Disqus - Latest Comments for waveplant

Re: What to know about the Roland TR-1000: analog, and digital tech details

waveplant — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 09:54:32 -0000

I feel like I've been spamming comments with this same thing but... it looks great, and it sounds great. But for me, hardware drum machine pattern sequencing is always such a battle when working on a song. It's nice to have song mode, but it's still tricky because, what if you're working on the middle and you need the right pattern to trigger? I'd love it if they came up with a way to either import pattern data into a DAW or even just trigger a pattern with a MIDI note (I think Elektron does this?). As far as I can tell from the manual, you can't do either. Most of the time I just end up recording patterns as audio and stringing them together, but only out of necessity - I'd love to be able to patterns on hardware and arrange them in software. Atlas and Microtonic both have drag and drop MIDI, which is great.

Re: Waldorf has recreated the Microwave 1 wavetable synth in software

waveplant — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 10:46:35 -0000

I tried the demo and it sounds great. I tried importing some XT patches that I have as Sysex files with the trial version and they didn't work - presumably because they're XT and not MW patches, but I thought maybe the architecture was similar and compatible. Anyone know either way?

Re: Logic Pro gets massive updates on iPad, Mac: new features, shared features

waveplant — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 08:20:28 -0000

Just be prepared for this good old fix if this upgrade causes MIDI timeout errors on launch (as it did for me on 2 machines):

Choose Logic Pro > Settings (or Preferences) > Reset All Settings (or Preferences) Except Key Commands.

Re: New Logic Pro overhauls EXS24 Sampler, takes workflow cues from Ableton and Maschine

waveplant — Wed, 13 May 2020 08:36:53 -0000

Any chance export all tracks renders effects on sends / busses now?

Re: Roland’s Boutique JU-06A JUNO is insanely fun

waveplant — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 09:26:51 -0000

This conversation is short a couple voices so I thought I'd steal a note or two to say that I for one would gladly pay whatever the cost difference is to get one of these with a number of voices that reflects what is printed on the thing.

Re: MASSIVE X synth arrives; here’s what makes it special

waveplant — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 12:05:44 -0000

yeah this is really too bad. there are still a LOT of 5,1s in the wild being used for audio.

Re: Apple has a AV studio desktop again: power, speed, and cheese graters

waveplant — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 08:41:31 -0000

Yes, Mojave requires a Metal-supported GPU. I'm not sure if it needs to be flashed for Mac or not - that's where it gets a little confusing. I know the GTX780 is that last Nvidia card that Apple supports natively with its on-board drivers. Still very capable for those of us concentrating on audio with the occasional need to run something like Touch Designer.

Re: Apple has a AV studio desktop again: power, speed, and cheese graters

waveplant — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 08:39:09 -0000

That's a good point and it seems like the CPU is upgradable. Probably a good time to squeeze those last few years out of the 5,1 while watching
what happens with the new machines.

Re: Apple has a AV studio desktop again: power, speed, and cheese graters

waveplant — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 21:20:31 -0000

wow that's great to hear! i have a 780 flashed for Mac so I get the boot screen / native support. seems like it will work but i'm not 100% sure so i was holding back.

Re: Apple has a AV studio desktop again: power, speed, and cheese graters

waveplant — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 13:38:22 -0000

The 12-Core Mac Pro 5,1 is still in incredibly powerful and can be found for just over $1000. As far as the things that might be worth stressing over, it's a pick your poison situation: the new security chip might mess up audio over USB on newer machines, and a new Mini or MBP would probably meet audio needs just fine if it weren't for that. And for those of us on a 5,1 running ~Sierra, as I suspect most of us are, the list of incompatible updates grows - and will soon include the latest version of Logic. Personally, I'd wrestle with the chip or try to get my machine to run Mojave (which is possible, although seems to be a bit of a pain) long before spending this kind of money on a machine that *might* be a lateral move, because the base config certainly is. We'll have to see what the higher end machines will cost. But I doubt I can abide spending that when I can get the job done with something else.

Re: Logic Pro X 10.4: New effects, and play and mix audio without a click

waveplant — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 16:54:44 -0000

I'm curious how the performance is this much better with the newer iMac Pros vs the 12-Core Mac Pros when they Geekbench out pretty much proportionally to their respective amount of cores. Did they change the CPU optimization? If so, I may wait on this update.

Re: Humans can mimic machines, too; look out, AutoTune

waveplant — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 10:09:43 -0000

ok sorry for monopolizing this thread but i'm suspicious. i think it may have been a pr move for the singer. the top video is pitch perfect but the second isn't - she's pretty consistently flat. i have a feeling that the first video *is* actually pitch-corrected (there are other effects on it - tons of reverb and delay so why not autotune too?), and the judges hid it it plain sight by calling it out. right during the ad-libs - perfect timing.

Re: Humans can mimic machines, too; look out, AutoTune

waveplant — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 08:44:11 -0000

the headline is a bit of a misnomer - it's not that she's reproducing the effect, it's that her voice sounds like a studio recording.

Re: Humans can mimic machines, too; look out, AutoTune

waveplant — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 08:39:44 -0000

her voice is pretty stunning. but i think the whole judges' exchange looks super staged.

Re: One of the best premium audio interfaces now claims to be better

waveplant — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 06:47:27 -0000

An issue I have with premium interfaces like this with an optical input and no optical / clock output is that if you want to expand your input channels with an inexpensive interface via ADAT, you have to clock your primary interface off of the expansion one with an inferior clock that's subject to more jitter. Seems like this defeats half the purpose of a premium interface. Some units resample internally but I don't think the Apollo series does.

Re: Confidence, humanity, and drumming: Kiran Gandhi interview

waveplant — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 07:25:04 -0000

Finding a balance between electronics (or whatever our chosen palette) and humanity is what most of us are striving for. A correlation with any shortcomings of those efforts to the more transient forms of electronic music, which prioritize fresh dance-floor material over longevity, seems like an apples to oranges comparison to me. Notwithstanding, this is a good reminder to focus more on the content, and less on the tools.

Re: The Clue to Apple’s MacBook Revisions is the Word “Pro”

waveplant — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 08:18:46 -0000

My initial reaction to the announcements is to wonder where the Air is going to fit into the future lineup. Apple seems to be going for a wider gap between their pro and consumer line, judging from the current Mini's dual core downgrade from quad. I hope they keep it around - it's a great blend of power & portability. Its specs and benchmarks are really competitive with the 13" Pro, and at one point in the refresh cycle, the Air was more powerful.

Re: Watch the Wonders of Grids, as monome Makers Defend Minimal Design

waveplant — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 00:06:48 -0000

basically, yeah - in terms of something unique to the instruments you indicated. when performing a piece live that was originally driven by a sequencer in the studio, that usually means bringing some combination of those instruments onstage to do basically the same thing they did in the studio. but the monome (i should be saying grid) allows much more spontaneity and plasticity. all wrapped in simplicity. the instrumental software and its controller are different parts of the same instrument.

Re: Watch the Wonders of Grids, as monome Makers Defend Minimal Design

waveplant — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 22:53:00 -0000

the monome is one of the closest things we have to a canonical instrument in electronic music. it has history, a community, creative conventions that are subject to the ebb and flow of changing aesthetics, and allows an incredible amount of freedom of expression. most importantly - it's geared towards live music creation as opposed to live music reconstruction. to dismiss its output as monistic is like listening to acoustic-guitar- based singer/songwriters and not being able to imagine doing anything else with a guitar.

Re: aleph Soundcomputer: Interview with monome creator Brian Crabtree and Ezra Buchla

waveplant — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:45:42 -0000

tehn said today on the monome forums that the focus on programming has been overemphasized, so the bees environment might not be as low-level as anticipated. sure, $1400 is no small investment but neither are the monomes & arcs that consistently sell out.

Re: aleph Soundcomputer: Interview with monome creator Brian Crabtree and Ezra Buchla

waveplant — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 11:08:32 -0000

seems like most of the debate topics are addressed in the interview. i'm reading a lot of comparisons to other programmable environments and i think the component that's perhaps the most overlooked and unquestionably the most important is the strength of the user community. what's great about maxmsp, for example - is that i can often google something i'm looking to do, find a forum topic that addresses it and incorporate it into my patch within seconds. that kind of community support only comes with time. i really hope aleph takes off, because to be able to follow the same process on dedicated hardware that devotes all of its resources to sound is incredibly exciting / inspiring.

Re: As Mac Pro Debates Rage On, Time for Some Reality Checks

waveplant — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 20:30:36 -0000

Let's not call it outdated just yet - at least not from a power perspective. As noted, the fastest current MacPro benches (on Geekbench) at over 20,000. The fastest current i7 is about 14-15000. 5-year old MacPros are about 10000, and it took a few years for the i7s to even get there. If you're running a mostly or all plugin based system, you need all the power you can get. Personally speaking, I like to upgrade when I get a really substantial boost in power - usually on a 5 year schedule, and the only way to do that if you're upgrading from an old MacPro is to get another MacPro - even a current one. For all the expenses and trouble, I'm not sure a 40% power upgrade with an i7 is worth it - plus, all the i7s run pretty hot and fans run at full blast constantly when you're pushing the processor hard, which audio work tends to do pretty regularly.

Re: Life After Slots: What the Mac Pro, External Hardware Mean for Production

waveplant — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 23:18:46 -0000

How you define a "pro" machine is an interesting aspect of this argument. Apple has obviously decided that pro primarily means power, while opposing arguments seem to place just as much significance on (internal) expandability. I've got an aging Mac Pro and I'm still not sure what to do. But this feels familiar to when Apple ditched the serial bus for USB, etc... We'll recover and it'll be fine. But I still can't help but think that pros don't really care what the form factor is if it does the job. And to some extent, the less external stuff there is to think about, the better. Small is fantastic, but if you aren't going to make a job of moving it around all the time, does it matter?

Another consideration - I'm not totally clear on all the details - and I'm not sure how much this depends on form factor vs cooling methods, but I've noticed that all the i7 machines (specifically the fans) tend to be really loud when the processor is pushed hard - something that can be relatively constant in audio work, whereas Xeon machines don't exhibit much audible difference. I had a MBP that sounded like a hairdryer and it was really distracting. That alone skews my decision toward a Xeon-based computer.

Re: Dear Elektron: Do You Need Some More Natural Sunlight?

waveplant — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 21:25:58 -0000

I'm sort of surprised there are so many wtf comments here and on other blogs. I mean, most of us are here because we have a left-of-center approach to creativity, right? Is the content of this piece really more bizarre than anything else our community does on a regular basis? This short is great. Not that I didn't skip to the end to see if there were any shots of the Synth Four, but I'm all for companies showing that they relate to their customers artistically as well as technically.

Re: Maschine, in Color: First CDM Hands-On With New Maschine Hardware, Software [Gallery]

waveplant — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 22:36:08 -0000

Any speculation about whether updates past 1.8 will support the mk1?