Computers and Global responsibility - was RE: Snap, Crackle, Pop - VST Effect & Sound Card Problems

["Dean, Hal " <HDEAN@wcupa.edu>]

This whole sequence prompts me to solicit everyone's thoughts on the
environmental impact of gear acquisition syndrome and the migration to
computers of so much of what "electronic musicians" of any stripe do.

On the level of the individual, committing to computers requires a
readiness to upgrade/ replace at a steady clip, even if you don't care
about the latest and greatest, because eventually your computer will
break and you won't be able to get it fixed, because the OS is an
antique or the connection protocol is kaput or the software you used is
no longer made and you can't find the install discs, or they've gone
bad... just to list a few of the reasons that an elderly computer and
associated audio software and peripherals won't last a lifetime. I'll
trust that no one needs to be apprised of how much toxic stuff is in the
machines that then get tossed, or what happens to it.

I kept an Atari 520ST running Hybrid Arts software and a 16-bit sampler
together for 15 years.  To be honest, if I were willing to become more
of a geek then I could probably still have it working.  Maybe one way to
address this issue is to say, if you are going to use this stuff, then
be responsible enough to keep it working, and if you can't, perhaps you
shouldn't be using it.

I've not been able to stick to that resolution myself. Instead, I've
left a trail of the Atari, the Twinhead laptop, and the DirectWave
desktop, along with several soundcards, never mind other peripherals.
Meanwhile, my 1974 Les Paul is worth 5 times what I paid for it, other
guitars retain their value, and there is no reason to think a guitar,
amp, VF-1 and EDP won't be running splendidly in 20 years, albeit with
some maintenance that doesn't require a degree.

So even though I am a Cubase addict, love Absynth and Halion and
AudioMulch, and have been planning to dive into the batch of VSTs that
Krispen researched and so generously shared info about, I've concluded
that moving wholly into the CPU realm isn't a good idea.

On the larger scale, the use of computers everywhere for everything is
so widely touted as a boon to productivity, and so often cited as an
environmental benefit because pixels replace paper and people can
telecommute, that it seems blasphemous to question this received wisdom.
I'm not so sure. Try looking up the "cost of the Internet"... it's
interesting how little you can find about it. But all these home and
business boxes consuming power, plus all the servers and the enormous
server banks, are using a LOT of energy. I don't see paper use radically
reduced. Telecommuting is anything but common. Then there is the waste
stream of electronics.

I could go on, but let that be my rant for the day.

Hal Dean

-----Original Message-----
From: Krispen Hartung [mailto:khartung@cableone.net] 
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 2:14 AM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: Snap, Crackle, Pop - VST Effect & Sound Card Problems


Here is my status quo on this issue:  To hell with using the computer
for 
looping and music performance. I'm so fed up with the troubleshooting, 
installing, uninstalling, tweaking, loading, unloading, configuring, 
re-configuring, testing, rebooting, modifying, etc, etc, ad nauseum that
I 
could projectile vomit from here to who knows where. I can tolerate only
so 
much of this nonsense.

I just used system restore to restore my new ThinkPad to the way it was
when 
I received it out of the box. Thank goodness I had system restore active
for 
a while before I installed this blasted software and audio hardware.

I removed hundreds of dollars worth of all my audio programs, VST hosts,
VST 
effects, Echo IO, etc. I'm going to take a break from this bullshit for
a 
while and get back to playing my instrument with my simple two space
rack: 
my Looperlative and two Boss VF1s. I'll just let all this software sit
in 
archive mode for a while, so I can prioritize and get my mind right for 
another experimental festival I'm playing at in a few weeks.

....I should have spent my money on an evantide or Muse Receptor. I may 
still get the Receptor so that I can take advantage of all my VSTs.

At least my ThinkPad is back to original condition so that I can use
this 
screamin $2800 machine to check email and surf the web at my local
coffee 
shops!   :)

Kris