an unfortunate piece of technology

Helped a computer client learn how to use a new piece of technology today. New to me, anyway. (And her.) It's called the WavDJ, and it is basically a mixing board and keyboard in one package. It plugs into your PC (Windows only, thank you) and you use it to control what's happening on screen.

I was reminded once again of the reasons I am fiercely loyal to Apple Computer. I have yet to encounter a piece of software that was as confusing and counter-intuitive as "WavDJ". I spent an hour with this person, helping her learn what each button does. We were able to make some music with it, and we got all of the sounds to work, but we were unable to play back anything we had recorded. How frustrating! Also, the little keyboard you see there is really little. Keys are about an inch long. There's also a delay when you hit them, so it's difficult to play anything in real time.

And actually creating a piece of music seemed nearly impossible. An incredibly convoluted system of creating "blocks" of music, then lining them up in whatever order you want them. Folks, I have a degree in music and I couldn't figure this thing out.

Ironic that I taught Corey how to use GarageBand last night. Finally got his G4 upgraded to Panther, so I installed GarageBand for him. Those of you that don't know Corey, he is a music lover, through and through. Club music, dance music, trance music, ambient music. These are just a few of his favorite things. And I always knew he would love GarageBand. He got lost in an Apple Store a couple months ago, just jamming . . .

And usually, I give Corey a couple of lessons before he feels really confident with what he's doing on a new piece of software. Not last night, though. I opened it up for him and showed him how to get started and he was off and running. Didn't need any help whatsoever. He played his song for me this morning and it was really good! Fantastic. A piece of software that really just gets out of the way and lets you be creative.

Now I have to figure out how I can help my new client get a mac for herself . . .

In the event that proves to be impossible, does anyone know any PC sequencing apps that are relatively user-friendly? Like for teenagers?

Posted: Sun - April 4, 2004 at 09:19 PM

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an unfortunate piece of technology

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