[LAU] LV2, DSSI and the future of plugins

[Jörn Nettingsmeier]

On 01/16/2011 08:38 PM, Louigi Verona wrote:

> While I understand the main message and agree with it, I think you
> are overgeneralizing. 

certainly.

i guess my point is this: being a gearhead doesn't make you a good
musician, composer, arranger or mixing engineer. most of the commercial
audio world is targetted at gearheads. it has to be, because audio
technology has been "good enough" now for a few years, so what can we do
to sell new stuff? invent bs.

opensource is no less quirky, but it's closer to a do-it-yourself
mindset, which requires the user to understand the problem, understand
possible approaches to solve it, and then apply those approaches. for
that type of user, our toolset in linux audio is mostly complete,
although streamlining is always possible (and necessary).

> It is true that there are plugins which are just a joke, but on Linux
> I can also find several weird LADSPA plugins, which have parameter
> names even worth than Depth, something along the lines of S,Q,T,P1,P2
> and some other unhelpful labels and which produce strange noise, but 
> it really is not representative.

true. but this is somewhat rare in open source plugins.
i think guitarix is a good representative example of the open source
mindset: it certainly wastes way too many pixels to look like some
actual piece of gear (for my taste), but: all knobs are labelled with
their function, not some fancy fantasy name. the plugin /wants/ /you/ to
understand what /you/ are doing.

many closed source plugins /don't/ /want/ /you/ to understand what
/they/ are doing. /you/ don't get to do much in the first place.

> Perhaps I misunderstood what you want to say, but if you try to
> convey a message that VST is just a bunch of cloned technology with
> good marketing and GUI, I would say you are over simplifying things 
> enormously.

well, vst by itself is nothing more than an api. i have nothing to say
of its technical merits.

> In fact, a couple of months ago on LAD list I did ask that same
> question and all you guys who are developers answered. The question
> was whether VST stuff is really unique or whether there is not much 
> innovation, but just copying. I don't remember exactly what
> everybody said, but I do remember people saying that there are
> complex stuff in the VST world that at the moment do not exist on
> Linux, particularly good reverb algorithms. Some other complex DSP
> fields were also mentioned.

true. heck, i wish i had a really good room simulator, almost every time
i start a new project. but that's a matter of convenience, not a
fundamental obstacle.

i tend to think of the entire set of plugins and tools i have (and know
how to use) as my instrument. at times, it might be tempting to desire
extensions of the instrument, but often it's more effective to just hone
my skills (yeah, mixing engineers have to practice, too, and a lot!) and
get better on what i have.

actually, i pity the "namm show" kids who go crazy over each new trend,
shell out money, tweak a few knobs, and still can't finish their debut
album for lack of artistic vision. it's of course not the fault of any
one plugin or manufacturer, but the overabundance of toys makes it very
easy to fall into that trap.

and the market pretty much consists of people sitting in this very trap,
or how else would you reconcile the gear sales figures with the actual
musical reality out there? i guess there's probably five mastering
plugins sold for every album that comes out...

heck, even highly respected tonmeisters fall for "bogus toys" bs. just a
few weeks ago, i had someone rave to me about 384khz sampling rate and
why sacd is so great. this guy had no idea of 24bit pcm vs. 1bit
delta-sigma, nor did he know about lipshitz and vanderkooy having
effectively buried the entire sacd technology years ago. he was (and is)
a true believer.
he's also a very skilled mixing engineer, but he doesn't know that he
makes great albums despite sacd technology, not because of it :)

> So, what I am saying is that VST world is some serious stuff and 
> although there are many free plugins made with SynthEdit which suck
> ass, there is a huge number of great VSTs which are not only
> marketing.

absolutely.

i'm a very ironic person - in face-to-face talk, people usually gather
from my tone of voice that i'm being a bit cynical and take it
accordingly. but if i were to use winkies each time i should, my mails
would double in size...