pouët.net

What's something really dumb you know of something doing when learning Ableton or another DAW (feel free to anonymize) including yourself?

[ And for those who hate Ableton, well, I intend to move on to other tools as well (maybe Reaper on one end, Impulse Tracker on the other, yay DOSBox and proper external keyboards), but you gotta start somewhere, and Live Lite was free this month and I found someone to show me how to use it. ]

Hopefully other folks learn from this, if the thread proves fruitful.

*crickets*

I think any use of ModPlug Tracker counts as a mistake.

That's true, people should directly start with OpenMPT instead. ;P

Not including a cowbell metronome option.

I dunno, as far as I'm concerned if the user is doing something stupid it's usually because the software in question is poorly designed from a usability point of view. But I guess feedback in a thread like this could always be used to promote better interaction design :). I'll see if I can remember something...

Logic - Did a mixdown for someone recently and everytime I clicked "Save As", it would crash! Thats pretty dumb! (although I think they've fixed that now)

Ableton - Inability to group return / effects tracks, also its signal routing is pants, but then there is Rewire.

Cubase with Reason Rewired - If you close your Reason file and then accidently dave your Cubase project, all the midi routing disconnects! Hence why I don't use Reason anymore!!

ProTracker - Can't beat perfection :P

I'll save Gargaj the post...

All of the above don't have zoom with mouse wheel.

It really, really, REALLY annoys me that I waited six months before checking out the "Actions"-menu in Reaper.

I can only think of general stupidity rather than anything related to a specific host. Stuff that I have always been guilty of. Like... creating large projects consisting of 50 tracks out of which 3 are bass drums, stuff that could really have been made in half that size if you would just have restrained yourself just a bit ;). Doing stuff like that never sounds good in the end anyway. Not for me at least.

Or not creating a well-organised directory structure and project name convention when you start churning out like 200 project versions and you try to find just the right one when all your project names are like "rrrrrr" or "cooltest" or something stupid like that ;).

Gloom: In a similar vain, I'd been using Cubase for years and only the last 4 projects I've done have I used the Folder track! It's no wonder I always used to get lost!

Elfan: my mate writes psy-trance, you need at least 5,000 tracks to make it good.

Elfan: as the saying goes: "Less is more".

H0ffman: well, that was dumb of you -- folder-tracks are awesome. :)

hoff: That's true for psy-trance. I don't do that kind of music and for the kind of music that I do make you're typically better off with less complex projects. At least that's what I experience.

gloom: My thoughts exactly. That's not to say that I practise what I preach, though ;D.

Elfan: it's easy. The next time you add five plugins to a track which only has your hihats.. don't. :)

made a note about rewire,
also about the actions menu in reaper
yeah, I knew the filenaming thing, although I had got lazy with other projects, so the reminder is good.

also, elfan, did you mean "save" here?
"accidently dave your Cubase project"
That said, I think I might start saying "dave" instead because its much more awesome.
Always remember to dave your tracks. Now with 50% more dave! : D

I shall be interested to see if there is more discussion.

also, note to self: do not try psytrance yet. It sounds daunting productionwise.

the mistake you are making is not using jeskola buzz, or not checking out the new version.

"Less is more" indeed, i kept putting in new effects into chains rather than thinking how to use one effect well. each effect degrades the signal, and i just ended up with a lot of muddy tracks.

gloom: "But it sounds so goooood" :D. And five days later I'm like "who the hell put these five plugins on this track? And WHY are there TWO reverbs on this track? What a MESS!" ;D

For I think almost three years I used the free version of MadTracker 2 which could only export to about 100kbps .ogg files. Wasn't really a mistake per se but looking back I don't know what the hell I was thinking. Also not to mention the fact I was making music with MT2...

... or rather, after 5 days I still think that I need those 5 plug-ins and those 2 reverbs but instead I convince myself that the track needs some EQ:ing and compression, so I add that to the track too to counter the overblown effects from all the other plug-ins and reverbs. Adding more shit to a pile of shit tends to just make it shittier ;). I guess my problems are less about the host and the effects and more about the general psychosis and self-delusion that I live in constantly ;).

noby: Hey, if you get something done using MT2 that's the tool you should use :). If you have a workflow that works for you then just go with it :). Of course, if you get stuff done using other DAWs too you could always use them instead but never stop using that works for you just because everyone else is using some other DAW. Also, of course one should try other DAWs too but productivity should always be the focus. That's just my take after spending 10 years of my life trying to find a good workflow.

Yeah that's kinda why hanged on to it for so long. I loved the pattern editor and the UI of the program but eventually drifted away from it because of lacking export, the over abundance of all sorts of bugs, and the fact that the program was awfully outdated and missing a ton of features. Been using renoise for about 2½ years now. Renoise isn't perfect either but at least it's being developed and gets better with every release :). I'm still longing for a proper horizontal arranger view to accompany the pattern system.

Elfan: to be serious for a moment (wwhhaaaAAAAAT?!) - the point when I had a kid and had no free time was the time I really started getting my producing shit together. One of the first things I did was to throw out everything and start "from scratch". New DAW (www.reaper.fm), and just by adding one plugin at a time. It was also the time I went 100% legit on my software. Paying for something ensures that you spend quality time with it, and this is sort of the key to knowing what you need and what you don't need.

Glooms got it nailed.

this seems to have turned into a reaper advertising thread, justin would be proud ;)