Okay, I’ve stands all that I can stands and I can’t stands no more. I’ve had it with Vista for any sort of musical purpose (and the ill-concieved yet well intentioned laptop-as-a-DAW idea). Seriously…even with all that aero bullshit and looking like its straight out of 98, Vista can’t process audio to save its ass on this machine. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty cool OS for everything else…but not music. So, to remedy the matter, I nutted up and bought a dual Xeon server which I will proceed to load with XP, Sonar, Cool Edit, Native Instruments, Gear Box and get on with it (yes I have massive hookups in the hosting industry for those of you who didn’t already know that)….and that sound y’all are hearing is most likely Genender coughing “I told you so” under his breath. Yeah whateva…I know when I’m wrong. Killing a fly with a bazooka you might say. But if I have to hear an audio clip one more time I swear to Christ a head will roll. Nuff’s e nuff. One cool aspect of this approach is that I get to geek out and build an actual workstation. I’m going the slim route. So my list-of-shit-to-buy consists of a monitor and a utility rack (I have the means for the rest) and possibly new keyboard/mouse implements. Hopefully a cool rackmount concoction will come of this. Will post pics once we’re up and rockin.
In other music-related news…I bought that ipod classic I’ve been babbling about yesterday. Proceeded to load it up with all my music and get a little trigger happy on itunes for video content. The 1st and 17th seasons of Law and Order are on this bitch in addition to the available episodes of Mad Men, and 3 episodes of Prison Break. And I’m barely a quarter occupied! To make matters even cooler, they changed the dimensions of the ipod classic to resonate more with the old school ipods instead of that wider stance the ipod videos had. As a result, it fits perfectly in my car harness, meaning we’ve got plenty of video entertainment in the stang nowadays. Once I figure out how to kife some DVD’s onto this thing I may just start hanging out in my car.
Negatives? Well that DRM shit is finally starting to be a pain in my ass. I had to install itunes 7.4 for this one and it told me I couldn’t play any of my songs because my computer was no longer authorized. What the fuck is that shit? So I had to “authorize” the same damn computer that was playing the shit 5 minutes ago and it informed me that I had now authorized 5 of the total 5 machines I have available (note I only went through 3 machines on that account and the other two were merely software upgrades). So I guess next time Apple decides I have to upgrade I won’t be able to play my own fucking songs on my own fucking computer. Sorta silly don’t ya think? Also, it seems the “get album art” function only drops the album art onto your computer and not onto your ipod. I don’t really give a fuck about album art, except with the new ipod OS, it makes this cute little screen saver thingy out of ‘em that is kinda cool. Plus the display looks pretty damn sweet and the neato factor is still wreaking havoc on me. Argh…
It’s funny how as late as 2004, I was convinced that ipods were for hippy dipshits and steadfastly refused to drink the Apple kool-aid. Well here I am 3 years later and I own 3 of ‘em. One of which I had to buy to use the Nike+ (yeah that only works with a nano go figure) and the most recent cos I crammed the other full. I guess all I can say is “ya sure showed me Steve”.
Comments (4)
Yeah, I think maybe DRM is also behind Vista's shit multimedia performance. I'm given the impression that Vista checks every byte being sent to your soundcard against a giant database of every byte in every copyrighted piece of music ever, before letting it through :D
Posted by chuck | September 12, 2007 9:16 PM
Posted on September 12, 2007 21:16
yeah.. I have the same issue with iTunes. It's kinda obvious that if you have to format your drive and reinstall your OS (in my case vista x64) you'll have to reauthorize it. But the bitch is if you add some RAM or and significant peice of hardware, there is the potential to have to 'reauthorize it'. I added a video card, and it made me jump through that damned hoop.
Nevermind the fact that they only let you wipe all authorized computers (in order to re-authorize) like once a year. jeebus-titty-fuckin' christ that's annoying. Why can't I wipe out the settings and start over when I want, how I want, the way I want?
That said, I'm trying to get an 'extended trial' version of ProTools on an extra box I have. Btw, that's one more thing that's not suported on Vista (surprise, surprise). Not that I fully understand PT, but still I want it dammit.
Do you have a cheap adapter you would recommend? How long have you been using those programs (for music production/editing) you mentioned?
Posted by mike f. | September 13, 2007 4:07 PM
Posted on September 13, 2007 16:07
I've only gotten into Gear Box with the advent of buying that Line 6 interface. But the rest of the stuff I've been working with for awhile. I used Native Instruments Sonar and Cool Edit back in the IK days (well Cakewalk before it was Sonar, and Sound Edit before it became Cool Edit). So I definitely have a history with these programs. Sorta like putting an old suit on.
Just picked up the monitor...and having been a laptop guy for some time, I forgot how deliciously big 19" monitors are :)
Posted by Dave McAnally | September 14, 2007 9:54 AM
Posted on September 14, 2007 09:54
Forget iTunes, I'm still irritated with Vista. Lightning took out two computers, they've been replaced and we're still fighting with the insurance guy. Well, new comps have Vista. Or, as I prefer to say, I've been getting fisted. Well, lucky me the hard drives survived even though the PCs didn't, so at least I can get XP back. After a re-activation and all that. Now I still have to find drivers. It says I'm stuck with 16 colors but it looks fine to me. But I need to get the sound working so I can see that Dane Cook thing. Thanks for reminding me!
Posted by Dan | September 18, 2007 11:06 AM
Posted on September 18, 2007 11:06