When enough really is enough

[David Polich]

In reading the various complaints about DP 9.1, I've been reminded of how much may have been forgotten about the "old days" of recording and the skill sets developed when the "old tech" was
the "new tech".

I remember when I encountered an SSL board with recall and automation for the first time. I was floored. When I was able to get recall and automation in DP, I remember thinking "that's enough -
that's all I wanted". Soundbite Gain is a nice fetaure, but I never use it and never will. Why? Because I am just fine with doing things the way I've always wanted to do them - by using fader moves instead of altering the audio. Snapshot automation? never bothered to try it because I actually prefer to do things the old way...by writing in the automation myself, a track at a time. That's enough for me.

In the old days, I learned to just get the part right before I recorded it, and if I messed up, I
started over. This forced me to become a better musician. So punching in and out or doing
comps from multiple takes is not in my book and won't be. The way I learned was and still is sufficient.

I just find myself wondering why I see people complaining about features that they got along
without before. There seems to me to be a point where enough really is enough.

[Robert Randolph]

I don't know about other people, but I'm annoyed by 2 things:

1. Old bugs that weren't fixed
2. New bugs that were introduced.

On my system here (and it's definitely not just me), but DP 9.1 has more bugs, crashes way more frequently and performs much worse than 9.02.

It's great that things work for you, but there's plenty of folks that don't have things working great. A bit of understanding goes a long way here.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Hey David! Roots, baby! You have roots. You know how to do things in realtime and the hows and whys underlying those things that you do.

There is a generation of folks who only know what the manual tells them they can do, not the "why" behind it. Often these folks also lack the experience of having done musical creation away from a computer, you know, that "eye-hand" thing... LOL

If all one knows is the "features" of an app but doesn't know how and why that came about, then yeah, those people are going to complain that it "doesn't work" and if it doesn't work (and since they also don't have a clue as to how and why it is supposed to work) they can't find a workaround.

Every pro musician/composer/arranger/orchestrator I know has a problem of some kind with their software. The discussion rarely gets to the point where "this is unworkable." What does get discussed is how we get around those obstacles and don't allow ourselves to becomes slaves to the machine, but rather how we find a way to get the job done. Some people call that professionalism and true professionals don't complain that they can't do a particular thing. They find a way to accomplish it, one way or another. Besides, there's plenty to complain about in life: music should be one of those things.

[cuttime]

I'm not here to complain. I am here to learn a thing or two, and maybe solve a few problems along the way.

[mikehalloran]

I'm not here to complain. I am here to learn a thing or two, and maybe solve a few problems along the way.

Well said. I hope we all are.

Of course, I too want everything to be perfect. And why not? I paid good money and bla, bla, bla... But, if not perfect, I'm good with knowing the current workarounds—till the next version when everything may change again.

The goal is to become as comfortable with 9.1 as I was with 5.13 but I'll never use 5 again unless it's to tweak an older file that won't open on my iMac (don't know if I have any of those files left).

As long as I never again have to use a razor blade to edit, I can be happy.

I suppose that I could make Logic work if I really, really had to

[Phil O]

As long as I never again have to use a razor blade to edit, I can be happy.

I agree but must add to that.
I cannot, will not, without exception work without my Pink Pearl eraser. It will be a tool in my arsenal long after pencils are gone.

Phil

[MIDI Life Crisis]

As long as I never again have to use a razor blade to edit, I can be happy.

I agree but must add to that.
I cannot, will not, without exception work without my Pink Pearl eraser. It will be a tool in my arsenal long after pencils are gone.

Phil

I like to wear pink pearls when editing. That's all. Just the pearls...

[Phil O]

That's just plain weird.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

That's just plain weird.

No! It's very fancy weird.

[Phil O]

I rest my case.

[Shooshie]

If you were awake in the 1970s, you probably were familiar with the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," by Robert Pirsig. More people talked about that book than actually understood it, so I tried to simplify its message and explain it to as many people as I could. Then it fell out of popular culture and nobody cared anymore. But I still think it contains one of the keys to producing art or doing anything to a level that raises humanity beyond its surly limits and opens the sky to those who try.

In a nutshell, Pirsig demonstrated the irrational using rational Greek arguments. He showed that we have two sides of the brain, and that typically one side excels at the artistic and subjective while the other side tends toward the rational and ordered — the technical side. But what separates Pirsig's explanation from mere "brain textbook" explanations was that he not only explained but demonstrated in his own book that these two sides combine when summoned equally, and produce something that rises above rationality or subjectivity. That's when we see genius emerge, or at least true artistry.

When I was performing, I found recording to be a terrible frustration, because I was depending on people who usually were not able to share my vision of what I wanted to produce. The recordings were lackluster and bland. I first studied acoustics and physics, thinking that would help me to relate to them. Nope. It didn't. If anything, it set me apart. They wanted me to talk in terms of knobs and faders. So, I learned their trade. I literally took lessons from a well-known engineer, who later went on to create "The Music Bakery," a needle-drop library with an open license. You still see them on credits of documentaries and other types of film. Lots of it on PBS. Anyway, that helped me to learn my way around a mixing board, but the acoustics and physics helped me more than anything. The mixing board just gave me pathways to harness the powers of science. Take that and combine it with musicianship, and I think you've got the workings of artistry at your disposal.

My only problem is keeping up with changes in the technology. I like to have some command over my tools. Always learning new changes is good, but if it changes too much, or if too many things break or refuse to behave, you spend more time applied to the technical side and lose time for the dreamer, the artist. So, I prefer when MOTU releases fully tested, fully working products. Days like today, spent testing stuff, are good for keeping your technical side sharp, but too many just cause me a bad attitude, and I can't have that when making music.

So, the bottom line is that we do our best when we exercise both sides of our mind, the rational and the intuitive, the artist and the technician. They are equally important when creating what Pirsig called "Quality," with a capital Q.

Shooshie

[Phil O]

I haven't heard anyone mention that book in a very long time. It was one of my favorites.

Phil

[David Polich]

I don't know about other people, but I'm annoyed by 2 things:

1. Old bugs that weren't fixed
2. New bugs that were introduced.

On my system here (and it's definitely not just me), but DP 9.1 has more bugs, crashes way more frequently and performs much worse than 9.02.

It's great that things work for you, but there's plenty of folks that don't have things working great. A bit of understanding goes a long way here.

Robert, why do you think people don't understand you? My post wasn't about you. It was about doing the best with what you have. Including the supposed bugs.

I understand that you may be feeling personally attacked by a post like this. I guess it touches a sore spot with you. It's not my intention.

My attitude is...there is always a way. Man went to the moon and built the pyramids, we can certainly "deal" with working with audio software. In fact I think it's a good exercise to come up with workarounds for problems...it's good for the brain cells (literally) and soul. If I run into issues, I prefer to come up with alternative solutions.

Whining about bugs or issues doesn't solve them. You still have to deal with them until they're fixed. When you find your workarounds and get on with your music, you feel better. Or you should.

[Robert Randolph]

I don't know about other people, but I'm annoyed by 2 things:

1. Old bugs that weren't fixed
2. New bugs that were introduced.

On my system here (and it's definitely not just me), but DP 9.1 has more bugs, crashes way more frequently and performs much worse than 9.02.

It's great that things work for you, but there's plenty of folks that don't have things working great. A bit of understanding goes a long way here.

Robert, why do you think people don't understand you? My post wasn't about you. It was about doing the best with what you have. Including the supposed bugs.

I understand that you may be feeling personally attacked by a post like this. I guess it touches a sore spot with you. It's not my intention.

My attitude is...there is always a way. Man went to the moon and built the pyramids, we can certainly "deal" with working with audio software. In fact I think it's a good exercise to come up with workarounds for problems...it's good for the brain cells (literally) and soul. If I run into issues, I prefer to come up with alternative solutions.

Whining about bugs or issues doesn't solve them. You still have to deal with them until they're fixed. When you find your workarounds and get on with your music, you feel better. Or you should.

I don't think that people don't understand me. I think that anyone that is having trouble with the software should have a bit of extra empathy exercised towards them.

I simply dislike when there are issues and people show up to say, "Oh, that doesn't affect me" or "I've never used that feature anyway". It's almost like taunting someone that fell down a well.

There have been a few posts like this (both by you and others), and I understand that you specifically are trying to be constructive. However if you consider it from the point of view of the person having issues, it's really frustrating to see that. We all have different workflows, work with clients of varying skill and requirements, have different systems, work in different locations, used DP for different feature sets and more. I don't think that there's ever a time where it's a good idea to do anything that may be perceived as discounting another user's experience. Even if that's not your intention, the situation and mental state of the other party needs to be considered.

So I suppose my overall point is that I understand that you're trying to be positive and inspiring in your own way, but if you consider it from the other side... it can very easily come off as quite irritating.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Knowing a problem is or isn't impacting other users is relavent in troubleshooting.