I agree on the Trident versus Toft now, but I do wonder were it might have
taken me. Malcolm is a very nice chap having briefly interacted with him many
years ago. I'm so glad he was able to settle the nonsense with the brand and
the ATB products out.
You certainly were in the business during a lively time. I can recall working
with Soundcraft and A&H before the Harmon-ization of everything started. At the
time it seemed like doom and gloom but a few people got that digital was coming
and then needed to adapt or die. Thank you again for tales (NDAs
notwithstanding)
Dan S
On Nov 21, 2013, at 1:18 PM, "Ken Norton" <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Nice stuff there Paul. You can count me as a Trident fan, the college I
>> attended had one of his MTA desks that was essentially an 80C. If I have one
>> audio equipment that I should have bought but didn't it would be the 80B I
>> could have scored for 10 grand back in 99. My kit is almost all in the box
>> now but I've got some key pieces in storage.
>
> At this point, I wouldn't bother with a Trident. The TOFT is certainly
> in a much more usable form-factor and relatively maintenance-free.
> Something the original certainly wasn't. Like a classic NEVE, those
> things can be finicky. I would love to have a project studio based
> around a TOFT.
>
>
>> Ken, as ever I revel in your work history tales.
>
> For over a five year period of time, I was right in the heart of
> digital audio development. In fact, I believe that I implemented the
> first use of digital multitrack non-linear editors in live theatre
> productions. I also helped develop many of the computer-based editor
> working methods which became industry standard. We won't even get into
> developing methods for Foley. Crazy days. It was neat working with
> some of the biggest names the industry has ever known. Going out to
> dinner was "listen and learn" from the movers and shakers. (Never
> speak unless spoken to and use the correct fork). NDAs prevent me from
> revealing even who I was working with in most cases. All I can imply
> is that I likely worked with some of the top audio engineering
> companies on at least three continents. Most of what we developed is
> native to pretty much everything now. You can buy a colorful 1RU box
> from a company that has an algorithm that I personally invented. In
> fact, as it is part of a pack of very popular plug-ins, chances are if
> you have a certain brand of editor, you probably use my program. I've
> got one variant of it installed in my Yamaha AW4416 that also includes
> at least two other algorithms I co-developed.*
>
> I keep in contact with several of the people I worked with back in
> those days. Everybody says the same thing that those days were very
> unique. We did more in three specific years than has been done before
> or since. Whether that was because I left, or a couple people retired
> and/or died is open to opinion. (one person's death was very much a
> game-changer and it affected me personally as I was supposed to be his
> protege). Many times, I've thought about returning to that industry,
> but the glory days are past. It's all pretty incremental now. The
> industry went through a consolidation, which was great for patent
> license reasons, but turned out to be a disaster for development. Way
> back then, each of us had small engineering operations, so we would
> partner up on just about everything. If I had a wild idea on
> something, I could pick up the phone, dial somebody 14 time zones away
> and have a prototype on my desk in a week.
>
> What is super cool, though, is that one of my two personal pet
> projects that I started in 1986 (seriously) is now on the market. It
> literally took 25 years for technology to catch up. Three companies
> have introduced competing products, but all three are based on the
> concept and design work I did. Again, I missed out on the actual
> bringing to market (although, we got VERY close in 1998 and had
> several working prototypes in the field). They killed the project when
> I left. (an argument could be made that I was terminated because they
> killed my project, but they refused to release my work for development
> elsewhere--they eventually gave the rights to the other partners about
> five years later). My other personal project became industry standard
> for the broadcast industry and was instrumental in how large group
> ownerships work. (Yes, I'm guilty for something that turned out to be
> a bad thing, but we'll not go there). Again, NDAs suck. My resume is
> unfortunately a little unspecific in regard to these things.
>
> Like I said, five intense years, but about 12 altogether, with another
> five running my own consulting business. An amazing time. In the world
> of audio, digital was the logical progression of technology. We made
> digital superior in nearly every way (except for tape compression,
> which still has yet to be perfectly achieved--not that we didn't
> try...). I came along at exactly the right time and was in the right
> place. The sad thing is that while you are in the midst of the
> tornado, you don't know the significance of the moment.
>
> * My personal brain skill is spacial and wave visualization and
> comprehension. I'll let you use your imagination as to how that would
> pertain to audio and what technologies would make use of it.
>
> AG (tarnished with time) Ears
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