As music production environments become more complex, the challenge of making those environments accessible grows. Learning a modern DAW is very different from operating a four‑track cassette recorder. Luckily, there are now vastly more resources available to learners. Where once we had printed manuals, we have YouTube tutorials, Discord servers, Subreddits and Facebook groups. We can even ask an AI chatbot. And developers themselves are putting ever greater resources into smoothing out learning curves.

From a design perspective, macros are an excellent tool for this purpose. An experienced synth programmer might simultaneously adjust pulse width, filter cutoff modulation depth and resonance in order to achieve a specific effect. A skilled user interface designer can assign all of those to a single physical control. The result: immediate hands‑on gratification for all users, and an opportunity for the inexperienced to get results without needing to understand the underlying structure.

This approach is not new, but this month’s cover product takes it to another level. Literally so, in fact. The Omni knob on Softube’s Flow Studio is a macro to rule all macros, allowing users to move seamlessly between multiple layers of interaction. When you’re diving in for the first time, you can get close to what you want with a single hand movement. When it’s time to apply the finishing touches, you can dive in and tweak individual parameters. New users need not be intimidated; old hands need not feel patronised.

This level of integration is possible only where a single developer has complete control, and that makes some people uneasy.

The kicker, perhaps, is that this is possible only because Flow Studio is a closed system. This level of integration is possible only where a single developer has complete control, and that makes some people uneasy. It’s surely a price worth paying in this case, but I do wonder whether it’s part of wider trend.

Forty years ago, synth manufacturers could agree on what MIDI needed to do. Today, the idea that DAW developers might commit to a universal session interchange format seems far‑fetched. The AES72 ‘standard’ for analogue audio over Ethernet isn’t really a standard at all. HUI and MCU are dated and limited, but EuCon remains proprietary. And how many audio‑over‑IP formats, or immersive audio configurations, do we really need?

In today’s world, successful formats and platforms are valuable assets. Companies like Dolby, Audinate and XMOS have thrived not by selling things to consumers, but by persuading manufacturers to license their technology. In fact, Atmos and Dante have succeeded despite the existence of open alternatives. Does this mean that market forces are proving their superiority? Is it even possible that adhering to open standards can be a brake on innovation? I don’t know, but I don’t think we should automatically view proprietary systems as bad.