The other day John Nell, a regular on the Bose Community Message Board, posted this.
I'm a visual-type of guy and have really enjoyed using The Sketcher for our stage layouts! It's so easy to use and I was wondering if this is your creation or how it came about. Any info you can share will be appreciated!
I posted a relatively brief response in the thread but here is the longer version.
First, a little background. My father is an amazingly articulate man and when conversing with him or reading his writings I am always impressed with that. But a few months ago we were at a family gathering and there he was, pen in hand drawing a sketch on a napkin. He was helping somebody with a plan for a renovation. It was a picture I have always had of him, pen poised, sketching an idea, helping someone. I had somehow misplaced that picture because our interactions are almost entirely verbal. Anyway, let me assure you... he can actually draw and he has drawn cities, doll houses, schematics, and everything in between. My mother says that I take after her.
If you have a couple of minutes, I'll take you down memory lane and then tell you how this led to The Sketcher.
Here is a sketch I attached in my third post in the Bose Musicians Message Board. It was a question about optimal placement for my L1™ for a gig that was to happen a few weeks later.
From my second post, this was the layout for my first gig.
By August the sketches looked like this.
In this one I was unhappy about being unable to hear (I am on the left), what was happening on the other side of the stage.
gittar-jonz offered some advice (and troberts may have been in there too) that turned into this.
Drums on-the-side.
Somebody asked about feedback and I showed him how I mount my microphones.
Sometimes things got a little wild.
By September people were looking for suggestions about how to set up their stages. This led to sketches like this.
Another one without the wires - an experiment with a different style.
Wires were a challenge.
This was for Edward Tufte in October 2004
Here is an experiment with a different style
Learning about perspective and scale ... not very good at either but it seemed to get the idea across.
This was late October 2004 and it was for Jeff (holliwil)
This is the wired version for Jeff
quote: quoting holliwil
ST,
Here is the setup per your diagram. The sound was simply awesome. The other guys (all never before PAS users) were totally blown away. Minor resistance getting Steve to use the PAS to monitor from, until he heard his guitar through it. Bass player plugged straight in with no preamp and couldn't have been happier. Bass and Guitar coexisted quite well on a single double bass unit; every lick of each instrument rang clear. Happy to say my first outdoor experience with the PAS was indeed a great one. Once again, thanks for the diagrams, they made the setup so easy!
Jeff
Jeff's note above was so encouraging that I just couldn't stop.
A shot at a cave stage
My band's setup in November 2004
A sketch from December 2004
This was an odd journey as I tried to figure out how to combine text with visual aids to talk about sound, in a basically silent environment.
The following is the result of a conversation with Cliff-at-Bose in December 2004. The style of the diagrams might be called "your brain on Bose".
quote:
Thanks for (all the) explanation Cliff.
So let me see if I get this.
Situation 1/2 - Single microphone NOT Recommended
(or two arranged vertically as in the picture)
We should not feed a single source into two systems as this could lead to the phase cancellations. So we should not be doing either of these:
1. 
2. 
Situation 3/4 - Two microphones
(or four arranged as two vertical pairs)
We should be able to do this because we are feeding a two source signals (stage left, stage right) into separate systems. Because the two systems will not be receiving the same input, we won't actually be running dual-mono. Either of the following should work.
3. 
4. 
Back to how the Sketcher came about.
I forgot to mention that in the fall of 2004, I had made the offer to people: That I would do a sketch of their bands to help them understand their setup. There was lots of interest and this is what led to successes like Jeff's story.
Okay! We're up to very early 2005
As an aside, I had an injury that was making it very difficult to hold a pen (or draw pictures). I was doing more cut and paste for the instruments, and had finally figured out how to draw a straight line with Adobe Photoshop. So the Sketches began to look less like napkin sketches and more mechanical. I was sorry for that, but you do what you have to.
Back to the main story.
Most of the time, someone would write something like, "I'm in four piece band. Tell me how to set up". Sometimes it was "I have a couple of Bose Systems, and we are having a problem with ...".
I'd write back asking about the venue, the stage, and asking for a description of who was standing where, playing what, and later I might also ask what roles everyone had for vocals.
This could lead to hundreds of words of description before anyone was really talking about music. It takes me a ridiculously long time to do a sketch. So between someone asking a question, and me asking for details, and someone replying, and me doing a preliminary drawing, and someone offering corrections, and me making the corrections - well I am amazed that almost nobody just got frustrated and walked away in the middle of it.
The process could take a couple of days and a lot of everyone's time. But in the end there were usually good results for people who already had their L1™s and were trying to use them. For those who were in the planning stages I hope it was a good experience too.
The Problems
- It simply took too much effort for someone to describe his/her stage layout.
- On the other end, I had to interpret what s/he said and confirm (with a sketch) that I actually understood him/her.
- The two steps above were about asking a question and confirming that I understood it. They had very little to do with answering the question.
- The current way of doing things could not possibly scale up.
So I asked myself, "What if people could do the first sketch by themselves?"
The Requirements
The solution had to:
- be Easy
- be Fun
- Require no drawing skills
- Not require someone to read lengthy instructions
- Be accessible over the web (compatible with most browsers and operating systems)
- Allow collaborative, iterative edits (you do something, I can add to it, you can change mine, I can change yours, and all the while, each version is saved so we can go back in time).
- Be scalable. That is, other people should be able to participate in (or replace me in) my end of the process.
Skipping over the ugly details that it takes to write something like this, in late June 2005 I rolled out the first version of The Sketcher. If you scroll down to the end of the first post in The Sketcher Discussion you will get a feel for where we were at that point.
Lots of people responded and the list of requests for features started.
quote:
In case anyone is following the development of the Sketcher, here is a list of what is slated for version 1.1
- Multiples of everything (as requested by Ken, Pete and Tom)
- Rotation of objects (as requested by Alan and Hilmar)
- Numbers for adding notes and identifying Players (Hilmar inspired this one)
- More instruments (waiting for your suggestions)
The first couple of pages in The Sketcher Discussion tell the story of how things evolved through conversations with people here. If you want, you can read the Version History.
So that's how it came about.
Here is a reflection on the design goals with hindsight thoughts in blue.
The Requirements
The solution had to:
- be Easy
Nobody has said that it was difficult, and I am encouraged by that. But then again, I can't remember that last time anybody who used it (new to the message board) actually commented on the process.
- be Fun
I'm a little disappointed that no one has mentioned this. I really wanted it to an odd almost whimsical surprise to come to a message board and find a way to make pictures.
- Require no drawing skills
We are just dragging things around on the screen. Seems to be working
- Not require someone to read lengthy instructions
I have brief instructions that pop up when you first enter the Sketcher. Judging by how most people use The Sketcher, almost nobody reads those instructions. That's okay because it looks like people are able to use it anyway.
- Be accessible over the web
So far so good. It seems to be working fine on PCs and Macs and except for occasional issues with my ISP (Internet Service Provider) it seems to fine with desktops up to 6 years old, and most portables up to 4 years old.
- Allow collaborative, iterative edits (you do something, I can add to it, you can change mine, I can change yours, and all the while, each version is saved so we can go back in time).
The Sketcher actually does this. That is why under almost all of the Sketches you see in the message board, there is a link "-- click image to make changes to the live version --".
I don't know why people don't use this feature. Most of the time I end up doing all the edits. That is: I do both parts of the conversation described above.
- Be scalable. That is, other people should be able to participate in (or replace me in) my end of the process.
This is done, but it could be smoother. Scalable also implies that we could handle tens or hundreds of times more volume. I'm pretty sure my ISP won't handle this, but the software should be fine.
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