Wired.

You should have a midi mic switcher too. So when you switch amps it also switches to your favorite mics as well. The future is here Les~

Oh, I'm in the future already.

I have templates in software for the UA Apollo, for each mic and each mic preamp choice. And I have a corresponding template for Logic. I even have jpegs of the mics and amps in the Logic Channel Strip template, so I don't make the mistake of recording the wrong thing on a given track. All I have to do is look at the picture, I don't even have to read the channel name.

All I do is move to the next track, and the right mic and channel input are already set up. Logic lets me comp multiple takes if needed. And I can control Logic while I'm recording with Logic Remote, which is iPad software. So I can be anywhere in the studio and get the job done.

I also have channel strip templates for the mics/preamps I use less often.

Not sure what I'd do with a MIDI switcher for mics? I don't need to turn them on and off during a recording session, or switch between them. So I really have no idea what could possibly be accomplished with one beyond what I'm doing.

Please enlighten me.
 
Oh, I'm in the future already.

I have templates in software for the UA Apollo, for each mic and each mic preamp choice. And I have a corresponding template for Logic. I even have jpegs of the mics and amps in the Logic Channel Strip template, so I don't make the mistake of recording the wrong thing on a given track. All I have to do is look at the picture, I don't even have to read the channel name.

All I do is move to the next track, and the right mic and channel input are already set up. Logic lets me comp multiple takes if needed. And I can control Logic while I'm recording with Logic Remote, which is iPad software. So I can be anywhere in the studio and get the job done.

I also have channel strip templates for the mics/preamps I use less often.

Not sure what I'd do with a MIDI switcher for mics? I don't need to turn them on and off during a recording session, or switch between them. So I really have no idea what could possibly be accomplished with one beyond what I'm doing.

Please enlighten me.
Yeah your right, I just have to much midi on the mind. I wish my brain was midi controlled!
Les I like what your doing with your studio, seems like an ideal place for a guitar player to record some really sick guitar tracks. I'm sure you can easily record anything, but at first glance I'd a guitar player runs the place ;)
 
Yeah your right, I just have to much midi on the mind. I wish my brain was midi controlled!
Les I like what your doing with your studio, seems like an ideal place for a guitar player to record some really sick guitar tracks. I'm sure you can easily record anything, but at first glance I'd a guitar player runs the place ;)

Not to feel bad.

Back in the days when computers handled the MIDI but weren't powerful enough handle the audio, I recorded MIDI with a computer synced to analog open-reel machines via SMPTE Time Code, which the computer would translate to Midi Time Code so that it could follow the tape. The open-reel machines were synced to a 3/4 inch video machine via SMPTE as well. I also had three digital 8 tracks synced via SMPTE.

All of my rack gear and synths were controlled from the computer via MIDI, including patch lists and patch changes. So when I pulled up a project, all the patches in every piece of rack gear and all my synths would immediately change to the ones I needed for that project. At the time, having a studio for the work I did meant three 20-space racks of MIDI gear alone. Plus I had MIDI gear in the recording booth for the guitar rack. I could control that and pull up the patches from the computer, too.

Back then you literally had to type the name of every patch the hardware had, into a program called "FreeMIDI" if you ran the DAW I used, Performer. So the first thing I did when I got a new piece of gear was do that. There was also a MIDI matrix for the MIDI interfaces; I had to use three MIDI interfaces ganged together to handle all the MIDI gear I had. You would tell the interface in the software which MIDI signals each machine needed to listen to, and figure out the MIDI protocol for every machine, which was different, including their patch numbering system, and did you need an LSB (least significant bit) instruction, etc.

So in its heyday, when I pressed "Play" on the video machine with the picture I was scoring, The video, 24 channels of analog tape, 24 channels of digital tape/hard disk (I was an early adopter of dedicated hard disk recording, 8 channels, $21,000, but you could edit it without a razor blade!!), and all of my MIDI gear would start playing back at the same time. I had to run about ten seconds of "preroll" so all the machines could catch up to one another and lock up to picture. The analog machines had to have a special dedicated hardware SMPTE synchronizer in order to play in sync, along with a special card in each machine.

This was by the early 90s, maybe 1992-3 or so.

But I got into MIDI the year they came out with the MIDI spec on the DX7 and the D-50, so maybe 1986-7ish? Anyway, I've been into MIDI control of various gadgets for what, nearly 30 years, give or take...and had to read several books on the subject in the early days, because even though there was a specification for MIDI, different manufacturers implemented it differently.

MIDI is something I actually know a lot about!

I'm going to guess you're younger, and if so, you're lucky! It's actually easier now.
 
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Not sure what I'd do with a MIDI switcher for mics? I don't need to turn them on and off during a recording session, or switch between them. So I really have no idea what could possibly be accomplished with one beyond what I'm doing.

Please enlighten me.
Laurie Anderson, when I saw her live, had two mics -- one uneffected, and one heavily effected. She would mix in effect by positioning herself between the two mics. You could switch effects on the fly with MIDI.
 
Not to feel bad.

Back in the days when computers handled the MIDI but weren't powerful enough handle the audio, I recorded MIDI with a computer synced to analog open-reel machines via SMPTE Time Code, which the computer would translate to Midi Time Code so that it could follow the tape. The open-reel machines were synced to a 3/4 inch video machine via SMPTE as well. I also had three digital 8 tracks synced via SMPTE.

All of my rack gear and synths were controlled from the computer via MIDI, including patch lists and patch changes. So when I pulled up a project, all the patches in every piece of rack gear and all my synths would immediately change to the ones I needed for that project. At the time, having a studio for the work I did meant three 20-space racks of MIDI gear alone. Plus I had MIDI gear in the recording booth for the guitar rack. I could control that and pull up the patches from the computer, too.

Back then you literally had to type the name of every patch the hardware had, into a program called "FreeMIDI" if you ran the DAW I used, Performer. So the first thing I did when I got a new piece of gear was do that. There was also a MIDI matrix for the MIDI interfaces; I had to use three MIDI interfaces ganged together to handle all the MIDI gear I had. You would tell the interface in the software which MIDI signals each machine needed to listen to, and figure out the MIDI protocol for every machine, which was different, including their patch numbering system, and did you need an LSB (least significant bit) instruction, etc.

So in its heyday, when I pressed "Play" on the video machine with the picture I was scoring, The video, 24 channels of analog tape, 24 channels of digital tape/hard disk (I was an early adopter of dedicated hard disk recording, 8 channels, $21,000, but you could edit it without a razor blade!!), and all of my MIDI gear would start playing back at the same time. I had to run about ten seconds of "preroll" so all the machines could catch up to one another and lock up to picture. The analog machines had to have a special dedicated hardware SMPTE synchronizer in order to play in sync, along with a special card in each machine.

This was by the early 90s, maybe 1992-3 or so.

But I got into MIDI the year they came out with the MIDI spec on the DX7 and the D-50, so maybe 1986-7ish? Anyway, I've been into MIDI control of various gadgets for what, nearly 30 years, give or take...and had to read several books on the subject in the early days, because even though there was a specification for MIDI, different manufacturers implemented it differently.

MIDI is something I actually know a lot about!

I'm going to guess you're younger, and if so, you're lucky! It's actually easier now.
Yes sir I'm 28 and it is alot easier now, than it was back then. Most new midi based controllers simply scan and recognize your equipment, everything is almost universal.
But back in the day nothing talked that way and everything had to be midi mapped and some of it still does. Guys like Bob Bradshaw had their jobs cut out for them in the 80's, especially when working with guitar players like Steve Lukather and Tom Scholz
Personally I use a good amount of midi based products and it's awesome, but I can't even imagine how far that can go. I try to stay at shore, and use it when I need it. It's a huge subject and alot of different applications as you described. I try to balance technology with a passion for writing music and in the day and age we live in - we have alot to work with. There are dudes out there with huge rack gear and loads of equipment and I think it's awesome! And for everyone their own, I wont argue what's best and what's not , but I can say I'm still learning. I guess it takes years to figure out what you wanna do, and which direction you want to take.

Les sometimes I can't tell if your a guru or a mad man lol. But I see your definitely still learning and that's important!
 
Laurie Anderson, when I saw her live, had two mics -- one uneffected, and one heavily effected. She would mix in effect by positioning herself between the two mics. You could switch effects on the fly with MIDI.

Cool beans, but useless in the studio and unnecessary.
 
Les sometimes I can't tell if your a guru or a mad man lol. But I see your definitely still learning and that's important!

Definitely a madman, not a guru, but what choice have I got but to keep learning, if I want to stay competitive in the ad music biz?

However, my son has taken the creative lead and though once I taught him, he now has pearls of wisdom to impart to me. He worked with the famous producers Flood and Steve Lillywhite on the last two 30 Seconds to Mars records, and toured with them all over the world twice. So at this point, he's a very advanced cat.

You're around my son's age, by the way. You might like his band's work, I've got a bunch of info on the band (Partybaby) in the General Discussion part of the Forum.

He and his bandmate Noah wrote and recorded all the tracks the band has released to date by themselves, though the mixing was done by Andy Wallace, whose list of credits is gigantic. Jamie sang lead vocals, played bass, keys and guitar; Noah played drums and guitar and sang backup vocals as well.

DIY magazine out of Britain named Partybaby one of the bands that will blow up this year, and they've toured the US with The Academy Is, and blah blah blah I'm so impressed with what he's doing I can't stop blah blah blah-ing about him. LOL

They added a bass player and drummer for touring, both great musicians. The band really rocks, take a listen to the links that have been posted!
 
Cool beans, but useless in the studio and unnecessary.
Well I only mention it because I'm still working out workflow in my humble home studio, but I realize in hindsight you probably have that mostly worked out. Two people come to mind -- Vangelis has his "direct" method; and the guy who does the sound effects for the Simpsons uses a specialty MIDI controller so that he can be spontaneous and immediate -- both of whom are trying to have a more "real-time" experience in the music-making process. That's all I meant by that.
 
Well I only mention it because I'm still working out workflow in my humble home studio, but I realize in hindsight you probably have that mostly worked out. Two people come to mind -- Vangelis has his "direct" method; and the guy who does the sound effects for the Simpsons uses a specialty MIDI controller so that he can be spontaneous and immediate -- both of whom are trying to have a more "real-time" experience in the music-making process. That's all I meant by that.

Oh! That's good thinking after all! Glad you pointed that out!

Vangelis...

Well, if only I could do what he has done for the last 40 years. He's a real talent, while I am a child of a lesser god.

But I think there's a reason he's the only composer I know of who works the way he works. He's unique. Everyone else I'm aware of in the business works on a track at a time, or is conducting an orchestra live when not in the process of composing.
 
When I first got the Arturia CS-80 plugin, I spent a whole day screwing around with the main theme in Blade Runner. ;)
When a friend invited me to "jam" an instrumental as an opening to his act with the JP-8000, I had to struggle not to play Vangelis. (The default patch is basically the arpeggiator in the left hand and the lead melody patch in the right.)
 
When a friend invited me to "jam" an instrumental as an opening to his act with the JP-8000, I had to struggle not to play Vangelis. (The default patch is basically the arpeggiator in the left hand and the lead melody patch in the right.)
My buddy got me Vangelis a few years back, he has alot work. I remember waking up and haveing a good morning to the Blade Runner sound track. Epic
 
As great as the soundtrack to Chariots of Fire was - and I mean, it was breathtaking at the time - I think the main theme to Blade Runner is a more interesting work. Maybe I like things with a darker tinge...hard to say.

Some of the work in Blade Runner is too old-school jazz for my tastes, but the director probably asked for parts of the score to be like that. Film composers are only given so much freedom.

Conquest of Paradise is another interesting score, the Ridley Scott film about Columbus' voyage. Unfortunately, I didn't see Alexander, so I missed that score altogether. I should check it out.
 
When a friend invited me to "jam" an instrumental as an opening to his act with the JP-8000, I had to struggle not to play Vangelis. (The default patch is basically the arpeggiator in the left hand and the lead melody patch in the right.)

I remember that patch. When that synth came out, I had a short-lived company with a composer who's still one of my best friends, and he immediately bought one. In fact, he had the best synth collection I've ever seen, including some very, very rare ones, like the Axcel Resynthesizer, and the Waldorf Wave, the big one with the folding control panel. And of course, he had two of all the old analog stuff, because back in the day, he needed backups of everything, as the gear wasn't quite as reliable as it is today. And yeah, he had a CS-80. What a beast that was! The Waldorf Wave is still my favorite synth of all time; analog filters, digital waveforms and samples. He still has it; the sound is breathtaking, even 20 years later.

y
waveproto.jpg
 
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