Wiardgroup

Hi gang,

I've got a new Wiard manipulation tune. Live mono recording of the 6 
module system and 2 Blacet devices, a frequency divider and dark star.

Very percussion centric.

It's "halvevoltage" at:

http://www.metalbox.com/mp3/

Hey,

For those of you that don't know, The Wiard 300 system is reviewed in the
new issue of Electronic Musician, just out.

Robert Rich authored the review, which is by far the most extensive press
coverage of the Wiard system I've seen to date.

Although I don't agree with Robert on all of his points (especially rating
"value" a 3.5 out of 5 - I would certainly rate it higher... and I think
he's making the system out to be more difficult to use than it is), I do
think it's a nice review overall, and excellent exposure for Grant. Check it
out if you get a chance.

Mike

> For those of you that don't know, The Wiard 300 system is reviewed in the
> new issue of Electronic Musician, just out.
> 
Any plans to copy this onto the Wiard or Yahoo websites?
I see many other manufacturers have had permission to reproduce EM reviews.
> 
> Although I don't agree with Robert on all of his points (especially rating
> "value" a 3.5 out of 5 - I would certainly rate it higher...
I have to admit that I'm still smarting from personal experience along these
lines. My feeling is that most equipment reviews are over generous therefore
a mark of 3.5 reflects some reservations in the mind of the reviewer.
I've never come into personal contact with any of the Wiard stuff and only
downloaded some MP3's and read the comments on this forum but I wouldn't
have been surprised to see a 4 out of 5 rating.
My biased and obviously warped opinion is that most reviewers never use
musical equipment in anger and if they do, never at the highest level and
are often looking for 'ear candy' or 'bells and whistles' over practical
features. 
Having said that (rather harshly) I do find that the US magazines are more
in touch with the real world than the UK ones.
CW

I'll check into reproducing the article for this group. I'm not sure what's
involved, but I can find out.

I agree that some printed reviews leave a bit to be desired in terms of
objectivity, so all things being equal I'm more comfortable reading reviews
that -aren't- focused primarily on the positive attributes of a product. But
I think that a lot of the US magazines (Electronic Musician and Keyboard in
particular) have gotten better in this regard over the years, and they
regularly point out "pros and cons" in reviews these days.

That said, my reason for disagreeing with Robert Rich's overall "value"
score is simply that the Wiard, in my opinion, represents a fantastic value
if you compare it on a feature-by-feature basis to any other modular. It's
certainly true that modulars in general are not for everyone, and I agree
with Robert that the Wiard learning curve is steep.

Don't get me wrong - overall, I think that it's a well-written and fair
review.  And it's nice to see the Wiard get that much print space. The
bottom line about value is that it's subjective, though, so it depends a lot
on how you plan to use the gear. One person's "average" synth may be
another's source of infinite possibilities.

-----Original Message-----
From: C. Whitten [mailto:chris@cwhitten.fsnet.co.uk]
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2002 3:59 AM
To: wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [wiardgroup] Wiard review in Electronic Musician


> For those of you that don't know, The Wiard 300 system is reviewed in the
> new issue of Electronic Musician, just out.
>
Any plans to copy this onto the Wiard or Yahoo websites?
I see many other manufacturers have had permission to reproduce EM reviews.
>
> Although I don't agree with Robert on all of his points (especially rating
> "value" a 3.5 out of 5 - I would certainly rate it higher...
I have to admit that I'm still smarting from personal experience along these
lines. My feeling is that most equipment reviews are over generous therefore
a mark of 3.5 reflects some reservations in the mind of the reviewer.
I've never come into personal contact with any of the Wiard stuff and only
downloaded some MP3's and read the comments on this forum but I wouldn't
have been surprised to see a 4 out of 5 rating.
My biased and obviously warped opinion is that most reviewers never use
musical equipment in anger and if they do, never at the highest level and
are often looking for 'ear candy' or 'bells and whistles' over practical
features.
Having said that (rather harshly) I do find that the US magazines are more
in touch with the real world than the UK ones.
CW


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C. Whitten (02:58 AM 01.20.2002) wrote:

 >> For those of you that don't know, The Wiard 300 system is reviewed in the
 >> new issue of Electronic Musician, just out.
 >>
 >Any plans to copy this onto the Wiard or Yahoo websites?
 >I see many other manufacturers have had permission to reproduce EM reviews.

If EM won't let you do it, it may show up on their own site here:

http://industryclick.com/magazine.asp?siteid=15&magazineid=33

The stuff online now is the January issue. The current month is usually put 
up within a couple of weeks of the print release.


Mark

C. Whitten (02:58 AM 01.20.2002) wrote:

 >> For those of you that don't know, The Wiard 300 system is reviewed in the
 >> new issue of Electronic Musician, just out.

I know this is pretty old news, but if you haven't read Robert Rich's 
review of the Wiard 300, then know that it's now up online at the EM website:

http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=33&releaseid=9826&magazinearticleid=139759&siteid=15


Mark