Fan-mail (or like, manifesto even.)

[The Lo-Am Allstars]

So, this is pretty much just a fan-mail. I am finding this an incredibly exciting and inspiring program. I've only just started playing with it and I love it, and it has SO MUCH POTENTIAL! It's like you're developing my ideal program! Anyway, I just want to rave about it for a bit, so feel free not to read it:

<tldr> Why I Love Giada, by some guy.

I see it as being an ideal vehicle to combine the powers of hardware and software - the flexibility, modularity, expandability and versatility of any of the popular DAWs, combined with an interface / gui / workflow / whatever you want to call it that has the simplicity and streamlining of function and purpose that makes the famous hardware samplers, grooveboxes and sequencers, yer mpc's, rolands etc so attractive for just bashing out beats. I know there are other things out there trying to fill this gap, I immediately think of the Native Instruments Maschine hardware/software combo and Akai's response, the MPC Studio pro, and the other big player seems to be Ableton Live, which is also getting a lot of buzz. But to me, what separates Giada from these existing things are twofold, or actually, sort of threefold:

1) scope - It is envisioned and designed as a sample-and-loop orientated program, with an emphasis on real-time music making That is what it is MADE to do.
Ableton Live is supposed to have some amazing features for creating live electronic music, but it's a HUGE program. It's an entire DAW, with all the features and stuff for professional studio level audio production, that also has some features that make it really interesting for jamming and improvisation. But I've had some time playing with software-based music, and I find it to be urh... sterile? There's no 'playing', it's all arranging, dragging, dropping, clicking, stretching, tweaking parameters at a minute level, then going back and hitting 'play' to hear what it sounds like.
It's great, and I've learned a lot and made some stuff I'm proud of, but I've started to feel like there's too much much production in electrinc music production, and not enough music. At this stage I don't want a DAW with all the power and pro studio tools, I want to put the 'play' back into making music - doing it in a live, fun, immediate way, making the computer back into an instrument instead of a tool. I feel like Giadais pretty much specifically made for live beat recording, layering and manipulating, and its minimal, loop-orientated interface and workflow makes me feel that once I've got a handle on all its' bits and pieces I could eliminate almost all the clicky-clicky mouse work after the initial loading and setting up samples. It's got such a fast workflow that I reckon I could (with practice) go from hearing an idea in a song to ripping, chopping, tracking and otherwise turning it into a jammable, performable beat in like under an hour.

2) open source - it's in development RIGHT NOW, and the developers are actively collaborating with the community to find out what they want in the program.
Things that people suggest are actually being workshopped and implemented - they're giving us the tools and we're working with them to shape this program into the most exciting thing going on in digital music and (as if you can't tell), I want in. This is the ground floor, and the only way to go is up. I can't program or anything like that so I'm not exactly going to make a massive contribution to the dev, but I and pretty much anyone else can lurk these forums like a motherfucker, and suggest, listen, adjust and contribute as hard as I can.

And i'm not exactly proud, but undeniably at least 2.5) if not actually 3) price.
I mean for real, something this amazing being free is just batshit-insane (Not that i'm complaining).
Music stuff is expensive. I'm not a huge fan of free-for-all piracy, because the people making things like ableton or fruityloops gotta have money to eat too, but spending hundreds and thousands collecting and discarding a whole studio's worth of hardware equipment and software trying to find something that fits my (admittedly really specific and anal) list of wants is not something I can actually do. So something like this is an amazing alternative for the starving artists and bedroom-beatmakers out there.
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