Offloading the work off your processor 


There are increasingly more devices designed to off-load your processor by running your plug-ins externally. 

The TC Electronics Powercore Firewire has on my gear lust pile for a while. Not just for studio use, I've got some good outboard gear, but as an addition to my portable rig for live and traveling work. It never made it to the top, partly because of its high price, but also because each of the plug-ins are expensive too. I don't understand how these equipment manufacturers think people will spend as much on a processor off-loader as they would on a whole separate computer.

The new Powercore Compact is making it hard for me to not reach for the credit card. First, it's smaller, which is important to me. Second, it is almost as powerful as its big brother. The problem again is that the platform is closed enough that there aren't a ton of plug-ins for it, so the existing plug-ins are expensive. Too expensive. Not worth it. It would still be cheaper for me to buy another laptop and carry that around.

The Muse Research Receptor's answer is to just sell you another computer in a box designed for your rack. It's basically a Linux PC with a music hardware interface to it. One one level, this makes a lot of sense. It can run most VSTs and theoretically it is a lot more stable than a PC since it is tuned for what it does. Of course, it is heavier than a laptop, and more expensive. I want to like it, but it isn't really a solution to my problem.

I really, really want to like the Sound Art Chameleon and I'm looking forward to the Chameleon II. They are based on an open platform with an increasing number of freeware or inexpensive plug-ins, which is very cool. The Chameleon had a couple major flaws. The first being that patches had to be downloaded via MIDI from a computer which is a very slow process. The second was that it didn't have digital audio in or out. To me this made it into more an underpowered Clavia Nord Modular than a real tool for portable work. The Chameleon II fixes a lot of these issues (I hope, too early to know yet). It's reasonably priced too, as expensive as a good synth, but not as expensive as a good laptop.

I guess I should mention the Clavia Nord Modular here (as I own two of them). This is (in my mind) the first box that really started to make sense as a computer/external hardware hybrid. That was until Clavia stopped supporting it (Hey, take a lesson from Access here!). My Micro-modular is portable enough that I can carry it around, but powerful enough to be an excellent tone generator and processor. My Modular Keyboard is also pretty portable, more powerful and can double as a control surface. Again, too bad about it being an essentially dead product, destined to rot when my computers become obsolete. The G2 is exciting. I thought that the G2 Engine might be the answer. However, Clavia messed this one up beyond belief! The Engine has to be tied to a computer, it has no controls on it's own. Given that it has to be tethered to a computer by it's USB cable to be of any use, the fact that that USB cable doesn't transmit the audio is moronic. Even worse, the thing doesn't even have digital audio I/O! It's expensive as hell! They didn't think that the extra $20 for one of those features was worth it?!? I hope that when they look at the Access T1 they get a clue on how to better integrate their hardware with their computer hosts and that the G3 will end up on my gear lust list.

I mentioned the Access T1 in a previous entry. It isn't general purpose enough to be the answer for me, but it does some things amazingly right.

The T1 gives me a lot of hope that the music gear companies are figuring this all out. I'm glad I've been waiting and I'm hoping that 2005 will finally see the product that solves my needs without forcing me to take out another mortgage. 

Posted: Fri - November 12, 2004 at 06:35 PM          

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