Ever have to teach someone about zero crossings in digital audio? 
For as many scars as I have on my fingers from tape splicing, one thing is true; analog was much more forgiving of this type of error in repeating and looping.
No one has to learn how to “dance” to 4/4 is why.
OK, to clarify, I never said learning to use Pro-tools or an MPC was “intuitive”, anymore than learning trumpet or guitar is intuitive. Maybe that was the wrong word to use, I was just saying different tools naturally lead us down their own avenues. For example: I wasn’t really into Black Sabbath as a teen, but the first time I plugged in an amped up distorted guitar I found it suddenly seemed natural to play those kinds of riffs; barre chords with parallel fifths and distorted amplification naturally leads to heavy metal and punk.
Well, nobody ever taught me about it, but I knew it when I heard it, and figured out how to fix it. Even on an MPC people with good ears realize it doesn’t sound smooth and move the looping point.
that’s not a real live orchestra? Wow!
Pro-Tools takes a lot of flak but it’s still really the best DAW for professional quality live recording. Which is not saying much. My personal preference is Studio One for the sweet spot between capabilities, intuitiveness and customizability, not to mention being like half the price of Pro-Tools leaving more budget for VSTs and hardware.
What I’ve found is that DAW preference is very personal. I know people who swear by each major DAW. The trends I’ve noticed are what the focus of their use is. But I tell people asking which is best to download the free trial versions and give them a go.
I don’t know if it’s the next thing, but at some point in the not too distant future I think we’ll see the emergence of extremely realistic virtual instruments and environments modeled using physics engines somewhat akin to those that power the visuals in cutting-edge games, but much more sophisticated. Yes, even now there seems to be no end to the possibilities of what you can build in Reaktor, but it’s largely so much trial and error, and although you can get a lot closer to analog instruments than you used to be able to with any software, it’s still all stuck on the far side of the uncanny valley of digital music. I want to see software that lets you build a grand piano or a pipe organ or even try to reverse engineer a Stradivarius by modeling the molecular and acoustic physics of the material object.
I don’t want to sound like I’m knocking MIDI, because it’s a tremendously useful technology. But the lag imposed by the unnecessarily complex I/O pathways of modern software has become a real problem and constant pain in the ass.
It was always easier on samplers back when. These days AFAIK all DAWs do it automagically.
VERY true.
so same as it ever was?
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