![\"Alesis](\"http:\/\/img3.musiciansfriend.com\/dbase\/pics\/products\/regular\/0\/3\/8\/499038.jpg\")
<\/a>Alesis MultMix USB 2.0 in its Peaceful Configuration<\/p><\/div>\n
a while since I posted hereabouts, but…well, it probably wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone if the header image changed to “rolling tumbleweeds.”<\/p>\n
And no, my recent silence has not had anything to do with the Leafs’ early season struggles.\u00a0\u00a0 My inconstancy would better be blamed on a prolonged period of fiddling about with various warring\u00a0 gadgets in Mission Control.\u00a0 Although some might describe what I’ve been doing as an exercise in amateur audio engineering, to me it feels more like I’ve been involved in an extended diplomatic mission to bring peace to the electronic devices gathered in my little high-tech office\/studio\/closet\/electricity sink\/rabbit warren.<\/p>\n
The Dell XPS 700, for example, occupies a small plot of real estate not far from the Alesis MultiMix 16 USB 2.0 mixer.\u00a0\u00a0 This mixer is a piece of equipment that is designed to take audio inputs (from microphones, guitars, tape decks, iPods, keyboards, etc.) and provide an audio signal that can be amplified\u00a0 through conventional means, or captured via USB in a computer running the appropriate software.\u00a0 It’s an integral part of my home digital audio workstation setup.<\/p>\n
The digital and the audio, however, were not previously getting along that well.\u00a0 The mixer, of course, shared deep cultural ties (not to mention a pair of output cables) with its northern neighbour, the Behringer Europower EP2500\u00a0 power amp.\u00a0 The amp\u00a0 is a device itself strongly allied (via a couple of 30′ cables) to a stacked pair of Elite loudspeaker cabinets.\u00a0 Being so closely affiliated with powerful straight-up sound reinforcement equipment seemed to provide the Alesis mixer with little incentive to cross the cultural divide and open lines of communication with its digital neighbour to the west, the Dell computer.\u00a0 I had tried to bridge the gap with a USB cable from time to time, but playback filled with clicks indicative of a sampling rate mismatch and some generally unpredictable routing and playback results made it clear that, although physically connected, the two solitudes were not communicating.\u00a0 Someone was going to have to actively intervene in the long-standing petty dispute being waged between these two regional powers.\u00a0 Thus began my effort to bring peace and co-operation to this region.<\/p>\n
Complicating the mission was the ancillary involvement of other minor regional players and factions seeking to play their various roles in the local politics.\u00a0 Here, a Behringer Autocom Pro dual input audio compressor;\u00a0 there, Cubase LE4 DAW software and a M-Audio USB midi interface.\u00a0 On one side of the digital divide, a Yamaha PSR-292 keyboard;\u00a0 on the other, a set of Ampex 460 tube condenser microphones with pre-amps.\u00a0 Arrayed across the western border of the region – not yet involved in the conflict, but with an intense emotional investment in the ultimate outcome – an army of sentinels quietly watching: a Yamaha acoustic guitar, its Fender American Standard Telecaster brother standing shoulder to shoulder just south of their tall trailer trash cousin, the Degas bass guitar.\u00a0 Also currently uninvolved, but poised for action on the southern frontier, an aging Dell Dimension – itself but a remnant of a formerly glorious empire – renewed with the vigour brought on by hope of a new role in the balance of power:\u00a0 as a dedicated sound module running Reason’s Re-Birth, and perhaps a few other software synths.<\/p>\n
The interests of all these devices were many and complex;\u00a0 their internecine connections so Byzantine, they boggled the mind as surely as they tangled the feet of any human interloper brave enough to venture into the war zone.<\/p>\n
Over the last few weeks, though, I have been as a missionary:\u00a0 spending time in the conflict zone, listening with so much patience as I am able to exhibit to the complaints of each device in turn, learning its individual peculiarities and attending to its most pressing needs. \u00a0\u00a0 Gradually, as I learned the ways of each of the involved players and gained their trust, I was able to act as a sort of intermediary between them.\u00a0 The first success, of course, was solving the one regional problem common to both the musical and digital equipment:\u00a0 the perennial shortage of power and cables for the hungry. \u00a0 It seemed as though my efforts in bringing electricity and signal to all those that wanted it were key in establishing a sort of diplomatic credibility among the interested parties.\u00a0 Having contributed in this way to the general common weal of the region, I suppose I acquired the gravitas<\/em> necessary to approach the inscrutable Cubase LE faction then in charge of\u00a0 the Dell XPS 700 and strongly encourage it to open a dialogue, through the mixer and amplification equipment, with the microphones.\u00a0\u00a0 Initially concerned about ceding too much control over its local affairs, the XPS insisted on relying upon its internal clock, and control processes, but reluctantly and guardedly agreed to participate in a meaningful dialogue about peace.\u00a0 Formerly insular, parochial\u00a0 and non-communicative with its neighbours, the XPS exhibited a commitment to change by surrendering the secrets of its internal drum-mapping processes;\u00a0 agreeing to make not only the process but also its results public by transmitting the generated beats across the newly established network permitted me to immediately demonstrate the salutary results of such co-operative openness by recording a rough double-tracked lead vocal for a rendition of\u00a0 Tom Petty’s Yer So Bad<\/em>.\u00a0 Careful not to upset a newly emerging delicate balance among the electrified audio equipment and the digital audio workstation factions, I slowly introduced an additional element – the Yamaha acoustic guitar – into the mix.\u00a0 Soon, all involved were agreeing that the results would be improved by the inclusion of some compression, background vocals were recorded, and slowly, a consensus emerged that efforts should be made to establish midi communication channels between Cubase and the Yamaha keyboard to make use of some superior drum samples.<\/p>\n It has been a long and difficult diplomatic journey, one fraught with danger and tension.\u00a0 Peace has not yet been brought to the entirety of this troubled region – there are occasional troubling flareups among certain terrorist factions within the XPS 700 in particular, and much remains to be learned of the ways of MIDI – but I am confident in proclaiming that a framework for success has been achieved.\u00a0\u00a0 All concerned have been shown that it is possible to do more than simply co-exist; to establish lines of communication, to work cooperatively and to achieve together much more than mere survival.\u00a0 Much remains to be done.\u00a0 The newfound regional prosperity, for example, has yet to arrive for the Degas bass and the ancient Dell Dimension computer;\u00a0 the terrain remains littered with unsightly cables, but the basis for a more permanent functioning infrastructure has been modeled and demonstrated to be effective.<\/p>\n I will continue to advise as to progress in the region.\u00a0 Hopefully, with the most difficult work on this diplomatic effort now behind me, I can resume with some regularity my postings hereabouts.\u00a0\u00a0 I will try not to let the extreme tension of this precarious diplomatic situation intrude more than may be necessary into the collected works herein, lest the grim seriousness of posts such as this one interfere with your enjoyment of the usual array of dick jokes, profanity and self-aggrandizing anecdotal falsehoods commonly presented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yes, yes, I know. I have been a very negligent blogger. I don’t want to say it’s been<\/p>\n Alesis MultMix USB 2.0 in its Peaceful Configuration<\/p>\n a while since I posted hereabouts, but…well, it probably wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone if the header image changed to “rolling tumbleweeds.”<\/p>\n And no, my recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,498,30],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1151"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1154,"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151\/revisions\/1154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heroesinrehab.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}