Pivotal to understanding how this game works is the realization that GigaStudio (GigaSampler on steroids, with mixing capability and effects augmenting the sampler functions) and VST instruments, loaded into the PC, are seen by MOTU’s Digital Performer (which is loaded into my Mac and used as a MIDI sequencer only) as independent MIDI devices. ![]() ![]() The Waverunner computer serves as a station that includes both GigaStudio and Cubase, which serves as a shell for the VST instruments. The computer came loaded with Nemesys GigaStudio 160, Cubase VST/32 and several soft synths, including the Native Instruments B4 organ, Pro-52 (a software emulation of the Prophet 5) and the Waldorf PPG. This 900MHz Pentium PC is designed by Pete Leoni for Q Performance, a division of the Eastcoast Music Mall. A BNC connection between the two ensures proper sync.įor my new PC, I purchased a Waverunner computer from the Eastcoast Music Mall, a Connecticut store that attracted my attention because of the heavy emphasis it gives to training seminars. Eight channels of digital information can be exchanged at one time between PARIS and the D8B via a Lightpipe connection. The MTP splits the signal and sends it to my Mackie D8B (which I’ve set up as a MIDI device) and back to the computer itself. I achieve lockup between the board, PARIS and the Mac by running a SMPTE stripe from an edge track of PARIS into my MOTU MIDI Time Piece A/V. Digital recording is executed using a 32-track E-mu PARIS hard disk recording system. Prior to the acquisition of a PC, my studio consisted of a Power Tower Pro Mac clone running a NewerTechnology 500MHz G3 upgrade. How difficult was it to integrate this computer and the add-on hardware it required? And what is the most rational formula to use when comparing the cost of soft synths (and the hardware they require) and the equipment they are meant to replace? Let’s break the process down into distinct stages. To a studio that already included a Macintosh computer running a card-based recording system and a digital console, I added a PC as a station for a software-based sampler and some soft synths. The potential for problems increases exponentially as more devices are added. If you take this approach, as I have, then the question of how best to lock multiple computers together comes into play. ![]() More and more, the savvy engineer is fluent in both and can make the two talk. ![]() Regardless, most engineers feel that they have to make a choice: Mac or PC? But as platforms have become more stable and manufacturers purposely engineer for both, the question has really become one of personal preference. Can you live with a single computer monitor, or even two? But working this way requires a careful planning of horsepower requirements and a reassessment of the visual aspect of mixing. Control surfaces from Digidesign, Mackie and others can be used as powerful front ends to any number of hard disk recording platforms, and, in most cases, these control surfaces have made mixing on the computer much easier. Technology options for the project studio owner have multiplied in the past several years. Most engineers feel they have to make a choice: Mac or PC? More and more, the savvy engineer is fluent in both and can make the two talk.Īs I got deeper, I realized that the fundamental issue in building a multiplatform studio is becoming aware that it’s necessary to restructure the way the craft of mixing is addressed.
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