Anyone notice how there are twice as many postings in Newbies than anywhere else?

It also shows how piss-poor those marketing clowns have done their job of informing the consumer of the various features and drawbacks of each technology. Or maybe how poorly the designers of these products did at making their stuff easy to learn and use. I'll stop short of accusing them of prevarication in pursuit of more sales, but such an incredible dirth of misinformation out there must give one food for thought.
 
Indeed! (I just like saying indeed, and I though it fitted nicely here)

I never did quite understand why companies didn't invest more in explaining how this all works. It isn't an insider world anymore and you'd think they'd want satisfied customers...

By the way, does anybody know any other good internet references for general learning in the fine arts of music recording, windows environment, midi and so on? I'm thinking along the lines of BBS (like this awsome cache of info), newsgroups, usergroups...?

-Tag-
 
Yup! I agree with you guys. If the manuals were as well written as the marketing, we wouldn't need this message board.
 
For information on the Roland Sound Canvas family of synthesizers, which range from keyboards to modules to sound cards, the Sound Canvas Users Group, or SCUG can be reached below. Membership is free. And like this board, it's world-wide. They also offer an archive of MIDI tunes and an ongoing competition for the best MIDI piece submitted during any specific competition. Judging is by member votes.
http://www.cableyorkton.com/users/gbraun/scug
 
You know... It's kinda weird that the people who design this software that is revolutionizing the recording industry haven't even mastered the english language... Read the "Cool Edit Pro" manual for a laugh...
You get the inpression that the computer majors had some kind of beef with the english majors...
I know I'm not one to talk, but god-motherfucking-damn... What good is all of this cutting edge technology if you can't properly explain it???
Are all of the tech's Japanese????
(No disrespect to the people of Japan intended... You are one of the few cultures I have respect for...)
Uh...
So you like Vegas Pro, huh Doc???
I get the feeling that I am a third world country who has just secretly purchased a nuclear weapon from the republican party...
I know it will change the world... I'm just not sure how to aim it...
S8-N
 
I wholeheartedly agree with all of you. It has reached the point where even reps of the companies have little or no clue what they are selling.

A another site I found was www.about.com
Try searching for homerecording there.
 
if its a comfort, I read the user manual for my DR-5 drum machine when I first got it. I recognised it as english.. but that was the end of that. After hours of swearing, programing and countless "rest to factory specs" I figured it out. after that the book was oddly understandable
 
very true even... after getting the hang of software , and tinkering a bit , if you go back and read the manual , its strangely enough starts to make sense... and then its easier to figure out what they are saying... i think thats the problem with manuals.. they are written by the programmers who designed it and know all of the ins and outs of the s/w .. so what they write makes sense to them.. just not to us.. maybe they should create the software , and then let a few people not affiliated with the s/w to play with it , and then let them write the manuals.. just a thought...

- eddie -
 
Just cause you have the knowledge doesn't mean you have the ability to communicate it clearly to someone else. Teaching's a skill.
 
There's another sort of odd way you can look at the issue of "bad manuals/tech support".

With the growing usage of USENET, private message boards, and kick ass search tools like DejaNews....I'm sure that more and more people are turning to the net as a reference and NOT calling the 1-800-STILL-HOLDING tech support line to complain about the manuals.

So here we are bitching about poor manuals on this message board that was started I'm sure in part as a result of poor manuals which are poor as a result of the free advise available from thousands of generous souls on the net like those found on this message board.

Heh, that's weird. (no it's not based on any facts or shit like that, my brain's just been switched from suck to blow)

Anyway, speaking as someone who has had to write a couple small software manuals (operating procedures actually...not so bad) .... it's not as easy as it looks man. In fact it's incredibly hard as there are SOOO many levels of computer knowledge from "what's right-click mean?" to "I can use the right acronyms in the proper order!"

In fact, you'd be amazed at the results you'd get if you were to take 10 random people off the street and have them press "ALT S", or even more difficult, "ALT + S" on the keyboard. From "hey nothing happened" to "where's the plus key?"...a mess all in all.

I don't think I've ever seen a great manual of any sort. In fact, I'd be happy if all manuals were reduced to schematics and diagrams and charts. As long as the how is THERE, I'll get they why from "so-and-so" on the "such-and-such" website.

I think on the whole you'd be suprised at how many psychology/communcations 'experts' are hired by technology companies to come up with the complete jibberish that is the Manual. Heh.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Its good to more people than just me getting angry at customer service. Lets be fair hera though its not just tech support within the music industry. This has become a way of life for ALL customer services. when was the last time you've been in a phone booth-good luck!
The internet, as well as communication services, for better or worse, has provided the corporate world tools to ignore its clients (customers paying their bills) when was last time you've gotton a hold of someone without going through touchpad mazes on the phone? It'll get worse before it gets better cause we're starting to help ourselves (like with this forum) therefore allowing them the headroom to slack off even more. See its a vicious cycle here. Bottom line is these COMPLAINTS NEED TO GO TO THE COMPANIES in question. These forums are probably as foreign to these Companies as their Manuals are to us.
Oh well I feel better now. thanks for listening.
 
bpmufx,

I agree. However you must realize the number of "dumb" questions that a tech support staff must deal with. Man, if I had a nickel for every bizzare question I've had to answer :)

If more people were to take the time to read manuals and take it upon themselves to learn a few things BEFORE calling tech support, then maybe tech support would be able to handle the "real" questions more efficiently.

I think that one of the best ways to deal with customers is to have a message board for each product. That way the "silly" questions get answered by other users, and the more advanced questions can be answered by the company's tech support staff.

Slackmaster 2000
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top