Posted
Workshops
In order to help users with getting the most out of Synfire, from the first steps to the most advanced arrangements, there are so many subjects and topics involved, easily enough to keep a dedicated educational institution busy all year round. Since this is a tremendous challenge for a small vendor like Cognitone, some form of delegation and crowdsourcing would be extremely helpful to get this going more quickly.
While I was about to prepare for a local Synfire workshop, I thought why shouldn’t it be possible to make this happen globally, independent of Cognitone, in a de-centralized fashion? Saves the costs of sending people and equipment around the globe every couple weeks and also saves precious time that is better spent with product and business development.
Standards
If Cognitone provided some standards, guidelines, check lists and recommendations, this would lower the barrier for organizing a Synfire workshop or local user group anywhere in the world. That being said, I’ve collected a few ideas of what should be covered by such a standard:
Location
- Best suited locations, venues
- Geographical clusters (see next post)
- Studio, hotel, public institution, private rooms ***
- Minimum requirements (seats, tables, WIFI, eateries nearby) ***
- Accommodate attendees from out of town (b&b, motel)
- Best web platform for location selection, appointment & booking ***
- Contribution toward expenses should be low (travel is expensive enough)
Equipment
- Shared equipment (portable speakers, keyboard, large LCD screen, cables)
- Individual equipment (what’s required to make a laptop workable for a workshop session)
- Checklist who brings what
- Explore ways of attending remotely, e.g. via Skype, iChat, Messages, web application ***
Procedures
- Suggestions & check lists how to best make the gathering a success
- Simple rules, for example, for a group working together on a single composition
- Minimum duration (a couple hours at least, whole day best)
- Example agendas
- Kick Off Videos, e.g. a video demonstrating features that are explored in the workshop
Organization
- Workshop prepared by one or more users online
- Announcement in Cognitone newsletter, Twitter, etc.
- Cognitone may attend remotely, or in person where possible
- Send photos, reports, feedback and music to share with the rest of us
- Foundation of local user groups
- Explore ways of supporting the communication of user groups ***
Starting a Group
Considering the current geographical distribution, user groups already make sense at various places in Western Europe, Canada, the US and Australia (see my next post). It is important to know that only a fraction of all users has created an account in this forum. Whether the others will be interested in attending a workshop, only the future will show, but there is plenty potential. Prospect new users not yet engaged with Synfire will likely also be interested.
Once these "Standards" are ready, the first groups can get going.
Please add your suggestions, additions or questions regarding any of the above points to this thread. I would especially appreciate some input regarding the points marked with ***
Thanks!
Mon, 2014-05-19 - 21:08 Permalink
I've compiled a list of suggested locations for new user groups here:
Mon, 2014-05-19 - 23:02 Permalink
Wow, great idea! I'd be interested in the Birmingham one, it's only about an hour's drive away for me (and Joho). Just need some time now to think about the practicalities, the main one being (I think) portable equipment. I would struggle in that respect because I'm desktop-PC-bound. But hopefully after a lot of careful planning, we can come up with something!
Tue, 2014-05-20 - 00:53 Permalink
I too am about an hour or hour and a half further north from Birmingham depending on traffic. Im afraid I do not know of anywhere in Birmingham. My synfire composing together with ableton is all done with a macbook pro which could be used at a push (got one of those as well lol). Would probably all fit in a backpack if the venue provided amp and speaker,etc equipment.
A couple of suggestions...
1) if cognitone can organise access to the youtube live broadcasting option, that would make a good platform for remote viewers. Unfortunately I havent managed to get on that bandwagon yet so cant broadbast on my account. Although this is a one way broadcast, its not directly interative (but you can organise text chat).
2) based on 1), whatever venue is chosen, it should have decent internet access, (assuming we do want to broadcast it for people not there). A lot of places will provide projection equipment and screens although the resolution should be checked as thats got me before. if the venue provided PA equipment (amp and speakers, etc) this should cut down on what people need to bring to keyboard/controller + laptop + audio interface.
3) I vote for a day. it maximises the cost of travel (plus overnight accomodation if needed).
4) Google seem to have some quite good communication tools. You can get private forums (although we also have the synfire forum), google own youtube which is one of the best video broadcast mediums, and google hangouts works quite well for video conferencing. One of the instruments I use, regularly use the hangouts to discuss developments, customisation and playing music to each other (not real time jamming though). Lastly you have google docs and calendaring.
4a) Google hangouts should work to keep the group in contact without the hassle and expense of physically getting together. I still think meet ups are a great idea but with the handouts you could for example have weekly meetings online and real get togethers monthly/quarterly.
ok thats enough waffle from me for now. Quite excited about the idea as its an excellent one.
Feel free to delete/move this post if you want to keep replies separate.
Tue, 2014-05-20 - 10:04 Permalink
Feel free to delete/move this post if you want to keep replies separate.
Oh. not at all. This thread is for brainstorming and suggestions. The goal is to get enough input for collecting a practical list of items and procedures.
A few words on equipment:
Concerning shared equipment, as long as a group is small (< 12), a beamer is not needed. If someone can bring a 22" LCD with a long cable and laptop adapters, the group can gather around it comfortably. My experience with beamers and PAs is mixed. Requires a lot of fiddling and eats time, only for a blurry low-resolution picture. Unless the location is already equipped anyway, I would not bother.
Regarding speakers, simple portable laptop speakers may already do it (Logitech Z305). The sound is so so, so if the group is doing orchestral music or wants to have more fun, a small portable PA may be interesting (Behringer Europort EPA150 looks great, but haven't tried. Not cheap). How about modding a 1980's ghetto blaster, anyone?
For very small groups, a multi-output headphone amp could also work. Take care of your hearing.
As for the laptop, Synfire runs fine on 4 cores (i5, i7, MacBook Pro) with 8 GB RAM and sufficient disk space to accommodate a basic collection of sample-based sounds (external HDD also great). It took me 2 days to configure a mobile studio. Once it's set up, it only needs to be updated every now and then.
Keyboard-wise, a KORG nanoKEY is the smallest option available (size of two chocolate bars), although it is only good for simple input tasks. There are so many light-weight keyboard controllers available today, this should not be an issue.
To conclude, a portable fits-in-a-backpack Synfire studio is doable at relatively low cost. The large LCD adds to the luggage for at least one of the attendees, but if you go by car, this isn't an issue.
Wed, 2014-05-21 - 17:09 Permalink
Thanks for your input so far!
Check out the new "Forum" menu on top of this page. It lists individual sections for easier navigation. I've added a section dedicated to Synfire User Groups (SUG).
For a start, I've created a forum for SUGs in Berlin, Hamburg and Birmingham. I will add more for the most prominent cities in the US. More locations will be added on request. Don't expect a lot of traffic until this has been tested and announced on the official newsletter.
Visit your favorite group's forum and read the instructions how to join. It's very simple! Members can start discussing the search for a location in theier forum right away.
Please note that I could not find a way to display the number of subscribers to each forum, so there is no way of telling how many members a group already has. Therefore new members may want to show their arrival by posting a short introduction to the SUG forum.
