A dear friend of mine has sent shockwaves through the world of software synthesizers last year when he finally published his KickDrum vst, specifically tailored for crafting high-precision kick drums inside a Digital Audio Workstation. I am mighty proud of him and the industry is both happy and up in arms about the level of features, workflow and intuitive capabilities of his software.
He always was the revoluzzer, and the plugin is awesome! But what's more, he has asked me to write the manual for it. Wow!
And so, a few weeks back in Germany, I started to get into it. What software would I use to do such a thing?
I had never written a manual before, but I did always want to get into publishing and learning the in's and out's of the trade, if only to be able to publish to other media apart from Hive. Who knows, a fancy dnd adventure? A guide to do this, that and the other thing?
But I was always at war with the office suit by microsnot, and even open office... but then I remembered Affinity had such a program, and man did I get into that!
Tutorials & blood & sweat & tears
The learning curve was there, but compared to other things I have learned it was mighty successful this time. I learned how to use the software properly. Affinity Publisher. And in addition to their glorious business model (as compared to the hellish adobe rent-to-use model), not only is the software yours when you buy it, they also have a 180 day unlimited trial for all their software. I mean wow!
I have used Affinity Photo for years, doing all my mandalas, and other graphics work I put on Hive with it. But the Publisher is just marvelous for creating designs, organizing layouts and finding the right tweaks to make it all fit together.
Why am I now writing about it? Well, because I am super stoked that I just turned in my work - it is DONE! Here is the table of contents to prove it ahahaha.
Organizing and layouting that table of contents was an achievement in itself, in a software where you can tweak any little thing it does get confusing sometimes. But I am really happy with how it turned out.
Granted there might by more things to tweak here and there, but after weeks of focusing my energy on the thing it just reached a point where I had to let it go. And my friend will upload it to the community for feedback until the release of the new version of the software in about two weeks - together with my manual.
It always was an amazing prospect to help my friends with their dreams and ambitions. And my friend has worked his ass off for this for the last 5 years or so, programming and coding like a madman through the night. If my manual and all the love I poured into it can help make that software package even better, man was it worth it.
But you know what's even more fulfilling? That it is done. And that I can finally set up my studio to build new music and really get into the groove of things in our new housesit place in Italy. It has been waiting for me ever since we arrived and longer! I feel like a 5 year old on Christmas morning!
The year has been one enormous challenge for me but ever since we arrived here - and especially now that I am done with my obligations & the deadlines to which I agreed - I feel more free and inspired than ever.
I give thanks for this massive upswing toward the end of this year. It shall not go to waste!