Modern Day Songwriter Frustrations Part 2
01/07/2010 02:57
Now
I'm back to Pro Tools again, and I'm reviewing many
of the Groovebox vids that downloaded. I'm gonna
give it another go. It's my NYE resolution, once
again! But still, I think this whole thing could be
solved in one giant stroke... not only for me, but
for the many just like me. It's very simple, but
it's not going to happen! Here it is.... Toontrack
(makers of the best drum samples going) should
build a Toontrack DRUM MACHINE that allows you to
load their EVX CD's, sequence your drum patterns
and tracks, etc. Imagine a drum machine that was
easy to program and use, and contained the best
sounding samples on the market? How could that NOT
be a good idea??? If Boss can make a pretty nice
unit that sells for $400-$600, then surely
Toontrack could too. And the Boss unit even had
bass and guitar sounds! The Toontrack unit wouldn't
need to have any of that stuff. Just straight up
drums!!! I would die and go to heaven if they ever
did that. And I can almost guarantee you that they
won't. Many of the Toontrack users would scoff at
the idea because they are very adept at
programming, or they love just using loops. But
many of them also do it for a living! They have
nothing but time to perfect their craft.
Look, so far there isn't a single drum machine manufacturer that has gotten it right. Every single drum machine made has some kind of wacky quirk to it. It's either ease of use, or their programming method, or the machine is filled with sub-par drum sounds. They all offer unique little features that are cool, but there are usually more bad features than good. If Toontrack were to take the SR-16 approach to arranging and editing, the Boss approach to the interface and design, and the Zoom approach to sample loading, you'd have the best drum machine ever, with the best drum sounds ever! How could that not sell like hot cakes? How could it too expensive to make? When everyone else is doing it at an affordable price. Toontrack already has a ton of EVX sample discs. Why not make a machine that comes standard with their original Avatar kit, and feature either a CD drive where you can load their EVX samples, or allow you to import their samples and midi tracks from your computer to the drum machine? Are they concerned about piracy and sharing? Why? It's no different than it is now. I can copy all of their midi loops to a CD and give them away to anyone if I wanted to. I'm not sure I can copy their sample sounds though.
But lets "explore the studio space" a second... why not build a drum machine with ONE stock drum kit in it, and forget the ability to import other EVX's. Just make a drum machine that was easy to program, or even as advanced as you wanted, so long as it was intuitive to learn and edit with. Then send the completed performance to your DAW as midi, then call up whatever EVX kit you want from there? The function of the drum machine would to simply create, edit, and arrange drum loops and songs, like the SR-16, same them to a CF or USB flash drive if you wanted, with the ability to export any of it into your DAW. GENIUS!! Why oh why won't they do this is beyond me. They would CRUSH the competition and have the number one selling drum machine EVER if they did this.
So as you can tell... my creative juices begin and end with drums and the ability to program something quickly and easily and with as little editing as possible. What does this all mean moving forward? I'm not sure. I guess it means that I'm going to try syncing the SR-16 up to Pro Tools again and using it as a controller. The only thing that could change my mind, would be if the new Pro Tools 8 did a better job of quantizing and dealing with midi notes. I hate spending hours trying to align notes and patterns to the grid. I want it to print the performance as I tapped them out, and auto quantize the performance as good as the SR-16 does. Pro Tools seems to be almost too sensitive, and never quite aligns stuff where it should be causing me to have to manually edit everything! It's probably user error! I mean, really... that's probably it. It's probably something that I'm not doing right, or understanding. Time will tell!!
Meanwhile, I'm gonna continue to try and get motivated and learn as much as I can about the software I'm using. Perhaps there are more tutorials at Groovebox? I need to check. And I highly recommend the Kenny Gioia series to anyone using Pro Tools. Kenny has been a big help to me. I don't know the guy personally, but we have emailed back and forth lately. So perhaps we will be friends when it's all said and done? It seems to be one of my gifts. I can't tell you how many meaningful friends that I've made on the internet, that I interact with more than the friends I actually SEE regularly! Half of these "cyber buds" as I call them, I've never met. Some I have met eventually, and things were like we've known each other all our lives. I guess my FBI like profiling abilities are accurate then! But anyway, after watching Kenny's videos, it's amazing how much easier Pro Tools is to use WITH a keyboard and mouse, if you memorize shortcuts. It's ALL ABOUT SHORTCUTS people! Heck, i'll probably be selling the Command 8 before it's all said done, but we'll see.
Something else I'm currently exploring is a program called Quickeys. Many DAW guys use it because you can assign keyboard shortcuts for actions there are no shortcuts for. Or you can combine multiple actions into one shortcut. Kenny goes over it in one of his videos, and it's amazing. He also shared his shortcuts with me to try out. You just import them into Quickeys, change the scope if needed, and tweak to taste! Another item I'm going to look into this year is a Wacom tablet. I've always known those to be great for artists that deal with photos, but a lot of DAW guys are using them now. I just need to figure out how and why. Is it a "must have" or an expensive luxury? I will let you all know when I find out!
Stay tuned folks! And thank you for your support and understanding!
Jason
Here are some helpful links regarding some of the topics I have discussed above:
Groovebox
Kenny Gioia
Toontrack
Digidesign
Steve Massey Plugins
Quickeys
Gearslutz Forum (an outstanding resource if info!)
Look, so far there isn't a single drum machine manufacturer that has gotten it right. Every single drum machine made has some kind of wacky quirk to it. It's either ease of use, or their programming method, or the machine is filled with sub-par drum sounds. They all offer unique little features that are cool, but there are usually more bad features than good. If Toontrack were to take the SR-16 approach to arranging and editing, the Boss approach to the interface and design, and the Zoom approach to sample loading, you'd have the best drum machine ever, with the best drum sounds ever! How could that not sell like hot cakes? How could it too expensive to make? When everyone else is doing it at an affordable price. Toontrack already has a ton of EVX sample discs. Why not make a machine that comes standard with their original Avatar kit, and feature either a CD drive where you can load their EVX samples, or allow you to import their samples and midi tracks from your computer to the drum machine? Are they concerned about piracy and sharing? Why? It's no different than it is now. I can copy all of their midi loops to a CD and give them away to anyone if I wanted to. I'm not sure I can copy their sample sounds though.
But lets "explore the studio space" a second... why not build a drum machine with ONE stock drum kit in it, and forget the ability to import other EVX's. Just make a drum machine that was easy to program, or even as advanced as you wanted, so long as it was intuitive to learn and edit with. Then send the completed performance to your DAW as midi, then call up whatever EVX kit you want from there? The function of the drum machine would to simply create, edit, and arrange drum loops and songs, like the SR-16, same them to a CF or USB flash drive if you wanted, with the ability to export any of it into your DAW. GENIUS!! Why oh why won't they do this is beyond me. They would CRUSH the competition and have the number one selling drum machine EVER if they did this.
So as you can tell... my creative juices begin and end with drums and the ability to program something quickly and easily and with as little editing as possible. What does this all mean moving forward? I'm not sure. I guess it means that I'm going to try syncing the SR-16 up to Pro Tools again and using it as a controller. The only thing that could change my mind, would be if the new Pro Tools 8 did a better job of quantizing and dealing with midi notes. I hate spending hours trying to align notes and patterns to the grid. I want it to print the performance as I tapped them out, and auto quantize the performance as good as the SR-16 does. Pro Tools seems to be almost too sensitive, and never quite aligns stuff where it should be causing me to have to manually edit everything! It's probably user error! I mean, really... that's probably it. It's probably something that I'm not doing right, or understanding. Time will tell!!
Meanwhile, I'm gonna continue to try and get motivated and learn as much as I can about the software I'm using. Perhaps there are more tutorials at Groovebox? I need to check. And I highly recommend the Kenny Gioia series to anyone using Pro Tools. Kenny has been a big help to me. I don't know the guy personally, but we have emailed back and forth lately. So perhaps we will be friends when it's all said and done? It seems to be one of my gifts. I can't tell you how many meaningful friends that I've made on the internet, that I interact with more than the friends I actually SEE regularly! Half of these "cyber buds" as I call them, I've never met. Some I have met eventually, and things were like we've known each other all our lives. I guess my FBI like profiling abilities are accurate then! But anyway, after watching Kenny's videos, it's amazing how much easier Pro Tools is to use WITH a keyboard and mouse, if you memorize shortcuts. It's ALL ABOUT SHORTCUTS people! Heck, i'll probably be selling the Command 8 before it's all said done, but we'll see.
Something else I'm currently exploring is a program called Quickeys. Many DAW guys use it because you can assign keyboard shortcuts for actions there are no shortcuts for. Or you can combine multiple actions into one shortcut. Kenny goes over it in one of his videos, and it's amazing. He also shared his shortcuts with me to try out. You just import them into Quickeys, change the scope if needed, and tweak to taste! Another item I'm going to look into this year is a Wacom tablet. I've always known those to be great for artists that deal with photos, but a lot of DAW guys are using them now. I just need to figure out how and why. Is it a "must have" or an expensive luxury? I will let you all know when I find out!
Stay tuned folks! And thank you for your support and understanding!
Jason
Here are some helpful links regarding some of the topics I have discussed above:
Groovebox
Kenny Gioia
Toontrack
Digidesign
Steve Massey Plugins
Quickeys
Gearslutz Forum (an outstanding resource if info!)
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