Hi All!

With this post I reach the heady milestone of 10,000 posts. Yay!!

You only get one chance at this, so to help me mark the occasion I thought it would be good to start a thread in which everyone could post their thoughts about the SOS Forums.

We now have over 78,000 registered members, have been running in this version 3 forum since 2004, and over these years have together created a huge resource for both newbies and experts, where readers, non-readers, manufacturers, and musicians of all genres and persuasions gather on a daily basis to help each other and offer advice.

I'm proud to have been involved so closely with the forums, and it's always great to see someone arrive with a problem and then go away with some answers, and to see the level of support that so many people here provide for each other. Long may it last!

Now it's over to you - what do you think of the SOS Forums, and how have they helped you?


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Congratulations! Take a screen shot to commemorate it!



Anyway SOS forums are a great resource, thanks for all the years of help.

Hi Martin

You're obviously new here, this post really belongs in
'SOS Forum Feedback' ask a moderator to move it for you


BTW Congratulations
SOS Forum =

you didn't savour the 10,000 post, moved on to bigger and better things already (10002 and counting!) I would have abstained for a week just bathing in the milestone glory

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www.directresolution.com
home of the DARC audio computer

That's a very impressive contribution - many thanks for sharing all that expertise.

I recall Te Me cruised past the 10K mark with ease in the old OT forum a few years back, but it is probably fair to say that his music technology insight was not of the same depth as yours. He had some good jokes, though.

Thanks also, by the way, for the "building a PC for thickies" article in the magazine a couple of years ago. My Walkerised box is still snappy, and doesn't blow up like my previous ones used to.

Best wishes
Sam

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Instant gratification is actually pretty good. It's fast as well.

Congratulations Martin! Long may it continue

The SOS forum was the thing that got me through my A Levels, just lurking around for a couple of hours a day helped more than all the books in the library and the pointless lectures on what a crotchet is.

Now I'm in a position to sometimes contribute in my own little way and it's a good feeling.

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Composer;
www.ogonline.org

the SOS fora have taught me that no one knows how to groove anymore... !

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hourglass | random thoughts | doubledotdash!? collective

Quote onesecondglance:

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the SOS fora have taught me that no one knows how to groove anymore... !

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Apart from Coldplay, who still groove like a MoFo...


Mr. Walker: I didnt get where I am today by shilly shallying around in the shallow end - get organise dand start posting PROPERLY.

Why, I must have posted at least eighteen gazillion threads since I began on this forum in the late forties.

(congrats)

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Me? But I`m such a loveable old bugger!

Quote IvanSC:

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(congrats)

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Can all of your posts have subtitled translations in future please Ivan?

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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

congratulations Martin..... a worthy effort, if only we could all be so selfless and mild mannered.....


although i suspect the west country time lapse effect may be playing tricks on you..... V3 forum didn't start until about august/september 2004.....

brings cocktails sausages and a bottle of full sugar ribena, apologies but reduced sugar ribena is not ribena.

10,000 posts eh? only 990,000 posts til 1,000,000 posts are made!

this smashing forum has a great place in my heart. usually within a few minutes my problems be it with a ground loop problem in a telecaster or a logic pro core audio gripe are provided with solutions in a matter of moments. allowing me to get back to making music in minutes.

at this moment in time though, my only frustration is the search engine can be a little tricky to find what you are trying to find, as it searches words not phrases.

something else, which i have been recently thinking about more and more is that it would be great to have a section of the forum for drums and percussion. this instrument is almost as commonplace as the guitar.

just my thoughts.

keep up the good work though! may this smashing forum keep helping idiots like myself making music (which if it isn't a profession is recreation as any).

Quote Martin Walker:

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Now it's over to you - what do you think of the SOS Forums, and how have they helped you?

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.. required daily reading. There's almost always something that points me in the right direction or gets filed for later reference.

Here's to your next 10,000 and the next ... and the next ...

I have made many stupid posts and learned a great deal here in the last few years.

Quote caveman82:

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at this moment in time though, my only frustration is the search engine can be a little tricky to find what you are trying to find, as it searches words not phrases.

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You can put quotes round a phrase and it'll search for it.

I have my own beef about the search function, however. The page defaults to posts made in the previous week, when what I'm looking for is usually not time-sensitive, so every single time I do a search I have to clear those drop-down boxes.

Oh, and please never bring back OT. Please!

ryan

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http://ryanmead.net

Congratulations!

I only hope that my modest contributions to the forum can, one day, be celebrated with as much gusto as yours have.

Long may it continue...

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www.allyle.co.uk

It's a great source of knowledge and help, and Martin' own posts are a great part of it. Thank you very much for such dedication.

The magazine and the forums have taught me a lot, and I'd also especially like to thank IvanSC for offering advice ond pretty much every major question and problem I've posted here, from recording pedal steel guitars and trumpets to fixing my PC.

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Bill Withers while Tom Waits, and Stan Getz

Congratulations Martin, or maybe I should say, "My condolences" as you have had to put up with all of our sometimes silly questions. What is most appropriate however is "thank you" for your selfless contributions.

These fora are like "home" to me. I visit several other internet spots, but this one is home. It is (most times) civil and is certainly informative, and has a real sense of community. Go SOS!!!

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James
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake" ~Napoleon Bonaparte~

Thanks Martin

The fora have been great for me: 2 reasons
1. depth of knowledge from seriously good people who know what they are talking about
2. Threads that don't constantly repeat themselves (relatively that is)but do develop into a real exchange of ideas and info

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Matt
www.krcollective.org

Hi Martin,

Congratulations on the 10K mark! Having read a substantial portion of those, I can say w/o qualification that they have been invariably helpful, good-humored even when dealing with difficult people, and informative.

The SoS forums (well, I guess it should be fora but that battle's been lost long ago ;-) are one of my top destinations on the web. I check several times a day to see if any interesting new threads have been started or if one of the current ones has burst into flames (any thread about the future of the music business is good for at least one flame war). What impresses me most are the number of longer posts that obviously took many minutes if not hours to put together, often by senior-types such as yourself, which provide detailed answers to posted questions & queries. Not every poster would qualify as good company for a long walking tour but they're the exception. All in all, the forums are one of my favorite spots on SoS and the web in general. Cheers to you, Hugh, Ian, and all the others who came up with the idea and have made it work so splendidly.

Best,

dubbmann

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"Patsy had the drug tolerance of Keith Richards and the moral rectitude of Brian Jones." - Dr. Walter Bishop, "Fringe"

Wow - what can I say?

I was expecting lots of comments about the forums in general rather than all these congratulations, but thank you all (wipes tear from eye).

Pass round those cheesy snacks Ivan, while I go and blow my nose

Can I get anyone another drink?


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Well done Martin. However Mr Willett is approaching 11,000 so you need to do some catching up

Quote Martin Walker:

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Can I get anyone another drink?
Martin

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Lets not mess about huh?



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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

Quote Eddie The Red:

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Quote IvanSC:

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(congrats)

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Can all of your posts have subtitled translations in future please Ivan?

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Don`t they teach English as a second language in the west midlands schools now, then?



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Me? But I`m such a loveable old bugger!

Quote Martin Walker:

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Pass round those cheesy snacks Ivan, while I go and blow my nose
Martin

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Erm.... you HAD to mention blowing your nose and cheesyt snacks in the same sentence!!!
I`ll get the vol au vents instead...
More fruit cup, Vicar?
Oh, dear - I see Mr. Robjohns has been at the cooking sherry again.
Never mind, it`ll sponge up....

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Me? But I`m such a loveable old bugger!

holy schmokes Mr. Walker....congratulations, and a whole hearted THANK YOU... for being the conscientious consumer, and tester of all things...and for all your articles, and the jokes...advice, and professional way in which you present yourself, your articles, and product.

really, just all in all. for everything you, and all y'all (yep i said y'all) do, to help us all figure stuff out, or guide us in our decisions. without pulling out even more or our hair. cuz, honestly, i got no more to pull.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.....and pass the beer lad.

i remember the first time i saw sound on sound. it was in 2000, and it was on my friends couch table. it quickly turned into my source of .... gear lust, and being able to map out systems, and workflows, without having money, or my hands on any gear. everything i know about DAWs, ive taught myself, with your and your peers articles.

i, personally, cannot thank you enough. if i could buy a subscription with paypal.....i would.



stop looking at my bald spot.

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music is my girlfriend

Congrat. Martin and thnx 4 ur HELP to everyone!!!!

Regarding the forum in general: very helpful, mainly on audio devices and recording, software and DIY a bit less I consider about Live performing solutions.

Very vivid for sure, though sometimes some of the answers have nothing to do with the topic at all

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Pro. violinist who likes some experiments...
www.myspace.com/pagannini

Quote Martin Walker:

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Can I get anyone another drink?

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Yes please. Mine's a shiraz.

Oh, and congratulations!

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Dynamite with a laser beam...

congrats martin!
I have little else to say but I effing love this forum, I learn so much everyday, it's brilliant!!

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www.soundcloud.com/cats-on-the-beach

A sincere thank you Martin.

Like others have said these fora feel like home. You build up virtual relationships (sounds dodgy) with other contributers, you get to know who has similar views, whose knowledge you can trust, whose humor makes you laugh!

For me it's been particularly useful, being relatively isolated, to be able to share ideas, throw up questions, and as my own experience has grown perhaps share some of this too.

Keep it up!

Cheers

Bob

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www.bickerton.co.nz

Martin - firstly, congrats. I don't know why we offer congrats for acknowledging the fact that we spend far too much time here when we could be doing something productive instead, but...

Forums - once of the best things about this forum is that it's one of the few audio forums that manages to largely maintain respect between members, of all abilities and experience level.

A healthy, friendly attitude, respect to people that offer their experiences and knowledge for free, and a high level of accurate information keep this place up at the top of the tree.

And the free chocolate hobnobs we get on signing up have nothing to do with it

Kool!

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G-Dub
Studio G-fx 15inch quad-core i7 Macbook Pro Logic913

Quote dubbmann:

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Congratulations on the 10K mark! Having read a substantial portion of those, I can say w/o qualification that they have been invariably helpful, good-humored even when dealing with difficult people, and informative.

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it's worth re-iterating this point - 10,000 posts on a forum with no off-topic section, and certainly no frivolous "let's count to one million" threads for people to post-whore, is an achievement worth noting!

speaking of which, we just need another 9975 posts for this thread to match Martin's total...

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hourglass | random thoughts | doubledotdash!? collective

Congratulations Martin, you've helped me out on many an occasion.
Love these forums (and the mag of course) and have found them hugely useful over the years.
Here's to the next 10,000!

Congratulations Martin

Over the years your help and opinion has been invaluable to me. I seem to have very similar tastes (and dare I say budget constraints!) in equipment/software and without fail, your recommendations always seem to hit the spot.

Thanks a million.

What's your next purchase btw?

Sorry I'm late I got stuck in the kitchen talking to some boring guy about sample rates..

Anyways - I'd like to echo the unanimous vote of confidence in this forum, you all, and of course Martin on this occasion

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getting better all the time..

This party is really smoking now

Thanks for all the kind things you've all said, and I'm glad that so many of you feel the SOS Forums are like home.

We do collectively manage to generate some humour along the way while we answer all these technical queries, but I was particularly taken with this comment:

Quote Bob Bickerton:

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For me it's been particularly useful, being relatively isolated, to be able to share ideas, throw up questions, and as my own experience has grown perhaps share some of this too.

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Here's to plenty more 'throw up questions'


Martin

P.S. Don't worry about being late Adrian - Ivan's still got some cheesy snacks that no-one else fancied

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YewTreeMagic

Ouch - 2k here. Not sure that justifies a party. Perhaps a fish supper!

Nice one Chris.

But you appreciate I can't bring the keg out for that one.

But I'm all heart, and for you: a self replenishing pint.




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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

Congrats

I think it is incredible that a forum like this exists for people to quiz people about pretty much anything to do with music. I have been helped by countless people when trying to decide on products to buy and your article about dual booting systems saved me a lot of hassle with my old computer. Regressive Rock gave me valuable advice about mixing and bothered to listen to the tracks I was sending and helping me produce what I feel are the best mixes I have produced.

I find it very weird when talking about people from the forum because I will just be in conversation and say "Oh yeah Hugh Robjohns said this and Steve Hill said this". I actually retain so much knowledge from the forum and magazine and although it might not be directly helping me, it has helped in situations when other people have needed help.

Since using the forum I have gone to being able to use my software from an adverage level to someone who is actually confident at producing a good mix and even have sent stuff to radio which has actually been played! It wouldn't have been possible without this forum and the knowledge of those who post here.

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There is nothing Grim about this Reaper
We Fell From The Sky

Basically the perfect music forum - I'd say virtually every question I've ever asked has been answered by someone with serious experience in that area whether it's music technology, PCs, software, mics, sound engineering, guitars, basses etc. and that's pretty amazing considering the breadth of the info I've looked for.

Plus Martin Walker is clearly a top bloke and deserves a tribute album!