[PlanetCCRMA] Feedback on Unison

[Mike Mazarick]

I have been conversing with some former users of the Rocket Network, who use
a set of specially developed shell scripts to get standard packaged DAW
(Cubase, Sonar, etc.) songs to and from a server so that musicians in
diverse locations can add tracks.   The specially developed scripts work on
a client/server model.  The client entails utilizing cygwin on a PC, a menu
of choices (upload, download, lock, download listen only copy, exit etc).
The server side handles file compression via flac, and file conversion from
wav to flac and back (and a few other nifty tricks like syncing, locking,
version control).  I am currently testing out the client (which was
developed on Linux) on a Fedora Core 1 CCRMA setup (and I hope to test it
with Ardour files).

I've noticed the pointer to Unison in the Planet CCRMA universe.  I was
wondering if anyone has used it to do multitrack recording file transfers
with multiple people, if it works effectively, if it is hard or easy to set
up, and if it would be suitable for a "non-techie" musician to use with
maybe minimal guidance.  It is worth considering Unison (as it has the
version control built in) if it is easier to install and use for the
"average joe musician" and work the compression magic as an add-on or filter
(or use Unison where the DAW files aren't broken out into a bunch of WAVs
per track).

The nirvana state would be to lock each track to a person/account and allow
multiple simultaneous updates.

I would be very interested in hearing about anyone's experiences using
Unison.   If you feel this isn't a good "general discussion" topic, or, if
your explanation of the pros/cons is lengthy, feel free to use my home email
address:

mazarick@bellsouth.net

I would suggest that the internet music collaboration aspect will be of
general interest for the most of us, so, your thoughts/ideas on how to move
the bits around and utilize multiple musicians in multiple areas can feel
free to use the Unison thread (as it is a proposed solution to a general
problem).

Regards,

Mike Mazarick