After seven months of post-NAMM talk, Peavey & I far apart on
a manual bid for their DPM series: their hopeful $5k vs. my seasoned
$35K. This was an interesting reality lesson causing me to rethink
my product and competition from cheaper writers. Scott Peer (former
Sequential), DP3 engineer provided the inital contact and reprises
an interesting contact role in 1992.
1990.10.20 Trying a New Niche
MIDIWORLD, MULTI-MEDIA, and EDUCATION
The greatest impediments to the wider acceptance of technically-based
music and media products -- be they targeted for the home, studio,
or corporate office -- are not technical, but operational, educational,
and ergonomic issues.
This assumption underlies MIDIWorld's work. And in attacking these
problems for the past fourteen years for the music instrument
industry’s leading companies, MIDIWorld's President, Stanley
Jungleib, has established a unique tenure. Widely read and known
in the music instrument (MI) industry, he has been involved from
their inception in dozens of leading-edge instruments, as well
as in the creation and enhancement of MIDI itself.
MIDIWorld takes the position that a quality presentation cannot
be accomplished without quality music. It considers MIDI vital
to the success of multimedia, as it provides a high-quality, low-bandwidth,
low-storage requirement alternative to digital sound files.Committed
to bringing presentation technology into MI, MIDIWorld is built
around a pair of fully expanded Macintoshes (IIfx and IIx: see
separate studio specification). It is acquiring most Macintosh
multimedia tools as they emerge, and carefully studying the applicability
of this technology to MI market education as well as to user interfaces.
The advent of computerized multimedia presentations gives us
important new tools for making the instrument maker’s case
directly to the customer on the showroom floor, without convolution
through an untrained salesperson. The studio is now demonstrating
the newest techniques for controlling sound and MIDI interactively,
with MacroMind Director (2.0), as well as working prototypes of
interactive MIDI system simulations including browser-controlled
study materials, real-time MIDI and CD-quality digital audio.
A recurring problem in instrument design is incomplete, vague,
or shifting specifications. Certainly it is a tough art to design
an instrument on paper, and there will always be corrections and
changes as empirical development converges with reality. Experience
and foresight are essential, but perhaps not sufficient to prevent
something important from being overlooked. All oversights are
costly; preventable ones can be extremely wasteful and easily
delay a product’s introduction by months.
To address this problem, access to an explicit, “living,”
interactive simulation reveals and prevent gaps at the earliest
possible stages. MIDIWorld can now economically design and simulate
the operation of a functioning musical instrument or system on
the Macintosh. The “virtual” system serves as a vehicle
of communication for those with input to the product definition,
and provides essential feedback concerning the design. The negotiated
model then becomes a concrete target for the programmers. The
model also assists the development of documentation and tutorials.
With planning, some of the model’s code can even be used
in the actual application.
In two or three years, competition will force synthesizers to
include user features and DSP techniques so radical and new that
programming them on even an 8-line by 40-character display will
be laughably frustrating if not impossible. For example, using
graphics is the logical way to edit physical models based on waveguide
techniques. There are only two possibilities: front panels will
become the province of the home system computer, or the successful
stand-alone instruments will likely boast large, programmable,
touch-sensitive display panels. Now is the time to start thinking
about how to capitalize on window-based or touch-screen technology
and the interface issues they raise.
Much of MIDIWorld's research is being developed and validated
for Cogswell College’s Electronic Music Technology B.S.
degree curriculum. Jungleib has a broad mandate to totally revamp
the program in preparation for California State Education Training
Panel (ETP) funding in 1991. The goal is to totally automate training
based on behavioral objectives, using Director. The increased
learning efficiency should actually create more time for the teacher
to spend with individuals.
In addition, MIDIWorld has just contracted Intensive Care of
San Francisco to spearhead a new sales and marketing effort for
its sound-for-media techniques.
MIDIWorld seeks to align itself with corporate clients as well
as graphics and video organizations looking for leadership in
interactive documentation and training involving music, MIDI,
and digital audio for the '90s. The miraculous tools this industry
is bringing forth today are also so inherently complex that designing
the features, user interface, documentation, and market education
are really inseparable. Increasingly, successful general products
require cross-fertilization between experts in a wide variety
of fields.
And in this era of hidden functions and the widely-loathed quasi-English
imported manual, outstanding interfaces supported by powerful,
informative sound and outstanding interactive documentation provide
any serious enterprise with a clear opportunity to distinguish
itself, whatever the marketplace.
1990.10.30 Macromedia First Worldwide Developer's Conference
Specialized in interactive MIDI and audio using Director. Like
class A documentation, this too proved a tough sell as few Director
developers had yet encountered the need for high fidelity or synchronization.
Or they relied on traditional methods like SMPTE. No one yet had
the problem I was solving: to do hi-fi synthesis and audio all
interactively on one customized Mac.
Preface: Mac the Music Tools. Tokyo: Rittor Music, 1990. (with
Philippe Chatiliez and Atau Tanaka) btw Atau where are you?
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