I remember when it goes from 2.3 to 3.x… a lot of guys was angry because they love the OLD ugly GUI, because, they say, it looked more professional and not so “cartoonized” like the curreng GUI.
(i still like the 2.3 gui. Maybe because im still using 2.3? 
| Quote (marce @ Oct. 25 2005,08:13) |
| I remember when it goes from 2.3 to 3.x... a lot of guys was angry because they love the OLD ugly GUI, because, they say, it looked more professional and not so "cartoonized" like the curreng GUI. (i still like the 2.3 gui. Maybe because im still using 2.3? ;) |
Hey!! I know...
Maybe we should have a contest, and see who can come up with the Fugliest, most purely FUNCTIONAL, Vulcan-esque, mundane, serious as 4th-grad-math GUI!?
In light of all the hi-tech looking, racey, shiny-buttony GUI's out there not being used by this crowd, it's a good bet we won't lose anybody! We might even gain some hard-core, no-nonsense talent to help promote n-Track! Well, whaddya think? Huh?
Oh, and sorry Don, I dont' do paypal.
I, Sloom (a relative newcomer to the forum), wish to take this opportunity to say that I love n-Track. Well, it’s coming into it’s own for me at least, and I am learning to get around and do my thing successfully with it. And that’s all I ask from an audio app.
I like the fact, as I stated, that n-Track looks like my kids toy-chest! That’s just my sense of humor. I think it’s great, because it works like it should (burns Sonar for the money, for my purposes).
Marce, please don’t take offence at my facetiousness, or irreverence! That’s just… what I do! 
Just enjoying my time here! If it’s not fun, and it’s not for love or money, don’t do it. This concludes the apologetics portion of my n-Track Forum participation. Thanks.
| Quote (Sloom @ Oct. 25 2005,17:59) |
| Marce, please don't take offence at my facetiousness, or irreverence! That's just... what I do! Just enjoying my time here! If it's not fun, and it's not for love or money, don't do it. This concludes the apologetics portion of my n-Track Forum participation. Thanks. |
Dont worry. My poor english has an automatic filter for all the criticism, insults, sarcasm an jokes...
Aha! Very good. Anyway, I wasn’t poking at you, bro; I just jump at any excuse to put a Smilie in my posts!
P.S.
Since I’m on the (losing) subject of apology:
…"We might even gain some hard-core, no-nonsense talent to help promote n-Track! Well, whaddya think? Huh?.."
Oops. That was careless- foot is secured in mouth. I’ll stop now.
Ok, well my comments are based on two things.
One, Ivan Shevchuk (previously the #1 ranked engineer in Ukraine) has told me personally face to face that one trick he has done in a studio is make it look flasher. Apparently the boss wanted an upgrade to bring in more clients, and Ivan said something like “Give me $40 and I’ll get you clients”. He then proceded and bought a blue computer case, matching framing for the moniter, and matching blue keyboard and mouse. Clients from there on poured in because it appeared they had a super uber kool recording system no one else had.
2nd, my own clients eyes glaze over in excidedness when I pull out the flash looking plug ins… doesnt really happen with those VST plugs with no programed GUI, so you just have a name and a slider(s)…
Altogether my comments were not saying Skinning is the very essence. It is a very well known fact that you can dazzle a client easily and keep them happy. Simple things like having cool looking microphones, or in my case to keep a bassist happy I put a big fat round mic infront of the bass amp… but was actually recording via DI… That was my point. I for one have no stability issues with Ntrack and it works perfectly for me, so I wouldn’t be opposed to it looking a lot more flash since for me it already does dash.
Have you looked at other apps? I was on a PT rig last night and it is pretty hideous in its own right… as is everything from Steinberg.
By the way, you can customize quite a bit based on the tools already built into the program plus messing with the bmps in the N-track directory. This is how I have customized my n-track.
If you like the image I use, I can send you a copy.
Disk space 500mb, Bubba?
Oh, i see you REALLY need the extra cash!!
There is a certain refinement that a lot of people expect to see if watching you mix. Generally you keep the client away while mixing, but invariably you have to let them have a look and listen. For those clients who have recorded at other studios, and are used to seeing the flashy looks on the software, having flashy looks on your own gives you all the advantage.
Another case in point, one client of mine was talking to me about someone else who has done some recordings for him. He was adamant that it was Pro Tools the person had, and he was obsolutely thrilled about it. I went and talked to this person, as this person happens to be a client of mine as well (LOL) and he was just using one cheap $30 mic and an old version of Cool Edit to do the recordings LOL. But this guy was so stoked and convinced as he thought the GUI looked cool and complex and therefore must be Pro Tools. LOL.
I might add, you have too much time on your hands Bubba, to make a silly picture like that, put it in Ntrack, Print Screen it, and Post It.
Marce: LOL - good eyes!!! I guess my terrabyte of hard drive space is not enough at this point.
By the way, in my opinion, Steinberg’s GUI’s are as professional as they come - and I guess maybe that’s the difference.
Possibly there are two camps here. Those that use N-Track as a hobby or a bit more than a hobby - and those that charge clients $$$$ to create productions, do conversions, etc.
I fall in the second camp, and although I would LOVE to compose my own stuff more often than I do, I usually am working for clientele, which is why I am in business. When my clients are allowed to sit in the control booth (not all get to because some are simply too much a pain in the ass and have no cash), they really do look at the “flashy” graphics and - and this is the honest truth - I have been wooing clients in my studio for that next BIG project and it really did come down to how cool the studio looked - NOT how good of a product we produced.
Now, my quality is pretty darn good, but for my clients to be so shallow as to consider how cool my studio looks as a decision point for business really is beyond me. I am more of a “specs” kind-of person. I look for quality equipment and staff - but what do I know???
I like n-track. It’s stable and useful and matches most features of high end packages (I am drooling over Sonar 5 as I write this). However, it’s not very cool (sorry Flavio) looking - and my clients have told me that. I know I know - each to their own. Well, if a client is willing to fork over thousands and thousands of dollars because they like the look of one software package over another, then I am willing to provide them with whatever they ask for - but I NEVER sacrifice quality.
One last note. My clients tend to be somewhat computer savvy. They know all about pro-tools, nuendo, sonar, etc - and it’s tough enough answering the constant question “where’s your mac?” “where’s pro-tools?” It drives me nuts. All I have to do is play them some of my previous projects and they shut up - satisfied that macs are not the only pro game in town. Macs are all about flash and GUI’s. That’s how they survive in my opinion (yes, I owned many of them in the past - never again). Because my clients are tech-savvy, and since more than likely they never heard of n-track studio - they pooh pooh it when I show it to them. On the other hand, FL Studio is also not deemed the most professional audio package - but it DOES look cool as crap - that and an unbelievable mixdown engine - and so clients LOVE it!!!
Sometimes you have to consider how something looks if you are going to sell clients on using you over the other 10,000,000,000 studios out there!!!
Mike
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| I might add, you have too much time on your hands Bubba, to make a silly picture like that, put it in Ntrack, Print Screen it, and Post It |
That´s because the SIMPLE BUT FUNCTIONAL NTRACK GUI. Use n-Track and you will finish your projects on time and save a lot of Free time. Use Cubase or Protools and you will never end at time your projects.
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| Macs are all about flash and GUI’s. That’s how they survive in my opinion (yes, I owned many of them in the past - never again) |
mmm… if you will buy any EMU soundcard, you will find an advertisment like “WITH THE SAME AD&DA CONVERTERS THAN PROTOOLS…”, i mean, that pc&mac wars are nice ways to lose the time
Funny you should say that - I own the emu 1820m for one of my low end audio conversion systems - I liked the specs. I use Mark of the Unicorn for everything else (also for mac/pc).
By the way, they are actually comparing the neutrik connectors and filters on the emu systems to that of the Digidesign PC Hybrid systems (the lesser pro-tools LIGHT systems), not the mac ones.
Mike
Bubba,
Nice studio…and, see…rounded buttons! I rest my case!
Don
PS: I still like the idea of getting a top-notch graphics designer to create some nice studio graphics that we could use as wallpaper or screen-savers. Any takers?
PPS: I wonder how practical it would be if n-Track had dockable controls ala Band-In-A-Box? With BIAB you can edit your own GUI to show/hide seldom-used control buttons which frees up monitor real estate. Kinda nice. But if it will take up more system resources, then see rule #1 above.
| Quote (Don Gaynor @ Oct. 30 2005,18:26) |
| Bubba, Nice studio...and, see...rounded buttons! I rest my case! Don PS: I still like the idea of getting a top-notch graphics designer to create some nice studio graphics that we could use as wallpaper or screen-savers. Any takers? PPS: I wonder how practical it would be if n-Track had dockable controls ala Band-In-A-Box? With BIAB you can edit your own GUI to show/hide seldom-used control buttons which frees up monitor real estate. Kinda nice. But if it will take up more system resources, then see rule #1 above. |
Well, after some going over all this, and a little consideration, I'm all for skins. It does the same thing for your screen that your choice of wallcovering does for your studio/control room. It's your environment, right? You have to take care of your head, too.
And now, a question about the GUI:
And cincerning your PPS, Don, I notice that at the lower left of the screen in the track view there are little blocks with representations of a mixer channel-strip, and a drop-down arrow next to each one. These are various views of the signal-flow and applicable 'faders'. They seem to be unmovable- and they often obscure part of a track module in the track view- so that I have to re-size my track view to see a particular track's controls (Pan, Vol, Mute/Solo, etc). Is there a way to get these buttons out of the window?
Got me grumblin' a bit, over here. Thanks...
| Quote (marce @ Oct. 30 2005,15:10) | ||
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That´s because the SIMPLE BUT FUNCTIONAL NTRACK GUI. Use n-Track and you will finish your projects on time and save a lot of Free time. Use Cubase or Protools and you will never end at time your projects.
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I do use Ntrack. I use it for all my own music, and anything else for other people unless I’m asked to use something else in particular. I also regularly use Logic for doing midi.
Never liked Pro Tools, even though I invariably end up using it once in a while. I prefer doing track taking to an HD24 (anyone else think HD24s sound a bit funny??) and then mixing it down analog style on an Audient desk then to do it all on Pro Tools.
| Quote (Dyers @ Oct. 30 2005,14:34) |
| I might add, you have too much time on your hands Bubba, to make a silly picture like that, put it in Ntrack, Print Screen it, and Post It.
|
Don’t you know it. It was Saturday afternoon and nothing was on but football… I hate football.
I suggest what all of you do who have clients hung up on buzz words… Build a box to keep your PC in adn perhaps some starship enterprise looking desk around it. Tell them it is a super expensive proprietary setup that only the biggest studios use and you happened across this at an estate sale, otherwise you could never afford it in a million years… You have the “real deal” that costs 10 times what a PT rig would cost. Neon lights and a gold record or two helps. Spray paint any old piece of crap you find at a garage sale gold… just so long it is a band no one has ever heard of. They won’t buy that you mixed Dark Side of the Moon. Tell them it was a huge hit in Albania.
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| By the way, they are actually comparing the neutrik connectors and filters on the emu systems to that of the Digidesign PC Hybrid systems (the lesser pro-tools LIGHT systems), not the mac ones. |
The hardware is the same for ProTools HD Mac or PC. The host computer has nothing to do with the AD/DA convertors.
TG – confused?
| Quote (Karmacomposer @ Oct. 30 2005,15:18) |
| By the way, they are actually comparing the neutrik connectors and filters on the emu systems to that of the Digidesign PC Hybrid systems (the lesser pro-tools LIGHT systems), not the mac ones. |
Huh?
the same A/D converters used in Digidesign®'s ProTools® HD 192 I/O interface
That isn't light anything nor a Digi002 or whatever. That's the real deal. It's this dude....
…which connects to an HD or HD Accel card that can be installed in either a Mac or a PC.
TG
| Quote (Bubbagump @ Oct. 31 2005,17:53) | ||
Don't you know it. It was Saturday afternoon and nothing was on but football.... I hate football. I suggest what all of you do who have clients hung up on buzz words.... Build a box to keep your PC in adn perhaps some starship enterprise looking desk around it. Tell them it is a super expensive proprietary setup that only the biggest studios use and you happened across this at an estate sale, otherwise you could never afford it in a million years..... You have the "real deal" that costs 10 times what a PT rig would cost. Neon lights and a gold record or two helps. Spray paint any old piece of crap you find at a garage sale gold... just so long it is a band no one has ever heard of. They won't buy that you mixed Dark Side of the Moon. Tell them it was a huge hit in Albania. |
I think theres a difference between having the equipment and letting them think whatever the #### they like, or actually lying to a client. If they asked me what it was I was using, I'd tell them.
I love football... but don't get to see it here unless I pay for super expensive satelite cable tv.