# Embarrassing set-up before getting a DAW



## Rodney Money (Oct 3, 2017)

I have no earthly idea why I am sharing this embarrassing photo, but Facebook reminded me of this memory from about 4 years ago before I knew what a DAW was or anything about sound libraries. This is me simply working on a piece of music for a client in Finale. It seemed like I barely needed anything back then.


----------



## synthpunk (Oct 3, 2017)

my first DAW


----------



## Replicant (Oct 3, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> I have no earthly idea why I am sharing this embarrassing photo, but Facebook reminded me of this memory from about 4 years ago before I knew what a DAW was or anything about sound libraries. This is me simply working on a piece of music for a client in Finale. It seemed like I barely needed anything back then.



I don't know why you find this embarassing, honestly — I think it's respectable.

Take away the sound libraries from most people today and they're like a turtle on its back.


----------



## Jdiggity1 (Oct 3, 2017)

We've seen the "THEN", where's the "NOW"?


----------



## devonmyles (Oct 3, 2017)

Lovely photo, Daddy must be proud of you. But, don’t you just hate it when your parents are looking over your shoulder when you are working on a computer...


----------



## Lassi Tani (Oct 3, 2017)

devonmyles said:


> Lovely photo, Daddy must be proud of you. But, don’t you just hate it when your parents are looking over your shoulder when you are working on a computer...



Haha! That was good .

Nothing embarassing there, I started with tracker (Scream Tracker), and thought who would need a DAW.


----------



## Tatu (Oct 3, 2017)

My first "DAW":




(Pic not mine, but I had that model  )


----------



## jononotbono (Oct 4, 2017)

Replicant said:


> I don't know why you find this embarassing, honestly — I think it's respectable.
> 
> Take away the sound libraries from most people today and they're like a turtle on its back.



I'm not very good with music theory and notating music on paper (although I'm trying to learn) so if a Sample Library is the equivalent of my physical instruments and you took away my Guitar or Piano, that I have learnt to play by ear, then I would be on my back too.


----------



## JPComposer (Oct 4, 2017)

synthpunk said:


> my first DAW



Ah, good times... Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, HISSSSSSS, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, HISSSSSSSS, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, HISSSSSSSSSSS


----------



## Rasmus Hartvig (Oct 4, 2017)

This is fun - and not embarrassing at all (until this post)

Here's my first DAW


----------



## R. Soul (Oct 4, 2017)

sekkosiki said:


> Haha! That was good .
> 
> Nothing embarassing there, I started with tracker (Scream Tracker), and thought who would need a DAW.


Oh, ScreamTracker had 8 tracks. 
I went from Soundtracker to Noisetracker to ProTracker. All 4 track based as far as I remember.
I'm a bit hazy after that. I do remember FastTracker but I'm not sure if I'd started using Dr. T's KCS at that point.


----------



## Rodney Money (Oct 4, 2017)

Jdiggity1 said:


> We've seen the "THEN", where's the "NOW"?


Still a little embarrassing concerning my monitor speakers that I definitely need to upgrade, but I love my Yahmaha headphones. Here's an updated picture:




And a updated picture of the baby:


----------



## Saxer (Oct 4, 2017)

synthpunk said:


> my first DAW


Haha, I had exactly the same! From the massive amount of drop ins (often I dropped 16th note by 16th note while searching a new chord in between) the start button flew out when pressing stop!


----------



## garyhiebner (Oct 4, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> Still a little embarrassing concerning my monitor speakers that I definitely need to upgrade, but I love my Yahmaha headphones. Here's an updated picture:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice Studio Upgrade!


----------



## Vik (Oct 4, 2017)

My first music making program was called SPMTE Track Pro, by Hybrid Arts. Shortly after that, I converted to Notator by C-Lab, but that wasn't embarrassing at all. Here's the earliest screen shot I found on internet, from version 2. I think the first release version was 1.0 or 1.1. I also considered Cubase and Mastertracks Pro, but Notator did a lot of good stuff. The computer (an Atari ST) had a total of 1 mb RAM. Ironically, early versions of Notator (later called Logic) could do some stuff dedicated score editors can't even do today!


----------



## Rodney Money (Oct 4, 2017)

devonmyles said:


> Lovely photo, Daddy must be proud of you. But, don’t you just hate it when your parents are looking over your shoulder when you are working on a computer...


Lol! Absolutely!


----------



## Rodney Money (Oct 4, 2017)

I am enjoying all of the "baby pics" guys!


----------



## chillbot (Oct 4, 2017)

God damn though you guys had graphics?

Who started on DOS... Voyetra Pro?


----------



## R. Soul (Oct 4, 2017)

chillbot said:


> God damn though you guys had graphics?
> 
> Who started on DOS... Voyetra Pro?


I got curious, so looked it up. And found this.

This guy doing mad fast programming using Voyetra Pro ...in 2013.


----------



## synthpunk (Oct 4, 2017)

ohh cool, you had color Chill !

Dr. T's KCS (Atari 1040ST, Monochrome) 1985. Anyone remember nested loops ?









chillbot said:


> God damn though you guys had graphics?
> 
> Who started on DOS... Voyetra Pro?


----------



## scottbuckley (Oct 4, 2017)

So many cool memories being surfaced by this thread! For me, my first bit of software was MidiSoft Recording Session, for Windows 3.1. I think my cousin gave me a hacked version... definitely didn't pay for it... 

I vividly remember making a mockup of Pachelbel's Canon in D and being extremely proud of the result. I still chase that feeling!


----------



## Replicant (Oct 4, 2017)

I like how this thread is like listening to old men at lunch at the old folks home talk about who had it worse when they were a kid lol.

"When I was a kid, I had to walk 6 miles to school. Uphill, both ways, and my shoes gave me blisters!"

"When I was kid, I had to walk _8_ miles to school. Uphill, both ways, and you think your blisters were bad!"

"Oh? You guys had _shoes_?"


----------



## Rodney Money (Oct 4, 2017)

Replicant said:


> I like how this thread is like listening to old men at lunch at the old folks home talk about who had it worse when they were a kid lol.
> 
> "When I was a kid, I had to walk 6 miles to school. Uphill, both ways, and my shoes gave me blisters!"
> 
> ...


My turn again then.  Y'all guys had electronics? Back in my day all I had was this:


----------



## chillbot (Oct 4, 2017)

Bah. We all had that though.

The crazy thing to me is that I'm still using the same MIDI cable I used 35 years ago. OK it's not the *same* cable but you know what I mean. All this technology holy shit. MIDI just stays the same...


----------



## Jacob Cadmus (Oct 4, 2017)

I'm such a youngster that my starting point doesn't go that far back. My pre-DAW days were Finale Notepad 2007 on a hand-me-down laptop, though I mostly used it to write drumline cadences and to cheat my way through music theory homework.


----------



## Saxer (Oct 4, 2017)

My first computer was a Commodore C64 (64 for 64 kilobyte ram!). I still used it when I was studying jazz arrangement and my first track with real strings was arranged on this machine. The track had 4 minutes and after two minutes the RAM was full (only midi notes, no CC). RAM full means crash but you could see the number under the "FREE" menue how many notes you have left. One note was two events (NOTE ON and NOTE OFF). So I had to make the second half in another song file and for the mockup recording I had to drop in the second song at the right place on my casette deck to hear it in one go.


----------



## ryanstrong (Oct 4, 2017)

My first DAW


----------



## Replicant (Oct 4, 2017)

Saxer said:


> My first computer was a Commodore C64 (64 for 64 kilobyte ram!). I still used it when I was studying jazz arrangement and my first strack with real strings was arranged on this machine. The track had 4 minutes and after two minutes the RAM was full (only midi notes, no CC). RAM full means crash but you could see the number under the "FREE" menue how many notes you have left. One note was two events (NOTE ON and NOTE OFF). So I had to make the second half in another song file and for the mockup recording I had to drop in the second song at the right place on my casette deck to hear it in one go.



...

Whenever someone my age, who is into music is like "I was born in the wrong generation!" I'm just going to show them this.

I still use an "ancient" program (for the composing stage of many of my tracks) called Guitar Pro 5. It came out in 2005 and is like Skynet compared to these things from the 80s.


----------



## garyhiebner (Oct 5, 2017)

This was my first DAW. I think I still got it lying around somewhere with probably some hidden gems on my Type II tapes:


R. Soul said:


> I got curious, so looked it up. And found this.
> 
> This guy doing mad fast programming using Voyetra Pro ...in 2013.



Flip! This guy is crazy fast with his tracker speed programming. Insane! Absolutely insane! Thanks for the share


----------



## jgaryt (Dec 31, 2017)

chillbot said:


> God damn though you guys had graphics?
> 
> Who started on DOS... Voyetra Pro?


I did indeed, I even had the VAPI interface to get 4 banks of 16 MIDI channels. Ran a full live show from a 286, including lights, and traveled with it!

Technically, I graduated to Voyetra SP Gold, after using Dr. T's KCS on a Commodore64


----------



## conan (Dec 31, 2017)

My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20. I programmed music by directly putting values into memory addresses using POKE and PEEK commands. This was made a bit easier by using arrays. I didn’t have a way to save my work, so I would have to type in hundreds of lines of code every time I rebooted my machine. This meant setting up at least an hour early to give me time before a performance. When the C64 was released, I was able to get a cassette drive for storing programs. I didn’t have a MIDI sequencer until the 80286, Roland MPU-401, and Cakewalk 2.0 (DOS) became available.


----------



## jgaryt (Dec 31, 2017)

conan said:


> My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20. I programmed music by directly putting values into memory addresses using POKE and PEEK commands. This was made a bit easier by using arrays. I didn’t have a way to save my work, so I would have to type in hundreds of lines of code every time I rebooted my machine. This meant setting up at least an hour early to give me time before a performance. When the C64 was released, I was able to get a cassette drive for storing programs. I didn’t have a MIDI sequencer until the 80286, Roland MPU-401, and Cakewalk 2.0 (DOS) became available.


I had a VIC 20 also, but only used to play Omega Race


----------



## chillbot (Dec 31, 2017)

conan said:


> My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20. I programmed music by directly putting values into memory addresses using POKE and PEEK commands. This was made a bit easier by using arrays. I didn’t have a way to save my work, so I would have to type in hundreds of lines of code every time I rebooted my machine. This meant setting up at least an hour early to give me time before a performance. When the C64 was released, I was able to get a cassette drive for storing programs. I didn’t have a MIDI sequencer until the 80286, Roland MPU-401, and Cakewalk 2.0 (DOS) became available.


Yup.



jgaryt said:


> I had a VIC 20 also, but only used to play Omega Race


Yup.


----------



## C.R. Rivera (Dec 31, 2017)

Saxer said:


> My first computer was a Commodore C64 (64 for 64 kilobyte ram!). I still used it when I was studying jazz arrangement and my first track with real strings was arranged on this machine.



I know the "feeling". [and no pictures] 
1987-1988:
Commodore 64: 2x1541 drives, 1x1581 drive, 1x1764 ram expander
Dr. T’s Model T----I actually emailed Dr. T himself to see if it was ever going to be PCified, "No".
Sequential Circuits Model 64 Sequencer.


----------



## C.R. Rivera (Dec 31, 2017)

conan said:


> My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20. I programmed music by directly putting values into memory addresses using POKE and PEEK commands. This was made a bit easier by using arrays. I didn’t have a way to save my work, so I would have to type in hundreds of lines of code every time I rebooted my machine. This meant setting up at least an hour early to give me time before a performance. When the C64 was released, I was able to get a cassette drive for storing programs. I didn’t have a MIDI sequencer until the 80286, Roland MPU-401, and Cakewalk 2.0 (DOS) became available.



I still have the old DOS manual, and remember doing Basic and M/L on my 64. I modded mine for some extra special juice ....back then it was my all purpose.


----------



## Jeremy Spencer (Jan 2, 2018)

Rodney Money said:


> Still a little embarrassing concerning my monitor speakers that I definitely need to upgrade



KRK Rokit's? Nothing wrong with that. I used the first generation of those until recently, they aren't too bad despite the bad rap they get. Alongside my new Yamaha HS8's, I use the Rockit's for A/B comparisons.


----------



## fixxer49 (Jan 2, 2018)

Rodney Money said:


> I have no earthly idea why I am sharing this embarrassing photo, but Facebook reminded me of this memory from about 4 years ago before I knew what a DAW was or anything about sound libraries. This is me simply working on a piece of music for a client in Finale. It seemed like I barely needed anything back then.


not embarrassed, though.


----------



## Rodney Money (Jan 2, 2018)

Wolfie2112 said:


> KRK Rokit's? Nothing wrong with that. I used the first generation of those until recently, they aren't too bad despite the bad rap they get. Alongside my new Yamaha HS8's, I use the Rockit's for A/B comparisons.


Thank you for the reassurance my friend, especially since I don't have the budget for new speakers since I need to purchase a cornet in the near future.


----------



## Jeremy Spencer (Jan 2, 2018)

The ironic thing is....I got a lot more done creatively back in those days....making the most of what I had (including making my own samples with an Ensoniq ESP 16+); even my mixes were pretty decent and I was using some shity little Radio Shack speakers. Now, I take too much for granted and spend way too much time sifting through the thousands of VI patches I have accumulated and wondering how new gear will improve my workflow. Plus, there was no internet yet. We are definitely spoiled now!


----------



## Kardon (Jan 2, 2018)

Aside from a fruitless attempt with an Atari 1040ST and Dr. T's Tiger, the first DAW I produced any music with was Roger Powell's *Texture*. On an IBM PS/2 with Roland's MicroChannel MPU-401 interface. The "workflow" clicked with me, and I made a few pieces that shipped with a product. Good times.


----------



## joebaggan (Jan 2, 2018)

A lot of these software tools really forced you to be creative back in the day. They're still kind of fascinating, and would be an interesting challenge to use nowadays to see what you could get out of them. I was most into midi hardware sequencers and keyboards with built-in sequencers, lots more of those back in the day than people using computers for music.


----------



## Jeremy Spencer (Jan 2, 2018)

Not to sidetrack, but in 1992 I shelled out $400 for Cakewalk 2.0, $3000 for an Ensoniq ASR 10, and $3000 for the 486sx PC to run it all. My buddies were in awe that I had 4mb Ram in the 486, along with a whopping 120mb hard drive!!


----------



## GULL (Jan 2, 2018)

My first DAW with I created a first track


----------



## Henu (Jan 3, 2018)

I started with a 4- tracker, guitar and a Korg workstation in 1994. Then I moved into the PC world in 2000 and got a decent sound card with 4 inputs. This first DAW setup of mine (running Logic Audio Pro Isis and Cool Edit Pro!) was located in our flat from 2000 to 2003 and it looked like this. :D






This corner belonged to a 30 square meter place shared with my girlfriend at the time so I didn´t even have room for my Korg workstation nor for my guitar. I always stored them in our clothes cabinet while I didn´t use them, hah! And believe it or not, I actually mixed a couple of albums and demos with that setup, but for those I at least got better nearfields from a friend's studio. And did a TON of demos as well- basically I was sitting in that corner all the time back then.


----------

