Daily Tracks Update

Yeah so about that last post Twitter is now totally out. We’ll be updating some new status shortly. In the mean time a few bits as we take up some slack. Line 6 just released the 3.5 update for Helix and it is a total destroyer. Literally a brand new day. I’ve also just barely scratched the surface of Omnisphere 2.8 which I can fairly say is a long distance from Omnisphere 1 , which was already incredible. Sound designers have created patch libraries for all of the synth hardware profiles. These are native Omnisphere patches you get to use and build on whether you have the hardware or not. Proggers and experimental musos of all types should immediately check those out. I found up front in one hardware profile alone enough sitting there to save weeks of programming time. It was jaw dropping because there were a couple of things I was literally programming right then that needed another week of work. So the update paid for itself almost instantly.

08/31/22 11:20 ET

Most visitors not following @KilleansRow on twitter have no reason to know that this is primarily the site meant to replace and succeed the former band and solo music blog that started on Myspace. We grew to include science & tech news , sports, research and anything else going on that might turn out to be interesting. Fast forward to now and it looks like things are finally starting to get real. While apologies have been offered for these first few steps taking so long the truth is it’s a big job when the round trip work involved typically used to comprise a team of five or six people specializing in just one part of the journey each. On the other hand it’s outrageously funny just how many fellow musos have jumped into doing exactly the same thing and are recounting pretty much the same experiences along the way. We are mostly an old school bunch and it shows. Ideally you record a full band playing live. Writing and composing reflect a desire for a live performance feel because in the end you want to get out there and play.

Probably the biggest change that technology has wrought for composer/performers is that the two environments that we used to do all these things in were typically well separated in time and space. If you stated a desire to take the recording studio on tour with you folks knew you were joking. Now the idea of a studio rig and a touring rig being literally the same rig isn’t that farfetched. The problem with making that real is the skill sets required to do all these things well still span a much larger space than most solo musicians can handle even with a surplus of 24 hour days available. Yes, technology is making our lives easier , but the level of complexity for knowing and using that technology with skill and efficiency , in spite of all the features meant to make things like mixing and recording easier, are still a big mountain to climb. Particularly when your the composer , performer, recording engineer, producer, mastering engineer, camera and director of photography , lighting, video editing, colorist and possibly now CGI person. And until it all gets off the ground none of it will buy you a cuppa joe. You’ll have to make that too. Cheers !

For those of you considering going down this path (or those forced to by a music industry that has been turned inside out) there are a lot of DIY resources out there but there are also still a lot of obvious things that escape developer attention that will drive you mad. Software installers still pretty much spew the documentation you need…somewhere out there on the drive. Or not. Features may be well documented…or not. Device drivers may continue to work after that latest Windows update or well…how about another cup of coffee? One useful lesson from about five minutes ago is that whenever you think an update or new piece of gear is going to solve a problem check the online documentation first. Is the manufacturer documentation for those features up to snuff or is it nebulous ? Never assume a feature mentioned in a review- regardless of reputations , is actually going to be there. Also when integrating new gear into a rig make sure everything is working -knobs, faders everything.. You don’t want to go four months and then find out only 3 of 4 mic preamps are lit. Shake it out.

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