I may as well chip in here. Interesting that this particular thread started five years ago. not exactly the fastest moving thread on the web, but eccentric, and I like that
Ive recently set about redesigning - experimenting how I work in the studio. For ten years now I have worked completely in the box using only a PC or Mac, and made many commercial records that way. Before that I had a full on hardware studio with an Atari running Cubase.
I wanted to do some experimenting combing old style sequencers with my DAWs. I dont hate working with PC's or Mac's (I have both). On the contrary I will always use them but I wanted to inject something else in to what Im doing and finding the balance of incorporating the new additions which include a C Lab MKX Falcon running Cubase.
Ive only had a limited opportunity to use the c lab falcon but as expected it did exactly what I wanted it to do which was a combination of triggering VSTi's and real hardware Synth/Sampler (A lot of fun actually). I also have an MPC2000xl and have been comparing the groove between the Atari and the MPC. I don't say compare tightness because they are both V good in a kind of human(ish) way, but to me they have a different groove which I like. Being used to sample accurate VSTi playback for so long now the difference between using the Atari or the MPC is very real and definitely not imagined. What is exceptionally ace is using either of those to trigger real hardware synths + samplers which is much better than using a DAWs midi. Whilst triggering VI's and using the DAWs midi results in sample accurate play back that is not the case when using the DAWs midi for external stuff. I have no idea why DAWs still cant do this well today. But its also just playing those hardware synths, it feels a lot better. That area is like night and day compared to a DAWs VI Its difficult to define why No matter how low the latency I can get on my DAW it just never ever feels right and never has actually. I would even go as far to say that over the years I have become a far worse keyboard player than I was during my hardware days. Much of that has to do with the latency, especially if you have a full on session and then you have no choice but to paint notes in via the mouse, but its more than that. It makes you rigid, unfeeling in what you play and its really only quite recently these DAWs actually play back what you record in to them relatively accurately...but with something like an Atari or MPC you can be a lot more sloppy and it works (perhaps the lower resolution?). Hmmm Sloppy isnt really the best term, its more a dynamic, human thing. I always knew this, but I didn't realise until a week or so ago as I tested out the old Cubase/hardware stuff how big that difference really is.
One thing of interest is the Atari reacts much much better than the MPC to midi time code and midi clock. I have never been satisfied with the MPC in this area BUT it isn't really the MPC's fault because when I send a midi clock from the Atari to the MPC then its much better than if I send code to it from my DAW. So my system is now MTC from DAW to Atari which then sends a clock to the MPC. If I send MTC or Midi clock from either the Atari or the MPC to the DAW the results are not as good. Its better with the Atari, but I don't feel to comfortable having my DAWs audio clock controlled by a midi clock. Maybe Im just being paranoid? But never the less all these machines have to be synced and Im still working on the best method. The difficulty there again is the DAW computer latency. No matter how low the Latency is (and I can get really low with my RME) I can never get a virtual Drum machine to fully lock in with the external sequencers regardless of how much fiddling about I do delaying sync cloks etc. Yes, to the untrained ear it may sound fine, but its not close enough for me....groove is everything, and it has to be right. I have watched many videos on Youtube with people demonstrating their MPC's syncing to Pro tools, reason, whatever. BUT NONE OF THEM actually showed virtual instruments or a virtual drum machine being played form the DAW along with their MPC playing sounds in full sync ( I mean both sequencers running triggering stuff). Their all made with a one perspective point of view and it doesnt give the full story. Pretty amateur if you ask me because that area is crucial to how the combination works. The drift.out of sync is very subtle but for me its totally noticeable. Put it this way, its nowhere near as tight as something like an 808/303 combo.
If I can never get all these to sync up perfectly it wont be the end of the world. The purpose for the mega spot on sync is so that I could run appregiators, drum machines, synths etc from my daw in tandem with my hardware. But if I can only send midi notes to the Daws VI's then that's fine because the MPC and my sampler can easily do all the drums and my main outboard synths can do stuff like bass lines and then I can leave the VI's to do some of the more esoteric stuff (the lest locked in groovy stuff). But everything will be recorded to the Daw on separate tracks so sync is obviously high up on my agenda because for sure I will be working on a track record parts in and wish to sequence up stuff using the DAWs sequencer and VI's.
Im trying to marry the old with the new. I wont reject the new for old because that's not my style and I do like what I can do with my DAWs Over the years I have learned a lot about writing and mixing songs with basically just a computer and DAW and I wont throw that knowledge away or make the same mistake I made when I moved from a hardware set-up to a DAW only set-up without thinking it through properly. OMG, when I think back to one day I had a full hardware set-up, then suddenly an ITB set-up Im amazed I didn't end up in a ward somewhere. keep in mind that ten years ago DAWs were not like they are today, and neither were OS's
. But im a little bored of the DAW now from an ergonomics point of view, very tired of staring at a screen all the time, I need a change of gig, I want to get a little more organic. Whether the music comes out better or not isn't really the point, its a personal thing. But my hunch is the music will come out better
As I read this back it seems a bit of a rambling mess, but well I am eccentric
