28 March 2010
Control
March 31, 2010
I’m a control freak. Not the kind of control freak that you might think. I am extraordinarily particular about my key bindings that’s true. I do enjoy an extremely clean house and organization but that’s not what I’m referring to. I am a freak about controllers - midi controllers. I love them! I can’t get enough of them. The more knobs and sliders that better. Between the keyboard, the drum, the mixer and the DAW controllers I think I’m up to at least 6 of them. Why do I need them? Well, I don’t really. But I want them and I find them useful and fun to play with. They each have a different function and personality.
If you have never used the APC40, you have to try it out. For those who don’t know this piece of gear, let me explain very simply how it works. Ableton Live is a Digital Audio/VST software workstation (it records music to create songs/audio). Ableton software works with clips of audio or midi. You can re-arrange the clips in any order you want and stack them creating various incarnations of segments like verse, chorus, bridge to create songs. Here is where it gets interesting. You can switch up the clips and segments on the fly. In addition, you can add in clips of varying tempos and it will self-adjust the tempo to the tempo you are working with. The song you are playing becomes a very interactive experience when you add in a controller such as the APC40. The APC40 contains rows and columns of small pads (8x5 pads). Each pad represents a clip in the song and you can layer multiple clips and change them up on the fly to create unique mixes of your song - hands on and very interactive. Add the ability to control multiple effects for clips as the song plays and it becomes an experience very similar to DJ’s experience with turntables.
This week I sat down in my studio to play around with a song I have been working on. As I usually do, I started playing with some of the parts of the song to get an interesting feel and some unexpected twists in the flow of the parts as they intertwined together. I was using the APC40 controller to experiment with the various clips. Sometimes I can go for literally hours having fun on this controller. This day was not unlike any of the others. I get really wrapped up in the fun of actively making the music come alive with my controller and I don’t finish actually creating the song.
In my hypnotized state of twisting knobs and re-arranging clips I got to thinking. Why have we not evolved past a QWERTY keyboard & mouse in gaming. Audio control surfaces have evolved, slowly but the industry has moved forward. We are past the simple keyboard controllers and are now seeing some very unique control surfaces that inspire you to think differently about how you input your musical ideas. Gaming has not evolved past the keyboard and mouse. The first mouse was shipped for computing in 1981 and the first patented keyboard for typewriters were made known in 1886. We are using the same input device today for MMO gaming as we used in 1886 for typing. The mouse hasn’t changed either since its conception. A few more buttons and scroll wheel but seriously, we can’t do better than that?
I would like to see a few changes in control for MMO gaming. First, directional input from video feedback. Video capture of your head movement to control your characters viewpoint. Second, video feedback/response for forward/reverse by moving your body slightly forward or back to make your character run forward or step backward. Third, voice recognition for chat. Finally, a control surface that implements a series of small pads that are assignable. These pads would light when pressed of course cuz lights are just as important as knobs and buttons.
If you have never used the APC40, you have to try it out. For those who don’t know this piece of gear, let me explain very simply how it works. Ableton Live is a Digital Audio/VST software workstation (it records music to create songs/audio). Ableton software works with clips of audio or midi. You can re-arrange the clips in any order you want and stack them creating various incarnations of segments like verse, chorus, bridge to create songs. Here is where it gets interesting. You can switch up the clips and segments on the fly. In addition, you can add in clips of varying tempos and it will self-adjust the tempo to the tempo you are working with. The song you are playing becomes a very interactive experience when you add in a controller such as the APC40. The APC40 contains rows and columns of small pads (8x5 pads). Each pad represents a clip in the song and you can layer multiple clips and change them up on the fly to create unique mixes of your song - hands on and very interactive. Add the ability to control multiple effects for clips as the song plays and it becomes an experience very similar to DJ’s experience with turntables.
This week I sat down in my studio to play around with a song I have been working on. As I usually do, I started playing with some of the parts of the song to get an interesting feel and some unexpected twists in the flow of the parts as they intertwined together. I was using the APC40 controller to experiment with the various clips. Sometimes I can go for literally hours having fun on this controller. This day was not unlike any of the others. I get really wrapped up in the fun of actively making the music come alive with my controller and I don’t finish actually creating the song.
In my hypnotized state of twisting knobs and re-arranging clips I got to thinking. Why have we not evolved past a QWERTY keyboard & mouse in gaming. Audio control surfaces have evolved, slowly but the industry has moved forward. We are past the simple keyboard controllers and are now seeing some very unique control surfaces that inspire you to think differently about how you input your musical ideas. Gaming has not evolved past the keyboard and mouse. The first mouse was shipped for computing in 1981 and the first patented keyboard for typewriters were made known in 1886. We are using the same input device today for MMO gaming as we used in 1886 for typing. The mouse hasn’t changed either since its conception. A few more buttons and scroll wheel but seriously, we can’t do better than that?
I would like to see a few changes in control for MMO gaming. First, directional input from video feedback. Video capture of your head movement to control your characters viewpoint. Second, video feedback/response for forward/reverse by moving your body slightly forward or back to make your character run forward or step backward. Third, voice recognition for chat. Finally, a control surface that implements a series of small pads that are assignable. These pads would light when pressed of course cuz lights are just as important as knobs and buttons.
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