Re: David Torn EDP manual

[Rik Elswit <rik@well.com>]

I have no problem with the EDP itself.    And I think the first level of
access is very intuitive.   The manual is the problem.   And the reason I
mentioned Roland' stuff is that they have managed to work around the
problem.    Roland US has a bunch of quickstart manuals and video manuals
for their stuff that are designed to get past the books that ship with 
their
boxes.   

You don't have to show everything the box does.   You get them up and
running, and you show a few tricks.    My demo of the EDP consists of 
making
a short loop, doing a few overdubs, undoing the overdubs back to the
original loop, and then demonstrating multiply.    Then I'll play a 4 bar
ostinato, loop it and show how you can alter the feel of a melody by
changing your backup style.   It takes five minutes and it gets them up and
running.

The main problem with the manual is that it's laid out like an index.  If
you know where to look, you can find 5 different ways to framus the widget,
but no explanation of why you would want to framus a widget.    The best
teaching approach (which is also the best approach for sales and 
evangelism)
is to give a quick course in the basics and to save the deep details for
volume 2.

That being said, the best thing Gibson could do is produce an hour's video
of Andre working out.    And give it away free.

Rik