20 Jan
2004
20 Jan
'04
5:38 p.m.
Previously:
Heehee, for $12k I would still want a lot of handholding! :-)
Realistically, you can have an Alsihad rig for about this much, and
you would have instant compatibility with other studios, plus a HUGE
number of other people familiar with it who could help you out. Even
a Digi 002 only costs about $1200, and you still get the compatibility
with and support from all those other users. I use Final Cut Pro and
Adobe After Effects, each of which was less than a grand, and I get
awesome support on both of them! I'm pretty optimistic, but I still
don't think any Linux apps can match either of those two. And once
you start using dual 1280x1024 monitors, there's just no way you can
go back to an 800x600 touch screen! ;-)
Ouch! Now I'm being compared to Microsoft... :-(
I use that phrase because it's Reality(tm). Linux is certainly not
as "free" as people want to believe. RPM and similar mechanisms have
certainly helped, but there is still a LOT more time required to set
up a Linux box. (E.G. I unpacked my iMac, plugged it in, turned it
on, stuck in my application CD, clicked two buttons and I was up and
running, then I plugged in my HP printer and it just worked. Can you
do the same with Linux?) Now, honestly, I'm a geek, so I LOVE setting
things up the way *I* want them - I love downloading all the latest
patches, apps, jack, gtk+, sndfile, etc, etc, but I'm definitely not
mainstream. And at some point though, I get tired of the rpm-du-jour
and I just want to make some music, or edit some video...
I'm guessing people like me (us?) are going to be interested in doing
it ourselves, and we'll do it differently. On the other hand, "artist"
types won't WANT to download anything or customize anything, they just
want it to work. (I could probably make quite a bit of money if I were
to do consulting for musicians who don't want to deal with the technical
side of things!) Think about how many musicians are out there that just
use the presets on all of their synths... (How many times have I seen
"synth programming" as a separate credit in CD liner notes...?)
So, are you
saying this thing can compete with a $100,000 Alsihad
rig?
No, but then I've not tried either. Realistically, I'd expect the
service level to be very different. For US $0.1m I'd expect a lot of
hand holding. Reminds me of
that old saying, "Linux is only free if your time
isn't worth anything"...
I think that's a slogan used by Microsoft, which either belittles
or ignores the other meaning of free. All solutions cost something, but there are plenty of
people who are
relatively time rich and cash poor, most musicians included.
Linux is great for people like that. Is a $12k Lionstracs keyboard?
I have no idea whether the Lionstracs business model
will succeed,
but what the pricing of the Mediastation suggests to me is that
specialist Linux audio companies might be better of dealing direct
with their end users than via middlemen and retailers.
I think you're right about that...
While I wish Lionstracs all the best in their endeavors, I'm guessing
they are in the middle, trying to appeal to everyone, and they won't
end up really appealing to anyone. Do it yourselfers won't want to
spend that kind of money, and they'll want to do it differently, and
artists who want a turnkey solution won't like it because they won't
get the final complete product that they want/need for that kind of
money...
-Doug