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#1
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the next step in DAW evolution is a dedicated microkernel OS with
nothing but an audio API. has anyone done/thought about doing this? What does anyone/everyone think? Joseph Stavitsky Donovan Digital Media Fair Lawn, NJ |
#2
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wrote:
the next step in DAW evolution is a dedicated microkernel OS with nothing but an audio API. has anyone done/thought about doing this? What does anyone/everyone think? Isn't that exactly what all those dedicated hardware DAWs do? But I agree, it would be nice to have this on a of-the-shelf PC as well. Maybe some linux flavour... Boris -- http://www.borislau.de - computer science, music, photos |
#3
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Dedicated hardware DAWs are a stupid, stupid way to be - completely
inflexible Linux is (to my limited understanding) usuitable for a microkernel implementation for various reasons. The real problem is that too much of the serious software is proprietary. Before any ofthis happens we need another Alan Lomax to start traversing the planet, sampling instruments and donating the samples to the library of congress ![]() What kind of music do you make? |
#4
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wrote:
Dedicated hardware DAWs are a stupid, stupid way to be - completely inflexible That's right ![]() Linux is (to my limited understanding) usuitable for a microkernel implementation for various reasons. Hm, maybe. I'd care more about a realtime kernel than a microkernel. What kind of music do you make? I play piano, mostly Jazz/Funk/Soul/Latin (these have just "documentary" style, bad sound quality): http://www.borislau.de/music/quartett/blq-offroad.mp3 http://www.borislau.de/music/payback_live_mix.mp3 My own home-recordings go more into Pop. Just for fun I recorded a couple of songs where I play and sing everything. The results would be certainly better if I'd only play piano, but it was fun: http://www.borislau.de/music/summer.mp3 http://www.borislau.de/music/ifwherewhen.mp3 For this I use Cubase. I'd like to use some linux software because I use it for everything else besides recording. But my hardware (Yamaha mLAN stuff) would make a lot of trouble. And I'm not enough of an idealist to do it anyway... Boris -- http://www.borislau.de - computer science, music, photos |
#5
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On Apr 8, 9:34 pm, wrote:
Dedicated hardware DAWs are a stupid, stupid way to be - completely inflexible This is what's so wonderful about them. They do what they do, they do it one way, they always do it, and they don't stop doing it because you've loaded some other software or accidentally deleted a file. Of course there are some that aren't very well designed and make you do easy things in a complicated way. But that's a different issue. |
#6
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"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
oups.com On Apr 8, 9:34 pm, wrote: Dedicated hardware DAWs are a stupid, stupid way to be - completely inflexible Sometimes inflexibility can pay dividends. Inflexible things are more likely to reliable, small, and efficient. This is what's so wonderful about them. They do what they do, they do it one way, they always do it, and they don't stop doing it because you've loaded some other software or accidentally deleted a file. I have a couple of these for audio - my old Nomad 3, and my new Microtrack. The Nomad 3 is fading as a capture device because its input jacks are becoming intermittant. The Nomad and Microtrak are great portable devices for capturing raw audio, but they suck as editing and general production platforms. I seem to have evolved to the same basic technology for both my audio and video work - use a stripped-down platform for capturing video too, followed by the use of a high-function editing platform for the rest of the process. In video, I've found that DV cameras and DVD recorders make good stripped-down capture devices. Again, a PC running high-function editing and production software is used to do most of the work and finish the job for distribution. |
#7
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On Apr 9, 7:58 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
The Nomad and Microtrak are great portable devices for capturing raw audio, but they suck as editing and general production platforms. I don't know what the Microtrak claims to do other than record and play, but the Jukebox 3 makes no claims at all for editing or production other than the ability to create a play list. If I want to edit something I've recorded on my Jukebox, I dump the file to my computer. Computers make great editors, whether for audio or text (and maybe video and graphics, too, though that's not my thing). But the term "edit" to most people today covers a lot more ground than it does for me. To someone who didn't grow up with hardware, editing includes equalization, compression, adding effects, adjusting pitch, and maybe, just maybe, moving around or replacing pieces of the recording. So people who want (or think they want) to do all of those things want a one box solution. |
#8
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wrote:
Dedicated hardware DAWs are a stupid, stupid way to be - completely inflexible Yes, but I don't WANT a DAW that is flexible. I want a DAW that does one thing and does it very well. Linux is (to my limited understanding) usuitable for a microkernel implementation for various reasons. This is true. Linux _is_ the kernal. If you were to use a different kernal, you couldn't call it Linux. But I don't think the original poster was talking about Linux anyway. The real problem is that too much of the serious software is proprietary. Before any ofthis happens we need another Alan Lomax to start traversing the planet, sampling instruments and donating the samples to the library of congress ![]() Why is this a problem? I'm okay with proprietary software if it does the job and is maintainable. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#9
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#10
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wrote in message
oups.com... the next step in DAW evolution is a dedicated microkernel OS with nothing but an audio API. has anyone done/thought about doing this? What does anyone/everyone think? QNX. Load what you need and skip what you don't. The real issue is finding or writing a driver for the kind of audio hardware that you need in a DAW, as opposed to a 'sound card'. Sean |
#11
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wrote in message
oups.com... the next step in DAW evolution is a dedicated microkernel OS with nothing but an audio API. has anyone done/thought about doing this? I had thought of doing this, but reconsidered. The truth is that microkernels may not be the way to go for that. True a good microkernel would provide the near realtime necessary, but generally they slow computation a bit on the machine. It would actually be better to have a strict monolithic kernel designed for the purpose. What does anyone/everyone think? I think it's something worth looking at periodically. As the multi-core cpus become more available I think it may reach the point where the microkernel design becomes universally superior. Joe |
#12
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#13
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Laurence Payne wrote:
On 8 Apr 2007 17:51:10 -0700, wrote: the next step in DAW evolution is a dedicated microkernel OS with nothing but an audio API. has anyone done/thought about doing this? What does anyone/everyone think? Dedicated hardware is the logical extension. We've got it, and have had for years :-) How is that evolution? Sounds like a dead end to me. It's how cockroaches evolved - they're done. Can't be improved upon. -- Les Cargill |
#14
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wrote:
the next step in DAW evolution is a dedicated microkernel OS with nothing but an audio API. No, that was the last step. The previous generation of systems included dedicated audio appliances, but that seems to have fallen into disfavor today. has anyone done/thought about doing this? The first generation of workstations were pretty much like this, or else they ran over a non-multitaking OS and took the hardware over with their own dedicated scheduler and memory manager. I think the last system like that was the original RADAR, which ran on a reduced version of BeOS. It was stable as a rock and very fast on fairly limited hardware. What does anyone/everyone think? I think it's a good idea, but it's not what the market wants for some reason. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#15
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#16
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#17
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To what end? For most DAW users, it's an answer to a question that no one is
really asking. A manufacturer is going to expect a quantification of why it is compelling and that's a tough sell given what is already available. -Ben wrote in message oups.com... the next step in DAW evolution is a dedicated microkernel OS with nothing but an audio API. has anyone done/thought about doing this? What does anyone/everyone think? Joseph Stavitsky Donovan Digital Media Fair Lawn, NJ -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
#18
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Ben Hanson wrote:
To what end? For most DAW users, it's an answer to a question that no one is really asking. A manufacturer is going to expect a quantification of why it is compelling and that's a tough sell given what is already available. Why it is compelling is because it gives you an appliance. You get a standalone system that can't run any external applications, and therefore has no chance of external applications causing interference. It is a completely controlled environment for the application and therefore gives you solid integration between hardware and software. The thing is... the market doesn't seem to _want_ appliances. And that's a shame, because I do. Oh well, the Ampex is still running just fine... --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#19
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Scott Dorsey wrote:
Ben Hanson wrote: To what end? For most DAW users, it's an answer to a question that no one is really asking. A manufacturer is going to expect a quantification of why it is compelling and that's a tough sell given what is already available. Why it is compelling is because it gives you an appliance. You get a standalone system that can't run any external applications, and therefore has no chance of external applications causing interference. It is a completely controlled environment for the application and therefore gives you solid integration between hardware and software. The thing is... the market doesn't seem to _want_ appliances. And that's a shame, because I do. Oh well, the Ampex is still running just fine... --scott The market is providing lots and lots of appliances, some of which digitally transfer the data in real time or faster to a general purpose computer running DAW shrinkwrap. -- Les Cargill |
#20
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#21
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On Apr 10, 5:09 am, Laurence Payne lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom
wrote: Aren't there still a fair number of stand-alone DAWs on offer? Yes, but it's not clear who is buying them. I'm sure that there are far more copies of Cakewalk sold than Akai DSP24s. For every mention of a dedicated DAW on any forum and there will be a dozens of responses about how the same thing can be done with a computer for much less money. Somehow it always (first) is about the capital cost, as if this is the most important thing about putting together a recording system. Admittedly, this is a powerful influence. A beginner doesn't know what to do with ten different equalizer plug-ins and can work more efficiently with a box with limited choices and a few knobs. But there's a strong temptation to be able to do whatever you want with few boundaries. More often than not when I see someone who is a natural for a DAW "appliance" they've already made up their mind to use their computer and want to know what hardware and software they should buy. That's where I duck out and let the confusion begin. |
#23
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On Apr 9, 8:21 pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
The thing is... the market doesn't seem to _want_ appliances. And that's a shame, because I do. The market probably really wants an appliance, but they really want a lot of them, they don't have room for more than one, and they think they're getting a bargain by only buying one set of hardware. They'll come around eventually . . . to realizing that it's fun to spend money in little chunks and put more time into fooling with computers than finishing recordings. |
#24
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It's not the concept of an appliance the market doesn't like, but an
appliance that only does one thing. If all people wanted was a recording interface then this wouldn't be an issue but the market for gear that is specifically aimed at professional engineers is small. It's not compelling financially or in regards to future hardware/software growth for the remaining 90% of the audio technology consumers that need the device to do more than just write bits. A good example of an "appliance" that bridges this gap (and ergo an example of an appliance that probably has a future) is a device like the Receptor. It's a hardened, purpose-driven device, but under the hood all it really is is x86 PC hardware running a cut down Linux distribution with a Windows emulator that allows it to run VSTi's. You get hardware(-ish) reliability but with the ability to expand the functionality of the device. "Scott Dorsey" wrote in message ... Ben Hanson wrote: To what end? For most DAW users, it's an answer to a question that no one is really asking. A manufacturer is going to expect a quantification of why it is compelling and that's a tough sell given what is already available. Why it is compelling is because it gives you an appliance. You get a standalone system that can't run any external applications, and therefore has no chance of external applications causing interference. It is a completely controlled environment for the application and therefore gives you solid integration between hardware and software. The thing is... the market doesn't seem to _want_ appliances. And that's a shame, because I do. Oh well, the Ampex is still running just fine... --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
#25
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Ben Hanson wrote:
It's not the concept of an appliance the market doesn't like, but an appliance that only does one thing. But that is the whole point of an appliance. It's a box, it does one thing, it does that thing very well, and you don't worry about it. When you need to do that thing, you plug it in. You don't worry about firmware revisions or whether it has the latest anti-virus patches. It's just for one thing. If all people wanted was a recording interface then this wouldn't be an issue but the market for gear that is specifically aimed at professional engineers is small. It's not compelling financially or in regards to future hardware/software growth for the remaining 90% of the audio technology consumers that need the device to do more than just write bits. And THAT, in short, is what has gone wrong with the whole pro audio industry. The consumer electronics world of mass-produced crap is leaking into the pro audio world, and the pro audio standards have lost considerably for it. Pro audio products ARE niche products. They aren't designed for a wide market. They are designed for fairly specialized purposes, and usually built either in small production runs or as one-offs. They come with complete documentation, including schematics and firmware source code, and when something breaks you can call the designers and they trace you through the circuit over the phone while you describe what you see on the scope. They hold their value for years after you buy them, and you depreciate them on a fifteen year schedule or longer. Consumer audio products are stamped out like cookies, designed to be as cheap as possible and to appeal to the largest possible audience. Support is nonexistent; at best you get to talk to someone in India who can read a script describing typical failure modes. If it fails, you throw it out because it's too cheaply made to be worth any technician's time to open the case. They are designed to have a two to five year lifetime and have minimal to no resale value. There is a very dramatic distinction between these. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#26
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"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
Ben Hanson wrote: It's not the concept of an appliance the market doesn't like, but an appliance that only does one thing. But that is the whole point of an appliance. It's a box, it does one thing, it does that thing very well, and you don't worry about it. When you need to do that thing, you plug it in. You don't worry about firmware revisions or whether it has the latest anti-virus patches. It's just for one thing. Agreed. PC-centric guy that I am, I have at least two multimedia appliances, being my Microtrack and my Magnavox DVD recorder, that under the covers are quite obviously single-purpose computers that boot a special-purpose operating system. I smirk a little bit internally when I watch them boot, but so what? If all people wanted was a recording interface then this wouldn't be an issue but the market for gear that is specifically aimed at professional engineers is small. It's not compelling financially or in regards to future hardware/software growth for the remaining 90% of the audio technology consumers that need the device to do more than just write bits. And THAT, in short, is what has gone wrong with the whole pro audio industry. The consumer electronics world of mass-produced crap is leaking into the pro audio world, and the pro audio standards have lost considerably for it. Well, that I don't feel so strongly about. To me, the proof of a professional tool is whether or not professionals can be comfortable obtaining professional results with it. Pro audio products ARE niche products. But pro audio has been largely replaced by audio production. I don't have as clear of an idea what a audio professional is, as I have an idea about what audio production is. As technologies mature, the tools of professionals and enthusiastic amateurs seem to converge. Take the building trades for example. The last set of builders, plumbers, HVAC specialists and electricians that I paid the big bucks to remodel my house, typically bought their tools and materials at the exact same Home Depot store I do. And they used some of the same tools as I do. Yet, in terms of quality for elapsed time, they were pros and I was clearly the amateur. Extrapolating a bit, while a lot of us love to hate Musician's Friend and Guitar Center, they do sell audio tools that professionals can be comfortable obtaining professional results with. They also sell a lot of junk, and they don't sell a lot of things that many of us use and love, but if they were all there was, life would go on. |
#27
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I'm not saying it's the best thing for the trade (such as it is), just that
it is a reality that isn't going away. There will certainly always be niche products made by niche companies that are immaculately designed and engineered and excel for their created purpose, but that's not the reality that most audio equipment manufacturers are in. Niche products for niche markets = niche profits. Take a company like John Hardy from our earlier discussion...no question they make products of this caliber, but it also means that they will never be a very large company. Production costs and economies of scale being what they are won't allow it, if the company is going to be successful. To survive, large companies must be smart and figure out ways to provide equipment for both types of consumer...take a company like Focusrite, for example. Their consumer-grade gear gives them the capital and exposure required to also offer high-end gear, and concurrently grow their business. A small company that refuses to build consumer-grade gear might have the best products but they will also never grow much. Again I'm not saying that this should be their goal...I love that someone like Hardy is content to make top-flight gear their highest pursuit, but most audio companies aren't run by people with that goal (whether that is good or bad depends on your point of reference). You mentioned that top-flight gear comes with schematics, firmware source code, and so on...but that is exactly one of the reasons why PC technology has so deeply ingrained itself in the industry. It isn't proprietary...if it tears up there's voluminous documentation available that tells you how to fix it, and the parts are modular and field-replaceable. Again I'm not saying that there aren't trade-offs but in general I think that this ball is rolling and there won't be any way to really stop it...there will always be niche products that are at the top of the pile but just because a company creates products that target both segments doesn't mean that they can't attain to nearly the same degree of excellence (think of Fender with their normal and custom shop guitars, or Gibson with their Gibson and Epiphone products...if they weren't so successful with their cheap stuff they wouldn't have the luxury of making high quality stuff and still be as large of a company as they are). "Scott Dorsey" wrote in message ... Ben Hanson wrote: It's not the concept of an appliance the market doesn't like, but an appliance that only does one thing. But that is the whole point of an appliance. It's a box, it does one thing, it does that thing very well, and you don't worry about it. When you need to do that thing, you plug it in. You don't worry about firmware revisions or whether it has the latest anti-virus patches. It's just for one thing. If all people wanted was a recording interface then this wouldn't be an issue but the market for gear that is specifically aimed at professional engineers is small. It's not compelling financially or in regards to future hardware/software growth for the remaining 90% of the audio technology consumers that need the device to do more than just write bits. And THAT, in short, is what has gone wrong with the whole pro audio industry. The consumer electronics world of mass-produced crap is leaking into the pro audio world, and the pro audio standards have lost considerably for it. Pro audio products ARE niche products. They aren't designed for a wide market. They are designed for fairly specialized purposes, and usually built either in small production runs or as one-offs. They come with complete documentation, including schematics and firmware source code, and when something breaks you can call the designers and they trace you through the circuit over the phone while you describe what you see on the scope. They hold their value for years after you buy them, and you depreciate them on a fifteen year schedule or longer. Consumer audio products are stamped out like cookies, designed to be as cheap as possible and to appeal to the largest possible audience. Support is nonexistent; at best you get to talk to someone in India who can read a script describing typical failure modes. If it fails, you throw it out because it's too cheaply made to be worth any technician's time to open the case. They are designed to have a two to five year lifetime and have minimal to no resale value. There is a very dramatic distinction between these. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
#28
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Scott Dorsey wrote:
But that is the whole point of an appliance. It's a box, it does one thing, it does that thing very well, and you don't worry about it. When you need to do that thing, you plug it in. You don't worry about firmware revisions or whether it has the latest anti-virus patches. It's just for one thing. I'm working on a new wheelbarrow that doubles as a reclining lawn chair. That, and the new PogoStik Shovel. -- ha Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam |
#29
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On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:44:17 -0400, Ben Hanson wrote:
It's not the concept of an appliance the market doesn't like, but an appliance that only does one thing. If all people wanted was a recording interface then this wouldn't be an issue but the market for gear that is specifically aimed at professional engineers is small. It's not compelling financially or in regards to future hardware/software growth for the remaining 90% of the audio technology consumers that need the device to do more than just write bits. Well, there's the root of the whole f-ing problem. The point at which a product is compromised specifically in order to appeal to a non-professional customer base is the point at which it stops being a professional product. That said, I love my Fostex D-824. I wouldn't call it a professional level piece of gear by any stretch. But it does one thing really well, and in use, it behaves much more like a tape recorder than like a computer. That's important when you work with real musicians, because the first take is often the best take, so you better not miss it. |
#30
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I can't see it working. I'll stick to Windows because that's what I know,
although the approach might work with other OSs. You have to keep in mind that your proposal probably means that all that software has to be rewritten to work on a system with a limited set of APIs. That means inspecting and testing every OS API call to make sure it actually exists in the specialised kernel. And you've got to be able to install the software, and update it. So you need all the file and directory APIs, the process and thread management, Dlls, installation, registry, page files and so on. Is there a business case for that? I doubt it. In any case you could probably achieve the same result by not connecting to the internet and turning off all unnecessary services etc. Then the only overhead is disk footprint, and who cares about that? -- Phil Wilson wrote in message oups.com... the next step in DAW evolution is a dedicated microkernel OS with nothing but an audio API. has anyone done/thought about doing this? What does anyone/everyone think? Joseph Stavitsky Donovan Digital Media Fair Lawn, NJ |
#31
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#32
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On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 17:51:10 -0700, donovandigital wrote:
the next step in DAW evolution is a dedicated microkernel OS with nothing but an audio API. has anyone done/thought about doing this? I always enjoy thinking about this kind of thing. One approach that might work is to run a general purpose OS as a 'guest' OS on a microkernel. Then, the microkernel could handle DSP and the general purpose OS the GUI, network, etc. L4 Linux works a bit like this... A linux kernel runs as a low priority thread on an L4 microkernel. So the microkernel handles all the realtime threads and interrupts and Linux does all the boring stuff. This would mean very reliable 'hard' real time for the DSP code, but not having to spend years reimplementing POSIX, Win32 or whatever to run the applications. If it's microkernel or bust, then give Haiku a look. It's a from scratch rewrite of Beos that actually appears to solidifying into something useful. What does anyone/everyone think? Joseph Stavitsky Donovan Digital Media Fair Lawn, NJ |
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