Hello again on the manuals topic. Very good opinions were
written to the lists, and I had to write this summary on why
the manuals are needed.
1. Historically important. If one collects the manuals today,
he does not have to search them with cats and dogs later.
2. Good for finding out the latest in industry.
3. Good for learning about audio and effects processing. Very good
documentation can be found, indeed.
4. Good for getting ideas for open source software.
5. Good for writing documentation for other software.
6. Good for making comparison charts. I actually started this job
a few weeks ago as somebody in Audacity list started writing his
comparison chart. We also had a discussion how transport buttons
should be arranged: a quick look at a few manuals revealed much.
7. Good to read before purchasing an expensive software.
8. Your favourite musicians are using the software. Well, I asked
Logic Audio manuals also because Boris Blank of Yello has used Logic
Audio products since Notator/Creator times. This is the same reason
why I asked Euphonix to send me their System 5 manual -- I got it.
This is the same reason why I have also asked Fairlight to digitize
their Series II and III manuals and place them available. (BTW, I also
suggested them to release a Series II and III software synth with the
original samples. Got no reply, sad.)
OK. I have collected urls of software manuals, at
"http://www.funet.fi/~kouhia/commercials.html",
but that list is already four years old. It does not contain
findings done since and documented to my private notes.
I would like to learn more about the "sharing networks" as that
seems to be the only way to get the manuals.
Best regards,
Juhana