Re: [microsound] live evil palindromic echo

[Kevin Ponto <kevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 7, 2005, at 1:16 PM, Kim Cascone wrote:

> > Well, I think this easily answered by the fact that Live was geared
> > towards performance, while Acid was not.
> in what way was Live geared towards performance and how was ACID not?
> please describe?

> > Ableton was also blessed with
> > incredible timing when they released Live, and it was a pretty good
> > answer to the growing question of what the emerging laptop masses were
> > going to do on stage.
> ah OK I think the keyword here is 'laptop'...but still doesn't answer
> my questions as to why ACID was not adopted by the laptop music market
> and Live was...

Well, I think it comes down to marketing and functionality. The
marketing of Acid has never focused, and as far as I know, even
mentioned the use of Acid for live performance... ever. It's always
been sold as a studio tool. A versitile studio tool, but still a studio
tool. I can find no such mention of a suggested live application of
Acid in any press releases, product sheets or advertisements from any
versions past or present. I quote from various press releases on Acid:

On Acid Pro 5:

"ACID Pro software is the tool of choice for millions of industry
professionals who want to create songs, remix tracks, produce 5.1
surround audio mixes, develop music beds, score videos, and much more."

"ACID software provides the most powerful, user-friendly environment
for everything from basic song creation to complex video scoring."

"it was the first loop-based music creation application to put
professional studio composition and editing power in the hands of
producers at nearly every level of expertise"

On Acid Pro 4

"Use Acid to create songs, remix tracks, produce 5.1 surround audio
mixes, develop music beds, score videos, and create music for websites
and Flash® animations"

Acid Pro 3

" Sonic Foundry's ACID pro is an award-winning loop-based  music
creation tool. It allows you to create original, royalty-free music in
minutes. This revolutionary tool is simple  and easy to use. Use it to
produce songs, remix tracks,  create music beds, score videos, and add
music to Web sites"

So I think we can safely conclude that Acid was never marketed as a
live performance tool, and if it was, it was not done so in any
noticeable amount. This would play a huge role in why Acid never took
off for live performance. The same reason that most iPods aren't
purchased so that one can read books off the screen. Sure, it can be
done, but that's not what it was designed for and that certainly isn't
how it's marketed.

Live on the other hand, aside from being called "Live" has always been
marketed as a tool for live performance. It's been marketed as a
"Sequencing Instrument", using the word "Instrument" implies
"playability", and it said so in huge letters right on the front of the
box up until version 4. The marketing emphasizes that just about every
feature that Live offers can be done so without ever stopping the
music, and it's true.

As far as functionality, I'll do my best to compare, though feel free
to correct me as it's been many years since I've worked with Acid.
-Live offers non-linear looping. Acid as far as I know, does not.
-Live offers realtime resampling with quantization. Acid as far as I
know, does not.
-Live has extensive MIDI mapping, just about every knob/button/fader
can be assigned to MIDI control. Acid as far as I know, does not.
-Live was designed from the ground up by a couple of guys who needed
software to perform their music Live. Acid was designed as a studio
tool for loop sequencing.
-Live was available for mac. Acid wasn't.
-And on and on and on...

All of these reasons (which by the way, seem so terribly obvious that
I'm left wondering about the motives of your questions) contributed to
Live's success over Acid on stage.

k:p

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