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Hardware continued
Selection of monitors (video) – First of all, you
have to pay attention to the same contrast of a monitor, when purchasing
a few HD monitors. Once I worked at two different monitors of the same
company and I had to set contrast manually, which didn’t solve the
problem in 100% and I had to get used to two different colours of the
same workspace. The larger the screen resolution on a monitor, the more
tracks are visible, and the more time can be spent on composing and listening,
not on scrolling windows. In 2011 Spectrasonics released one of the first
music applications Omni TR for an iPad. Although the application is used
only to control the creation of Dubstep sounds, it can be used instead
of modulation controller in steering keyboards. If you have problems with
delays during your work on music for a video, you can use the method from
the 90s, i.e. playing the video on a separate TV, laptop of smartphone
screen. As far as the best multi-screen display division is concerned,
the correct order is as follows: the first screen is the main display;
the second is for piano roll, the third for VST, the fourth for a mixer,
the fifth for a video (it can be also substituted with a projector or
a TV). If we have more than 3 screens, we can make one big display instead
of 4 separate ones; however, to do so, we will need screen outriggers
(a trick, which will enhance the visibility of the screen, is auto-hiding
the taskbar). Probably the only disadvantage of working on many screens
is moving the cursor using a mouse – it is both very tiring and
time consuming. The solution to this problem is purchasing a tablet, commonly
used by many kinds of graphic artists. The next opportunity is LCD touch
screens, which can turn into music paper or even a mixer thanks to a pointing
device (a special pen). If we have an ordinary LCD screen and an LCD touch
screen, we can clone the image of the main screen, and we can place or
lay the touch screen close to us in order to correct notes with a pen.
Choosing a steering keyboard – It is best to choose a keyboard
with 88 fully weighted keys, with a mini mixer and CC (Continuous Controller)
keys and pans. Cutting a long story short, we can assign CC controllers
for changing the instrument key switches without searching and hitting
the keyboard notes, turning the effects on and off, and many more. Keyboards
differ from steering keys with the number of inbuilt sounds (there are
certain external versions of some of the keyboards, e.g. sound banks,
such as Yamaha Motif and Korg Triton). In addition you can purchase steering
pedals (expression and sustain) to the keyboard, which simulate playing
on a real piano. In contrary to most of the steering keys, keyboards give
an opportunity to choose the midi channel without using a mouse, which
proves helpful when you are behind the schedule. A keyboard with a small
number of keys, but with an octave switch is helpful when you work on
a laptop.
Now time has come for some curiosities. If we need a larger mixer, than
the one on a steering keyboard, then the External Mixer has to be MIDI
USB compatible (optionally we may need a phantom power amplifier or a
microphone input, if we record sound apart from music). USB mixers can
be combined into one mixer, if we don’t have enough cash for a large
mixer. If our loudspeakers don’t have any knobs, then we may need
a loudspeaker amplifier with a remote control (instead of an amplifier,
we can use special keys on a wireless keyboard). A wireless mouse, wireless
keyboard and trackball can facilitate the creation of music as well.
Another thing is SSD external hard drives with installed VST, which can
be used as means of quick access to data or as a backup. However, before
instrument files reach RAM, they have to be entered and uploaded from
a drive, which takes some time, depending on their number. However, when
we work on something important, every minute matters.
If we don’t have a powerful computer, it gets overloaded when we
check the real time panorama using an iZotope Ozone plug. We can save
this problem by checking the panorama during breaks, using e.g. the Wavelab
program, after saving the work in progress version as mp3.
Plugins for MAC's
Recent studies have revealed that the more efficient employees work on
Macintosh computers. It is nothing new, because Apple has always been
producing the least fallible computers in the world.
However, as far as the cooperation of a few Apple computers is concerned,
they operate on the basis of the Midi Network Setup. In order to connect
a few computers, they should be joined with Firewire cables (which transmit
CPU clock and audio) and ethernet cables (which transmit Midi). It works
in the same way as FX Teleport, and the only difference is that you need
more cables. In addition Teleport programme could be useful, which is
used to control the mouse and keyboard when working on a few Macs simultaneously.
The Native Instruments Kontakt Memory Server is an opposite of the FX
Teleport program. The former was issued only for MAC computers and is
built in the Kontact Player. The Kontakt Memory Server loads instruments
to RAM memory for a longer time and enables to ‘freeze’ the
free memory resources to an unused instrument. A similar method is purge
samples, but it is more time-consuming and requires switching instruments
off manually. Purge samples acts in the same way as mono function on every
instrument, except for the fact that it switches off sounds from memory
for good, releasing its resources (it doesn’t mean that we cannot
upload data back quickly in the same way). We can do it in a state of
emergency, when we know that these elements are ready in the current project
and we won’t have to correct them.
Working on a laptop could be an option for people creating Dance or Dubstep
music, because they do not need a very “powerful” working
station. Working on a laptop is advantageous in all kinds of ways.
Don't fear the Windows system
Virtual memory acts in the same way as ‘freezing’ notes in
.wav files, but it is not so perfect. A disadvantage of using virtual
memory is the fact that we have to have a plugged-in hard drive, where
we arranged some capacity for virtual memory. We also have to take into
consideration the fact that our computer will work slower, because virtual
memory is not as fast as RAM (with the exception of SSD hard drives, where
virtual memory was set up).
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The program for Windows system – FX Teleport - which I wrote about
in the previous part is divided into a few versions serving one host computer
and one, two, three, four or even more servers. It is worth remembering
that you have to install such virtual instruments on the server computer,
not to put the load on the host computer. In my opinion, it is worth investing
in this program and a few computers, in order to develop your own scheme
for quick work, even, if you work on an antique equipment. In addition,
the Giga Teleport program works similarly, but only for the Giga Sampler
plugin.
The only errors I encountered when working with Windows 7 operating system
were related to the music software, such as Kontakt (in order to avoid
the errors, you should purchase Kontakt sampler update from time to time)
and notifications about the graphic card overload due to keeping the computer
in a locked cabinet without ventilation. It is worth remembering that
a graphic card which is plug into many displays consumes more electric
energy and hence heats to a higher extent. Hans Zimmer was the one who
implemented the idea for “cooling” the equipment a long time
ago, but it was Brian Tyler who was the first composer to speak about
it during an interview in a studio.
Below you will find a summary of all computer working stations.
Hardware Summary
PC
Strengths
- Main Boards with 16 AMD Processor and Up to 130 GB of RAM
- Subassemblies development price
Weaknesses
- Only 6-core processor on Intel Main Boards
- Potential problems with the system
Mac
Strengths
- 12-core processor
- The least fallible operating system in history
Weaknesses
- Only 32 GB of RAM the maximum
- Computer development is not cheap
- In case of a breakdown, the whole computer is taken to the service
(refers to the iMac)
Laptop
Strengths
- You can create music anywhere and anytime.
- Easy and quick configuration
Weaknesses
- No possibility to change sub assemblies (may not refer to RAM in
certain models)
- Only RAM memory may be developed but not very much.
- Very hard to repair or roll back
Hardware Summary Addendum
My IT knowledge gained during computer studies combined with musical
knowledge allowed me to save time by not searching for answers about errors
on software manufacturers’ websites and not spending too much money
on employing helpdesk to choose equipment and install software.
Such things, as cold solders and equipment failures are symptoms of workstation
overheating, since a computer works on its top capacity, when it records
a file with several dozen layers and saves to .mp3 or .wav formats. Therefore
it is extremely important to cool the computer and keep it in a cupboard
(if possible, a glass one, since it gives heat away the quickest) and
placing two fans inside of it – one for letting hot air out and
the other for blowing cold air in. The equipment has to be cooled down
in order to function longer; it doesn’t matter, whether it is cooled
using liquid nitrogen, mineral oil or cooled air. The more screens are
plugged to an internal graphic card, the faster it will heat up. Some
graphic cards are equipped with temperature indicator, which is very helpful.
Many devices, e.g. hard drives, can switch off due to a feeder’s
low power supply. Therefore, before we purchase a few drives and a triple
head graphic card, we have to remember about choosing the right feeder
to our computer.
There are times when notes are playing in our heads and we have to make
use of a piece of paper, which is however more and more often substituted
with Garage Band software on an iPhone.
What’s funny, we still use the old, small, high-tone Genius loudspeakers
from the 90s, which have a ‘3D sound’ button; when I press
it, I don’t need headphones to ‘discover’ all high-tone
sounds.
Another curiosity is a parody of the song ‘I’m on a boat’,
entitled ‘I’m on a Mac’, sung by comedians Pantless
Knights. They show in a satirical way the differences between PC and Mac
computer. The funny thing is that after the release of Windows 7, jokes
about the Windows system started to be meaningless.
Up Next
In the next part, I will describe programs and differences between them.
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