# Important announcement about Virtual Instruments magazine



## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 7, 2008)

www.VirtualInstrumentsMag.com


Dear Subscribers,

Virtual Instruments magazine is a success.

Since launching in mid-2005 it’s become an important resource to thousands of very serious musicians all over the world working in this exciting new musical medium. Literally hundreds of you have written and continue to write to tell us how much you enjoy the magazine, how you read it cover to cover, and how you continue to refer to back issues all the time.

Frankly, we’re proud to have earned not only your respect but also the advertising support of all the best companies in our industry. This has been very much a team effort, including the best, most knowledgeable, most experienced writers around, and the best art director, Lucky Westfall, who’s responsible for VI’s magnificent look.

We were going along fine for 17 issues, with a rapidly growing subscription base, excellent newsstand sales throughout the US and Canada, healthy ad bookings...and then the economy turned.

BOOM! The entire print publishing industry - not just us! - was hit hard as advertisers pulled back sharply from print advertising in favor of the internet. This has been a slow trend over the past few years, but the conditions in the world are speeding it up like crazy.

Being highly focused we felt it right away, hence the lapse in publication you’re all well aware of. After several false starts getting the next issue out the door, it finally became apparent that no matter how hard we wished, the business model of “low-volume magazine supported by advertising” is no longer viable.

So we were faced with three choices.

1. Knock the whole thing on the head.

2. Several hundred of you already pay the US subscription price to download PDF files of the print magazine, and your renewal rate is extremely high (indicating that you’re happy). Sticking PDFs up there wouldn’t be a very thrilling option compared to having a print magazine, but it would have been okay.

3. Why not take the opportunity to reinvent the whole idea of a digital magazine! Lemonade from lemons. More than just allowing us to continue publishing, this means we can actually put out a better product! Now I’m genuinely excited.

The more I started thinking about the possibilities, the more giddy I became. What makes more sense for a magazine about music software? And most of you don’t just have high speed internet connections, you’re online all day long.

You’ll still be able to download PDFs of all our issues and print them or selected articles out, but now our writers can actually show you what we’re talking about with audio and video examples. This is the best of all worlds: the same look, high quality editorial content, and especially the credibility you’ve come to expect from us, combined with the best of what the digital medium has to offer.

We’ll be able to present more articles, since issues don’t have to stop at the 68th page. And we can add content all the time, so you don’t have to wait two months for the next issue to get delivered when something new and exciting happens. Plus we’re saving a huge amount of paper; remember, entire civilizations have collapsed because they cut down all their trees.

***

After making the decision we brought Mr. Peter Buick on board to head our digital team and program our online interface. He’s done a fantastic job in a very short amount of time, I think, and we invite you to go to our home page and check it out:

www.VirtualInstrumentsMag.com

That’s a demo of the interface, with the first issue of the re-booted magazine scheduled for release before Christmas. Please inspect the demo, and use the integrated “chat” feature on the From The Editor page to give us your feedback. You’ll be able to use this feature to ask questions of writers and comment on all our articles in the actual magazine.

And this is just the beginning. We’ve also integrated an RSS feed that you can read for all the latest news and articles, and very shortly we’ll have a dedicated iPhone/smartphone version of the magazine that you can read wherever you are. Yeah baby.

***

All the readers we’ve talked to so far are very positive about this new direction. But of course in order to curl up on the couch with the magazine on paper you’ll need to download the PDF version and print it out yourself. Or you can load it into, say, your iPod Touch, iPhone, or Amazon Kindle, or just read the magazine on a laptop anywhere you have internet access.

We have a lot of features ideas in the works that I haven’t mentioned here. It’s highly likely that most if not all magazines will end up going digital sooner than later, so we’re happy to be at the front of the curve.

As our way of thanking you for being a loyal subscriber we’re adding six months to your subscription plus credit for the time our sub was active while we weren’t publishing. We’re working on a solution for those of you who are international print subscribers. And those of you who are download subscribers already will be chuffed.

So please do let us hear from you. We need to know what you’d like to see.

Virtual Instruments is dead. Long live VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS!

Nick Batzdorf
Editor/Publisher


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## José Herring (Dec 7, 2008)

Love it!


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## Dave Connor (Dec 7, 2008)

Good move Nick, very happy to get VI Mag in any form since it's the best of it's kind - hands down. Continued success to you and your team.


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## JB78 (Dec 7, 2008)

Great idea Nick! It looks awesome already 

Just a quick question, the log-in feature isn't implemented yet right? I tried to log in but it couldn't find my e-mail adress, my password to the old download section works fine though. 

Best regards
Jon


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## Thonex (Dec 7, 2008)

While I really love a hard-copy of a magazine (my best reading is done while I'm on the toilet), it seems like you really found a very slick answer taking into consideration the current publishing woes. And the thought of "no more VI Mag" is simply too unthinkable... I would be seriously bummed.

I love your solution and layout... and know you will continue putting out the best product for this niche market.

Best of luck!!!

T


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## zvenx (Dec 7, 2008)

plus 1 to what Thonex says..... 

the format will actually encourage me to read it online..

congrats and good luck.
rsp


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## StrangeCat (Dec 7, 2008)

Great! Very smart making it more interactive!


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## Andreas Moisa (Dec 8, 2008)

Nick, I just read your announcement and while the digital world will offer new opportunities I am a bit disappointed that there will be no printed issues...

I am curious how you will enhance the content with the possibilities of the digital world and wish you a great start of the new mag and all the best,
Andreas


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## Ashermusic (Dec 8, 2008)

A fine solution IMHO.


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## Craig Sharmat (Dec 8, 2008)

mcmace @ Mon Dec 08 said:


> Nick, I just read your announcement and while the digital world will offer new opportunities I am a bit disappointed that there will be no printed issues...
> 
> I am curious how you will enhance the content with the possibilities of the digital world and wish you a great start of the new mag and all the best,
> Andreas



I see your point on this as others and I will miss paper too but that said check this out

www.VirtualInstrumentsMag.com 

go to the ocean way drum article and notice the cool soundclips which accompany the article. you can't do that with paper. There are definite advantages to this approach once you get past the paper conditioning we were all brought up with.

Andrew remind me not to share your laptop when i see you.


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## MettaAudio (Dec 8, 2008)

This looks like a great solution given the circumstances. I for one am stoked about the iPhone compatible version. Then I can read it on the toilet again. :lol:


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## careyford (Dec 8, 2008)

I'm excited about the return of VI Mag, but I'm having trouble with the website. My provider says it can't be found. Anyone else?

Richard


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## synergy543 (Dec 8, 2008)

The Chicago Tribune and LA Times file for bankruptcy today but Nick keeps VI alive. Way-to-go! 

But god, I hope I don't have to print up a pdf of the LA Times every morning....

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tribune-files-for-bankruptcy-apf-13773627.html (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tribune-f ... 73627.html)


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 8, 2008)

Thanks so much everyone. Right now I'm busy answering 74 emails with feedback this morning. So far it's overwhelmingly positive - like 98% - so I'm very happy.

careyford, www.virtualinstrumentsmag.com is the address. You're probably missing mag at the end.


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## John DeBorde (Dec 8, 2008)

I like paper too, so I don't have to spend every waking hour in front of a computer, but as long as I can dl a pdf I'll survive. Maybe I'll get used to reading VI online so I can actually listen to the sound examples. I never seem to remember to listen to them when i'm in front of the computer.

Anyway, I really dig VI, so I'd much rather have it than not. I'll make it into the future even if you have to drag me kicking and screaming. ~o) 

Thanks for coming up with a solution. you rock dude. =o


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 8, 2008)

Jack, it looks bad if you use the browser's zoom function; if you look in the toolbar you'll see that we have two resolutions (the + and - buttons). We've optimized the size for online viewing pretty carefully, and the pages are actual graphics - not live text in other words - so you're pretty much stuck with actual size.

Craig - RTFLOLSMOMN


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## JustinW (Dec 8, 2008)

While I like the printed magazine (like others have said), whatever it will take to keep getting VI mag, I am all for.

Hopefully the new layout will work well with my iphone!


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## schatzus (Dec 8, 2008)

It looks like a fantastic idea Nick. Can't wait to fully read the first all-electronic (virtual) issue!


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## schatzus (Dec 8, 2008)

It looks like a fantastic idea Nick. Can't wait to fully read the first all-electronic (virtual) issue!


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## Jack Weaver (Dec 8, 2008)

Thanks Nick,

That made all the difference in the world. That is the way to zoom. It looks really good. 

The concept of web-based audio links is wonderful. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But this takes the phrase 'ya know what I mean?' to a whole new level.


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## midphase (Dec 8, 2008)

Sorry to be the one who isn't falling over himself to complement you on your decision...but that's what I do around here!

So why not simply go to an advertisement-driven web site like IGN.com or Slate.com?

When I see digital equivalents of magazines (especially with animated page turns like the Best Buy flyer) I'm always thinking about Reason with its "behind the rack" view with all that tangle of cables....isn't the point of not having to deal with "real world" crap (like cables or page turns) why we went to computers in the first place? 

Anywhoo...just MHO of course....I love the magazine and just like Thonex...I'll miss reading it in the smallest room of my home.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 8, 2008)

"So why not simply go to an advertisement-driven web site like IGN.com or Slate.com?"

1. Because the number of *worthwhile* viewers (from an advertiser's point of view) a general interest publication like Slate can deliver is orders of magnitude higher than what a tightly focused one like ours can deliver. Even though we musicians are a highly qualified group, we're small; we can't command enough for our advertising to be able to give away our content. Good writers need to get paid!

2. Because if we're not worth a poxy $17 a year then we totally suck!

"When I see digital equivalents of magazines (especially with animated page turns like the Best Buy flyer) I'm always thinking about Reason with its "behind the rack" view with all that tangle of cables"

But we very deliberately *don't* have animated page turns for that exact reason. We looked at other online publications and tried to take the best features of their interfaces without the silly stuff, while adding customized features of our own. (There's also content management stuff behind the scenes that makes it easy for web-ignorant people like me to deal with the publication.)

In all honesty I can't think of a better interface for presenting an organized, periodic collection of articles than what we've done - from the point of view of an overall concept, of course. Do you have a better idea?

Plus thousands of people have subscribed to and are expecting something that looks like their familiar magazine.

Besides, I think Reason has a brilliant interface! There's gratuitous eye candy and there's just extremely clever. Reason is the latter.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 8, 2008)

BTW someone asked about what are called "media rich PDFs."

The technical reason we're not providing them - for now, anyway - is that we decided not to use embedded multimedia but rather have the player come up separately. With the amount of files we're going to have, that will make it easier to deal with.


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## KingIdiot (Dec 8, 2008)

I like it

one thing I'd like to see maybe in the future is a "rotate 90 degrees" option. When I read anything on my laptop in PDF, for any longer than a few minutes, I like to rotate the page and view one page at a time, using up and down arrows to page turn. Zooming only if I need to. Feels more like a book I guess.

Helps that my screen is widescreen

I dig the sound references, and it'll be awesome to start having video references too. The Deep clinics are about to get alot deeper!...

and my rambling articles are about to get more...ramblinger... Hey editor! help me with that one!


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## Thonex (Dec 8, 2008)

KingIdiot @ Mon Dec 08 said:


> one thing I'd like to see maybe in the future is a "rotate 90 degrees" option. When I read anything on my laptop in PDF, for any longer than a few minutes, I like to rotate the page and view one page at a time, using up and down arrows to page turn. Zooming only if I need to. Feels more like a book I guess.



Brilliant idea!!! I've never thought about that.

T


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## JPB (Dec 8, 2008)

Thonex @ Mon Dec 08 said:


> While I really love a hard-copy of a magazine (my best reading is done while I'm on the toilet)



I'm the same way. I guess it's because I am in a heightened state of concentration (it's a serious time). :D 

This is good news. Glad to hear you guys will still be around.


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## midphase (Dec 8, 2008)

"In all honesty I can't think of a better interface for presenting an organized, periodic collection of articles than what we've done - from the point of view of an overall concept, of course. Do you have a better idea? "

Yes, for one make it more "widescreen" friendly. Magazines are vertically laid out, but out laptops and monitors are horizontal nowadays. It makes no sense to me to embrace the same size of a magazine page when you're dealing with computers....once again...just my dumb HO.

Anyways, I don't get the feeling that this was a decision made without some heavy reasons weighing on your head, and I understand that if you could, you'd probably choose to have both versions available.

I think VI is one of the better publications out there (I admit I also like EM...mostly because of Nat Kunkel's column), and I think that if it's allowed to mature, it will become one of the leading go-to resources for electronic composers and producers.


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## synthetic (Dec 8, 2008)

Give us more Thomas J columns and I'll read it on stone tablet, Kindle, or any other format you can throw at us.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 8, 2008)

"Yes, for one make it more "widescreen" friendly."

I'll ask about that and the rotation, but I know that this was the most difficult part of the programming. What we did was aim at the...this sounds nasty, but lowest common denominator: 1024 x 760. People with those monitors - and believe it or not there are quite a few of them still working (we have a line of code that checks the screen resolution) - can just barely get by with minimal scrolling.

Again, from what I understand, the hardest part of this is making the page sizes dynamic. Not only do you have to worry about the page size itself, you have to worry about resolutions. Remember, these pages are laid out graphic files, not live text, so you can't just change the size arbitrarily without using a lot more bandwidth.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 8, 2008)

Thomas J is hard to get.  Is there anyone in Norway who can go over force him to write at gunpoint?


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## John DeBorde (Dec 8, 2008)

synthetic @ Mon Dec 08 said:


> Give us more Thomas J columns and I'll read it on stone tablet, Kindle, or any other format you can throw at us.



even in Thonex's bathroom?


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## PolarBear (Dec 8, 2008)

KingIdiot, I think it's easier to use the settings from the extended tab of your screen settings (ATI and Nvidia cards should both have that) to rotate the whole desktop view clockwise or counterclockwise. That way you wouldn't also get confused if you accidently have to use the mouse.

Afaik it's only CSS3 that supports rotating existing images and that is not very well supported in browsers yet. The other method that Nick could do is to pre-render a set of images and let the user set one or two predefining settings for resolution in their user settings. Usually we will read the mag on the same one or two devices is my guess... so he could provide large, medium, small, thumbsize previews (don't forget to sharpen the smaller sized images a tiny bit) or even pre-rotated ones then.

I also vote for a keyboard invokable page turn/flip (like page up/down or arrow keys) but nothing too fancy that could get in the way with usual keyboard shortcuts... 

I just had the idea, what if all pages were on availible on one vertical line like this:

```
---    ------    ------    ------    ------    ----
   |  |  p.  |  |  p.  |  |  p.  |  |  p.  |  |  p.
   |  |  14  |  |  15  |  |  16  |  |  17  |  |  18  ...
   |  |      |  |      |  |      |  |      |  |
---    ------    ------    ------    ------    ----
```


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## Sovereign (Dec 8, 2008)

I would have prefered a SOS-like site.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 8, 2008)

"I also vote for a keyboard invokable page turn/flip .."

That will be there soon.

And Sovereign. Sovereign.

SOS is an excellent magazine - Paul White was my UK counterpart when I started at Recording magazine (then Home & Studio Recording), and I have the highest regard for him - but UK mags have absolutely NO sense of style and I would NEVER put up a site that looks anything like that! NEVER!

Oops. Did I just post that?!


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## tgfoo (Dec 9, 2008)

midphase @ Mon Dec 08 said:


> It makes no sense to me to embrace the same size of a magazine page when you're dealing with computers....once again...just my dumb HO.



I tend to agree with this view point. I never did understand why some online only magazines/publications still lay out issues like it is a print magazine. I am thrilled to have VI back, as it's one of my favorite music mags, but I would love it more if perhaps in the future you could find a way put up the magazine in a more internet friendly (and web accessible) way.

Either way, great to have you guys back.


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## _taylor (Dec 9, 2008)

Cool news, I am a little disappointed it will not be in print though. Something about reading it away from the computer is something I will miss. 
Regardless, I'm very happy to see this great resource will still be alive and kicking!


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## madbulk (Dec 9, 2008)

Congrats, Nick.
I'm perfectly happy reading VI online. It scales wonderfully on my 30" and the multimedia being right there -- it's gonna be great. An elegant solution with plenty of value adds and lots to be jazzed about.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 9, 2008)

Tim, I think the interface is very internet-friendly, no? That's the whole point.

Without wanting to sound defensive, this is not a website or an RSS feed or an iPhone-friendly version - we have those too - this is a *magazine.* In magazines the information is presented in a specific way that makes it very comfortable to take in. It's not just links and text and stuff, it's laid out very carefully; that's the craft in what we do.

Based on feedback we are looking into ways of tweaking the resolutions that are available, but we're certainly not throwing out the things that make it a magazine! That's what everyone likes about the whole product, after all.

I can't help thinking that maybe you're basing your opinion on other online magazines you've already seen. Again, we looked at them, took what we like, threw away what we don't like (curled up center spines, animated page turning, etc.), and made our own. There are lots of companies that will take your content and throw it online into their program, but we didn't want to go that route.

But I should add, rather bluntly, that we have to stick with something close to standard page ratios for now. Advertisers have designed their ads for that format and we can't ask them to redesign them specially.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 9, 2008)

KI, see if you can find ATI or nVidia's drivers for the graphics chips in your MBP. Apple doesn't include those features, but the control panels on their websites often do.

I don't *know* that it'll work on an MBP, but it did work with the ATI card in my G5 when I had it.


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## Andreas Moisa (Dec 10, 2008)

Nick, I just checked out the search function - will you implement this for all back issues, too?


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## tgfoo (Dec 10, 2008)

Nick,

Sorry if I came across like I was attacking or bashing the new format of the magazine, it was not my intention to do so. I guess it's just the web design/accessibility part of me that doesn't like large amounts of text being displayed in graphic files. Though you guys are the magazine experts, and if this is the format that works best, then that's that.

One more thing, you may have answered this already (I missed it if you did), but are you going to be putting the old issues so we can view them online in the new viewer or would we still have to download the .pdf's to view those?


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 10, 2008)

"Nick, I just checked out the search function - will you implement this for all back issues, too?"

ahaahahahaahahaha


I've had a spirited argument with our programmer about the search function.

Anyway, yeah, that is the plan. Putting the back issues into the new program is going to take some time, though - each page has to be put in individually.

Tim, I was actually serious about not wanting to sound defensive! I welcome all the attacking or non attacking you care to dish out. We're very serious about getting this interface right, for one because we are, and for another because if it's wrong then we're just another website.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 10, 2008)

KI, maybe there are other ATI drivers that will work?

Failing that, have you considered lying down on your side?


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