Will Daws Eventually End Up As Hardware ?

[jancivil]

oh sorry, wrong thread, where am I

let's put something here, then. The thread title asks a general question. No one seems to be using any hardware DAW, these affirmations of use case involving syncing up with a whole computer and the actual DAW. It kind of indicates this isn't happening, and doesn't actually point to why it would. I think making better controllers, make 'em as powerful as ya can, is great stuff.

But seriously, people, as a general thing, the paradigm is supposed to swing like a pendulum back to a situation where so many of us never got to hear our music? Are orchestral users of DAWs and VE Pro all going to vanish between now and then? The market is what it is.
Kinda delusional. Nostalgia run amok, or something.

[THE INTRANCER]

A hardware DAW is literally the worst of all worlds. You get only the downside, none of the upsides.

That's really dependent on how it's done though... a portable multiscreen-touch screen / controller device is one example, with fader controls, knobs and buttons. Presonus are almost there... if they went a step further.

https://www.fujitsu.com/global/products ... -chip.html

[bungle]

Yes 100% no doubt, that is if you call a DAW the hardware controlling the computer, computers are just the tiniest little part of a DAW moving forward, there will be more and more specific control options moving forward, that is where the money is.

[jancivil]

two different goalposts, but have fun with it

[pc999]

I would love to see Bitwig (or even Ableton) as a standalone unit, like Akai Force or NI Maschine+.

I do so much more music and have so much more fun when I am not at the PC.

[jamcat]

A hardware DAW is literally the worst of all worlds. You get only the downside, none of the upsides.

That's really dependent on how it's done though... a portable multiscreen-touch screen / controller device is one example, with fader controls, knobs and buttons. Presonus are almost there... if they went a step further.

https://www.fujitsu.com/global/products ... -chip.html

There are fundamental drawbacks that will always exist with a unitasker hardware recorder:

• Limited inputs/outputs
• Limited/no expandability/upgradability
• Tied to system software/firmware
• Limited editing screen/controls
• If any part breaks, the whole thing is garbage
• Built-in obsolescence with no way out

Why would anyone want that when an iPad will always provide a better, more portable option that is always evolving and relevant?

[jancivil]

fader controls, knobs and buttons
Well, some people think turning knobs or touching hardware is so fantastic everyone should love it, one guesses.
I remember the OP being argumentative about it before, it's about touch and tactility, ie., more expressive to be turning knobs. Which someone with a background playing acoustic instruments where your tone is in your hands will tend to find kind of laughable. I can use my trackpad to control anything, and it's a pretty good feel to me. It's as good as a Sensel Morph or an iPad as far as that, albeit there can be a lot of power in the design and UX those add. I'm all about control, but that's just one end of it.

I understand why someone would want to get away from a computer for it, but I'm not one of them. Doesn't mean I need it to come up with ideas, I have ideas constantly, it's about execution.
Objectively speaking it's less = less. But the market appetite is not very high for that "step further" I'd bet.
if they do it, fantastic, have a great time, sincerely but the world is not trying to go backwards I don't think.
I'm all for it, whatever, but the argument is pretty poor, framed as this overarching quasi-rhetorical question as it is.
you'll have to be doing a lot less than I need to do to argue for it.

I've been there, I know what it's like, in what zerocrossing calls the Before Time. it isn't that much of a romance.

[THE INTRANCER]

A hardware DAW is literally the worst of all worlds. You get only the downside, none of the upsides.

That's really dependent on how it's done though... a portable multiscreen-touch screen / controller device is one example, with fader controls, knobs and buttons. Presonus are almost there... if they went a step further.

https://www.fujitsu.com/global/products ... -chip.html

There are fundamental drawbacks that will always exist with a unitasker hardware recorder:

• Limited/no expandability/upgradability
• Tied to system software/firmware
• Limited editing screen/controls
• If any part breaks, the whole thing is garbage
• Built-in obsolescence with no way out

Why would anyone want that when an iPad will always provide a better, more portable option that is always evolving and relevant?

Hardware can be expanded physically provided it has the ports and slots to support it.

System software can be upgraded as can the firmware.

Editing / Screen controls wouldn't be much different if there is a touch interface as well.

If any part breaks, you would either fix it yourself, get a replacement or buy a new one.

If the built-in software can be updated, then it should serve it's purpose.

____________

ipads are limited in ports and physical connections, real physical and tactile controls such as an array of buttons, faders, dials, ribbon controllers, joysticks, QWERTY keys, midi keys, multi-screens and expandable RAM. ( You would need to employ the same sort of setup using external hardware for much of that )

A self-contained hardware DAW system would be of greater robustness and protection from potential damage than an ipad if built well and it would keep it's value.

[THE INTRANCER]

I actually own one of these as part of my setup... it something that's 20+ years old now... but it shows how much can be contained in a box the size of a VHS Cassette.

[jamcat]

There is nothing about that Gameboy that lends itself to music composition.
It's a deathbox for creativity and inspiration.

You spend all your time fighting the technology instead of expressing yourself artistically.

[THE INTRANCER]

There is nothing about that Gameboy that lends itself to music composition.
It's a deathbox for creativity and inspiration.

You spend all your time fighting the technology instead of expressing yourself artistically.

I could say the same about Reaper

[Grumbleweed]

I actually own one of these as part of my setup... it something that's 20+ years old now... but it shows how much can be contained in a box the size of a VHS Cassette.

I still have a QY70 that looks pretty similar to the QY100 in the video. I had a Tascam digital recorder and some kind of Boss guitar floor FX unit and used to download my tracks to a Sony mini disk recorder.
Those were the days when you had to work to make music!
Getting a PC and Magix Music Maker made life a bit easier, and then getting Reason and Sonar Home Studio made everything better. Kids today have no idea how good they have it

[jancivil]

lol, true. I was avoiding going into old people storytime or Four Yorkshiremen territory
We usedta have to describe loop points in hexadecimal on a display the size of my thumb to get any sample to sustain
^true story

I remember 1987 coveting that QY job like mad, never had the money.

this is a great example of why I think this topic is kinda bs, it would be ludicrous to desire that from this standpoint

[antic604]

No, they won't. Try producing a technically-heavy genre like psytrance on MPC or M+ to clearly see that making a rough sketch is possible, going into the details & super-geeky stuff simply isn't possible.

So I guess it depends on music style.

[THE INTRANCER]

I still have a QY70 that looks pretty similar to the QY100 in the video. I had a Tascam digital recorder and some kind of Boss guitar floor FX unit and used to download my tracks to a Sony mini disk recorder.
Those were the days when you had to work to make music!
Getting a PC and Magix Music Maker made life a bit easier, and then getting Reason and Sonar Home Studio made everything better. Kids today have no idea how good they have it

As an 80's kid that played simple electronic LCD hand held games, discovering the basic's of music on 8 Bit computers and portable Casio Sampling keyboards. There is a lot more affection for real objects in which to interact with. Music hardware was simpler in features, but I think that because it took more effort to create music as home music creator, the results of that learning provided for better music in general to listen to because you learned the basics. Today, kids have a greater choice but with that, I feel they are lost in a jungle of options with no clear defined path in which way to go down today.

The QY series is like playing one of those electronic games of old... but there is something special about them, something more real than complete virtual reality of a DAW environment.