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An analogy
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Post by splinters // May 15, 2006, 9:25pm
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Some of you may be aware that as well as a '3D artist' I am also a musician. In this thread;
http://forums1.caligari.com/trueSpace/showthread.php?t=63
I ranted about a new digital workstation I just bought and it got me thinking.
20 years ago I bought my first effects unit; a box that added reverb and echo etc. to your studio. It was called the Midiverb and it was revolutionary in both price and power. It was made by a small company called Alesis.
Over the years it started to get into more and more sound territory establishing itself as a leader in audio and signal processing.
Recently it got into keyboards and synthesis producing some truly remarkable synthesizers.
In all that time I never gave it a second look as I eyed up offerings from the big three; Yamaha, Korg and Roland.
Now I have just bought their latest offering and I am not sure why I was led to do so but it just dawned on me how similar this keyboard and TS7 really are. If the intro above has not given enough clues then let me explain.
1. It is from a 'small' but successful company with a track record of quality products at excellent prices.
2. It has an immense amount of untapped power under the bonnet.
3. It is having trouble competing with the other 'big' names despite having a product better than most of theirs.
4. It gets regular updates to the OS which untap new features.
5. It has a lively forum dedicated to exporing this new 'beast' and getting the most out of it.
6. It is dedicated to changing the way workstation keyboards are perceived.
I am sure there are more but I think that is what drew me to buy this over one of the big brand names. I have worked with TS and continue to do so happy and often suprised at what appears down the line-much of which is free.
With my nice new Sony 19" monitor running TS7 on the desk next to this keyboard I really feel part of a growing media community that is really going somewhere and I check into both of their forums each day to see what is new. I feel both have come a long way and deserve a bright future, and I intend to be there.
I can give no higher recommendation to both of them....:D |
Post by Darrell // May 16, 2006, 2:55am
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Darrell
Total Posts: 19
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My approach to buying into technology is balancing the cost and benefits (features). I also do music and my first rack mount effects processor was the Alesis Quadraverb. I used it with my Tascam 4 track and SM57. :D
I'm not looking for companies or products that are trying to be revolutionary. I want a worthwhile features set at a competitive price. I want it to work today and not have to worry (too much) about the company disappearing. Alesis was in bankruptcy protection a few years ago and were bought out by Tascam, I believe. They do make great products and I think a lot of people were surprised they got into financial trouble. My only Alesis product now is a set of Point 7 monitors for games. ;)
Very little of my equipment gets me any face with people who know music or 3D. The few people I know that do 3D or post production work don't even now about TrueSpace. Where I live it's all Maya and 3DMax.
The thing that amazes me about technology is that what I have today would have cost hundreds of thousands of thousands of dollars 10 or 15 years ago. And if I today spent a $100,000. on expensive mics and preamps and converters and Protools and effects, it wouldn't be able to do that much more than I can do now. I have dual core athlon system, SONAR PE 5, 2 motu 2408 sound cards, a yamaha 01V, Mackie HR824 near field monitors, preamps half a dozen mics, blah, blah.
I can see how you can make some comparisons between Alesis and Caligari. I could do the same for Protools / Cakewalk SONAR. KRK monitors / Mackie. Reason / FL Studio. Neumann / Rode. Intel / AMD. I usually go for the value for money option. :D
6. It is dedicated to changing the way workstation keyboards are perceived.
Is this about marketing or functionality? Changing how people interact with their keyboard? It's at this point where I started to have problems with your comparison. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you're saying but when I read number six I thought Alesis sold you an 88 key workstation but only gave you 66 keys. And then they built a bridge to your old keyboard and told you not to worry because those keys will work, for now. And half of the notes need to be played with your toes, but don't worry because the bridge will help you switch back and forth. I know this may take some getting used to, but you'll learn to like it. And when the big guys see how we got you playing with your toes, everyone will want to be able to do this. How do we know? We invented 'finger playing!" Our competitors thought we were crazy! Did you know before us, people played with their foreheads. Boy did that sound bad! :banana: I gotta use a banana here. :D |
Post by splinters // May 16, 2006, 3:48am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Fair points and observations, and remember that is what my first post was-observations. I am not on any kind of commission for selling either but I kinda made the correlation last night and the more I thought about it the more the fusion seemed like the TS7 of the keyboard world.
And yes, there is a lot promised for the fusion that is 'not quite there' yet...so you could make further comparisons there.
Point is....I own and am happy with both products.
The bridge analogy, while fair, has been interpreted many times before...but I do see your point...:) |
Post by optimiztic // May 16, 2006, 8:15am
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optimiztic
Total Posts: 43
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I bought an Alesis drum machine with a midi interface around 1992. I thought it was really cool to be able to play drums from a Yamaha keyboard, and that somebody could take a midi guitar and make it sound like a trumpet or violin. I also did some midi C and assembly language programming.
Although there are a lot of electronic sounds out there, I just don't see musicians very often playing a midi guitar that sounds like a french horn. I thought the idea of complete flexibility that midi offered would lead to some really wild combinations, but the most popular groups still seem to be following the traditional musical forms, that is, most of the instruments sound the way they look.
TrueSpace comparison? Well, I would like to see the LE expanded to provide input and output format support, maybe a direct file interface, so that panels could be added to input and output files in arbitrary (scripted) formats. Then tS could read and write files to/from any supported program. This would correspond to the universality of the midi interface in representing sounds on any instrument, within the inherent limitations of the type (e.g. a french horn can't play a chord, but several together can).
Are we all bonkers here, or just finding ways to dream about having tS do what we want?
Don |
Post by splinters // May 16, 2006, 8:17am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Are we all bonkers here, or just finding ways to dream about having tS do what we want?
Don
Nothing bonkers about dreaming or pushing the boundaries. I like your analogy about midi too...;) |
Post by Penforhire // May 16, 2006, 8:18am
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Penforhire
Total Posts: 4
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A reasonable analogy. Maybe the "small" company needs to do more promotion of your #3 category, if true at all. It is not compelling to list all your wonderful abilities without a comparison to your competition.
What sort of tool or ability does tS 7+ offer that the competition lacking? Live texture view during modeling? Scripting language? Enough undos? None are unique to tS. So what would YOU list for tS 7+ in your #3 category? Bear in mind, the reverse condition should also be considered (e.g. hypervoxels without buying Pyrocluster or other plug-in). |
Post by splinters // May 16, 2006, 8:48am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Perhaps #3 was more pertinent to the keyboard.....:o |
Post by optimiztic // May 16, 2006, 9:45am
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optimiztic
Total Posts: 43
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(this comment applies to computer programs in general, and no inference should be drawn from it about how I feel about tS features, which are adequately and openly described and debated throughout this forum)
I once read a book, called "The Inmates are Running the Asylum," which dealt with software interface design. I believe that it commented on the fact that most programs are sold based on feature comparisons, and that those with the most features are touted to be 'better' in some sense, even though the buyer may never use or even be able to find the extra features in question.
My comment is that a program needs to be stable first, have an accessible and easily reachable interface second, have the features you require to complete your tasks third, and have features that are cool but unused last.
Explanation: If it takes you too long to find or implement a feature, the program wastes too much of your time. You might as well string together the output from two separate, easy-to-use programs because it's faster. Many feature-rich programs suffer from a bloat syndrome (e.g. Microsoft Office), where you know the program can do what you want, but you don't have time to look for it. And, if you buy an unstable program because it has twice as many features, but a more stable, competing program has the few features you need, then you've made a mistake.
My advice: Don't buy clothes a size smaller because you're planning on losing that 10 lbs, and don't choose software because it has a snazzy feature that you might find a use for later. If you can't imagine how a new feature can be used to your advantage right away, you probably won't see any use for it later.
The exception: Buying a program that you don't depend on and can walk away from -- such as a fancy new game that requires Shader 6.1 and NewDX14d that your graphics card probably won't support at a playable level...
Don |
Post by Darrell // May 16, 2006, 5:10pm
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Darrell
Total Posts: 19
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My advice: Don't buy clothes a size smaller because you're planning on losing that 10 lbs,
So this is a bad idea? :( :D |
Post by splinters // Jun 1, 2006, 11:34am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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It might be because I seem to split my time between the two but the more time I spend with TS and the Fusion the more I see the similarities. Particularly the forums where bugs are reported and people talk about returning theirs until bug #1 etc. is fixed. Lots of "it has real promise but I will wait until it is a bit more stable! coupled with "there is some real power here but it is not being used to its full".
Just musing here...I am extremely happy with both and they both sit nicely in my little office...:) |
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