Comments on: Collaborating Online

By: Gearbox72

Gearbox72 — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:27:30 +0000

Okay, that’s very helpful. Anything to cut down on upload time – I will definitely be going to Dropbox to give it a road test. Thanks for the input!

By: Line6Piper

Line6Piper — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:18:13 +0000

The DropBox “Sync” feature being discussed by me (and vigalante man) is not sync in the music project. It is a File Sync between your computers & the DropBox server, so that when you are working on a file in your DropBox folder and then save your changes, only the changes are uploaded, not the entire file. This saves a lot of upload time.

By: Gearbox72

Gearbox72 — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:09:27 +0000

If you are sending “stems” back and forth – including the entire track from start to finish – doesn’t everything just sync up naturally? I’ve never had a problem with syncing up files with my collaborators as long as the stems are complete. Maybe I’m missing something. We transfer everything with MP3 until such time as we have the tracks we want – then everything gets sent to me and I drop them into a master file using Digital Performer and it’s all there ready for mixing, etc. We just use an FTP site for the uploading and downloading – time consuming. Uploading seems to take a longer time – maybe there is a better way. Thanks for the discussion.

By: vigalante_man

vigalante_man — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:43:01 +0000

That’s a very good point about the synchronization of files, it’s an important feature especially with music projects.I did read on the Propellerheads forum regarding Dropbox using a little bit of RAM I have it running on my Mac and I can’t say that I notice any difference with it there. Great subject Matt thanks.

By: Line6Piper

Line6Piper — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:46:57 +0000

Thanks for your post, and for the tips on digitalmusician.net and http://www.jamwith.us!

You are absolutely correct that you can maintain a DropBox account and upload and download files using their online interface, without ever installing their software. However, automatic file sync across computers will not work without installing their software, and I find that the user experience is greatly enhanced by using the software instead of the online interface. In light of your comment, I think I will edit my blog post, since my original statement, “DropBox may not be quite as fast or easy as YouSendIt in some ways, and it requires that you install the DropBox software on your computer,” is indeed misleading.

Thanks again, vigalante man!

By: vigalante_man

vigalante_man — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:41:25 +0000

Have you ever looked at digitalmusician.net ? The software is free and it can be rewired, you also can use the video chat during collaborations. It’s a bit similar to the old Rocket Network which was an integral part of Cubase.

There is another site that uses it own system, http://www.jamwith.us this was set up shortly after Rocketnetwork got sold to Avid.

I think I’m correct in saying that you can use Dropbox with out downloading the software via the web site and browser. Also with Dropbox you if you can refer friends you get an extra 250MB for each person that signs up.

Online collaboration was one of the first things I ever got into when I first started using a computer to create music. I haven’t found anything that was as much fun or intuitive as Rocketnetwork.

By: Line6Piper

Line6Piper — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:50:05 +0000

Thanks, Gerry!

By: bassermann

bassermann — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:45:47 +0000

Great article, Matt! I especially liked the priceless comment on the bass part in the Sound Cloud part – gerry