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Old 06-28-2013, 10:29 AM   #54
Fandorin
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 4
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This thread made for an interesting read, although I can't say I'm any the wiser after going through it.

Not that I did expect to, mind, there's just about nothing under the sun that all, or even most, people in the world would agree upon, you don't look for "truths" in forums, you look for personal experiences and viewpoints that could relate to your own, giving you a wider perspective, and this is a pretty good one in that respect.

Well, who or rather where am I, in the first place? Here stands a caveman who was cryogenically frozen, for reasons that remain rather mysterious to these days, around the time of the discovery of the (digital) wheel, and has been recently awoken by the music bug biting harder than it ever did, much to my own surprise…

I used to be, in fact, an amateur musician but also a semi-professional (according to whether I got paid or not) sound engineer (well, assistant…) back in the days of recorders with Mickey Mouse ears and tapes as thick as a pint (which is nearly an armful), but I got to see the digital dawn up close before my eyelids became too heavy, and I got myself a rather decent "wheel" for my home studio at the time, something like…

Mac G4/400 (2000)
RME Hammerfall PCI audio board
Swissonic 8 ch. AD/DA converters I/O
Opcode Studio 4 MIDI interface
A couple rackfuls of synths, keyboards and assorted MIDI stuff, guitars etc.
Cubase VST (I had been using that since v. 1.0 on the Atari, that's how old I am, in case anyone wonders, and no, I definitely wasn't a child prodigy by far... :-))

I think I could be forgiven for thinking that, although not a true "expert" and hardly up to date, I was not entirely illiterate in the field of DAWs, which we still stubbornly called "sequencers" in those days, and digital recording/editing in general, and that's why the realisation this is in fact now the case was rather shocking…

Waking up after all this time, we're talking about a decade, a few geological eras in computer terms, and finding myself on rather shaky legs, this is where I re-started…

iMac 24" (2007)
Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 audio/MIDI USB interface
Korg Wavestation (A survivor, currently only used as master keyboard just because it's still there)
Garage Band (Logic? Reaper? ????)

Well, comparisons have been made before with assorted weapons, but being a pacifist I couldn't tell a Howitzer from a Wurlitzer, so I'll stick to my favourite metaphorical field with regards to the computer industry, which is automotive, or vehicles in general.

Garage Band, after using it for about a year, and compared to my prehistoric experiences, feels like a bicycle. A very nice one, mind you, all carbon fibre with full suspensions, disc-brakes and more gears you can shake a stick at, I in fact agree with the poster who previously pointed out there's more under Garage Band's bonnet than meets the casual eye, and I've immensely enjoyed strolling around the countryside with it, but I've recently bumped into the entrance to a highway, and they just wouldn't let me in with my bicycle… and you all know what I mean by that, although it might be something different for all of us, just one feature that wouldn't go as far as we'd like, be it about sound quality or ease of use or whatever…

Don't worry, they told me, here's the key to a Porsche (Logic), leave your bike there and take this… which I did, and I was scared shitless, although I did manage to make it go… at least, I can record my guitars AND my MIDI keyboard in there, and I can use all the virtual instruments, loops and effects from Logic's own, Garage Band and the Focusrite set of AU stuff, but all that took so long to learn how to just set it up, and then all sorts of what I consider the very basic advantages of Garage Band, for instance the ability to easily set both tempo AND key in a song project, turned out to be a complete and utter mystery in Logic… of course, that's not a very "professional" feature, for a composer, but for a fella working on arrangements for a pop/rock/blues/folk cover band, just trying out accompaniment loops for size, so to speak, and have them automatically tuned to the song's key, well, that's just a time-saving godsend nowhere to be found in Porsches and Ferraris, apparently…

Yes, because that's what they told me next, people "in the know"… you don't like the Porsche (Logic)? Well, of course, that's very good but it's flawed, everyone knows that, try the Ferrari (Reaper) instead, just as good performance-wise, if not even better, but MUCH better and simpler interface, why, you can even make your own…

Well, 4 days into Reaper, not full-time of course, and I did manage to record and play back a few guitar lines, but I'm still a long way away from persuading it that I DO own a MIDI keyboard as well, and yes, it's connected to the very same device the application can "see" and use for audio in and out, why not MIDI, for Pete's sake? And yet, all I get in the preference MIDI section is <disabled>…

I'm not asking for an answer to that specific issue, mind, even though I would certainly welcome one, before I start struggling with importing/using external stuff, sounds and effects I've come to rely onto, maybe even importing Garage Band projects (wishful thinking there, I guess…) or give up Reaper altogether, I understand this is not the place for that, but still in the realm of philosophy, I had Reaper introduced to me as the bee's knees, as powerful as Logic and nearly as simple as Garage Band, and I can't even get started with its setup, never mind actually DOING anything with it, with a full complement of user manuals and dozens of instructional videos… I might be seriously stoopid, and I know I've probably overlooked something really simple, as it's often the case, but all it took with Garage Band was connect the MIDI cable, select a virtual instrument on a track, press a key and it just worked, bless its puny little soul…

Well, I'm not giving up so early, don't buy into the old dog can't learn new tricks thing, motivation is all, old as dirt I might be, but I'm sure I can learn new stuff, with time, I just wonder, do I have enough? 60 days seemed like quite a reasonable time for a serious trial, BEFORE I started, now I'm not so sure anymore...

Someone mentioned earlier a possible "downgrading" of Logic, in the future, and while I'm ready to bemoan the furthering of Apple's collapse as a purveyor of "pro" equipment and applications, I must admit I wouldn't mind a "Garage Band Pro", personally, and same goes for a "Reaper Lite", how about that?

Right now, I'm in fact sitting on the proverbial fence, with the lovely and trusty but sadly limited bicycle on one side, and a couple of ineffable supercars I apparently can't drive on the other, and all I can do is wonder, is there a way I can get myself a Volkswagen Golf, or something as nicely "mediocre" as that?

Only, looks like there isn't… keep pushing on the pedals and stop complaining, or let your brain dribble out of your ears before you can get a peep out of the supercars and, of course, stop complaining…

Ah, well… guess that was a bit of a rant, too, and I'll leave you just as none the wiser as I still am, I'm afraid, sorry about going on a bit…


Cheers!

Frank
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