all!!!

Ok, so let us  talk about our vocal tool kit.. (Not Necessarily the AVOX2) 

There are many tools in my studio that can be pressed into service for vocal stuff.. but lets just focus on the sorta.. “are actually meant for this kind of thing” tools.

Melodyne

You’ve no doubt heard the term “auto tune?” Basically.. you take a tone def vocalist.. throw him or her through auto tune.. and botta-boom-buttah- bing.. the tones are in tune.. It’s of course more complicated then that.. on a sorta aesthetic level.. but.. well anyway.. so Melodyne does pitch correction.. as well as.. err.. working with.. is it called “foment?” Um.. certain qualities of the voice that can be modified a bit..

I actually have Melodyne studio.. which.. among its other interesting features… you can out put performance data… based off its analysis of the audio who’s pitch and.. err foment? you were playing with.. and this performance data can then be applied to other things.. like say.. synths, or..  a vocal synthesizer…

Cantor

I’ve talked a bit about Cantor in the past.. it’s my vocal synth.. It has, in my view, a number of problems relative to work flow.. but.. so the story goes.. its pretty easy to go and throw the performance data generated from Melodyne.. at Cantor.. so that you now have Cantor singing, kinda sorta, as if it were you singing.. if you can quite dig what I’m saying…

We interrupt this blog post with late breaking news

Looks like the Antares stuff just showed up

AVOX2 Vocal Tool Kit

So.. AVOX2 has been on my radar forever.. well AVOX1 was there to.. but particularly when the thoughts of bringing vocals to my music came up.. or I started to really think about it.. this really looked like the sorta best suit of tools for the job.. and its worth mentioning that the company Antares, that makes AVOX, is also the folks who make a product called “auto tune.” 

The trouble was that this bundle was a little pricy.. or pricy enough, at $600, that it was resigned to sit on a table with stuff I want.. but don’t quite know if I should actually drop the cash on.. fumbling around with the question “is there price equal to, or less then, its priority in the budget scheme.” But then.. and I forget why, just a few days ago.. I decided to go check out the price.. and found it had dropped to $300..  Which is enough to make me feel thankful for the bad economy! At $300 I figured “Ok, I need it,” and so bought it.

The Guitar Center shopping experience 

I went to the Framingham Guitar Center to buy… and I feel like this is a story worth telling.. cause if you’re putting together a studio.. you might run into this sorta thing.

Guitar center.. and I don’t in anyway mean to impune the guys over there I’m often dealing with.. but.. it’s broken. Generally I prefer to buy from Guitar Center over online for two reasons.. #1 I can use cash.. and that’s really the big one..  and #2.. which isn’t small.. I can have some sort of a relationship with someone as I buy.. where I can get information and sorta shoot the shit with.. and whatever.

The trouble, however, is many fold. #1 They almost never have what I want in there inventory.. and it’s not like I’m necessarily buying obscure shit.. Buying a program like Altiverb.. perhaps the industry standard for convolution reverb.. they don’t have in stalk.. and let me tell you.. this is a bread and butter tool for anyone serious about mixing! BFD or.. Big F’n Drums.. they normally have the expansion pack.. but not the core of it.. and its certainly one of the leading drum sample engines.. nearly everything I buy from Guitar Center has to be ordered.

Currently.. Guitar Center is running promotions for the Euphonics MC control surfaces..  tools I really want.. expensive tools.. and the kind of thing you’d really like to see a display of that you can touch and get a feel for before buying.. and they don’t even have them in stalk!!! Ånd they’ve got signs throughout the store promoting them!

Guitar Center.. and I don’t know the details on this.. has some sorta of relationship with musiciansfriend.com, which is probably the #1 online retailer for musical instruments and gear.. and you can order stuff from them at Guitar Center.. plus there’s a guitar Center website were you can buy stuff.. these places actually have the tools in questions.. or most of them anyway.. 

What would make sense, from a brand perspective.. what I would do if I was running all this madness.. would be to view Guitar Center from a brand experience point of view.. it would be all about customer service.. You’d empower the sales staff to do whatever they could to create the best customer experience possible.. but..

Well I’ll put it this way.. to buy the stuff with Cash.. they have to sell me a gift card for the amount in question, and then buy the software with the gift card.. They had a bit of old music mags.. There’s a number of them coming out of the UK that normally go for about $15.. but, as they were old and they want to get them out of the store.. they were selling them for $1… but.. they had to fix the price to sell it to me.. which required finding the manager.. and somehow buying these two things kept me in the store for a good half hour or more (not an uncommon occurrence).. and I had to explain to sales guy about the gift card technique for allowing me to buy the stuff with cash…

Plus.. they want you’re information… you’re name.. so they can keep all that data on you.. and because there computer sales system is.. horrible.. I had to give it to them, along with my email address.. about 4 different times.. as we fumbled through the process.. so like.. you’d have to be a very experienced sales guy to know how to do it…

The way guitar center and musicians friends have managed to be successful up to this point is via competing on price.. and they’ve managed to push much of there competition out of the way this way.. so they are a near monopoly.. There’s certainly no near by stores carry the same sorta inventory.. or by which I can order most of this stuff.. Which is why they can, at least in the short term, afford to be broken.

The thing is.. you really want to buy from a place where you can have a good relationship with.. a kind of relationship that you can’t really get with guitar center.. can you buy a Mic, discover its not right for your voice, and then return it.. or does “doing it by the book” get in the way of customer service? Mind you I’m helping all the sales people there put there kids through college at this point.. the cost of customer retention being so much less then conversion.. I should be getting a whole lot of special treatment.. and I sorta do just by how the guys treat me.. but how far that goes is limited by the system.

Ok.. brand experience rant over.. back to..

The AVOX 2 Tool Kit

AVOX 2 is really a bundle of effects for processing voice.. lets see if we can’t talk about them.

Harmony Engine 

This would be.. the most complex / deep program in the bundle.. as its name might suggest.. it’s a real time plug in for essentially creative vocal harmony arrangements from a single vocal line.. the idea here is.. to both make things simple.. from a process / workflow perspective.. and also powerful.. with a lot of creative control.. I wonder if they support any kind of microtonality?

Throat

Throat is a “physical modeling vocal designer” which.. in english.. much of the sound of your voice, to put it lightly, is a result of.. well.. you’re body and throat.. and what Throat tries to do is.. take the incoming vocal.. neutralize it.. in terms of the influence of your throat.. and then sorta morph it into some other sorta throat..  

Duo

What we got here is a vocal doubler.. using pitch, delays, and vocal modeling / vibrato stuff to try and create a convincing double of a vocal

Choir

As near as I can see.. its like Duo with more vocals.. but.. offers some unique control.. that you want when generating multiple vocals.. basically it’s about creating a choir from a single vocal line.

Punch

Apparently we are talking about compression and limiting.

Sybil

Basically a De-Esser… when singing.. or speaking for that matter.. particularly when you get to EQing stuff.. bad things can happen that De-Esser’s help with.. is the long and the short of it.. or at least the short of it…

Articulator

Here we have our selves “a vocal formant and amplitude modeler.”  Err.. formant, that was the word I was searching for before.. this one probably deserves some explanation..  

Articulator is basically a new kinda vocoder.. what a vocoder does is.. you speak into it.. it analyzes it.. in terms of how loud different frequencies are at any given moment.. you then put another sound through the vocoder.. and it pumps up and pushes down those frequencies.. corresponding to how loud or soft they are at that moment in your speaking..  so you get a kind of funky robot voice.. that you’ve heard before on many an album.. Well, that’s basically what articulator does.. accept now we are talking about formant instead of frequencies.

Mutator

Pitch shifting, throat modeling, ring modulation, and blah blah blah.. it mutates your vocals.. for kinda sound design / special effects type purposes.

Warm

basically this is for coloring / warming stuff, in a tube esk fashion.

Aspire

Basically we are effecting the breathiness of a vocal independent from other attributes. 

AVOX 2 Conclusions

There’s more to be said.. but.. I don’t really know that much as I haven’t jumped in yet.. so stay tuned.. It’s a bundle that’s gotten very good reviews.. and I think.. or I hope, it’ll go a long way in helping me realize vocals in my music.

Areas that need attention 

As I said before.. there are other tools in my tool box.. including a vocoder from VirSyn.. and… well various things..

The real weak point is.. well stuff for recording.. where you really want high quality microphones, microphone preamps, and analog to digital conversion. I have decent, which is to say not necessarily excellent, pre amps and analog to digital conversion.. and I have super cheap / budget microphones. I also have an audio filter that takes out the background reverberations of the space I’m trying to record the vocal in.. 

I don’t really know what the right path is to take as far as the upgrades are concerned.. this kind of stuff tends to be very expensive if you want uncompromising pro studio grade results..  I don’t know how far I should compromise, if I should.. or any of this sorta thing..

My plan is to explore what I got.. and see what happens. Could processing stuff lead to creative results that could mitigate the effects of the weaknesses of my recording gear? How high a priority should I put on recording gear? If I’m planning on recording.. well, drum kits, or field recording.. as a pose to just one track at a time.. the calculous changes.. so thinking about the future of my studio is something to be very careful about given the budgets involved..

Stay tuned for future post where I get into the attack plans.. and reflect on actual production work… and where I’ll be in a better place to talk about how all these pieces fit together in practice.

[editors note: This was meant to be posted about a week ago] 

I just received word on this.. well moments ago.. and I’m all shook up by it.. more so then I had expected to.. I had gotten word that she wasn’t doing well as of a week or so ago.. sounded bad as a couple of aunts had made there way to upstate NY.. which.. you know, is not a great sign.

I, and my parents.. lived in Mass.. I grew up out here… its a 3 hour and 15 minute drive up to Rhinebeck NY.. where.. well my mom’s side of the family is from.. so we pretty much make it up there for Christmas.. every year since I was a kid.. and maybe other times here and there to.. but.. on some levels its like visiting another planet.. and some how in the disconnections of distance I find myself wondering why I feel so shook up.

The picture above was taken.. what, last summer? We had a family reunion..  

A little latter:

I’ve been going through the various picture I have of her.. that I haven’t gotten around to posting yet.. here’s a couple..

The blog theme kinda squishes it a little, or I imagine it will…

Latter that night

I think the shock of it.. has sorta settled a little bit. Now the mind turns to other things.. like getting my father ready for the trip up.. and all that might entail.. and what have you…

Seems kinda like a rough time.. I lost my mother a year ago last december.. which seems, in someways, almost like a life time ago.. and now loosing my grandmother.. seems like a lot of loss in a short span of time.. going from feeling like life is almost immortal.. to mortality meditation just barging down the door of consciousness.. regularly.. 

Right now its kind of difficult to take it in.. that I won’t see my grandmother living again.. that that presence wont be there in the same way..

I think you can kind of feel her presence in these pictures…

I’m not even sure how many years ago it was now.. when her health came into question… That it was as many years ago as it was… is something.

I feel a little bit of a sense of loss of words..

A couple latter: 

In the following picture.. I don’t know if you can really see it in this picture.. at this size.. you’d have to see it at its original size on flickr… but its like a patented ”Mammy gesture,” the way her lips are sorta… 

tucked in a little.. Having something to do with her sense of humor.. as she interacts with my Dad.. its def a family with a lot of personality… that much is beyond doubt..

These are definitely pictures to be seen at full size.. (and not this size)

There’s something about the realism of photography, and these pictures, that draws me in… Something about traditional media aesthetics.. and the sorta mediation effect they have between us and reality.. how this all shapes us.. and then to have this little window here.. that in someway says “now this is what life is really about.” 

The oldest of these pictures are.. well less then a year.. most around the 6 month mark..

Isn’t that a beautiful picture?  

Reminds me of this bit of Jung:

I could probably go on for some length talking about this sort of thing.. they psyche and life and death… these stages of our lives..  but I’m feeling a bit tried at the moment.. perhaps I’ll pick this up again latter.

Many days latter:

I plan on posting more.. about my time in Rhinebeck NY, and all this sorta thing… 

Ok.. I think this constitutes News! Propellerhead coming out with a new DAW?! Err, but does the world really need a new DAW? And what of this DAW, is it any good? Who’s it For? What’s the Deal?

Propellerhead gives us this video to answer some of our questions:

More info can be be found at there website here.

What seems cool

SSL 

They would seem to have modeled out an SSL consoles.. complete with EQ, Compression, and interface? If you don’t know.. the SSL sound is a much wanted sound.. Waves put out a plug in emulation that retailed for a grand.. so this is no small thing.. but how good are these emulations? 

Line 6 Bass and Guitar Amp and Effects modeling 

Line 6, while not being beyond criticism.. is very popular, and pretty well respected, for the amp end effects modeling.. This is pretty good stuff.. I haven’t payed too much attention to Line 6 because.. A, They supported PCs more then Macs early on.. and B, before they got around to supporting Macs.. I had gotten myself into Native Instruments Guitar Rig..

Word has it that Record only comes with a small handful of amp, speaker, and effect emulations.. and if you want more you gotta buy some stuff from Line 6. 

Reason Integration

If you have Reason.. all of Reason’s effects and instruments show up in Record.. no ReWire required. You can also open up Reason projects in Record.. and they become Record projects. Perhaps most exciting is that  you now have this very modular system to apply to you’re recording in a whole new way.

Other stuff

You get recording, arranging, sequencing.. including stuff for comping. Comping is a process by which.. you’d record, say, a couple vocal takes.. and composite the vocal line out of the material of the various takes

Price

When it comes out it’ll be $300 list, $150 for Reason owners, and $63o when bundled with Reason. It maybe that on a price performance basis.. Reason plus Record might be the best thing out there.

The Down Side 

No Plugin architecture  

Record is a closed system.. you get what you get, and thats it. This perhaps has advantages, but in this bloggers view.. It’s a serious limitation.. What is on offer is.. not unsubstantial by any measure.. especially not when coupled with Reason.. but the limitations look substantial.. though these are issues more high end-ish pro types would feel effected by then.. folks are a more basic level.

Because it’s a closed system, all the bases it has to cover need to come right out of the box.. and there’s def stuff missing.

As I said before, I use Guitar Rig.. Guitar Rig has certain issues that are fairly true of all amp modeling technology.. so in addition I also have Speaker Phone which offers convolution based emulations of a number of amp speakers.. if there was anything I would add to this set up it would probably be Peavy’s Revalver.. not something from Line 6! The point I’m trying to swing at here is that.. I have a hell of a lot more guitar software tools then what’s on offer / what you’re limited to inside of Record.

Other essentials that are missing 

There’s no pitch correction, or anything like that.. say if ether you’re vocalist isn’t hitting the right notes, or  you want to get creative about pitch correction.. you’ll have to export the vocal  takes to do something about them.

I like the reverb found in Reason, but I think if you’re really serious about recording.. you probably want a convolution reverb. 

Audio Editing

There is no audio editing to be found in Reacord.. there’s just “lets move clips around.” So.. record is weaker then every other DAW out there in the market today. 

The Dongle

Yup.. Record needs a dongle.. though, as dongle systems go.. I think this is not as bad as many.. it will operate in demo mode with out a dongle.. where you can do everything but open a saved project.. if you have internet connection you can work without the dongle..  

Considering how often Reason is used in live situations.. via laptops.. I think this is a bigger issue then.. it might be with other software. .but no one really likes dongles ( with the exception of some Avid users who are upset with Avid getting rid of the dongle… just can’t please anyone sometimes, ha? )

Question Marks

Is there any limitation on sample rate resolution? How good are these emulations? What’s the work flow feel like in practice? These and other questions will no doubt be answered if I’m allowed in on the Beta program.

Conclusion

I think.. with Reason and Record together.. what you get out of the box, for the money.. $630.. in terms of instruments, effects, work flow, the SSL stuff.. could make Reason plus Record the DAW to beat.. The trouble.. the only trouble.. it would see.. is the lack of support for plugins. If this was worked out.. Propellerhead could wind up dominating the DAW market.

All this is not to say that other DAWs don’t have.. other virtues.. with Reason and Record you sacrifice certain things for there simplicity.. so I guess what this means is this could be a real game changer.. really changing the way the various DAW makers position them selves in the marketplace… 

Without pluggins.. The more high end producer types.. I really think are the only folks who wouldn’t likely feel this covered there needs ( well that and ableton users ) …and still, if you do electronic music on a serious level you probably have Reason.. so for $150 more.. I think you’ll have Record to. 

One last word

It maybe that records weaknesses aren’t really that big an issue.. that what it’s really about is a different kind of work flow.. Another words.. you render out.. or get the audio out of Record.. and bring it to a DAW that does support all you’re plugs.. that between this and ReWire you can sorta compensate in not to painful of a way.. We’ll surely see.. and if I get into that Beta.. I’ll surely have more to say.

 

There’s so much in my head right now.. It’s not always easy to get it out… onto these virtual pages, or… well wherever.

I’ve been thinking long and hard and deep.. about a number of subjects… and something, as if from deep in my soul.. or perhaps even beyond the soul.. there’s this little vibrations.. and from the vibration comes a vision.. and in that vision I see a very different reality then the one of.. well I want to say waking life.. but that’s not quite right.. 

Perhaps it’s a very different reality then that which I’m able to give voice to? That sounds kind of right.

The feeling I get from it is.. well its pretty intense.

I could put it to you this way

Have you ever looked in the mirror and seen God staring back at you? (picture spoken in an Eminem sorta voice) “Yeah well I have.”

I wont try and explain the very complicated theological / philosophy of religion.. or even psychological significance of this sorta thing..  but I will try to describe the experience for you a little.. which will hopefully, at least, delay your fears that I might be totally out of my mind.

Who drives the driver? Who writes the plots of our lives? You know we go about our living.. and how much is our rational mind really is in control? Very often we have all sorts of interesting “issues” that steel the steering wheel away for our “right mind.” You don’t need to be Freud to appreciate this fact.

Well.. its as if all our “issues” all our little.. “why do I behave this way when I don’t mean to” …all of everything.. there are reasons to it all. Now.. we can try and attribute reasons to it.. to whatever.. but that’s not really what I’m talking about.. 

Lets try a slightly strange thought experiment. Imagine there were such a thing as “Nirvana” or “Heaven.” In the gnostic gospel of Thomas we learn that the kingdom of God is spread out throughout the world.. but we don’t see it because of an enchantment of the eyes. What if there were a way of looking at it… all of it, where.. all the stuff of the mind, and all of whatever.. you could sorta see how it was serving you and consistent with a notion of heaven? One problem is just trying to work out what the hell heaven is.. or God for that matter..

What I’m trying to get to with all this can be found in the Hindu tradition.. to tell it in Christian language… once upon a time there was this dude who went by the name Adam, and this Chick called Eve.. and everything was perfect.. and.. you know.. perfects kinda boring.. and there was this fruit that was all forbidden… and apparently would magically give you knowledge of some mysterious thing called “good and evil” but.. this fellow God.. forbid it.

Well you know.. its not that this couple was terribly hung up.. but they wanted to do right by this God fellow.. on the one hand.. and on the other… well they were bored and this fruit sounded terribly exciting.. They were trying to do as God said.. but then came along this snake.. whom it would seem knew something about this fruit.. and the snake helped the couple get over there little hang up and.. give it a taste..

So.. this lead to the knowledge of Good and Evil.. as well as getting kicked out of the perfect place.. and lead to more exciting adventures… and that’s a bit of the Genesis of it all.

Ok.. so WTF is that story really about? Its the birth of duality in consciousness.. is one way we could read it.. welcome the pair of opposites..  But its also saying.. let go jump into the confusion of our lives.. 

What I’m sorta trying to get to is that the vibration is speaking from that perfect place.. that, psychologically speaking.. it’s a real place within all of us.. and in a certain sense we are all there… but we are also here.. cause.. well.. we thought it might be interesting.

If you see here as an expression of there.. then you are in a certain sense identifying with the divinity within.. with God so to speak.. I don’t fully understand this but.. I guess the Christian thing is that Jesus is supposed to be some kind of a roll model.. and yet.. he can say “I and the father are one,” but for some reason we are not supposed to?

Even without making that jump.. which might be creepy for some.. we can look at it all in this light and see the will of God in our lives.. and so if you look in the mirror and see God.. you could then say its just you seeing the expression of his will in your life. 

So yeah, pretty crazy ha?  

Yup, that’s right, I’m thinking of moving back to Cubase.. I can still get back to it with the modest $200 upgrade cost.. it looks like.. …so I’ve been sorta evaluating the new version: Cubase 5. The last version I worked on was Cubase SX3… so its a few versions beyond…

Comparing Cubase with Digital Performer

I haven’t really been on Digital Performer, in a serious way, for all that long.. lets say a year maybe.. So I don’t really fully understand DP… and DP is.. arcane in places.. I’ll give you a for instance…

DP gripes

Workflow and the Arcane 

In Digital Performer.. you have two modes a plug in can run under.. ( I wasn’t even aware of this till the other day ).. one way is the new fangeled way… err, don’t even remember what they call it.. but essentially DP will render out what’s on a channel.. into an audio file.. and swap stuff around.. in order to save on CPU loads.. This is a groovy thing.. of course.. but seeing as my main computer has 8 processors in it.. it’s not a feature I actually need.. and the negative of this operating mode is that it can cause some plugins to go unstable.. which would explain a lot of the frustration I’ve had on recent projects.

The other mode is a “real time mode” where.. well.. plugs work in real time.. here things are stable..

But.. you know.. DP is a strange beast.. on mix down.. according to something someone said in a forum.. you have to separately mix down real time plugs.. Why? And um.. further more.. ReWire.. only works in real time.. and is a pain in the freaking ass.. at least in my experience.. to mix down via DP… which means Ableton Live and Reason.. in my case.

It may very well be that all this makes sense once one gets a little more advanced then I am.. but for me.. it’s just a pain in my butt.. 

Effects 

Why yes, it is true.. DP does come with a number of effects..  but how many of them would I use if I had a choice? Umm.. probably Master Works EQ, MW Limiter, Proverb, Delay, and the Master Works Leveler, are the effects I’m regularly given to using.. out side of that there’s a few that are ok.. but after that the rest are rather crapy.. and those that are good are.. not really all that exciting.

Instruments 

Frankly.. if you are the sorta person who uses virtual instruments.. or is interested in such things.. Digital Performer is NOT good enough unless you invest in other instruments. They are not wholly without merit… they are just.. well I turn my nose on them anyway.

[editors note: None of the DAWs out there, really, come with instruments that you’d want to be limited to using.. the point is Matt almost never uses and of the instruments in DP] 

Beyond all that

I’m not really sure what I can say about DP.. I feel as if… well I’m not as good with it, as I need to be, to really judge.. there’s a lot of things I don’t like about DP… and I think a lot of it is just where I stand on the learning curve… I’m slow with it.. not as productive as I like.. I find myself fighting the tools.. which has got to be some sort of an issue.

Onto Cubase

Effects

It’s a little hard to talk about Cubase’s effects as I haven’t really used them… but I’ll give you my presumptions anyway… and mind you I’ve been using cubase since.. I want to say version 3 or 4? That is way back in the OS 9 and earlier days! So.. I know my way around a bit…. and some of the older, more legacy effects, I do indeed know.

EQ

My impression is that DP’s Master work EQ probably beats out Cubase as far as EQing for color is concerned.. but then I don’t know really.. [Editors Note: Its pretty safe to say you want one good transparent EQ, and then as many for color as you can afford, so you probably wouldn’t rely on the EQs that come with you’re DAW, at least not entirely ] Cubase has 4 EQs.. one of which, the channel EQ, I have used before.. What I like about it is its just there.. as a part of every channel.. you don’t have to bother adding a plug in.. and I just sorta like that design better. I really like the user interface to.. good for making EQ adjustments. I also like that Cubase comes with a graphic EQ.. well actually 2 of them.. as sometimes.. don’t just want to work with a graphic EQ instead of a parametric?

There’s also a high pass low pass filter with resonance.. which to me could go under the EQ category.. this is probably where we are talking about color… but I have nothing to judge on.

Compressors and Dynamics

Cubase offers basically 3 Compressors… what looks like a standard compressor.. a multi band compressor.. and a vintage compressor. [editors note: In compressor speak, vintage usually means color.. and are often modeled off of one or another “famous compressors” again, you probably want lots of color orientated compressors]

What I will tell you is DP has a multi band compressor.. that I don’t much like using.. and there leveling amplifier.. which counts as a vintage compressor.. (though it does have “modern” modes to) I’ve generally liked the interfaces of Cubase’s compressors better..

Beyond this Cubase ships with a number of dynamics shaping effects that Digital Performer lacks.. including transient shaping, expander, and maximizer.

Distortion

DP has one distortion unit and.. well.. it leaves much to be desired.. its ok in one mode.. but try and push it hard and it turns into.. well.. bad sounding crap…

Cubase has DaTube.. which.. it’s not the best thing in the world.. but you know.. its not terrible.. for adding a certain sorta warmth… I actually kind of like it more then I would usually admit.

Since I’ve been away from Cubase, it looks like Cubase has added an amp simulator, tone boost, distortion, and soft clipper… some of which might be old stuff with redesigned interfaces but.. at the very least its more options then you ever got with Digital Performer.. and I’m guessing its better.. well.. it is a low bar to be better then but… and some of Cubase’s offerings in this department are purely for color.. and you know.. can never get enough of that sorta thing.

Reverb

Cubase offers 2 reverbs… really.. room works.. an algorithmic type reverb and a new convolution reverb. The convolution comes, by default. .with stuff that will give you the sounds of various speakers and analog gear as well as reverb sounds.. which… is more then you get with DP.. though I understand you can load, if you can find them, such things into DP’s pro reverb.. and I understand its not too difficult to find… but ether way, I think Cubase has to have the leg up.

I can’t say much about this room works.. accept that I was happier with Cubases reverbs when I left Cubase.. then I was DP’s reverbs.. when I went to Digital Performer..  so again.. points to Cubase.

Delays

It looks like Cubase has this area going on a little better then DP..

There’s lots of other stuff.. but I’ll leave it here, as this is sorta what I care about.. so.. onto instruments.

Instruments

Its hard to say much about Cubase’s Instruments without using them.. I’ve never been big on Cubase’s instrument.. but tend to like them better then Digital Performer’s.. And my impression, admittedly based of marketing materials.. is that Cubase wins this area by a land slide.. though.. it doesn’t have too much of a bar to get over.. and I’m certainly intrigued by the newer stuff.

But do I really care?

In my studio is Komplete, Kore 2, Omnisphere, Reason, Ableton Live, the Audio Ease all in Bundle.. and a bundle from VirSyn.. plus Cantor… oh yeah, and Native Instruments Machine plus Liquid Mix, never mind Melodyne…

My point is that the quality of built in effects and Instruments.. when looking at a DAW, is not really the most important thing to me…. as the level of stuff in my instruments and effects plug in library is several orders of magnitude better then what I could possibly expect to find in a DAW.

I love having lots of options, so I look forward to having a new set of options.. but it’s not as if I’d actually be relying on them or anything.. well.. unless they turned out to be surprisingly good… and I do think there’s some chance of that.

Other things

I prefer the way Cubase works with surround sound mixing.. I prefer the way it works with ReWire.. I have a lot more experience with Cubase.. so I expect to be more productive and to produce better work.. I hate the dongle key Steinberg forces on you.. and I hate there tech support.. and the way there company treats me.. It seriously feels like, from time to time, that they are penalizing you for paying money for there software instead of using pirated copies..  and not only that.. but in there videos where they explain there new features.. they have the balls to suggest offering a 9 week demo on another product of there’s constitutes “a feature.”

..Though they do, apparently, offer you the upgrade from the demo for “a special price”.. which.. I don’t know.. if the price is good enough.. the other product is actually quite good according to reviews.. it being there sampler.. I mean its no Kontakt but.. it does offer a good sample library.. and that combined with it’s Cubase integration.. probably makes it worth something to me.

Other odd thing is they only support sample rates up to 98kHz? Umm.. why? DP def wins that one out.. though I usually only work at 44 kHz because liquid mix’s instance count goes down once you go beyond 48 kHz.. so.. it’s not something that’s normally an issue for me.. but still!  

I kind of have the impression.. and I couldn’t easily explain this to you.. that digital performer is a lot deeper then Cubase.. and that much of my frustration comes from not having yet mastered those depths.. That MOTU, Digital performers developers, seems to treat me better.. and are not insulting in there marketing material.. is a big deal to..

Oh yeah.. um… just the way Steinberg uses hyped up marketing language..  I mean..  

1. Stienberg has always been an innovator in a lot of ways.. but they also have a habit of putting out lemons.. throwing at you VST instruments that suck ass.. that get repealed in the next version.. or two versions into the future.. and then sometimes they repeal stuff you actually like! So when they’re hyping it.. telling you how golden it all is.. you kinda look at them like “um.. what’s that smell?”
2. A lot of the features.. they hype as if to say “look how freaking innovative we are with these wonderful new features” when the reality of the matter is that in many situations they are playing catchup with there competition.
3. They have no credibility.. just because of how much they hype.. you get the feeling they are targeting new users whom are new to music production and kinda.. don’t yet know the ropes.. and are sorta trying to take advantage of you on that front.. where as with MOTU and DP.. you feel like they sorta care about you.. there customers.. And it may be interesting to compare this with a company like Ableton where you feel like “wow, these guys are really hip.”
4. Please Steinberg.. don’t try to convince me you got the best stuff since sliced REX –I mean bread.. Anyone with a brain knows there’s pros and cons to all the DAWs out there.. all I want from you is.. well I’d like information that didn’t feel like manipulation.. tell me, “what’s the virtues of you’re product in the current technological climate?” ..and do so honestly.. you know “authenticity?”

A light speed look at other DAWs

To be honest.. if I were to buy a new DAW.. and was starting from scratch as far as investing in stuff… I’d be looking Logic, Ableton, and maybe Reason… The one really stand out feature of Cubase is that it’s cross platform. .which means.. if you’re a Mac Guy.. you can also boot into windows and use Cubase over there.. with software that doesn’t run on the Mac..

My sense of DP is that its strong suit really lys in.. well.. post production.. working with Film..

Ableton’s biggest strength is just.. creative composition process.. but it’s super weak in terms of conventional sequencing.

Reason, of course, doesn’t do anything with recorded audio.. it’s basically a virtual instrument work station.. totally modular.. or pretty close to totally.. all be it a closed modular system, right? It’s very good.. emphasis on simple.. a few weaknesses here and there.. but very good..

Logic.. I couldn’t tell you.. I think it’s biggest strength is all the content it comes with.. loops, samples.. its effects and instrument library.. I think you can’t beat it for the price.. it probably has other places its strong to.. Although I must say, fooling around with it in an Apple store not to long ago.. I wasn’t all that impressed with the effects it came with… seems like it could use some updating.

I can’t really speak to Cakewalk on the PC.. but I hear good things.

FL Studio.. if you’re on the PC.. and if you do electronic music.. I think it’s pretty much a must have.

Pro Tools.. ProTools is a standard in a lot of places.. and if thats important to you.. I’d go that route.. but.. there’s much I don’t like about it.. just that its a closed system.. and I really want to choose my own control surfaces and audio interfaces… its expensive.. and.. I have no idea why I should even consider Pro Tools.. oh.. and not only that.. but you have to be very careful about updating your OS with Pro Tools.. it has some strange conflicts with Avid of all things.. 

Some final reasons I’m considering Cubase

I have a lot of old projects produced in Cubase.. many of them being very good I think.. all be it with some flaws.. the ability to go back into them.. fix the flaws.. well.. that could really make all the difference.. and probably makes it worth a lot more then $200 to me. 

Chris Foresman did a recent post on this at Ars Technica.. which seems to be enough, to stimulate me enough, to get off of my ass and write a post on the subject. So..

Should Apple Lower its prices?

This strikes me as a complex question.. one that takes some level of expertise of the computer market to really make… I mean, where do you see things going?

Of Vista and XP 

I’d argue that one of the really big things driving Apple sales for quite sometime now is really.. Windows Vista.. and before that.. just how long it seems to take Microsoft to put out an XP follow up.. All of which has made the PC experience.. well.. awful as near as I can tell..

Of course a new version of windows is on the way.. and it sounds like it’s likely to be very good.. so how will this effect Apple’s position in the computer market?

Google fun

Google has been busy developing a mobile OS that now runs on a few of the smarty pants phones.. everyone seems pretty excited about it.. they give it away for free.. and  the idea that this could offer a significant threat to Microsoft in the OS department, particularly with respect to net books, is kind of a big deal.

This speaks to the Apple question on the “well, we could come out with more budget minded computers like net books.” Of course rummer has had it, for quite sometime, that Apple would come out with a kind of tablet computer.. somewhere between an iPhone and a Laptop.. which would offer something interesting to this market.. Perhaps they could redefine it as they have with the cell phone / smart phone market with there iPhone?

I’m of the opinion that Apple has to do something like this.. as computing is on a more mobile trajectory.. I think apple needs to focus more and more on mobile computing life style type stuff.. 

Obvious places to Make Macs cheaper

1. Dude, stop gouging us on the cost off hard drives
2. Dude, stop gouging us on the cost of RAM.
3. Apple has something like 30% profit margins on there stuff.. which is much higher then anyone else in the computer business… This could be cut into a bit.

Out side of all this.. I think the computer market has changed quite a bit over the years.. so much so that the life span of a computer is much better then it was a few years back.. Four years the average? It seems to be not entirely unreasonable  that you could put out computers that.. had a bit longer of a tooth, as they say.. was a little less powerful.. and at least got you into the sub $1000 computer world.. without compromising on user experience.

Not only that.. but currently each MacBook can be connected to an external monitor and work in duel monitor mode.. a feature I surely appreciate but.. I don’t think most computer users really do.. or certainly not at the lower end of the market… as just one example. 

 Oh yeah, Why Apple Might want to sell there computers for less

Apple’s Market share seems to have gone static.. so lowering the entry price is certainly one idea that offers them the opportunity to broaden there market share.. further.. I think it’s just the mood of the market.. with everyone tightening there belt over fears of the economy.. to the extent to which Apple is perceived as a kind luxury computer.. that’s probably working against them.

 Choosing Wisely 

At the very least.. the feeling that Macs can be on the over priced side.. is something to look at… in this economy..  The thing about the Apple product lines is.. It’s a bit like Apple is a dictator.. they don’t really give you choice.. if you’re in the market to buy a particular type of computer.. with a particular sorta price range.. you have a couple choices you can make.. from what Apple has decided to offer…

On the plus side Apple has very good taste, and… I think they choose for us well.. but.. clearly not always..  Currently the absence of firewire on Mac Books comes to mind.. but generally the choices they make.. are the choices of a more.. lets say luxury mind set.. I don’t know that I’d say Apple should change there ways.. but.. the idea of putting forward products that.. are smart compromises.. in there product lines.. I mean just simply baring in mind that people are more price conscious these days.. does sorta seem like a no brainer. 

On a Personal Note

I’ve been on the Mac since the beginning.. as someone studying graphic design during the desktop publishing revolution.. it was kinda the only choice.. I’ve never gone with Mac because of its industrial design.. though I’ve certain appreciated the design.. I often wish I could get a computer that was.. just what I wanted.. not paying extra for the design.. I’ve never been into it for the status symbol.. or the “I’m cool, I have a Mac” thing.

Further more.. good design, because of the nature of mass production, doesn’t have to be more expensive.. I want good design as it pertains to the user experience.. I simply don’t like the feel of PCs.. mainly because of windows..  There’s just something about it PCs where you feel almost like.. there’s a design philosophy behind them that’s sorta anti creativity.. more utilitarian or something.. or more interested in “the bottom line.” Not to mention that Windows is more designed to be maintained by an IT department.. where as the Mac is more for you to maintain..

So I guess my end statement on the personal thing is.. you could totally design a cheaper computer that was a quality computer, well designed.. That’s kind of what I want.. and I’ve been living where most people have been, with respect to how the economy changes people’s spending habits, forever… and so figure I’m probably not the only one. 

The race to the bottom issue.

I figure a conversation about if Apple should lower its prices, has to have the “race to the bottom” part.. Most computer makers are targeting the lower end of the computer market.. which means cutting costs at every turn, and doing all you can to bring down the cost.. Many of these compromises have historically been terrible.. the only person in there right mind who buys one of them is one who doesn’t know any better.. with few exceptions.

Apple’s built its brand on.. well.. the one company that doesn’t make those kind of compromises.. if anything they push the limits in the opposite direction.. which seems to be why they fair better.. while other PC manufacturers try and make there profits on volume.

This has created an expectation of cheaper PCs. Often Mac’s are not really as expensive as they are perceived.. often a comparably equipped PC would cost about the same as the Mac.. It’s just the Mac’s aren’t competing on the lower end of the computer market.

I don’t think anyone wants to see Mac’s compete in the race to the bottom.. but I do think you could make a cheaper Mac that would not cannibalize the better Macs, still embodied what we dig about Macs.. and yet was in the lower end Market.. it would probably be a little more expensive then comperably equipped PCs.. but this would be because it wasn’t cutting corners.. it was still the Mac experience… so this would  simply be how it differentiated its self in the lower end of the market.

Conclusion?

Yeah.. Apple should lower its prices, it should enter the lower end of the market.. to increase market share.. It just shouldn’t be stupid about it!