And Now For The Good News... Options

[Levon River]

Despite our legitimate woes and lamentations as Mac musicians attempting to migrate to OS X (See: "The Name of This Forum is an Oxymoron), there are actually some very bright spots, and if the *promises* ever come due and collectible, we probably are on the brink of one of the best music computing systems to date with OS X.

Propellerhead Software is really to be commended for Reason 2.0. It is exceptional in many ways (the sequencer not necessarily being one of them ). The number of different sounds you can squeeze out of that beast is truly amazing, and their new expanded sampler module (NN-XT) makes rolling your own patches almost enjoyable.

Spark is another bright spot. Pun intended. The affordability of Spark LE and LE Plus is hard to beat. Of course adding all their effects modules--jumping up to Spark or Spark XL--is going to slim down your bank account several pants sizes, but they've shown that high-quality software effects can come over intact to OS X, with all their fingers and toes. So a tip o' the hat to TC|Works and their outstanding effects packages, all cruising with Jaguar.

Bias has trotted out Peak, which seems to do what it's always done just as well as ever, and Bias also beat the pack to the DAW finish line with Deck 3.5--though it's still crippled by lack of integrated MIDI sequencing. (The firm that created Deck and the companion MIDI program, Metro--OSC--was loopy to ever sell out, with Deck going to one company and Metro to another; if they'd ever integrated the two, they would have had a real contender in the DAW wars, and would have inherited Vision's place. But that's Mac history. And the twain, now, shall never meet. Deck is always going to have a very limited market unless Bias does something to add MIDI support. This commentary is free of charge. )

Now with Cubase SX just days away, and Digital Performer for OS X purportedly coming in November, we might just actually be peering at the Promised Land. In fact, when just one of the major audio/MIDI DAW packages actually does make it possible to fold in output from, e.g., just Reason, alone, it is going to be one powerhouse system, a tour de force, a pip.

So I'll stir the pot. I'll clang the bell. I'll keep the heat on high, because I do think it's a crime the way the whole changeover to OS X was handled, especially for us poor mistreated musicians. But once all these wild horses ever once do finally get in harness and pointed in the same direction, hang on to your seats; I think it's going to be a wild ride.

[gdoubleyou]

I'm glad that Prozac finally kicked in for you.

On another note, I noticed that the Triton has a mLan option. It's in the new Keyboard mag.

[Levon River]

I'm glad that Prozac finally kicked in for you.

The only people who need Prozac are the ones who take me too seriously.

Great to hear that Yamaha finally got somebody besides themselves to bite on their repackaged firewire. The promise of mLan has been around longer than OS X, and that's a lonnnnnng time.

[filarion]

Yeah right. There's been an M-Lan option product page for a 01v and 02r/03d interface for a year or so as well, yet noone ever seems to have actually used one. I waited for months, then got a MY-8AT and a Multiface/cardbus combo for my laptop and 03d. My guess is that Yamaha's dev team is half-assed and reluctant to start an industry-wide initiative that actually gets things done.

<edit>

Are there any M-Lan "hubs" yet? How would I setup a system of 5 M-Lan devices, integrating traditional audio and midi devices seamlessly? I don't know if I'm just misinformed, but there never was a big push towards m-lan, clearly stating the advantages (kinda like with them AUs )

[Levon River]

My guess is that Yamaha's dev team is half-assed and reluctant to start an industry-wide initiative that actually gets things done. ...I don't know if I'm just misinformed, but there never was a big push towards m-lan, clearly stating the advantages (kinda like with them AUs )

Saying Yamaha's mLan dev team is half-assed is, I think, giving them credit for about 3/4 more than they deserve.

I've been following mLan development (well, trying to follow: it hasn't moved) ever since the first big hoo-hah years ago. But as far as I can tell, it's just firewire with another name stuck on it. Of course trying to get sufficient information is like trying to find the Holy Grail, but I suppose it *could* be something as boneheaded as MOTU's "AudioWire," in which they took a perfectly wonderful standard like firewire and perverted it into something proprietary. (I *finally* cornered one of the MOTU tech people into *finally* admitting that it was nothing but firewire cabling; it's what *they* are doing with the signal on each end that *prevents* their "AudioWire" products from being used with firewire ports. Welcome to the wonderful world of marketing.)

Well, I hear lepetitmartien coming up behind me with his Off Topic stick, so I'm outta' here

[Levon River]

*A-hem* Who put "the actual state, that is" on my topic as a subtitle?

That ain't editing; that's vandalism.

[lepetitmartien]

I did

Dear Levon, if your thread names were clear it'd be a pleasure

I can wipe it out if you want, or replace it by one of your choice. no problemo. If I made a mistake I'm sorry but:

It's just that if you make a search on titles, an elliptic one (I don't say my subtitle is better) will be ignored (no significant enters). I can't tell the innards of the thread form the title and it's a bit annoying.

Give me a subtitle plllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease

you can email it to me (click on my name) so that I can change/wipe/whatever. As the posts in the thread are most interesting it'be a shame for people not to read them because you don't know what's inside.

"If I'm a complete moron, I apologize, as the MIC, I'm the boss "
(my oversized ego, complete luxury edition, vol.954)

[Levon River]

Dear Levon, if your thread names were clear it'd be a pleasure

Maybe it's a language barrier thing.

I can wipe it out if you want

That would work.

I can't tell the innards of the thread form the title

Oh, well, see if this helps: it's about And Now For the Good News regarding Music with Macintosh on MacOS X. That's why I posted it in this forum. What it's not about is "the actual state, that is." The actual state is more accurately reflected in another topic I started called "The Name Of This Forum Is An Oxymoron." But it already has a subtitle. This topic was to explore at least the rare few existing mitigating factors--to the actual state, that is.

and it's a bit annoying.

Not nearly as annoying as subtitle grafitti.

Give me a subtitle plllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease

Are they required now? I didn't get the memo.

[lepetitmartien]

I wipe it, but I still think the thread name is underinformative.

Crash that language barrier!

and no, the subtitles are not mandatory, but they can help precise things.
(just let me know if one suits you, but privately)

Now back to topic

[/IMMODERATOR MODE]