The computer audio revival - So wrong on so many levels

You thought I was finished with my revival series. Well you thought wrong. In the future there will almost certainly be a computer audio revival, and it most definitely will be so wrong on so many levels. Check out the Audio Masterclass Music Production and Sound Engineering Course at bit.ly/3W3tpKo
MORE REVIVALS (ALL SO WRONG)...
The cassette revival - • The Cassette Revival -...
The vinyl revival - • The Vinyl Revival - So...
The CD revival - • The CD Revival - So wr...
The cassette, vinyl, and CD revivals revisited - • The vinyl, cassette, a...
The analogue tape revival part 1 - • The analogue revival -...
The analogue tape revival part 2 - • The analogue revival -...
The analogue tape revival part 3 - • The analogue revival -...
The analogue tape revival part 4 - • The analogue revival -...
The analogue tape revival part 5 - • The analogue revival -...
CREDITS
Background - 'Space Patrol' by the wonderful Roberta Leigh
Back To The Future - Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment
Bitcoin logo - Kripto Kazanç CC BY-SA 4.0
Cavegirl - www.imdb.com/title/tt0353047/
Computer interior - JulianVilla26 CC BY-SA 4.0
Cyberman - avaragado CC BY-SA 2.0
Hamburger - Troop Cafe's 10 Minute Burger Challenge - Katina Eats Kilos • TROOP CAFE'S 10 MINUTE...
Jacquard Loom - National Museum of Scotland www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum...
Linn 9000 - Forat Electronics CC BY-SA 3.0
'Pop Music' - M • M - Pop Muzik (Officia...
'Make Bank' - Terence Michael
Mouse - Judson McCranie
Penguin - Larry Ewing, Simon Budig, Garett Lesage
Computer screen - DEC VT320: The Classic 1987 Library Computer Terminal - LGR • DEC VT320: The Classic...
Scribble strip - MrAudioSoundImages • Scribble Strip
1989 reference - Taylor Swift
Synclavier - John R. Southern CC BY-SA 3.0
Tablet - 'The Ten Commandments' - Motion Picture Associates (II)
Typewriter - Steve Lodefink CC BY 2.0
Time machines - Doctor Who, Back To The Future, The Time Machine, Bill & Ted franchise, DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, Avengers: Endgame, Hot Tub Time Machine franchise, Terminator franchise, Timecop, Men In Black III, Outlander, Quantum Leap, Planet Of The Apes, Family Guy, The Umbrella Academy, Seven Days, 12 Monkeys, Primer, The Time Tunnel, www.artstation.com/artwork/8l...

[@CinematicLaboratory]

You're not leaving much to listen to with all these 'so wrong' videos.

[@theonlyegg]

How SHOULD we listen to music, ya old Boomer?

[@mariokrizan1400]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 Excellent!!! I think that those of us who can best understand you are those of us who are over 60 years of age and have had personal experiences of recording and post-production in the Pro world for a little over 30 years and from audio and video tapes, we have gone through all the formats up to the present. Greetings from Argentina.

You are right. Saludos desde Argentina.

[@JamsODonnell100]

Absolutely blooming brilliant!! Having skimmed through your ‘revival’ episodes (as most of it way over my head) I was really hoping for this one. So thanks for carrying the concept through, so superbly. However, I was kind of expecting at least a mention of the mp3 file format (future you may remember it as omnipresent for consumers in 2023). Did I miss something, isn’t it also wrong on many levels??? I was hoping for an explanation. I still thoroughly enjoyed this though, thanks again

[@cubemerula5264]

Is it a revival already? Here's my system. A NAS with FLACs goes into a miniDSP Flex, where the room correction is done, signal goes on to be amplified and then hits the speakers.

[@mihaigheorghiu2211]

Sir, you are too smart, too funny, too subtle and too authentic for KZbin channel !

[@Yoda8945]

Recording on an analog multitrack recorders was actually fun. The process of overdubs was slower, but it gave time to think between takes as one had to wait for the machine to rewind. The recording engineer had to deal with the machines, leaving the musicians to work on the music. Computer DAW's are just go, go, go! This creates a lot of music, but it doesn't have the thought or feel that went into the analog recordings.

[@jaygopinath1694]

That's why i love the new cmf2 album its aad aad recording have better dynamic range like master of puppets 1987 aac disc way better than any new release

[@Yoda8945]

@@MaakBow 2" was a whole nother situation compared to the 1/4" that we usually edited. The hardest thing that ever happened was a "window edit" in which a very small section of one track was cut out to delete a noise. On 1/2" 16 track machines we accomplished this by removing the pinch roller, marking the tape where the noise occurred, putting the machine in record and rocking the tape between the marks on the erase head, then removing the tape from the erase head before taking out of record.

[@chriswright6224]

As a software engineer and live sound engineer I have a foot in both worlds at all times. My software area is computer telephony where we have gone from near zero latency toll quality 8khz 8bit audio to various 16bit audio encodings with HUGE latencies. We now routinely talk over each other constantly and have to repeat ourselves. I am really anxious to see how latency in telephone and professional audio is minimized in the future. Especially on the telephony side where the audio is transmitted over a long distance, the latency is a tough nut to crack. Some are fond of say "you can't cheat physics". We shall see.

[@StringerNews1]

With so many people working from home, I've become accustomed to seeing people on TV who are there without the benefit of a broadcast quality audio or video hookup. The picture quality is often subpar by broadcast standards, but what really stands out is how the audio is just awful. Why does anyone make a teleconference system that maintains pristine video but can't keep the audio good for more than a few seconds?

[@prism223]

@@StringerNews1 This puzzles me too. The video compression algorithms seem capable of handling all kinds of issues, dropped frames etc., but the audio goes full robo-voice every few seconds if your connection isn't perfect. I dabbled in making DIY surveillance systems that work with cheap consumer network hardware and found that the root cause of terrible network latency issues comes down to the consumer hardware & firmware, especially when Wi-Fi is involved. Serious network hardware will not just toss IP packets into oblivion, but consumer hardware has a tendency to drop packets and stutter under load, with the additional problem that packets aren't treated with the priorities that the user would actually care about. E.g., if you have 3 webpages open and a Skype call, those webpages running their ad bloat will get similar treatment as the audio-video packets, causing latency issues and late packets that are rejected by the software that is trying to keep the illusion of real-time media believable. What most people would want is for media to take precedence while the adware crap gets tossed. What I'm thinking will eventually take over is AI-assisted audio. Imagine this: You record a profile of your voice into your Skype/Zoom account, and then whenever you talk into the microphone, the computer reads your words, tone, and rhythm, and sends that very compressed data across the network with redundancy. Then the other clients simply run that simplified information through the profile that you've stored with your account and generates a convincing version of you saying what you said. This would potentially take audio bandwidth down from kilobytes/second to bytes/second, which would basically eliminate latency problems.

[@igorbeuk4068]

You can hear right now on your Computer, with Windows sound is buffered and on Mac OS it's real time Audio and both can be instant without latency but with sacrifice but for one instrument with FX it's possible to get 0latency without dropouts and if you get older Win XP devices and drivers you will be surprised how much everything was more advanced than today CPU killers and RAM eating sampler's. Sound Blaster Music PCI Cards could do direct monitoring with FX on 7 separated stereo channels , Wave Table software and Nord HW Sinths are limited for Win XP only but those days were amazing. Win 7 Later reach maximum with 32bit 100 audio and VST , VTSi ' s without problem, 😃 then new 64bit software appeared with replication of real life sounds but that was trap or wrong way with horrible efficiency without better Sound quality. I am still keeping old PC with 32bit software and i don't feel any boundary comparing with up to date Software and it's just strange because precision is not better and i can easily work with high bitrates and Hz oscillations that new computers rarely use those advantages because everything is Digital and everything is working berley. But we have to be honest, Hardware sound bad and rarely better without amplifier or loudness process. Hardware is good because it's analogue input from the Artist and that's the phase where Music becomes live , using instrument is what is important sound can be always altered later but without organic flow it's usually not special even when it's Masterd good. Creativity is the way we should countinue and not stopping.

[@poofygoof]

I wonder what the latency was for early conference calls on the western electric / nortel systems? Let's include early T1/E1 so it's not all analog...

[@EgoChip]

Having used both a completely offline studio with only an Atari ST to control hardware, and a completely in the box DAW environment, I can hands down say that latter is objectively better now in every way. If you made this argument 20 years ago, I would agree that ihe box isn't the best. But now that computer processing power and software has developed significantly, anaologue modelling is on a whole different level and virtually indistinguishable from its hardware equivalents, hardware just gets in the way. A lot of modern hardware is just a box with the software on a chip anyway. I will never go back to full hardware. I still have some hardware to fill in gaps in software, or just because it's fun to jam along on a groove box. But for the actual production and recording, it's all in the box for me.

[@jamescuttsmusicjcm5013]

Yeah I think I will stay with the DAW. No way I would go back to that. hahahaha.

[@joedeegan3870]

I still have my father's 78s and copies of them on cassette. I can enjoy them because they have a lot of good sound on them.

[@albertclangence1342]

Looks like you may be in an episode of the 1960s Space Patrol series to me😊

[@AudioMasterclass]

Aha, a connoisseur.

[@TheHalfmanofOz]

Love your videos!

[@milkyway8353]

Love your videos, keep it up

[@InventorZahran]

I usually listen to music on my smartphone, and it doesn't have a mouse. Music doesn't need a mouse! (Now that I think about it, my phone doesn't have a QWERTY keyboard either, but it does have a screen, so that might be a problem...)

[@celam1244]

Love it!

[@jtmichaelson]

Quick bit of trivia for you: David Bowie provided handclaps on "Pop Muzik". Qhich is bizarre, considering if you had Bowie appear at your recording session, I think I'd utilize his other talents than just his handclapping. But there you go. Some trivia to fascinate your friends.

[@AudioMasterclass]

Very interesting. Similar to Rick Wakeman on T. Rex's 'Get It On' ('Bang A Gong' in the USA). All he played were glisses that anyone could have done. DM

[@jmdavison62]

Robin Scott and David Bowie were good friends, so it's no surprise that both were happy for Bowie to contribute handclaps and nothing else. Bowie probably did it for free.

[@LymanPhillips]

Well I'm glad that someone akmowledges that Going Back To Miami is a masterpiece!

[@michaels5166]

Ok, so tell me how much it COSTS to use Tape at the same rate of recording we can do on computers. Show me the YOU can afford it, we can afford it, and that it's within the financial reach of even half the recording artists out there. It's not that i do not agree that tape is better ,yet my tape media is harder to find, more expensive, and the machines have to be maintained regularly. Now as far as the software, and OS, there's no real issue, you're kind of making it up, based on the people who do get into the upgrade loop. Reaper is a full DAW, that is free,$60, or $225+, and yet they allow users to use it regardless. You can also get access to the source code just like you can with some Native Instruments software. We can use Linux titles which are abundant and with Linux, you are not stuck worrying about the GUI. You can use CSound, Pure Data, and run an OS like Haiku. Now with Windows, I had much success with 2000Pro,7Pro,8.1,and this computer has Win10,and most of them can be tweaked to operate exactly the way YOU want them to. You claim you can edit the tape faster, yet i am sure it's in a commercial studio where the mixing board alone is $200k,the 2 inch machine is $5000, the monitors are $10k,and you have an extensive budget for tape media/maintenance, not coming out of your pockets. Then all that and more for making music to be listened to by the world, on Beats, on computers, on cellphones, on TV, in cars, in malls, bass heavy club systems, and 200 audio purists. This is why TONS of commercial studios went BYE BYE, because I can match the audio NEEDS right here in my house, under my own terms for a fraction of the overall costs.

[@RealHomeRecording]

Napster and musicians building studios in their own homes led to the demise of lots of commercial studios. But really it was when people stopped buying music like they once did which happens around the time napster was released. It was no coincidence and eventually other places like Lime wire and Bit Torrent would cause the value of music to go down significantly.

[@mobilerepro]

Video kills the radio star

[@Roosville1]

The rubbing two sticks together revival.... :- ) It has to come. PS Thanks for putting me onto Brainstorm!

[@Simplyveej]

Quite confused by this video. Not sure what is meant by computer audio. Does a DAC = computer audio, because it has a chip in it? Is a streamer = computer audio. Are you saying modern digital streaming is no good? Then, this one, combined with your other videos, leaves no formats left that are any good.

[@maxtrue9744]

Just back it up and make new copies on occasion.

[@janmarais9421]

Stumbled on your channel by chance. What a gem!! As electronics engineer that loves the equipment bit more than the music to be honest, i have designed and built amps since the 80’ties back when we all copied Lindsey Hood’s designs. Your no nonsense approach to measurable and demonstrably relevant parameters just vindicates years of silent scepticism . Soooo many hours spent with different capacitors and layouts and then swooning and lying about the wonders to other similarly enthusiastic misguided nerds. And we all studied the math and had all the labs at a uni to test.. Bit of willing suspension of disbelief i guess. Wonderful days, great people and lots of fun… but a bit useless in getting a better result. 👍👍Keep up the good work

[@andymouse]

Lol ! that's kinda me too !

[@henrikpetersson3463]

If you want an analog studio-like workflow with digital recording then there are options for that existing right now. The problem is when you want to take advantage of modern features of DAWs or dabble into midi editing, then you will need to use the computer interface as there are still no specialised hardware for that kind of editing. Then of course there is a midway. For example, I use Console 1 for mixing. I can turn off the display and mix the session with an analog console workflow. If I need to dig deeper, I can turn the display on and do that. Latency is not really an issue if you use an interface with near-zero latency monitoring. There is really no need to update the system ever if you are happy with what you've got. No one is forcing the OS updates on you. There are studios running really old computers, because they do the job still. Yes, the interface for recording equipment will surely change in the future. It will still be computers running software though.

[@obscurazone]

You are indeed forced to update your OS, for two reasons. 1. After a certain time limit, security patches will not work on an old, unsupported OS, so your system is far more exposed to corruption and hacks. 2. Your current OS works consistently alongside your applications. App engineers will ALWAYS develop for/using the latest OS - legacy support soon drops off after a few OS update cycles, rendering your applications unusable in many cases unless you update your OS - certainly if your apps are cloud managed. As a designer, it used to infuriate me, that I would spend thousands of £££ on the highest spec Mac, and for it to basically become redundant 6 years later, because the hardware could not be updated with the latest OS - ipso facto my Adobe suite would not update, rendering the entire computer useless.

[@henrikpetersson3463]

@@obscurazone We are talking about a dedicated music production machine here. There is no need to update anything if you are happy with the way it works. There are plenty of professional studios that are running on systems that are over a decade old. Because it works. The issue with Adobe that you are talking about is one of the reasons I ditched them when they moved to subscriptions.

It is not true that analog audio has zero latency. Leaving aside speed of light delays inside the circuitry, which are negligible, you get more delay as soon as you introduce inductors and capacitors to the circuit. If you add filters to the chain, the delay is no longer constant; some frequencies are delayed more than others. The wrong filters will make music sound bad in ways that the traditional measurements like harmonic distortion and intermodulation distortion miss, but that human listeners can hear.

[@AudioMasterclass]

I appreciate your input but to add all of this every time I say that analogue has zero delay is going to give the wrong impression. In practical audio applications, the producer, sound engineer, musician etc. will not experience any problem or difficulty due to latency in analogue audio, which is not the case with digital audio. Latency in digital audio can be low enough to work with, but it isn't anywhere near as close to zero as analogue. If there is an exception to this and latency in analogue audio can cause problems or difficulties in practical use by producers, engineers, or musicians, then I would be pleased to hear of it. DM

[@cubemerula5264]

But screen is an interface. If you have a couple of TB of music, you have to be able to search through.

[@dirkvanmaercke8469]

I loved the "cut and paste" function on a REVOX B77..

[@simonsteamyhead5738]

Audio recording and playback was so much simpler when we used wax cylinders. No magnetic tape Binder Degradation..

[@TheTruthKiwi]

The upgrades are mostly patching security issues. If you want to be on the internet then you need the upgrades to plug security holes. If you don't need the internet then no patches and no upgrades needed. :)

[@Kalvinjj]

Hence why some industrial single board computers were made till last decade or so with 386 and 486 processors. They worked perfectly for their task with that CPU, they'll KEEP working with that CPU! DO NOT CHANGE IT! is how it goes with industrial machinery. Tools are tools, toys are toys.

[@TheTruthKiwi]

@@Kalvinjj Yup. Quite a few ATM's around the world are still running an embedded version of Windows XP for instance. They pay MS a fortune for security patches and are heavily modded but they just work. :)

[@memcdm]

My reel to reel tape deck did have latency. There was a space between the record and playback heads so you had a latency issue when trying to over dub something. On the multi-track digital setup latency is there to be sure but so small it is not audible. Complexity is a problem and upgrades are annoying. Still, even my old school recording techs have gone digital including one who declared he would never go digital. Gone is his massive mixer! He learned he actually could edit much quicker with his digital system and make amazing sounding recordings. In other areas .... like photography ... old school guys said digital would never work. Now I can take amazing photos with my phone and my heavy film camera is gathering dust. Same with "records" to CD. So convenient! Now streaming .... convenience wind again. Video.... please convenient and editing are so much more powerful. The issue is really how thus technology is employed. As you have pointed out earlier. The commercial interests often destroyes artistic values. Still, I can listen to any style of music coming from anywhere in the world with very high quality sound now compared to the awful sounding FM tuners I had thru the years. I can make crystal clean near perfect sounding recording in my home studio. All i need are artists who make music that is well played and touches one's heart and soul. The technology should serve to communicate the feeling and power and message from the artist to the listener or viewer in the case of video. Now let's talk about AI! O dear!!!!

[@dangerzone007]

Why do you have Space Patrol in the background?

[@DavidBoura]

Software is not a replacement of hardware, wich still exists. The dedicated music computer you're describing is already there, if you think about synths workstations. The interaction between human and machines is going to be completely dematerialized, as the future is VR.

[@leonid998]

You know, in Windows GUI is indeed a part of the OS.

[@Wildknaap]

You are a hero!

[@AudioMasterclass]

Thank you. My ambition is to become a superhero. DM

[@multicyclist]

Computers and software like DAW programs create illusions of what you think they are doing. Their filters and processing have artifacts and degradation that are cumulative on the digital level, as well as phase shift, distortion, and all sorts of latencies. So if the engineer hears something not quite right, their first inclination seems to be to add even more filters upon filters without abandon, creating Frankenmusic IMO. Another thing that I have demonstrated in the Windows environment, likely similar for Mac and Linux, is the OS will degrade the audio by merely passing through it. This is because it converts audio to 32 bit floating, which is handled by Windows audio devices, then back to whatever when you listen externally. Easy to demonstrate by using an audio player that allows the audio file or stream to bypass Windows and be sent directly to your DAC. By doing an A to B comparison from passing audio through Windows to directly to a DAC for instance, one can easily hear the différance. The direct to your DAC sounds better, and through Windows it sounds slightly changed and degraded. Any PC whether PC or Mac, or Linux are general computing devices and relying on them to produce professional audio production is inherently flawed.

[@Nord72]

Roland S samplers from the late 80s early 90s has a mouse and the screen for editing! and it was revolutionary.... Fairlight from 1979 had a screen and an optical " mouse pen " or lightpen, like a touch screen....

[@plrndl]

The greatest advantage of a programmable multi-purpose commodity machine is economy of scale. The device you seen to want would be as big and expensive in real terms as the original digital multi-track machines.

[@freaky.studio]

I have my “creative workstation” and a mastering workstation. The first one has “everything”: mouse, tablet, large screen and a trackpad. The mastering rig is an old mac pro running an old version of logic where I use a Tascam US-2400 controller but no screen or mouse so basically an analog way of working. It was my best decision in years to mix and master without a screen. And yes, I am also from the pre midi era. Of course I have to mention the fact I use outboard gear for the last stages of a production so I do not need a screen or mouse to adjust plugins

[@Synthematix]

Once my PC has finished updating thats it, i disconnect it from the internet permanently, ive also finely tuned windows10 for nothing but audio apps, and when i say finely tuned i mean it, ive practically re-built the operating system, there are no games, there are no word processors just music production software, i back the machine up once a week using 'Aomei Backupper' to two separate hard disks so if a disaster ever happens im right back to where i was in less than 5 minutes, ive also got an identical replacement ryzen motherboard in storage in case it fails (X470 G7 WiFi) So in a nutshell im prepared for failures, thing is i havent had any, its been 100% rock solid for 4 years and counting. But i have had a lot of hardware fail on me, like synthesizers and drum machines etc, this is one of the reasons i switched to using a PC, you might find this laughable but the onboard sound on this motherboard is better to my ears than any standalone instrument ive ever heard its got an ESS sabre DAC onboard, and the whole machine is lightning fast.

[@SimonBlandford]

Latency is only an issue in real-time applications. For a musician singing or playing along with a recording the delay can be calculated and compensated for. The only latency that could be a problem is the delay between their own mic and their own headphones but an analogue mix of their mic and the recording could fix that.

[@c128stuff]

The problem with using an analog mix directly back to the monitors/headphones is that missing any processing. Now, it depends on the singer, or mucisian if that is a real problem, but there are quite a few cases where it absolutely is. This is why there exist modern audio interfaces which can run audio processing plugins on the interface itself with help of a dsp. Now, one can argue that you should be doing a raw take, and apply processing later on, but what you send to monitoring and what you record do not have to be the same thing. It can really help the confidence of a vocalist to add that little bit of reverb and/or chorus, even if you then proceed to make a raw take of it and re-apply effects later on. Because it helps the vocalist, it helps improving their performance, so you often need fewer takes, etc. And that doesn't yet get into things like electric guitar, bass, etc, where being able to monitor sound with effects applied can be essential to get a good recording at all. So.. 'just use an analog mix' can be completely sufficient, but is certainly not a complete answer to this.

[@jamescuttsmusicjcm5013]

But there isn't any perceivable latency if the buffer is low enough.

[@SimonBlandford]

@@jamescuttsmusicjcm5013 Yes. I remember less than 5ms was the spec to beat when I was working in a company that made real-time audio DSP products.

[@dykodesigns]

In the future I imagine a device that can multi-track record, sequence, sound design, edit audio on an all standalone system with a realtime zero-latency OS that does not need updates. That never needs drivers when you connect an audio recording device to it. Imagine a Syncalvier or Fairlight CMI but with Cubase instead. That device of the future sort of existed in the past that was the Tascam SX-1 with BeOS. Nowerdays we have grooveboxes which try to be a DAW in a box and that still need ASIO drivers if you want to connect them to a PC. In the future ASIO would be obsolete and Windows would have CoreAudio too and all Windows audio driver issues would be a thing of the past.

[@DaskaiserreichNet78]

I particularly dislike the fact that software updates and even more so operating system updates mess with the compatibility of the software we use to make music. I keep en eye out for equipment that does not become obsolete with new updates. For instance I recently purchased a Midi controller keyboard and I noticed that some only come with a USB connection. I made sure to get one with a Midi in and out. This way the controller can be used without the computer or trough any sound card with a midi port.

[@chickenpotpie4045]

Hilarious, loved it

[@HTRism]

I also wish the "saving" options in the future (if we still use computers) improve.especially people that work with multiple applications at once that are independent from each other. I know its possible.

[@Nord72]

" computers from the 90s dont recoord audio " whaaaat ? Even the Atari and the Amiga recorded audio with 8-12 bit, later with a proper soundcard 16 bit 44.1 kHz audio, from the early 90s more than 2 tracks with full duplex mode ....fo ex. Turtle Beach Multisound and the Atari Falcon....and few years later any PC with an audio interface.

[@smyrnianlink]

If you check your history books, you will see someone even recommended a VU meter (as an) application.. Would you believe that.. :) I saw it a minute ago.

[@scottlowell493]

The first album I got that was from a computer still sounds really good. "Bachbusters" by Don Dorsey.

[@AudioMasterclass]

From Wikipedia - "Bachbusters is a studio album by Don Dorsey containing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach as realized on digital and other authentic period synthesizers." JS Bach had synthesizers. Who knew? DM

[@paulmint1775]

And we still have Latency......... hence im unemployable 🤣 great vid

[@MikeDS49]

Interesting that the example you give of the machine that can do a single job is an image of a programmable Jacquard loom with its software on paper cards -- a direct ancestor of the programmable computer! Software is software, even if the logic is hard coded into the silicon, like a FPGA bitcoin miner. It's a computer running a program, it's just not a general purpose computer. Everything has latency though, just differing in magnitude. Like you said, buffers are the killer in digital. Analog systems do have appreciable latency in some areas, like in tape reverb and delay pedals with bucket brigade capacitors (which straddles the line between analog and digital as the audio is sampled, but not changed, only delayed).

[@MikeDS49]

The loom is probably only two steps away from becoming a general purpose computer -- a way to read the resulting weave and to change its cards.

[@poofygoof]

FPGAs are programmable hardware. FPGA bitcoin miners aren't hard-coded for mining, but some ASICs are. (I don't know what antminer uses / used.)

[@Nord72]

The Operating system's part is the gui, the user inerface is an integrated part of any OS....without it you cannot use the hardware....what you talking about is in the Eeproms, like on a multi track tape recorder, it has its own OS called Firmware, it even has GUI, like BeOS on a few Tascam equipments...

[@poofygoof]

I wonder what the hardware would look like if instead of a microprocessor, the software + microprocessor was completely instantiated in hardware... I imagine it would be incredibly sparse compared to a microprocessor and EPROM / RAM and incredibly inefficient as there is a lot of software paths that are seldom if ever executed.

[@Nord72]

@@poofygoof : its actully happening on any mobile device

[@Simbosan]

Software updates are really only a problem for Mac. The only plugins I have ever lost access too were either: a) way back when all computers moved to 64 bit and even then you could bridge. b) when the actual company disappears and you can't re-install on your new PC. E.g Alchemy was bought by Apple and then killed for any non-Mac user. Thanks Apple. Apart from that I spend nothing on upgrades and have never had an issue. Windows is very good for backward compatibility whereas Apple seem to wear it as a badge of honour

[@JCO2002]

All good, but regarding Linux updates - I've been running Mint for a while, since MS tried to force Win 10 on me, and updates aren't really that necessary. All the latest one did for me, 21.1 to 21.2, was improve the themes and icons. It would have made no difference to my applications if I hadn't bothered. But it didn't take long at all, and was incredibly simple, so I went ahead and did it. That said, I haven't done professional recording with Linux, so it may be a very different deal.

[@fabrizio2738]

thanks

[@Stathol]

At the risk of taking all of this a bit too seriously... @8:07 - "A fundamental principle of computing is that a software system can never be proven to work. Look up the Halting Problem" My CS degree compels me to point out that this is incorrect. The Halting Problem only says that it's impossible to create a program than can prove whether _any arbitrary program_ will halt for _any arbitrary input_. A program that can do this for the infinite landscape of possible programs and infinite landscape of possible inputs is impossible. It's just a downstream consequence of Gödel's incompleteness theorem. We can say the same thing about mathematics itself: it is impossible to create a step-by-step process (an algorithm, if you will...) by which you can generate a proof or disproof for all possible mathematical propositions. But here's the crucial point: the incompleteness theorem only states that we can't prove _every_ mathematical proposition, not that we can't prove _any_ mathematical proposition. The Halting Problem is the same. In the individual case, we _can_ prove whether or not _a specific program_ will halt, either for a single input or all possible inputs, and a whole lot of other properties besides. Formal proofs of correctness are entirely possible, and some very smart people are paid very well to do it every day. Look into "formal verification", "formal semantics" (operational, denotational, axiomatic) and tools like the Coq proof assistant if you want to dive down that rabbit hole. Is this level of care widely used in the industry? Excuse me while I choke from laughter. Of course not; we just YOLO it with unit tests and some integration testing if you're lucky. But it is, in fact, possible to write provably flawless software.

[@AudioMasterclass]

Thank you for your extraordinarily detailed reply. I'll leave it to better brains than mine to consider the issue further. But... If it is possible to write provably flawless software then the sooner it gets onto my computer doing something useful the better. Can't wait. DM

[@stevenlawson-blight4253]

Am I alone in thinking that some absolutely pristine beauty was engineered way pre digital. I constantly marvel at the awesome recordings from the days of yore. Not to mention the incidental creativity that birthed from analogue ingenuity? In some ways, digital has been the death of art.

[@theonlyegg]

Man, you’re funny. Revival? I’m 40-something and computer has been my main source for over half of my life. Should I go back to CDs, Vinyl? Those are “so wrong” as well. We should only listen on SACD, apparently

[@AudioMasterclass]

OK, you win the misinterpretation of what I was saying award for today.

[@smyrnianlink]

Hardware (phsical gadgets) are not immune from halting problem. They just get away with it because they are too basic for design mistakes. And that is a limitation isn't it. In fact every electronic gadget that has states or modes is just designed the same way software is. And increasingly popular is that they are designed with onboard processors and actual (embedded) software. I share your feelings about the operating systems, user interfaces and overly complex designs.

[@notvalidcharacters]

Yes, here's something you didn't mention. There is apparently a gerbil creeping through some strange transparent tubes behind you.

[@axilleas]

If I had my way (and I never will but it’s my hypothetical) the future would be back on console, except digital, capable of automatically backing up on the fly over the network, VST capable and of course equipped with full recall. No computer (as we know it) or OS or DAW. Pipe dream, I know.

[@markvincentcocjin]

You sound like a competent technical person. Except for that one time you called GUI as Gooey. Almost as jarring as a record scratch.

[@igorbeuk4068]

I use Lenovo laptop from 2012. I 5 8gb RAM on Windows 7. I can use every Daw different devices and HW instruments but HW disappointed with sound after VSTi . I think that Analogue input from Artist is important not so Analogue HW Instruments. Maschine MK3 is amazing new looking Instrument. I hate OS and depending on it . I play with Maschine MK3 and i record live performance and in a final stage i use Mouse and keyboard for finishing track. No matter how much you learn amd how much you are authentic it will not be appreciated because it's all Digital infinity and only older person will notice it and appreciate Artists effort. Everything said in this and other Videos i agree and from what I learned in Music Production space Making Contacts and sharing and collaborating is most important thing if we want to be heard.

[@Schizzieful]

One solution is my Zoom R16, a digital 16 track recorder, affordable when I bought it and relatively easy. And also easy to use with a compouter or a daw if you want to. Make a dump of your say Maschine output, dump it to The R16 as a stereo file, make every live addition with a simple microphone and without any latency and you've got your problem solved. Even Better: use some loopers for the repetition parts (clips in modern daw's); sonetimes I use two synchronized digitech loopers and don't use a computer at all. It's possible, it works and it's much eaysier and faster than reading the manual of a daw to do the same. Which leads to the next problem you don't even mention about computers: the always ongoing need to change it all. You keep studying how it all works, Programs like Maschine and Ableton are not easy mainly because the ongoing need to change it every time. Not beause of any need, yust to stay fashionable.

[@tomehCanada]

The "dedicated silicon" audio machine was already here. 2005 Yamaha AW2400. Dedicated, high internal bit rate manipulation. etc... Excellent observations on human friendly versus standard computer tools. I tried the touch screen approached to emulating a mixer style interface that was human friendly. It's awkward since you can't rest your arms or hands on the surface without accidentally activating something. Cheers from Canada. Tom eh

[@ericbauer1937]

Silicon.

[@tomehCanada]

Thanks @@ericbauer1937

[@TS-ex4dl]

Computers are cheap and multifunctional. I have done all the settings you recommend and it has made an improvement.They are not set as default by microsoft. True for video and hdmi stripping for TV arc. Complex catchup updates. Sorry addicted bend. Too much for Meridian audio.

[@schlechtj1]

So your running a tascam dp1000 with an fpga. Got it.

[@nate_d376]

Good God man, now I can't listen to music anywhere. What, in your elevated opinion, CAN I listen to music on?

[@AudioMasterclass]

Live. That's the way to do it. DM

[@poofygoof]

​@@AudioMasterclass I note the lack of "only" in the phrasing. ;)

[@j7ndominica051]

If you don't want to revive either a multitrack tape or computer, then what? My operating system doesn't update itself. I have to make a choice and do it. Before dark mode, remember how the GUI updated to "Flat Design" where you couldn't see what was a pushable button. Many plugins look horrendous today like a rough draft assembled in MS Paint. Imagine that the mixing console didn't have a visible mute and solo buttons, and you had to poke the masking tape to trigger them. The OS does seem to have taken on many roles for which we used to install external software as needed. It's part of a long term plan of vendor lock-in and planned obsolescence by Microsoft. They probably want you to use audio applications in some kind of high level language of Net Framework because memory management is old school. Software updates are definitely a racket to make us hooked onto a subscription model. WUP! We already had semi-fixed function sound hardware in early gaming and audio systems like E-mu DSP. But the number of channels and resoltuion don't need to be increased more than we already have. And if you want to do multiple processing tasks, you still need programmable DSP with software.

[@Nord72]

Where is the SVHS HIFI Audio revival ? At least its happening.

[@danaustin5869]

One of the issues with modern complex operating systems is that they handle audio from several sources, often with different sample rates and bit depths, simultaneously. The samples being read from a hard drive, for example, would go into 'generic resampling blocks of operating system code' that will combine samples from different sources running different sample rates simultaneously -- even if only one source might be currently active. It is not uncommon for the output data stream to be completely different from, say, the samples on a WAV file on a hard drive that you wish to send to your high end DAC over USB. Careful listening as different audio options are invoked, such as Microsoft Sound Mapper, Windows Classic Wave Driver, and other special audio drivers, can reveal sonic differences between each of them. The same is virtually certain to be the case with DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) recording software. The samples coming in, often from USB, may bear very little relationship to the samples being actually recorded on the hard drive after going through similar 'generic resampling blocks of system code'. Chances are that the two main issues in the conversion/resample process are the introduction of timing issues (jitter) and phase shifts due to digital filtering, but there's no way to know everything that the 'operating system software black boxes' are doing to the audio. Since modern day operating systems are so complex, chances are that no one person can precisely describe what paths and modifications an audio signal undergoes on its way from samples being read on a hard drive to being output on USB or some other output device. And if such a person does exist, they are probably not an audiophile.

[@mikelovett2677]

A bit late to the party - apologies - had a few issues with my own time machine. For sure when I wrote my first program in FORTRAN on punch cards nobody told me I needed better ways to compile or write code. And when I discovered vi and declared it the best thing since sliced bread nobody told me I needed a GUI based editor instead… though mercifully I eventually discovered the efficacy and efficiency of GUI based editors. And that cryptocurrency machine? It’s a computer dedicated to the task. Much as Data Scientists world wide rejoice at the availability of on-demand GPU Farms, we have some kit that will service YOUR need and you can have it NOW for a fee. Because the underlying physical substrate is always the same: computation, networking and storage. And we can arrange its use via … software. So when you in the future ‘just recorded’ … well, that substrate was there, somewhere. Complexity? It was also there and neatly tucked away out of your perception to realise the slick pervasive abstraction that just. Let. You. Record. Latency? There is no reason why that cant be eliminated in our lifetime and certainly in our wonderful future as we realise full endless digital twins of everything, everywhere. Well…. Assuming the substrate didnt become self-aware and turns into the infamous paper clip optimiser. Then all bets are off. And then there is the thought that as we gain greater sophistication with our IT … that also means we are more and more likely to be living in a simulation. Another digital twin (and we still might get turned into paper clips). So yeah, retro-love back to old skool compute? No thanks!

[@andymouse]

Taking on the computer nerds ? oh the audacity of it !

[@joelcarson4602]

Dedicated hardware is always better for specific tasks, especially if you are doing something that requires real time response, or at least, as close to real time operation as can be managed. In some sense, there is always latency, but as little as possible, or at least, in a form that impacts the important parts of the main task in an unimportant manner. The latency between the the initial recording process and vinyl records or CDs or whatever is absolutely horrendous but irrelevant.

[@philipkershaw7918]

Well. Such a lot to unpick here. So much, in fact, that a list of point by point rebuttals would be prohibitively long. However, in light of the fact that I have enjoyed - and broadly agree with - many of your previous missives, I shall take this attempt at levity in the spirit it was no doubt intended. Clickbait aside, keep 'em coming sir.

[@chaoticsystem2211]

So. this crash... it's a fixed point, right?

[@marklutton8161]

Analog has non-zero latency. Have you every played a large pipe organ in a cathedral? Give it a try and you'll see what I mean.

[@AudioMasterclass]

It would be unusual to describe the speed of sound in terms of latency, but this can be an issue. I once recorded a concert in St. Paul's cathedral and the organist had a problem keeping in sync with the choir, purely due to the delay of around 1 millisecond per foot, and I think he was hearing mostly reflected sound and in a space that big those feet add up. I had to set up foldback for him so he could hear the sound from the mics on the choir on headphones. This is the kind of thing I call fun. DM

[@marklutton8161]

@@AudioMasterclass We think of latency as an artifact of buffers. Analog does have buffers in the form of reverb, echo chambers and tape delay, but those are used deliberately for their effects. I don't think digital latency is fundamentally different from the speed of sound; either one is a delay caused by the laws of physics. The speed of sound has one more extremely annoying analog effect: acoustic feedback.

[@keithbroughton4476]

The NS10 is very well behaved in the time domain so that may contribute to "detail"

[@AudioMasterclass]

Exactly so. DM

[@johncostigan6160]

Now I understand why using a midi-only application on a Mac Plus, which incidentally had its operating system on EACH song's floppy disc with the midi sequences, was so enjoyable. Audio? sync the tape to the midi clock. QED.

[@poofygoof]

As long as the clock is MTC. The standard MIDI sync clock is tempo-dependent and 24ppq is begging for jitter problems. (it can be done, but I wouldn't expect it to have as tight timing.)

[@pascalmartin1891]

There were these physical mixing consoles that could be attached to the computer. The screen was (or screens were) great to show a spectral view of the sound, to detect frequencies that my old ears could not hear anymore. These computers were clunky and overly complicated, indeed. A high maintenance relationship of sorts. But there were some rewards. Latency was the real reason to give up on computer audio mixing. Try to mix in real time..

[@AstrosElectronicsLab]

Mkay. So, in the same vain, would you say you'd like to go back to editing video on analogue video tape? Yeah, didn't think so. Linear video editing was the way it was done and was a PITA.

[@Nedski42YT]

Can't wait for your essay on why we don't need eukaryotes when prokaryotes have worked just fine for almost two billion years. Life really took a turn for the worse when those damn multi-cellular organisms appeared!🤖

[@charlie_changa]

Screens are just useful for editing come on. The other arguments to me seem more like arguing for dedicated hardware versus general purpose hardware running software. Not a bad as such, but the economics of it probably don't make sense. Adding a feature to a hardware device? New hardware needed. In terms of software upgrades? Perhaps we can freeze features in 2023, but all software has bugs, so security upgrades will be needed. Custom ASICs for all audio stuff just doesn't make sense, it's inflexible. General-purpose computing and software has revolutionised every aspect of society, your argument against it seems wildly off the mark to me. But interesting vid thanks!

[@Nord72]

Did You heard about RME ? they made zero latency systems, yes its possible, with a proper system you can work real-time...in the digital domain.

[@sanchopanzam8]

I can't wait to get rid of computers and that web stuff so we can get back to recording into actual stone, like what led Zep and 10 cc did, jus' sayin'

[@dancemusicorganisation]

1. Re: Screen - You can't miss something you never had, that's an oxymoron 2. Computer Music Melodian (Sampler) invented in 1976 3. DMX & 808 Drum Machine invented in 1980 4. Compact Disc invented in 1982 5. 909 Drum Machine & TB303 Bass (Acid) Machine & MIDI invented in 1983 6. Commadore Amiga & Atari ST invented in 1985 (as was Performer - sequencing software for Macintosh) 7. Electro (Techno) / Hip Hop invented in late 70's and peaked between 1980-1986 8. Chicago House / Detroit Techno invented in 1985/86 9. Acid House invented in 1987/88 10. Rave / Hardcore and all the other electronic sub genres invented 1989 onwards Even the example drum machine image you display is the Linn 9000 and came out in 1984, yet their first drum machine was the Linn LM-1 and was launched in 1980! Robin Scott re-mixing his 1979 track electronically in 1989 was not new or ground breaking, he was at least a decade late to the party, especially when you consider the first commercially successful electronic 'pop' track was by Gershon Kingsley with Popcorn in 1969! Don't get me wrong 'Pop Music' is a classic, and I have a lot of respect for Robin Scott, he gave one of my tracks a glowing review in mix mag, and his later internet project The White Label was affiliated with my original Dance Music Organisation website music portal for many years, where they won the 'winners hall of fame' on three consecutive occasions. Also, you talk about not needing a mouse or keyboard, you might not, but I do, it's the only way I can place notes, samples and effects or label things while creating my music, you seem very narrow minded and bigoted towards those with disabilities that require an interface that enables us to make music, that you think is redundant. You then talk about the financial crash of 2008 being due to complexity, really, OMG, it had absolutely nothing to do with over complexity and everything to do with greed and corruption. As a financial services whistle-blower, who was Head of IT between 2002-2016 and built systems, controls, software and processes to manage FSA/FCA regulation introduced in 2004/2005, I think I am far more qualified on the subject than you are! While I enjoy your videos and accept you say this was just for a bit of fun, whatever your intended audio goal was of this video, I think it was lost in amongst the number of inaccuracies and selective bias with the examples given.

[@AudioMasterclass]

You could have just clicked the dislike button. DM

[@dancemusicorganisation]

@@AudioMasterclass 😂- very true, but that wasn't what you wanted, you specifically asked us to comment with anything we disagreed with, and as you asked so nicely, I didn't want to disappoint 😁👍

[@AudioMasterclass]

Ah yes, I forgot about that. Thank you for your diligence. Your points of disagreement will enjoy permanent residence on KZbin for others to consider. I don't think I'll be changing my mind though. DM

[@dancemusicorganisation]

@@AudioMasterclass You are most welcome. Consideration is all anyone should expect when in disagreement with someone. You are far older and wiser than me to be swayed by anything I have to say, let alone having a time machine and a super hot Ai assistant, I never stood a chance 😁👍

[@andymouse]

@@AudioMasterclass Lol !

[@hizhaus]

Brill

[@jeffkelly5972]

Tapes are so wrong computer audio so wrong cd's so wrong vinyl so wrong. what is right? What should we listen to?

[@ianhaylock7409]

Bands playing live.

[@poofygoof]

​@@ianhaylock7409 As someone who listens to a lot of music where playing live is as arbitrary an experience as listening to an official release since recording and editing are part of the composition process, so I would phrase it as "as close to the source as possible" or maybe "as close to the artist's intent as possible."

[@poofygoof]

or maybe... "pick the option that sucks the least."

[@c128stuff]

Analog audio does not have zero latency, it has low enough latency to not be a problem. It cannot have zero latency because signals travelling through wires are not instantant, switching time of transistors is not constant, switching time of tubes (or valves for you Brits) is not instant, etc. Analog being zero latency is as big a myth as analog having infinite resolution, or bandwidth. Zero latency is physically not possible.

[@AudioMasterclass]

With respect, you're nit-picking unnecessarily. DM

[@c128stuff]

@@AudioMasterclass Relevance depends, in the world of radio broadcasting this is pretty relevant for things like synchrocasting (and part of why that is essentially only done using digital audio transport because we can determine the latency of that with enough accuracy to compensate for it)

[@c128stuff]

@@AudioMasterclass btw, something which might be a bit more relevant for your use... there is this gap between recording and playback heads on an analog tape machine. We used to use that for all kinds of things, like tape reverb/echo, which works because there is a delay. The amount of delay is of course a function of the width of that gap and the tape speed. But the consequence is also there being latency when recording one track while monitoring other tracks. My point is that the relevance of latency depends on what you are doing. It may be short enough to be irrelevant for your current use, but may also cause some unwelcome surprises, which can easily be avoided. But for avoiding those, it is important to not dumb this down to 'analog has no latency and digital does', its much more important to know when it might matter and what level is going to matter.

[@AudioMasterclass]

@@c128stuff We're on different pages here. I've worked in pro audio for more than four decades and I know perfectly well about analogue tape heads. Your view on latency is clearly different to mine and we're not likely to change each other's opinions. I suggest we go our separate ways. DM

[@c128stuff]

@@AudioMasterclass And I have over 40 years background in broadcast audio. Point being, how relevant it is depends on your use case, and I can totally see why for your typical use cases, latency in analog audio is a non-issue. But non-issue is not the same as 'no latency'. I'm sorry to put it like this, but technically you are wrong when saying analog has no latency. That is not a matter of opinion, that is a matter of physics. If that latency matters is a matter of use, and experience, and is subject to opinion, and for many uses, I can totally agree with the opinion of it not mattering. But 40+ years of background in broadcast audio also taught me it does matter at times, so it is good to know it is actually a thing.

[@paulmint1775]

Excessive complexity or A I ? ............. :)

[@triahnpetkov4853]

Excuse me but you wrong! The computer audio is over all the best. No any wrong.

[@billsmith5166]

Get those kids off my lawn!

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

I call it “The Rainbow Spinning Wheel of Great Misfortune”

[@carlosa.chacon985]

I hit the like button but I'm gonna watch this on the future xD

[@pauldhoff]

Trackball, real computer people do use a mouse.

[@Adam-fj8mk]

I agree with it all, music is just dreadful nowadays. All the same old crap.

[@phrtao]

Quite funny but you really are missing something. An average laptop has all you need except the software - yes it is more capable than your dedicated digital audio equipment (recording or playback) all that is missing is the software. but keep it secret because there a lot of people who make money selling very expensive equipment to re-invent the digital wheel.

[@rabarebra]

You do not seem to know much about software, audio interface drivers, running plug-ins at the same time all this is playing while recording. 😂

[@kFY514]

Dedicated hardware is great if you have a single task that needs to be optimized to perfection. Software gives you _flexibility._ And updates are there not just to fix bugs, but also to introduce new functionality. So, while you have some valid points... I believe that software is the future wherever feasible.

[@user-ud9rn7dw6q]

Basically your music is wrong from the source and sound the amp is wrong the vinyl is wrong the cassette deck is wrong the reel to reel is wrong the dac is wrong the cables are wrong the speakers are wrong So basically don’t buy any hifi only professional audio equipment or don’t listen to music anymore So I would like to know what makes you happy and what equipment you listen to to make it right

[@jackhreha4907]

Here's how it goes. Follow the money! In the future you will pay for the sound engineering alone just like streaming speed is today, And some company will make me pay a fee to have the ear drums in my head remain or reconverted to analog. George Martin will have rolled in his grave to the point of breaking threw the earth's crust. This fun i look foward to. Will the sound man ever make a buck in the future ? Better have a good day job converting ears. I will stop at this. Just an old guy rant. I did take a shower today. Best Regards Jack.

[@timramich]

What the hell is this dude even talking about?

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

You pulled up eight of the greatest funny silly cheesy cringe-worthy album covers in history. But you missed one of the best classical covers….Holst’s Planets on the 70s Westminster Gold issue. Buck Rogers and his nearly pornographic sidekick.

[@AudioMasterclass]

I'm familiar with Buck Rogers, the Planets, and have seen Sir Adrian Boult live but this cover is a new one on me. Here's a link for anyone bold enough... www.google.com/search?q=Holst%E2%80%99s+Planets+on+the+70s+Westminster+Gold&source=&tbm=isch DM

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

@@AudioMasterclass Lol. It’s a classic.

[@AudioMasterclass]

And then there's Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven Concerto 3. DM

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

@@AudioMasterclass Many of those Westminster Gold issue covers were a delight. Almost made it worth suffering through the poor pressings. Swarowsky Ring Cycle?

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

@@AudioMasterclass Beethoven or Bust.

[@Nord72]

computers didnt impact on music ??? I never heard such a bullshit....so many styles basicly created by muscians behind amiga, atari, fairlight and even emulator was computer based, any synthesizer based on chips and nowadays die-on-chips..... so we can say the last 40 year's music is based on computers on so many levels....

[@garymalone547]

Adore your sense of humour, but seriously you and Amir of ASR fame cut through the crap.

[@lespaul667]

You would think after all this time we’d have acceptable latency throughput on a software DAW. We can’t even do that yet. And we have all these RADAR and ADAT HD24 machines around. Easier to work on initially. Until the editing phase… Everything in this video is right on the money. I’d rather work with a dedicated MTR machine with no latency with a console than work with a DAW. From the late 90’s until now, the only ones that even come close to working properly are the PTHD systems and I refuse to go that route.