[Ardour-Users] subscription support down, your ideas sought

[Mark Knecht]

On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 12:04 PM, Thomas Vecchione <seablaede at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 2:08 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>   In my opinion I think that Ardour, with respect to the masses,
>> suffers from being overly complex. There are lots of stupid
>> limitations Digi has put on their home recording tools that gives
>> Ardour an opening. Some ideas:
>>
>> 1) Hardwired for stereo with a mono switch on each track.
>>
>> 2) None of the routing stuff is generally required for writer/composer
>> types. We need a few buses for routing to sub-masters and reverb. A
>> short list of send buses, 4 or 8 sub-masters (over kill) and a master
>> fader and I'm done.
>>
>> 3) A focused list of plugins, a couple of VST's to show capability.
>>
>> 4) No programmed limit on audio tracks.
>>
>> In the last 10 years I might have exceed that twice and have never
>> used more than stereo.
>
> Mark-
>
>   I believe you were just mentioning to release a version like this, but
> continue working on Ardour as normal?

Yes! Yes! Yes! I do not envision ANY change to what Paul does day by
day. In the perfect world I imagine some dedicated programmer who
creates a stripped down version and then ALWAYS keeps it up to date
with what's going on in Ardour's development, if appropriate. It
should not be, ala Native Instrument's stupid 'Session' products that
you buy only to find they are dropped later with no support, something
that's a one-time deal. This should be, in my mind, an ongoing
'version' of Ardour that is used to help pay the bills.

Keep in mind that most of the folks here are really the wrong ones to
ask about this exact version. We all know too much about Ardour, about
Alsa, and about Linux. The way you get a bigger group of users isn't
(IMHO) to get more Linux users to use it. It's to get more new users
and the biggest user base is generally at the bottom where there are
more people who don't know as much about the environment.

I personally think it's important to have all versions look a lot like
each other and work like each other so that someone can start with the
easy version and graduate if and when they ever need to. I also
imagine that a stripped down version might be interesting in some
embedded devices that can record only two or four channels. Set up a
template, record a session live at a concert. Bring it home and mix it
on a PC.

Just ideas.

> However despite that i figured I
> would throw out here that my uses of Ardour do not match at all actually;)
>
> The AU plugin support on OS X is a great thing to me to be honest, it means
> that I can easily use some plugins I have instead of worrying about VST
> compatibility in Linux.  On the flip side of this, it keeps me in OS X where
> Linux is a much better match for my workflow, so it is a mixed bag for me in
> that regards.
>
> I, however, OFTEN use more than stereo, and am one of those that has
> requested a good multi-channel ambisonic panner in the past for this
> reason.  I don't even do standard 5.1, 7.1 or whatever surround typically as
> I work in theater sound design and might mix for 18 different locations.
> Ardour doesn't handle this well right now, but it is better than hardwired
> stereo.  On the flip side, given that stereo is the only easily accessible
> routing right now, it might be worth it to concentrate on this for the time
> being for the sake of simplicity.
>
> I also tend to use a variety of busses myself for effects, submasters, etc.
> The last CD I worked on I think I had about 10-12 going if I remember right,
> and would have had, probably many, more if they worked closer to the VCA
> setup than a bus setup.
>
> Just tossing it out there.  Not saying a simplified public distribution
> isn't a bad idea, just that it would certainly not fit everyone either.
>
>         Seablade
>

Good inputs, and please no one should take what I'm saying as
important. It's just an idea that hadn't really come up and I felt
like saying something. It won't go anywhere until some developer
wanted to support it at which time I expect that person would likely
make a pitch for a features list, etc.

Cheers,
Mark