musicFAQ.net is open

[x_bruce]

Hello all,

after what seemed a brief eternity musicFAQ.net is open. You can find it at:
http://www.musicfaq.net

Current site problems:
not currently working with browsers other than Internet Explorer. This should be fixed in a day or so.

The site will give both users and developers/companies a good idea of our simiple style and extensive articles, reviews and interviews

In this issue there are several reviews including Glenn Olander, Dave Spiers, Jon at ConcreteFX, Dave at WhiteNoise, Harry at VirSyn and Ben from Camel Audio.

Reviews include:
ConcreteFX Adder
WhiteNoise Additive
Camel Audio Cameleon
VirSyn CUBE
FXpansion BFD
East West Vapor

an article on Additive Synthesis

a good size listing of SynthEdit sites and a bunch more.

I hope you enjoy this resource. Please let me know what you think and if you don't mind keep it on the positive side.

Thanks all,
Bruce

[Spe3D]

Hi! Bruce,

Really great site - very fast loading here. are you hosting the samples now? and should I remove the ones from Harmony?

Best regards,

Peter

[pHz]

looks good bruce !!!

(the experimentfour link on the SE page actually points to the EVM URL though)

slainte rob

[x_bruce]

Thanks gents.


Spe3D, if you can continue hosting them I'd appreciate it. I'm working with limited bandwidth - no demo songs up there yet for the same reason.


pHz, I have the experimentfour link going to:

www.experimentfour.co.uk

Everything is corrected now. One thing I must say, SE devs are like flickering lights, no sooner do you have a site than the developer stops doing it or leaves a blank page with a "coming soon" sign and nothing else.

I should take this to the SE page but it seems like if SE developers want to be taken seriously they need to band together and keep sites open. If a person wants to leave and doesn't want their synths made available, fine, but in some cases people get their jollies, don't become recognised as they'd like and move on to online porn...ok, maybe not online porn but when no one's at the url it doesn't make me want to visit them since it's pretty damn easy to do a redirect.

This chunk of negativity is brought to you by x_bruce, accept no others!

[pHz]

...

slainte rob

[x_bruce]

Hello other people reading this thread.

I really could use your help. So far it has been mentioned that the links are too similar in color, especially once visited.

It helps us make a better site.

Also, what do you want to see discussed and reviewed?

We have a huge backlog of some awesome synths. I've tried to toss in a few newer synths that aren't quite as epic as some of the synths in our review cache.

We are the new site on the block but we aren't competing with other sites. If you have a look you'll see many other sites we admire.

Thanks,
Bruce

[bluedad]

somehow bruce, in mozilla, the right column doesn't show up. neither in firefox.

[smp]

Just a quick question, Bruce.

What are your plans for the "Articles" section? I don't want to make suggestions for something that you're already working on

Are you planning on doing any sound design articles? How about idiot's guides? These are just suggestions, mind you

Oh, and it's a bit weird having a column on the right hand side and text frame on the left. It's the opposite of what I'm used to (or even 2/3s of what I'm used to - ie main text in between two narrower columns). However, that's just a personal preference and I know pretty soon I won't even notice

-s

[Spe3D]

We are the new site on the block but we aren't competing with other sites. If you have a look you'll see many other sites we admire.

Spe3D, if you can continue hosting them I'd appreciate it. I'm working with limited bandwidth - no demo songs up there yet for the same reason.


Thanks,
Bruce

Cheers Bruce,

Sorry I had to type something, I'm ok now, carry on

Best regards,

Peter

[x_bruce]

Hi bluedad,
if you still have problems with Mozilla please let me know. There is a inconsistancy that creates this problem everytime I upload new content. With consultation from the site host we have it fixed and I'll just manually update a simple file after the site has been updated.

Re: site updates
initally they will be inconsistant as we start applying ourselves to reviewing, interviewing, and stirring up things within articles and a personal observation now and then. We hope to make updates either weekly to bi-weekly on a consistant basis.

Hi smp,
I'd be interested in what people want to see articles on, especially if we can say, yep, it's on the to do list or is being worked on.
Some articles will be:
The nature of creativity - learning styles applied to instrument and equipment interfaces
How we create - people have styles, we will try to go in depth depending on the number of people that help by discussing how they best work. E.G. some open a step sequence and lay down a drum track and bass. Others, and I'm in this type, pick up on an idea and play it on the sound or instrument we hear it on then go on to flesh out the creation. Others use traditional 12 tone notation.
Building a $100 studio
Building a free studio
Why midi files suck and how to make them sound great
Synthesis articles, E.G. What is subtractive synthesis. What is FM synthesis, etc.
Do you need to play an instrument to make computer based music?
and so on....

NOTES ABOUT US -
there are hundreds of synthesizers available today. If you see a VST, VSTi, DX, AU on our site we like it. While there need to be sites that discuss the good and bad points of software or hardware we skip the bad completely. This means we put a lot of time into a review just making sure we like and have learned the instrument.

Consider this. Instead of giving you the good and bad about a synth, and if there are serious problems you will know about them even if we give it a good review, we feel print is better spent talking about the mod matrix and what you can do with it including when possible examples. We see no point to lambasting or slapping certain synths on the wrist. It is easy to carp away about a terrible synth rather than explore the possibilities of a good one. We also think readers ought to know what the instrument or plugin does.

There are dozens of songs based on the existing synths reviewed. When we have a deep linking system up we will upload demo songs that show in context what a synth can do.

Also we will demystify the so-called lack of many synths dismissed, in particular SynthEdit synths. Rather than discuss why SE synths aren't professional we will challenge that smug assertion with what can a professional do using the tools at his avaiability and perhaps will have contests on this theme with prizes supplied by developers/companies.

We aren't K-v-R, we are far too opinionated and besides, respect K-v-R too much to even consider what we do competition.

Tutorials and free ensembles/presets will be made available upon completion. We will focus on Reaktor and Vaz Modular. We need a good SE developer too.

Look for tutorials within a month and Vaz or Reaktor synths withing two months.

Thanks and here's hoping to hear from those that want a chance to influence a resource site.

[x_bruce]

bump

No one has any ideas? Someone is asking what you want. Maybe I've got it wrong and there are too many music and how it's made sites.

It's curious though. People ask something frequently here and don't think about things they'd like to know about.

I'm going to keep doing musicFAQ.net but it would have been nice to see someone respond about it. Trust me, for the time it takes it's not a vanity site. Perhpas I don't understand what people want?

[smp]

Sorry Bruce, I haven't been really checking for the last few days (stupid real world, always intruding in on my time )

Anyway, your list of upcoming articles pretty much includes just about everything I was thinking about. I can honestly say I can't wait to see more

One thing I was thinking of (and may have already occurred to you) is a "Free Synth" Sound Workshop. Here you could explain the basics of synthesis and do some simple sound design classes (eg how to make a classic synth string sound, basics of synth basses, synth brass etc) using freeware synths. This way people can follow the workshops with examples they can apply on stuff that is available for free. I guess good synths to use could be Crystal, FreeAlpha or Synth1 (between them they would cover most bases I guess). I have often toyed with trying to adapt the excellent Sound on Sound Synth Secrets for this purpose, but everytime I have sat down to try and work it out, it hasn't seemed quite so straight forward. Admittedly, I'm a very primitive synthesist, so maybe someone with more skill in this area could do this easily (I don't know - just conjecturing).

Um, so yeah, looking forward to more musicFAQ, Bruce. I hope you get some more suggestions/ideas coming your way (and if I ever get skill, talent and the ability to write it down, I'll send some stuff your way ).

-s

[george]

(editor's note, unfortunately we were unable to obtain a copy of discoDSP, Vertigo in time for this review, it is a promising synth although it was impossible to review properly using it's demo)

Demo can be perfectly reviewed since you only can't save patches.

[Shane Sanders]

Hello other people reading this thread.

I really could use your help. So far it has been mentioned that the links are too similar in color, especially once visited.

It helps us make a better site.

Also, what do you want to see discussed and reviewed?

We have a huge backlog of some awesome synths. I've tried to toss in a few newer synths that aren't quite as epic as some of the synths in our review cache.

We are the new site on the block but we aren't competing with other sites. If you have a look you'll see many other sites we admire.

Thanks,
Bruce

Cool site, and good luck with the concept.

As for the design: I think it needs to be centered in the browser. As it is, if I have my browser maximized, I have to turn my head to read which is not comfortable at all.

Look how much nicer a centered page is both aesthetically and ergonomically:

http://wireframe.co.za/yulia/splash.htm

http://www.broadjam.com/

http://www.mediatemple.net/company/aboutus/

You can get good CSS templates for centering here:
http://bluerobot.com/web/layouts/default.asp

Also, the page-heading text graphics need just a little more vertical spacing and perhaps a smaller font (maybe as much as 1/3 smaller) - a pixel font would be nice and crisp. If it was mine, I'd make them all caps, too, but that's nit-picking.

Your corner graphic is cool, and small, affording you the luxury of switching it out with each section. Even something abstract up there would be nice, adding a splash of color without distracting from the purpose of the site. If you would like to put some interesting (tasteful) abstract textures up there, let me know and I'll make a few dozen of them for you to play with.

-Shane

[x_bruce]

Hi smp, actually, you're a good target user. I felt bad not having a less intensive article to balance out additive synthesis. Until my mystery helper is finished on work for some developers we both contribute time to.

I hope we can appeal to all kinds of audiences.


Hi George. You stated, "Demo can be perfectly reviewed since you only can't save patches."

Let me clear this up. We do not review demo synths. I would be happy to discuss why demo synths do not fit our review structure. In fact, many people who haven't been to the site might not know this but at musicFAQ.net we not only review synhs we try as demos but we only review what we like. We like Vertigo but can't afford to buy it.

Our reviews consist of:
1. control by control reviews of every synh as they had such different means of approaching additive synthesis and each synth was exceptional.
2. interviews with the synth developer
3. music written by site writers or in several cases by me. Credentials: I composed for a living until I became completely disabled.

in the case of synths at other sites that had not been reviewed I freely gave the same reviews to these sites as we strongly believe in pushing toe software synthesis community.


Shane, that was a very helpful discussion. Here's the deal. I make no claim at being capalble with web design. As I learned dozens upond doens of synths I also had to find a program to help with the chores.

Image Line were kind enough to donate a copy of EZ Generator. It is a great program and has numerous templates for pages. Do I think they did it to influence their reviews on Sytrus and Fruity Loops XXL, I doubt it. They were just being nice as they know we have zero budget and needed something like their product. I can promise it won't change a single thing about the reviews. I have a few quibbles that will still get discussed. But I've been a FL user for five years and while it's not my first line of attack it works well for what it's meant to do.

I agree with most of your critique, Shane and if you or anyone else would like to get involved with the site as a designer or web master that would be outstanding. Until then the site will be hamperred by my lack of capability with web development.