thesoundsmith
08-01-2002, 01:48 PM
This post is not directed at any person or persons in particular, so those who feel singled out, please don\'t. I\'ve caused my share of irate rhetoric here, as you probably are aware.
I\'ve been reading about, testing, fretting over, and otherwise dealing with all these issues: Giga\'s lack of support for RAM, crashing, not liking certain computers and loving others, etc. etc. etc., and I\'d like to make a few points about this. Feel free to agree or disagree...
Point 1: Tascam should address these issues. They own the product, it is their responsibility to give the customer base a stable, reliable platform. Nothing I\'m going to say in the rest of this post should be taken to imply that I condone or endorse Tascam\'s lack of response in this regard.
Point 2: Gigastudio, when working at a reasonable level (relatively stable, not being driven to within an inch of its life) is a GREAT product. If you don\'t agree, listen to the demos by Maarten, TJ, Simon, etc. - if you still don\'t agree, don\'t use it. Buy a hardware sampler, or Halion, or whatever. Don\'t use Giga if you hate it, it will hurt your creativity.
Point 3: I have been an xBase programmer since the second rev of dBase. It was a buggy, error-prone language, and many generations later, it still is. About three years into its product life, the dBase authors brought out an extended programming manual, with tips, tricks, how tos, etc. The book stated, wuaite baldly, (an approximate quote) \"dBase has bugs. All software has bugs. Ashton may or may not ever actually fix them. Get over it. Find workarounds.\"
I will say to the \'carping critics we have always with us\': Get over it. Find ways to make your music. Your computer is not happy when you use 99% of available memory? DON\'T DO IT! Use 50% memory and record in two passes. Or 25% and record one instrument at a time. Buy more Giga computers and treat them as sections: here\'s my strings box, here\'s my brass, etc. Not cheap, but still costs less than the equivalent polyphony in quality hardware boxes.
Yeah, it\'s drag. Yeah, it\'s slower. Keep bugging Tascam to get it right? Absolutely-but NOT during your creative time. Make your music. Write Tascam after hours. When (not if, but when, it\'s a computer!) it crashes, turn off the power, reboot and get on with it. Save often, save multiple versions (one could crash just as you\'re saving it...)
Bottom line questions:
Would you rather use Giga with 25% memory and record one or two instrument tracks at a time, or use your Emu ESI or Roland 760 and settle for RAM-based samples? Or a Roland XP-80 with internal samples and sound cards?
Which piano? One that works 25% of the time and sounds great, or one that works 100% of the time and sounds OK?
You\'re here to make music, not to be beta testers. Unfortunately, with computer instruments, we are ALL ALWAYS beta testers! Can\'t help it, especially in a vertical market like music sampling. So you choose-high-quality beta or adequate quality stable. Or you hire some techno-weenie to be responsible for keeping all your gear operating at peak, and pay that way.
The beauty of these forums is that we can share tips-how to work around problems, what libraries sound best, etc. This is a tremendously valuable resource, so please don\'t waste it. Here we get to tell Donnie his saples are ut of tune, and tell Nick we don\'t appreciate the copy protection scheme-and they respond! Not necessarily politely, sometimes defensively, sometimes apologetically, but you can communicate WITH them, not just to them (as long as they haven\'t gotten themselves banned... images/icons/tongue.gif )
All is not perfect in Gigaland. It\'s not the way we want it, but it IS the way it is.
Have fun! Make music. Then make some more music. Maybe by the time you\'re done with that project, Tascam will have fixed the program. (Yeah, right...)
Fair? You want fair? There\'s one that passes through town every six months or so. See you on the merry-go-round...
Dasher
I\'ve been reading about, testing, fretting over, and otherwise dealing with all these issues: Giga\'s lack of support for RAM, crashing, not liking certain computers and loving others, etc. etc. etc., and I\'d like to make a few points about this. Feel free to agree or disagree...
Point 1: Tascam should address these issues. They own the product, it is their responsibility to give the customer base a stable, reliable platform. Nothing I\'m going to say in the rest of this post should be taken to imply that I condone or endorse Tascam\'s lack of response in this regard.
Point 2: Gigastudio, when working at a reasonable level (relatively stable, not being driven to within an inch of its life) is a GREAT product. If you don\'t agree, listen to the demos by Maarten, TJ, Simon, etc. - if you still don\'t agree, don\'t use it. Buy a hardware sampler, or Halion, or whatever. Don\'t use Giga if you hate it, it will hurt your creativity.
Point 3: I have been an xBase programmer since the second rev of dBase. It was a buggy, error-prone language, and many generations later, it still is. About three years into its product life, the dBase authors brought out an extended programming manual, with tips, tricks, how tos, etc. The book stated, wuaite baldly, (an approximate quote) \"dBase has bugs. All software has bugs. Ashton may or may not ever actually fix them. Get over it. Find workarounds.\"
I will say to the \'carping critics we have always with us\': Get over it. Find ways to make your music. Your computer is not happy when you use 99% of available memory? DON\'T DO IT! Use 50% memory and record in two passes. Or 25% and record one instrument at a time. Buy more Giga computers and treat them as sections: here\'s my strings box, here\'s my brass, etc. Not cheap, but still costs less than the equivalent polyphony in quality hardware boxes.
Yeah, it\'s drag. Yeah, it\'s slower. Keep bugging Tascam to get it right? Absolutely-but NOT during your creative time. Make your music. Write Tascam after hours. When (not if, but when, it\'s a computer!) it crashes, turn off the power, reboot and get on with it. Save often, save multiple versions (one could crash just as you\'re saving it...)
Bottom line questions:
Would you rather use Giga with 25% memory and record one or two instrument tracks at a time, or use your Emu ESI or Roland 760 and settle for RAM-based samples? Or a Roland XP-80 with internal samples and sound cards?
Which piano? One that works 25% of the time and sounds great, or one that works 100% of the time and sounds OK?
You\'re here to make music, not to be beta testers. Unfortunately, with computer instruments, we are ALL ALWAYS beta testers! Can\'t help it, especially in a vertical market like music sampling. So you choose-high-quality beta or adequate quality stable. Or you hire some techno-weenie to be responsible for keeping all your gear operating at peak, and pay that way.
The beauty of these forums is that we can share tips-how to work around problems, what libraries sound best, etc. This is a tremendously valuable resource, so please don\'t waste it. Here we get to tell Donnie his saples are ut of tune, and tell Nick we don\'t appreciate the copy protection scheme-and they respond! Not necessarily politely, sometimes defensively, sometimes apologetically, but you can communicate WITH them, not just to them (as long as they haven\'t gotten themselves banned... images/icons/tongue.gif )
All is not perfect in Gigaland. It\'s not the way we want it, but it IS the way it is.
Have fun! Make music. Then make some more music. Maybe by the time you\'re done with that project, Tascam will have fixed the program. (Yeah, right...)
Fair? You want fair? There\'s one that passes through town every six months or so. See you on the merry-go-round...
Dasher