Is the industry rushing too quickly into the clouds? Cloud computing has been expanding steadily over the past few years and is starting to dominate as the primary platform for many organisations. Providers love it because it allows them to charge a service-based fee instead of a once-off payment for a product. There are rumours that Microsoft through Windows 11 will push to have a similar approach for their next version.
- The advantages for the users include distributed storage, access to the latest updates and features, and scalability from the providers -- for a price of course. The disadvantages include having your data offsite on someone else's servers; the risk of being isolated from your systems if there is a big enough communications failure; and with the data offsite, the risk of having it hacked or given to someone else. That latter is regardless of promises from the platform provider. You're also giving control of your data and possibly your IP to a third party, which is why banking, as one example, is not moving to the cloud in any great amount.
- My mini music studio is now complete. In my case, it is all based around the tiny Intel NUC 11 i7 box. If you're interested in something like this you will also need some or all of the following. At least one large monitor to show all the tracks you want to play with. An audio input device of some kind that will support the things you want to record. I recommend that it include at least two inputs and an additional Z-in to allow the dry, direct input recording of guitars. I settled for the Audient iD14 because it has great analogue to digital converters, but was not at the crazy price end of the spectrum. I also like the M4 from MOTU if you can get one and the M2 is also enough for many. Headphones and speakers are a must, but you don't need to go crazy here. A USB or similar keyboard is required if you are planning to drive instruments like a synthesiser or similar. You will also typically require one or more microphones. The price range here is huge covering instruments to vocals. The Shure SM58 is a classic, and for higher quality their SM7B is seen in many podcasts. I splurged on the AKG C414 but you don't need to go to that expense for many applications.
- The real investment, and learning curve, comes with the digital audio workstation, or DAW, and in some cases the samples like drum sounds you will be using on your tracks as you build them. There are many DAWs and ProTools is a very popular one. I went with the Personus Studio One platform's yearly subscription. The real decision-making comes down to the plugin modules you will use to shape the recorded sound, including the third party ones outside those included with the DAW. For many, the included plugins will do a great job but may not cover everything. I eventually settled on the Waves series that has a lot of options. After watching a lot of YouTube videos I decided to use the Chris Lord Alge series as my core functionality, with a few other bits and pieces. In my case I happened to be looking during a large Waves sale and I recommend you do the same because individually the plugins can be very expensive at normal prices. These days you can set up a very good system for a fraction of the cost it was 20 years ago. You can even have things like a very faithful representation of Abbey Road mixers and effects in your DAW for less than US$100 (3,200 baht), which is amazing.
- Next is the learning curve, and there is a lot to learn. My recommendation is to record everything without any effects, including the guitars unless you are micing the amp, then start shaping the sound afterwards. Monitor through both headphones and small speakers at a low volume to check your mixes. Trust your ears and how you feel about your mix. Beyond that it is all about your creativity, along with what you're wanting to do. Remember there is no perfect or right way to do anything as long as the result sounds good.
- Samsung recently committed to provide its enterprise-edition flagships with five years of updates. This includes the enterprise versions of the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S21, Galaxy Note 20, ruggedised Galaxy XCover 5 and Galaxy Tab Active 3. I have the S10 so that probably means only three more years for others and myself in that category.
- Ransomware can hit anywhere and those that carry out these attacks have no concern for anyone or anything other than disruption and money. Their latest target was the Salvation Army in the UK, hit with ransomware and a data download. Since this group primarily works directly with people in need the IT hit has not disrupted critical operations, but it just shows the depth to which ransomware users will sink.
James Hein is an IT professional of over 30 years' standing. You can contact him at jclhein@gmail.com.
