[LAD] [ANN] IR: LV2 Convolution Reverb

Fons Adriaensen fons at linuxaudio.org
Thu Feb 24 11:43:45 UTC 2011


On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 07:41:56PM -0500, Paul Davis wrote:

> and to answer that question: what happened was huge great
> boatloads of data that need to be shovelled around between all the
> relevant components, complicated synchronization in both the backend
> models and the user interfaces of all the relevant components, and a
> general disdain for complex *systems* when one can settle for merely
> complex programs.

There's no doubt that many users or potential users want the
'all integrated' DAW combining audio, sequencing, invasive
effects, etc. required to produce a particular type of music
(and some other content, e.g. ads) that happens to have a
wide audience. And consequently a large number of people
wanting to be involved in making it.

OTOH, this does not mean that some other people (who may be
a minority) can't have other needs, nor does it provide good 
reasons to imply that they are in some way retarded, out of
sync with their time, old-fashioned or whatever.

It's also foolish to suggest that the 'all inclusive universal
DAW' will cater for those needs - just ignore what you don't
use etc. It most definitely does *not* because it's by no means
as universal as you may think, but rather the reflection of
one particular musical culture. Which means that whatever is
not used in that particular scene will not be provided. Ardour,
despite all it qualities and being a magnificent piece of work,
is a good example of that.

Also, 'ignoring the bits you don't need' is not always as simple
as it may seem. The simple fact that these things _are_ provided
has consequences on the overall design, they _do_ distract, they
_have_ to be checked and disabled (often each time again), they
_do_ take resources and they _do_ impact reliability. And they
are not compile time options.

And the most perverse consequence of preferring complex apps
to complex systems is that it becomes near impossible to modify
them to individual or 'minority' needs. To all effects, Ardour
is to me as closed as Protools is, just because it has become
so complex rather than just big, and I can't spend a year on
learning all of it. I'm at the mercy of its developers, and
they have good reasons to ignore my needs as they have done
for years. So the only remaining advantage is that it is free
as in free beer. And for a professional user that is irrelevant.
Spending some money on Protools is not really different to doing
the same for a kilometer of microphone cable or some XLR plugs.    

Ciao,

-- 
FA





More information about the Linux-audio-dev mailing list