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THE
REEL WORLD
AT
THE CROSSROADS OF TECHNOLOGY
I
am at a turning point in my technical life. I've decided, perhaps a little
late in the game, to rethink and revamp my writing studio's fundamental
design and implementation. Those of you who have seen my studio (www.jeffrona.co,
click on "Studio" and look around), know that I have racks filled
with synths and samplers that I use for my scores. It's a reliable setup,
works great, sounds fantastic, and has served me perfectly well over a
number of years. From time to time I've added to my wall of gear, and
now my mixer's inputs are nearly full. So now what? What's so interesting
now in the MIDI world that gets me excited enough to buy it, install it,
learn it, and use it? Software.
It's not like my life doesn't revolve around softeware already. I use
Emagic Logic for sequencing, Digidesign ProTools as a hard disk recorder
and editor, dozens of cool and sophisticated audio plug-ins for processing
my audio, BIAS Peak for audio editing and manipulation, Cycling '74 Max
and MSP for all kinds of strange rhythmic and sonic mayhem, MetaSynth
for abstract sound design, SoundApp for encoding MP3 demos, Adaptec Jam
for making CDs of my music, Opcode Galaxy and Emagic SoundDiver for organizing
and cataloging synth patches - not to mention all the programs I use for
writing, image and photo manipulation, and web design. But the core of
my current studio is rack-mounted boxes filled with chips and wires.
The time has come to reevaluate the nature and design of the personal
studio. Do you really need any hardware gear to make music when there
are software synthesizers, samplers, and plug-ins that claim to do all
the same things without requiring a single rack screw? Just as tape has
pretty much been replaced by hard disks, physical synths and samplers
are being replaced by software running on a shared computers. Signal processors
are being replaced by plug-ins for everything from EQ to dynamics and
full-blown high-end mixing console channel strips. Video tape is being
replaced by Quicktime-based digital video cards, and SMPTE time code is
merely a reference for sequencer start time offsets. Even mixers can be
replaced by computer-based applications such as ProTools, Steinberg Nuendo,
Creamware Pulsar, or even the mixer functions of your current digital
audio sequencer.
All the pieces are there right now, and I'm making a somewhat gradual
conversion of my studio from hardware to software-based music production.
There are some important exceptions to this. I have electronic instruments
and devices that are very special to me, things that aren't sonically
replacable with anything currently available. So I'll retain a few of
my favorite synthesizers . . . for now. And I'm keeping my digital mixers
as well: I still like the feel and functionality of my Yamaha 02Rs, and
they sound great. Plus a single patch change from my sequencer recalls
everything in a mix. But they will be supplemented by additional mixing
functions that will live inside my computer.
None
of this happens without some serious digital audio firepowerm though.
One computer can't handle all that a studio needs for synthesis, sampling,
recording, processing, and mixing. Perhaps that will change in the relatively
near future, but for now it will take several fairly powerful computers.
In fact my studio will be a small network of computers, both Mac and PC
linked together by Ethernet (for now), MIDI, lightpipe (the popular multichannel
optical audio protocol developed by Alesis for the ADAT Ñ though
there are no ADATs to be found in my studio Ñ and used by a variety
of manufacturers for interfacing audio gear), and other digital audio
formats. There are new technologies, most notably mLAN from Yamaha, which
will make having a software-based studio far easier than it is now. Though
what exists at the moment works, it takes some design forethought and
a lot of troubleshooting.
Most current digital instruments are really just small computers with
special digital signal processing (DSP) chips and some kind of user interface.
Current off the shelf Macs and PCs are capable of an amazing amount of
digital audio processing power with no additional audio hardware, except
an interface to output the resulting audio. Run out of power and you can
simply go out and get another computer; they aren't as expensive at they
used to be. You can probably get a 500MHz PC for around $300 or $400 that
can provide the synthesis and sampling power of $3,000 or $4,000 of traditional
electronic musical hardware.
Some companies are offering special DSP cards to give computers more audio
horsepower. The most notable and successful of these companies is probably
Digidesign. The DSP chips inside their ProTools interface systems give
a computer considerably more capabilities and less latency (the delays
that accumulate when a computer needs to generate and process audio and
send it on its way). Too much latency makes a system feel unresponsive
and unmusical after a while. But as computer CPUs keep speeding up, so
does their ability to provide the same or greater capabilities with no
extra cost in DSP add-ons. It starts to become quite attractive to run
purely computer-based "native" audio software. The best example
of this is VST, the audio routing system developed by Steinberg. There
are VST synths, samplers, effects, recorders, and mixers. And they work
well, though I am finding in my own studio that having the extra power
of ProTools in my computer gives me a more consistent and reliable system.
The latency and reliability does not change with ProTools, even when I
run a great number of plug-ins, which isn't always the case when working
just with native plug-ins and software. And my computer's ability to quickly
redraw screens and run full-screen digital video is unaffected when I
run ProTools, while some colleagues of mine who try this in a VST environment
have many more problems and limitations.
I should mention that some colleagues who have gone with very cheap computers
have had more problems than I've had using moderately-priced PCs. In fact,
applictions such as Nemesys GigaStudio (the first reason I've ever had
to buy a Windows machine) will not run well on the motherboards found
in those really cheap computers. I had a local computer store put together
some rack mountable PCs for me, helping me to choose the right case, power
supply, motherboard, drives, video and other peripherals for my needs.
I get them for not much over $1,200 each and while there are cheaper machines,
mine are working flawlessly. I add a sound card for $200 or $300, install
the desired music software and that's about it.
I'm currently using the Frontier Designs WaveCenter card, which has MIDI
in as well as lightpipe out for the audio. The MIDI in turned out to be
a critical thing. Before the WaveCenter there was a tremendous latency
problem with PC audio. At first I thought it was the audio output, but
it turned out to be a problem with sending MIDI into the computer via
USB. It doesn't work well on a lot of systems. So a card that combines
audio and MIDI is perfect.
When you use more than one computer to perform as samplers and synths,
there arises a problem with routing. Personally, I want to get rid of
anything resembling a traditional patchbay: The audio outputs of one computer
will go to another computer that will patch, mix and route the audio to
my sequencing computer and/or stright to inputs on my mixer. I need routing
capabilities that can handle lightpipe and AES audio while giving me complete
routing recall abilities. Some of my colleagues are using ProTools systems
for this, but I'm investigating some other methods, including Nuendo as
well as a custom application I will create in Max with MSP audio drivers
and a larger format soundcard such at the RME Hammerfall. I'm just looking
into this now, and it's going to be a critical element of my new studio's
design.
So I've begun my transition into a more virtual studio. Some of my colleagues
have been doing it for months now, and I'm learning from their experiences
and mishaps. My studio will be somewhat different. For those of you interested
in this exciting concept, I will list some of the main resources and info
for this on my website: www.reelworld-online.com.
I assume that many of you are starting to do some of the same things in
your studios as well, and I'd like you to share some of your experiences
and ideas with me online. See you there.
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