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| synthdude |
 Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 8:16 am Post subject: The end of timeless instruments? |
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Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 910
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<b>The End of Timeless Instruments?</b>
<i>By CRAIG ANDERTON</i>
I’m nervous. I have some software synths and plug-ins that make some great sounds, and they’ve become a staple of what I do. But they’re probably doomed…and I don’t like that one bit.
I have a 1966 Telecaster that still sounds great. A friend of mine regularly restores pianos from the 1800s. The Stradivarius is considered the ultimate violin. And my vintage Minimoog, thanks to a little TLC, is still producing those wonderful thunderous bass lines. But fast forward to 2035. Do you think any of today’s plug-ins will still run on anything?
<b>Problem #1:</b> Copy protection. If your software depends on authorization from a web site and a company goes out of business, you’re probably hosed. (Furthermore, many software companies depend on the genius of one or two individuals; if they go, so does the company.) At some point, you might not be able to unlock a legitimate copy so that it runs. But that probably won’t matter anyway, because of…
<b>Problem #2:</b> Shifting operating systems. Every time Apple or Microsoft revs their operating system, some of my programs won’t work anymore. We’re not just talking seismic shifts, like going from OS 9 to OS X; a lot of programs need patches to make the jump from OX S 10.3 to 10.4. And while Microsoft deserves a pat on the back for their attention to backward compatibility, at some point older programs are going to break when you try to run them on a more modern operating system. I suspect that when Windows Vista arrives, some older programs will not work with it, and the companies won’t update them – either because they consider it not economically feasible, or because the company no longer exists.
What kind of a world have we created where instruments are inherently disposable? Of course, this is through no fault of the designers; I’m sure they’d love to have their products work forever. But the fact remains that so much of what makes an instrument desirable is developing a relationship with it. Sometimes the little quirks and special features are what you exploit to create a signature sound. And after you spend years mastering a particular plug-in, then what? Are you just supposed to forget it and move on? Look how wrenching it has been for some people to have to abandon Vision on the Mac, or Logic on Windows. That is just a foreshadowing of what will surely be a massive wave of obsolescence in the future.
Or maybe instruments should be disposable. Pop music is disposable; fashion is disposable. Dinosaurs ruled the earth, and then they died out. Maybe living in the here and now is a Good Thing, forcing us not to get attached to what we know, but to constantly confront the new – even if it’s reluctantly.
Still, part of me wants at least some software to have the same staying power as a beautiful guitar. Unfortunately. I suspect that the future will be unforgiving to today’s generation of virtual instruments.
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ORIGINAL MUSIC: RS / Archtop Soul / synthdude / YouTube Channel I / YouTube Channel II |
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| Raggy |
| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:07 pm Post subject: Re: The end of timeless instruments? |
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Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 196
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| synthdude wrote: | | Quote: |
<b>The End of Timeless Instruments?</b>
<i>By CRAIG ANDERTON</i>
I have a 1966 Telecaster that still sounds great.
Do you think any of today’s plug-ins will still run on anything?
Still, part of me wants at least some software to have the same staying power as a beautiful guitar. Unfortunately. I suspect that the future will be unforgiving to today’s generation of virtual instruments.
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expecting software to last forever is like expecting the beautiful guitar's strings to last forever!  Change strings once a few weeks, change software once a few years.
anyway, software is just a tool, and tools tend to evolve. no big deal lah.
But I agree there's an inherent problem when your data/product is encrypted and tied to a particular company's software...when the company goes kaput, your data gets on the endangered-species list.
Amongst other stuff,I run a small software-development biz too. Same problem for all of my clients, they got to wake up and say a little prayer for my good health everyday hahahahaha but no, what we do is seperate the software from the data, i.e. the software is unique/proprietory but the data is in a format easily read by many other systems, so if the software ever goes kaput, they still have their data and just find other software to use it with.
Similar situation with choosing music software, you got to try to get stuff that saves data in a non-proprietory standard format, which you can migrate to other software.
It may be software but it's hardwork |
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