What do you guys think of the new NI stems format? Cool or not?

[DJ_Syntax]

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Not sure what to think of it...it's definitely cool to have access to music at the stem level but why is it only limited to four tracks? And wouldn't it benefit more from an open format approach?

There's a great article from Splice here (http://www.splice.com) that explains it really well.

Looking forward to seeing what you guys think!

[whyterabbyt]

All your link does is go to the front page of the splice website, not a specific article. Seems like you have to have an account and be logged in to see it.

CMD's article on Stems is visible to anyone...

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2015/04/s ... will-work/

The article suggests that a fixed count of 4 (stereo) tracks was chosen for simplicity and compatibility. Given that the format seems primarily aimed at DJs, rather than full-on remixers, I guess that makes sense. That's reflected in the fact that the audio is, by default, compressed (although lossless files are supported).
If you think about it in terms of what hardware a DJ might be using, maybe 4 stereo tracks is a sensible compromise; any more and mixing becomes too complex. It also means this is within the processing capabilities of cheaper hardware (almost certainly including pads); dont forget independent analog IO channels get expensive.

Put it this way, its not necessarily the most flexible, but its probably a very good compromise, and it offers something that didnt exist before. And if it gets widely adopted, perhaps V2 will include an expansion in the number of tracks for remixers and the like.

[aMUSEd]

I'm really surprised no one came up with this idea before.