The Persistence of Memory, or The Idiot Explained

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Sun Jul 02, 2017 10:04 am

Well, as some of you know, I left DP, MOTUNation, and music in general last August or so, with a few returns up to November, when I said "stop this, Shooshie, cold turkey!" And I did. The idea was to give myself some time away from what I've done nearly every day for the past 3 decades with DP, and another two decades as a concert musician or student.

I want to talk about how it feels to come back to DP after a long time away from it. Getting back into DP has been a mixed bag. Why? Memory. Or lack of it. There are administrative actions I rarely did before, because I always used an older file as the basis for a new file. It was already set up; I only had to change the track names and delete the data. (or copy sequence format)

So I was setting up an instrument, got ready to play, and... nada. Messed around a little, and played... zilch. Nothing was coming through. After 30 minutes of searching for the answer, I checked MIDI Patch Thru. It was off. I had no reason to believe it would be off; I always left it on by preference, so I never even checked it. So, that was fixed. But what a frustration. How small you feel when you think you know a lot, but can't solve the most basic problem!

Then there was the Tracks Overview rewind. It wouldn't. Rewind, that is. I mean, the counter would go back. The other windows followed the counter, but the Tracks window stayed put. Wouldn't move. Again, my "smarter self" was telling me it couldn't be anything *I* was doing; it had to be a bug. After days of this I thought, maybe I'd better check my preference. Sure enough, the Tracks Window was unchecked in the "follow cursor" preference. DUH! It was me all along. Dumb and dumber.

I could tell you more, but those were the worst two. Some of the other things involve remembering where things USED to be, but they aren't there anymore. Colors, for example. I had to change the menu in all my QuicKeys routines that involve changing colors, because MOTU moved the Colors menu to the View menu. And more. The feeling was one of inferiority. On the one hand was my reputation as one who knows his way around DP. It seemed ready to kick my ass if I didn't get it right. Then there was the current version of myself, returning after a year to find that if you don't use it every day, there are things you just forget. Or don't know about (things they've changed, for example).

One thing it has reiterated to me is that when someone comes here for help, do not assume anything. Give them the full information without judgment. In addition to new users, there are many of us my age or older who are starting to experience forgetfulness in our daily lives. It's very easy to forget the obvious. Be kind! Other than that, using DP has been amazing once again. It's almost in disbelief that I sit there and manipulate audio and MIDI to make a great track of music. Unbelievable. Most of this was impossible 20 years ago, no matter how much money you had, and I'm always blown away by it.

That's all I really came to say; be kind, be thorough, be charitable. Of course, most of you are like that without any prodding from me. I've seen some attitude in other places, though. People who do not know what you know are not morons. They just need to be reminded or told for the first time. In the end we are all dumb or dumber when our habitual ways take leave of us. It's easy to Get Smart again. Or would you believe... return to par? I'm the breathing evidence. I think... let me check my pulse. Yeah, I'm still good.

And so is DP.

Shooshie

cuttime · Post by **cuttime** » Sun Jul 02, 2017 10:33 am

Welcome back, and please don't make yourself scarce, Shooshie!

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Sun Jul 02, 2017 10:49 am

Shooshie!

Welcome back! Bienvenido de regreso!

We won't allow you to leave again

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Sun Jul 02, 2017 12:16 pm

It always feels like 'coming home' to see you post, Shooshie. I've experienced similar issues with Finale.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sun Jul 02, 2017 1:17 pm

It's great to hear from you again, Shooshie. And thanks for the very insightful words. I can relate to much of what you're saying having taken some time away. Returning to DP after a hiatus can be humbling. As with any complex app, you can forget a lot if you don't use it every day. I've found myself moving at a slow pace simply because I've forgotten what once were routine key commands I never even had to think about before.

Most of all, wonderful to see you around here again! Please stay a while!

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sun Jul 02, 2017 4:05 pm

I forgot why I decided to post a reply.

i.e. I can totally relate to your words Shooshie!

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:15 pm

Welcome back.

labman · Post by **labman** » Mon Jul 03, 2017 6:38 am

Welcome back fellow old guy.

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Mon Jul 03, 2017 5:16 pm

Thanks, folks. You guys really know how to welcome someone back.

Shoosh

terrybritton · Post by **terrybritton** » Mon Jul 03, 2017 9:03 pm

I can certainly relate, Shooshi!

Thank goodness I made so many videos a couple years ago on tech I've become entirely rusty with due to the "use it or lose it" syndrome. I now watch my own videos for a refresher course!

Good to see you posting, always.

Terry

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Mon Jul 03, 2017 11:25 pm

terrybritton wrote:I can certainly relate, Shooshi!

Thank goodness I made so many videos a couple years ago on tech I've become entirely rusty with due to the "use it or lose it" syndrome. I now watch my own videos for a refresher course!

Good to see you posting, always.

Terry

Haha! Why do you think I made the DP Tips Sheet?

Actually, that's not why I made it, but I sure use it. And the videos I've made, not to mention copious notes.

Shoosh

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Tue Jul 04, 2017 12:22 am

Thinking further on Terry's post, the thing that probably keeps me going more than anything are my "Cheat Sheets." I post them periodically in case anyone wants to use them. Of course, you can always make your own.

So... for the heck of it, here are some:

COLORS
Some of my cheat sheets are too personalized to be of any use to anyone else, but this one just might be. I may be the odd bird when it comes to using colors, but I change track colors a lot. It's a matter of contrast and making certain tracks stand out or fade into the rest. Why? Speed and navigation. It's just faster for me to grab the controls of tracks that I can quickly spot through color. I find this particularly useful in the Sequence Editor and Mixing Board, though also useful in the Tracks Window. What I did was set up a QuicKeys command for each color in DP. Then I put at least some of them on a card with their commands. I can quickly see what color set would be useful, then hit the command for that color. Because of the way I set up the triggers, with a double-trigger using the Keypad for running through the colors quickly, it's possible to use a lot of keyboard commands without taking commands away from other functions. The double-trigger ability gives you hundreds of commands at your disposal. So, you could either copy my commands and use the same cheat-sheet, or you could use my graphics and make your own. I'll post the card and the graphics I used to make it.

QuicKeysColorsCommands Cheat-Sheet files (zipped folder with files)

Print these (or your own) to fit a 4x6 "picture" and put them in some kind of stand like these:

I've been posting that picture for 10 years!

I hope some of this is useful. It sure helps me. I've got the toolbar commands memorized, but I have to look some of them up again when returning to them for the first time after a period of absence. The cheat sheet helps.

Shooshie

Kellog · Post by **Kellog** » Fri Jul 07, 2017 6:44 am

I love your post and have always appreciated you being here. I'm working through my own age onslaught forgetfulness with DP/ recording and writing in general, and with playing out live (especially noticeable with some whippersnappers 20 yrs my junior). So thanks for sharing your experience (and the color scheme card!). I see you on Facebook a tad as well. Hope you and all here have a great day. Kelly

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Fri Jul 07, 2017 6:53 am

Nice to see ya again, Shoosh, here on the forum!

Buzzy

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

stubbsonic · Post by **stubbsonic** » Fri Jul 07, 2017 7:32 am

Thanks for that post, Shooshie.

First of all, many of us can relate to how much easier it was to learn new software/hardware while retaining the "map" of older ones. Now it is a but more work to keep those plates spinning (either a juggling or hard drive metaphor).

With the occasional system problems we encounter, we sometimes have to reset our preferences and/or go back and find our exported keybindings and update them. And each time, I think, I should make a hard-copy of a preferences/settings checklist. But really, I'd need to do that system-wide.

But when the going gets tough, the tough open up the preferences panel, and start randomly opening menus & submenus. Ok, then there's the f'n manual.

On your point about kindness and generosity in helping fellow DP users, I couldn't agree more. And have benefitted many times from the fellow members of this forum who have gotten me unstuck.

MOTUnation.com