pcartwright wrote:Surfwhammy wrote:some of the additional work that NOTION 3 does is done primarily because under the older version of VST it was the only practical way to do it, but I think this has changed with the release of VST 3.5.1, and this puts the authority and responsibility for this part of the work solely in the realm of the VSTi virtual instruments and sound libraries vendors, which I think is the most logical and practical way to do it, since among other things the VSTi virtual instruments and sound libraries folks have their own unique user interfaces, environments, tools, and so forth, really . . .
Uh, what?
The specific technologies that are relevant for VST 3.5.1 are grouped into what is called "VST Expression" by Steinberg, and the following link has an overview of VST Expression . . .
The latest version, VST Expression 2, is based on three core technologies: Note Expression, Expression Maps and VST Dynamics.
VST Expression (Steinberg)One perspective on VST Expression and VST 3.5.1 is that these technologies enhance what can be done with MIDI, and these technologies exist, which is important . . .
Currently, it might be the case that the only company which supports this is Steinberg, specifically in Cubase 6.5 and its various HALion synthesizers, where HALion 4.5 is the current version, which is fine with me . . .
NOTION 3 only supports two general types of instruments internally (the N2 and N3 bundled instruments and VSTi virtual instruments), and this is the reason that I think it makes sense for NOTION 4 to support the current version of Steinberg's Virtual Studio Technology (VST), which at present is VST 3.5.1 . . .
As an example, VST Expressions makes it possible to play each note of a chord in a different way, which is an interesting concept that Steinberg suggests results in more realism or whatever . . .
Nevertheless, from a practical perspective it is quite unlikely that I will take the time to delve so deeply into individual note nuances, but this probably is
not the case for everyone, because there are folks who, for example, want to sculpt every note played by a violin in great detail, and VST Expression looks to provide a way to do this . . .
The high-level perspective here in the sound isolation studio is that
I like standards, and these are the three most relevant standards that make sense for NOTION 4 sometime in the not so distant future for whatever the current versions of Mac OS X and Windows happen to be:
(1) 64-bit application . . .
(2) 64-bit ReWire . . .
(3) VST 3.5.1 . . .
And there needs to be some type of 32-bit compatibility, at least so long as there are key VSTi virtual instruments and VST effects plug-ins that are not available in 64-bit flavors . . .
The only particularly troublesome aspect is the way folks get intimate access to being able to sculpt individual notes, and in this respect at least Steinberg has a standard (VST 3.5.1), which while not being perfect looks to be a huge leap forward, because based on my somewhat limited current understanding of VST 3.5.1, it appears that the controlling application (a.k.a., "host") is able to query the VSTi virtual instrument to request that it send its detailed information about key switches, and there also is an XML-based controller interface in VST 3.5.1 . . .
And from a different but nevertheless important perspective on the future, if Notion Music creates a NOTION Developer Program and exposes enough of NOTION internals via a NOTION Software Development Kit (SDK) to be useful for developers, then you probably could create some type of product, perhaps "sound sets" or whatever, and make enough money selling it through the NOTION App Store to be able to get a new Mac Pro . . .
I like the idea of companies like Apple, Native Instruments, Notion Music, and Propellerhead Software having stores where their customers can purchase add-on products created by 3rd party developers and verified and certified as being compatible and so forth by the the respective high-level companies, and in particular I like the idea of someone else doing all the payment processing, product delivering, and accounting work, where it is fine with me if they keep 30 percent for doing it and send me a check or make an electronic deposit every three months or whatever . . .
I can do everything myself, and I have done this in the past with self-published technical books, but it essentially consumes your life, and after a while it becomes all you do, which is the primary reason that I am quite happy not to have to mess with product fulfillment and all that stuff, and I think that 30 percent is fair and reasonable in that scenario, because I would rather have 70 percent and not need to mess with product fulfillment than to have 100 percent and have to do everything, and I am fine with the Notion Music charging a reasonable yearly fee for a NOTION Developer Program, where for example Apple currently charges $99 (US) for Mac OS X and $99 (US) for iOS developer program subscriptions per year, although there also is a free version that only requires registering . . .
Really!