Is Scope Obsolete?

[garyb]

won't record? you mean as in export?
if you're in xtc mode, you must use real-time export.
if you're in Scope mode, then treat the modular like the external synth that it is and record it via asio dest and by pressing the record button on the transport after record-enabling an audio track that uses the appropriate asio dest port as it's input.

i hear so often the quote "i'm a musician, not an engineer", but i'll remind you that an ENGINEER runs a studio. if you are going to have a studio, you really need to be an engineer, to some extent at least. be prepared to learn things that you don't know and know that while that may be a hassle right now, it will be in your own favor in the future.

why would anyone want an isa slot? for the same reason a Scope card user would want a pci slot. there will be pci slots for many years to come, even if they aren't mainstream, just like isa slots are still supported if you really want to find an isa slot motherboard. currently, there are motherboards that support all but the most esoteric processors that have pci slots, so to answer your first question, NO, Scope is not obsolete yet.

[Atomic Marshmallow]

Thanks garyb for your reply and help. Thanks to you I can now record my Pulsar synths in the sequencer. Stupid me connected it to the mixer input and not the ASIO dest Though to record MIDI as well as audio from my pulsar synths it seems I have to arm two tracks for recording. One for Audio and the other for MIDI. Is that right? I am using Ableton by the way. It's just that if memory serves me correctly, I only used to arm one track which would do both MIDI and audio, but that was when I used to use Logic 5.5.1. But I could be wrong about that. It was a while ago.

Though it does bring me to another question. If I connect Pulsar synths to the ASIO dest that means then I can't use the AUXes on say the STM 2248 to connect external effects like my Ensoniq DP4+. Or can I? I might be missing the obvious.

Excuse me if I come across as ignorant, but it has been a while since I used Pulsar.

Seeing I am here, any chance you or anyone can tell me where I can find my Dynatube bundle?

With regard to, "I am a musician, not a technician/engineer", maybe it sounds a bit cliche, but it is true. Admittedly, I dread the prospect of learning this technical stuff, because in all honesty, I have no energy for it. I see it as a distraction from music making, which is the main reason why I have these wonderful toys to begin with.
However, you may be right that it is a crucial skill, particularly in a sophisticated home studio setup, even if I have no real desire to get into the technicalities.

Anyway garyb, thanks for your help. There are some very knowledgeable and helpful people here and you are one of the main players who make PlanetZ a cool place.

Thanks to you and the other kind and helpful people on this forum. Long may it stay that way!!!!

[siriusbliss]

Setting up Scope is just like working with hardware in the old days - you just have keep track of the 'insas and outas' - which points to the fact that, with all this flexibility, why would any such system ever go obsolete?

IMO PCI will be around for at least 5 years, and even then the 'older' motherboards at that time (that we lust after now) will be cheap.
Meanwhile AGP - where did AGP go?

Best case scenario is that you can always slave your current system with a newer system down the line.

Greg

[borg]

Maybe try and keep it simple...

If you like using outboard gear, then I think it would be wise to keep your mix in scope. You can do this by setting up a mix in scope and record your synths directly after the instrument to your sequencer. Assign that recorded track to seperate asio channels and connect these channels to the mixer channel in scope that you used for the synth. That way you should have, according to bit rate, sample frequency,... a quasi duplicate of your scope synth midi part.

Turn the synth's polyphony down to 0 to save the dsp power. This way, you can easily re-engage the synth to make adjustments later on.

This is just one option. There are many other possibilities like VDAT or mixing in your sequencer (Ableton has the 'external fx' and 'external instrument' modules now. This allows you to connect your outboard gear to scope, connect its in and output to asio channels and choose these channels in ableton for your 'external' module). However, mixing in scope gives you zero latency. Scope is kind of hardware to me.

[JoPo]

And now, Atomic Marshmallow, you've got 2 pc, aren't you ? Why don't you try to link them via adat or analog i/o, spdif or midi ? Or (I don't know which DAW you use) with Cubase, you may link 2 pc with the vst system link, I'm sure there is an equivalent feature in any good DAW. In this way , you keep all you gears, you won't have to make any choice... Perhaps, you'll just have to buy 2 or 3 cables to link them...

i hear so often the quote "i'm a musician, not an engineer", but i'll remind you that an ENGINEER runs a studio. if you are going to have a studio, you really need to be an engineer, to some extent at least. be prepared to learn things that you don't know and know that while that may be a hassle right now, it will be in your own favor in the future.

And now, a bit of morality......
When I started to make music with computer, I was not an ingineer but just a musician. I couldn't even save a file, cause I didn't know what was a file and what was saving. And there was no net. But I always kept a very important rule : when I meet with difficulties, when I do not succeed in making something, I don't give up by making something else : I search anywhere how to resolve the problem. With that rule, now, I believe I became an enough good ingineer to make music as I wish and resolve the technical problems which never forget to not happen.

Try to take time to think about how to link your both pc and when you'll done it, you'll be very very very happy !

You may find softube soft here :
ftp://sonic-core.net/software/scope5/Plugins/Softube/

Scope works as a real hardware studio, so to record, hear sounds, you allways must to cable an in to an out and make the right i/o choice !

[garyb]

if you right click on an asio source module, you can open the surface which allows you choose the number of asio channels available. you must have the sequencer closed before changing the number of asio channels. when reopening the sequencer, the added i/o channels will be available.

yes, you can still use the dp4 at the same time as recording an audio source. there's no need to record both audio AND midi, but you certainly can record both if you wish. also, as borg says, if you have multiple asio source channels(which would be the audio outs from Live), then you can assign each audio track in Live to it's own output and mix in Scope. this may have audio quality and logistical advantage to mixing inside live...

[Atomic Marshmallow]

And now, Atomic Marshmallow, you've got 2 pc, aren't you ? Why don't you try to link them via adat or analog i/o, spdif or midi ? Or (I don't know which DAW you use) with Cubase, you may link 2 pc with the vst system link, I'm sure there is an equivalent feature in any good DAW. In this way , you keep all you gears, you won't have to make any choice... Perhaps, you'll just have to buy 2 or 3 cables to link them...

Linking them sounds like a great idea. I haven't tried it yet even though I read it is possible. Once again, my technical ignorance hinders me from trying. Though slowly I will get there I hope. Trying to create music is my main priority and there just isn't enough hours in a day.

I think once I have created my ideal template, that will suffice and no interruptions to the creative juices.

But I always kept a very important rule : when I meet with difficulties, when I do not succeed in making something, I don't give up by making something else : I search anywhere how to resolve the problem. With that rule, now, I believe I became an enough good engineer to make music as I wish and resolve the technical problems which never forget to not happen.

Try to take time to think about how to link your both pc and when you'll done it, you'll be very very very happy !

Unfortunately, I tend to give up if I can't solve a problem quickly. Not the best attitude to adopt, but I just don't have that tenacity when it comes to technical issues. Wrong, I know. I blame it on my short attention span.

You may find softube soft here :
ftp://sonic-core.net/software/scope5/Plugins/Softube/

Thanks!! It was in the Scope 5 section and called Softtube rather than Dynatube. I am pretty sure I looked at all the subsections in the Sonic Core site, but didn't see it. Thank you very much. Today I will be thoroughly giving my Dynatube bundle a good working over. I'll be interested to see how it compares to what I already use, which is Guitar Rig 3.

if you right click on an asio source module, you can open the surface which allows you choose the number of asio channels available. you must have the sequencer closed before changing the number of asio channels. when reopening the sequencer, the added i/o channels will be available.

yes, you can still use the dp4 at the same time as recording an audio source. there's no need to record both audio AND midi, but you certainly can record both if you wish. also, as borg says, if you have multiple asio source channels(which would be the audio outs from Live), then you can assign each audio track in Live to it's own output and mix in Scope. this may have audio quality and logistical advantage to mixing inside live...

Thanks Garyb.

Excuse the obvious question, but if I don't arm a MIDI track for recording then I guess I can't edit MIDI data should I need to. Is that right?

Thanks to everyone for your help. Very much appreciated !!!

[dawman]

Unfortunately, I tend to give up if I can't solve a problem quickly. Not the best attitude to adopt, but I just don't have that tenacity when it comes to technical issues. Wrong, I know. I blame it on my short attention span.

I can relate. Our management company had an outside engineer who promised to replace the expensive Hardware touring gear and cut the crew down 50% in size. Naturally he was hated and being a jerk didn't help but he had 4 Scope/Giga DAW's. He would always talk way over our heads to maintain his job but I ended up buying 2 DAW's and getting rid of him.
I then came to this place and had these elegant chaps tolerate my pathetic ass for a whole year before I stopped breastfeeding and branched off on my own. I think Astroman and John Bowen taught me my first email, as I didn't even know how to do that.
My attention span has changed from zero tolerance to 10 times that level now.
Once you get started and have stable hardware the sky's the limit.
I owe these chaps alot here at the Z.
The way S|C is rolling I hope I don't become obsolete.........................Ankyu.

[garyb]

Excuse the obvious question, but if I don't arm a MIDI track for recording then I guess I can't edit MIDI data should I need to. Is that right?

Thanks to everyone for your help. Very much appreciated !!!

you might as well ask anyway!
maybe i'll give a too obvious answer, either way, no harm done.

you are correct about midi. the midi channel that you record can play out the sequencer midi source. you may have as many seq midi source and dest modules as you wish, just close live before adding or removing them. each will have 16 midi channels. Live will report the names as S/C midi in/out 1, S/C midi in/out 2,..3... etc. just choose the appropriate input or output port for each track. so, obviously that midi data can playback ANY synth, which can then be recorded....

i don't understand the big deal about freezing Scope synths. freezing=recording. this is always possible.

[Leper]

Hey garyb,

The problem for me is that I usually have 30-60 midi tracks in one song, and recording all those tracks down would take hours. With the songs I'm preparing for my own album, I'd have to spend a few full days recording all the tracks down to audio. Makes me wish for a 1 button export like the VST crowd are blessed with.

Not that I'm complaining too loudly. For now, the benefits still outweigh the annoyances.

[siriusbliss]

I haven't had time lately to test freezing in Samplitude with the Scope synths.
HOWEVER, freeze DOES work for most 'external' hardware effects (I've used it), so perhaps there's a possibility that it might capture it.
The ultimate test would be to record automation in Samplitude, and send that out to the synths (that respond to MIDI controller), and then see if THAT gets rendered.

Otherwise, if you're using all those MIDI tracks, why freeze at all (unless you need the extra overhead) - just mixdown in Scope and you're done, right?

But nonethless, once SC catches up with the VST types of features, we'll be rockin'.

Greg

[kylie]

is a refrigerator obsolete?
is a cooker or stove obsolete?
what about pots & pans, cutlery, crockery?
is a wooden door obsolete?
What about a door handle?
What about a pane of glass?
is fresh air obsolete?
is ground to stand on obsolete?
What about clothes? (personally I don't think women should be allowed to wear them)

is there even a real competitor to Scope?

no, Scope is not obsolete, especially when a 64bit version is near release, there are win7 drivers and pci slots can still be found.

Fixed that for you Gary!

yer awesome, shroomz!
a yes, and don't forget to change your location... soon, or you will be behind time...

[wayne]

You ok, dusty?

[winger]

You can still get 5-slot pcu mother boards. Just did a google search "motherboard 5-pci"

Easmples:

http://www.technooutlet.com/dhgap43es3g ... 33883385-2

http://www.macmall.com/p/4489523?dpno=7 ... 37144139-2

Many more available.

[Shroomz~>]

a yes, and don't forget to change your location... soon, or you will be behind time...

Thanks kylie! I'd have forgotten if it wasn't for the reminder!

Happy New Year to everyone here!!

[kylie]

[H-Rave]

http://www.selexium.fr/catalogsearch/re ... 0&marque=0