[HN Gopher] Future Music magazine is closing after 32 years
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       Future Music magazine is closing after 32 years
        
       Author : austinallegro
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2024-11-03 19:46 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (musictech.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (musictech.com)
        
       | BXlnt2EachOther wrote:
       | others too
       | 
       | > Sources have also informed MusicTech that Future will be
       | closing Computer Music, Total Guitar, Guitar Techniques and
       | Guitar Player magazines.
        
         | svaha1728 wrote:
         | I'll miss Guitar Techniques. I feel like they missed the boat
         | and should have integrated with Soundslice...
         | 
         | YouTube has some great players, but I'd often search for
         | guitarists from Guitar Techniques that YouTube algorithms
         | hadn't played for me yet.
        
         | musicale wrote:
         | RIP magazines. The tutorials in Future Music and Computer Music
         | were excellent. Curated downloads were nice also (and could
         | often be used in the tutorials.) And guitar technique tutorials
         | are basically timeless.
         | 
         | I actually enjoy reading ads (not to mention reviews and
         | tutorials for various products) in music magazines. It's
         | disappointing that companies seem to have switched to junky web
         | ads instead.
        
       | talldayo wrote:
       | The Martin Garrix interview they linked to was kinda famous for
       | blatantly showing him using pirated software plugins:
       | https://youtu.be/CfCmoEixxro?t=558
       | 
       | Here he's using Sylenth1 licensed to "Team A.I.R." ...a well-
       | known VST piracy org: https://audiosex.pro/threads/team-
       | air.41932/
       | 
       | Just goes to show, you might build the tool that makes the next
       | club banger or viral social platform, but good luck making
       | anyone, pros or hobbyists, pay for it.
        
         | kev009 wrote:
         | It unfortunately leads to subscription models. That doesn't
         | directly prevent piracy, but the lower entry cost and the
         | potential for regular "value add" will keep more people paying
         | up (see Reason+, Slate Digital, Roland Cloud, Splice, etc)
        
           | tgv wrote:
           | Idk. Was ilok ever cracked?
        
             | copperx wrote:
             | No. It's always interesting to me how music apps were the
             | only ones adopting hardware copy protection wholeheartedly.
             | Multi-thousand dollar scientific apps? nope. Music apps.
        
               | itsthejb wrote:
               | That's not surprising at all. I don't about the
               | scientific apps you're talking about, but I assume that
               | their user base would be accessing them through academic
               | site licenses. Music apps, however, would be
               | predominantly used by hobbyists, a few of which would
               | later make it big. The problem was/is that the price tags
               | assumed studio budgets. But if you wanted those studio
               | sounds at home, well the price is a big challenge until
               | you start making solid money. Which is even fewer
        
               | stonethrowaway wrote:
               | Didn't CAD automation software also adopt it? I remember
               | MasterCam, SolidWorks and others needing hardware
               | dongles.
               | 
               | The market for that is tiny compared to music but, the
               | money made basically guaranteed given adoption rates.
               | Even today I think there are too few contenders to pose a
               | significant market risk to these companies.
        
               | aetherspawn wrote:
               | I think these have modernised, because SolidWorks now
               | uses floating e-licenses for example.
               | 
               | From a consumer perspective hardware dongles are mega-
               | problematic right now because of the USB C vs USB A
               | debacle on new laptops, and also because many AVs now
               | block USB devices by default and require ITS admin to
               | unblock it.
               | 
               | From a distributor perspective, they require shipping
               | physical product to customers which reduces margins and
               | can take weeks, especially-so when you talk about
               | shipping from overseas.
        
               | oakmad wrote:
               | They did. I worked in a technical college in the 90s and
               | Autodesk and others were huge fans of the single plugged
               | into the serial port. Was a huge problem not only daisy
               | chaining them all together but also they would get stolen
               | if not secured. We'd ribbon cable them back inside the
               | case where'd there would be a many inches of dongle
               | precariously joined. Fond memories.
        
         | musicale wrote:
         | Haha, surely he can afford to pay for VSTs. And Sylenth1 (a
         | classic and still eminently usable soft synth) is reasonably
         | priced and worth paying for.
         | 
         | I have a bit of sympathy though, since managing plugin
         | licensing is a total pain. Licenses seem to break randomly, or
         | after any OS security patch or DAW update/bug fix, and then
         | your project no longer runs properly. Kind of the last thing
         | you want if you are a practicing or performing musician.
         | 
         | If I were him I'd consider using the pirate versions for
         | reliability/usability but paying for new licenses yearly in
         | order to support the plugin developers.
        
         | koito17 wrote:
         | You mean Team AiR ;)
         | 
         | Between 2005 - 2010, many studios also had "a lot of water" in
         | their computers, so to speak. (Referring to Team H2O)
         | 
         | Incidents like these are unfortunately common among famous
         | electronic music producers. Your comment reminded me of Steve
         | Aoki being caught with a pirated copy of Sylenth1.[1] I recall
         | hearing that he obtained a legitimate license for the software
         | afterwards.
         | 
         | Lastly, I recall the Sylenth1 developer around 2012 - 2015
         | encouraging people on Twitter to purchase the software rather
         | than pirate it. Not sure how they found tweets mentioning
         | piracy of the plugin, but I do think the plugin is reasonably
         | priced compared to other plugins. Moreover, the license is
         | perpetual.
         | 
         | [1] https://torrentfreak.com/avicii-and-other-djs-produce-
         | hits-u...
        
       | alsetmusic wrote:
       | Computer Music magazine helped me understand the basics of how to
       | setup a DIY digital recording studio in 2001-2002. Around this
       | time, I was reading a CM article about trade schools for learning
       | audio engineering and saw one mentioned in Emeryville, CA
       | (Expression Digital Arts, or similar; they've had many name
       | changes). I alreadu wanted to move to the Bay Area and it turned
       | out to be across from San Francisco (Berkeley and Oakland
       | adjacent). I called admissions the next day and had an
       | appointment to tour the facilities by lunch. I flew out a month
       | later for the tour.
       | 
       | It was the fastest progression from idea to execution on any
       | major decision in my life. It was one of the best decisions I
       | ever made. I didn't complete the program, but got what I needed
       | for my own musicianship and production. Music never got beyond a
       | hobby, but I learned a great deal there. Later, I was well-placed
       | geographically to enter a career in tech.
       | 
       | I'll miss these magazines, even though I've rarely bought
       | physical copies in the last decade. I've got multiple boxes of
       | issues going back many years because even as the software
       | changed, the tips on mixing techniques were timeless. It's the
       | end of an era.
        
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       (page generated 2024-11-03 23:00 UTC)