Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - History: DAWs and plug-ins on top of digital music production

niklas_sn7 · 4th February 2009

Now you're talking, kafka. First post was more on the flaming side...

I'd like to answer in detail to your post, so I start with the department I'm comming from, which is 'communication/media science' mostly based on sociology. That could partially explain my essayistic approach, rather than beeing a solely technical one. For my thesis I finally decided to stick with the history of technology, focussing on digital music production. So besides all the aspects you mentioned, which are related to music production of that kind, history takes a more general point of view. Therefor I would not be specific in any of the fields you listed up.

But that doesn't mean it's not there. I you take a look on the refernces you should see that I took some interest in computer science, especially programming plug-ins (for instance Arfib at http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/b04.html). I gathered some information on the DSP vs. Native aspect as well. And although I'm no programmer or specialist in electronics I tried to understand. There's so much about it but I had nothing to add to it, just summarizing the way it went (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/05_03.html#1).

At first I planned to do some interviews, which would be absolutely great. But belive it or not, I didn't have had the time to do so. My professor criticized that as well, sorry, too much stuff to examine at all. Nevertheless did I study some interviews on the topic (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/p.html). Actually that would be a specific task for further research: Gather empirical supplements. As for the question: Are amateurs creating technology now? - Very interesting indeed, I would say they do (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/05_03.html#6). That leads to your next break (pre last)...

As for the impact of advanced technology on composition and media reception I wonder if you read a book from Peter Bickel (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/b07.html). Unfortunately it's in German. It's all in there. Are you studying these things in private or how comes you're bothered with those questions? That's the kind of response I was hoping for! There's so much to say about it (again - too much for my thesis). On the concepts of 'minimalism' I think Dogde/Jerse (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/b11.html) would be a good a read. Nevertheless I left composition out due to my reasons (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/05_02.html).

For the last break: The reason the timeline could be further improved is that the audio industry is somehow oblivious. They tend to hide informations on their technological forthcomming for economical reasons. And then they forget where they came from and in the end they did it all by themselves. I planned to go and ask but I didn't get there as mentioned above.

Thank you for taking your time.

To Ciaccona: I can see what you're up to and in general you're right. I really thought I'd be focussed, maybe I should have written more. But I did not want to go with some specific research. I wanted a short read for people like me, joining music production without having a clue, and there you are: What tools you go for and why? And where do they come from etc.

But I totally disagree with the usual approach of writing a diploma thesis (in Germany): It should not only proove your ability to work with scientific sources! It's the last writing of all that studying time, so it should be the main object to develop own thoughts that go further. That's what I expected from myself. If people think I failed it doesn't matter anymore. Too late.

I'd like to make clear that I don't want to impress nobody. I did not wanted to show what I can achieve. If somebody finds something usefull in it - go for it. If not, so be it.

4th February 2009	#10
niklas_sn7 Gear interested Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 11 Thread Starter	Now you're talking, kafka. First post was more on the flaming side... I'd like to answer in detail to your post, so I start with the department I'm comming from, which is 'communication/media science' mostly based on sociology. That could partially explain my essayistic approach, rather than beeing a solely technical one. For my thesis I finally decided to stick with the history of technology, focussing on digital music production. So besides all the aspects you mentioned, which are related to music production of that kind, history takes a more general point of view. Therefor I would not be specific in any of the fields you listed up. But that doesn't mean it's not there. I you take a look on the refernces you should see that I took some interest in computer science, especially programming plug-ins (for instance Arfib at http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/b04.html). I gathered some information on the DSP vs. Native aspect as well. And although I'm no programmer or specialist in electronics I tried to understand. There's so much about it but I had nothing to add to it, just summarizing the way it went (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/05_03.html#1). At first I planned to do some interviews, which would be absolutely great. But belive it or not, I didn't have had the time to do so. My professor criticized that as well, sorry, too much stuff to examine at all. Nevertheless did I study some interviews on the topic (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/p.html). Actually that would be a specific task for further research: Gather empirical supplements. As for the question: Are amateurs creating technology now? - Very interesting indeed, I would say they do (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/05_03.html#6). That leads to your next break (pre last)... As for the impact of advanced technology on composition and media reception I wonder if you read a book from Peter Bickel (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/b07.html). Unfortunately it's in German. It's all in there. Are you studying these things in private or how comes you're bothered with those questions? That's the kind of response I was hoping for! There's so much to say about it (again - too much for my thesis). On the concepts of 'minimalism' I think Dogde/Jerse (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/b11.html) would be a good a read. Nevertheless I left composition out due to my reasons (http://member.sn7.de/niklas/mt/05_02.html). For the last break: The reason the timeline could be further improved is that the audio industry is somehow oblivious. They tend to hide informations on their technological forthcomming for economical reasons. And then they forget where they came from and in the end they did it all by themselves. I planned to go and ask but I didn't get there as mentioned above. Thank you for taking your time. To Ciaccona: I can see what you're up to and in general you're right. I really thought I'd be focussed, maybe I should have written more. But I did not want to go with some specific research. I wanted a short read for people like me, joining music production without having a clue, and there you are: What tools you go for and why? And where do they come from etc. But I totally disagree with the usual approach of writing a diploma thesis (in Germany): It should not only proove your ability to work with scientific sources! It's the last writing of all that studying time, so it should be the main object to develop own thoughts that go further. That's what I expected from myself. If people think I failed it doesn't matter anymore. Too late. I'd like to make clear that I don't want to impress nobody. I did not wanted to show what I can achieve. If somebody finds something usefull in it - go for it. If not, so be it.