what do you expect from documentation?

[mono]

allright, first of all, a few of you might remember i'm working at a company which makes all sorts of music equipment and software. not to be cagey about it, its ni and i'm working in documentation.

now first and foremost i see myself as a dedicated user and producer, which somehow makes my role at the company that of a user's advocate. and believe me this is no under cover market research thread and not set in motion by ni (and you wont find this thread anywhere else, nope i wouldnt dupe you like that).
in fact, since i am using music production stuff myself every day, i am personally interested in how to make it more usable by providing better access to the concepts behind it.
and i have my own thoughts regarding good documentation; f.e. on one hand i think it should be well structured, and accessible, and you should be able to find what you are searching for quickly and without difficulty, and... (bla bla, typical talk at any documentation department). but on the other hand when i am using hard- and software myself, i hardly ever consult manuals. as a user i'm rather impatient and always seeking for that in-a-nutshell information; ideally this is somebody who knows the product i want to learn inside out and will give me a rough idea of concepts, procedures, and maybe some insider tricks. the rest i can figure out myself. i think documentation should reflect these needs.
so what do you expect from documentation? what do you think it should be like?

best, mono

 

[slik da relic]

i expect EVERY nook and cranny of the machine to be covered... i also expect to have a seperate "quik start" manual as well when i purchase something... i expect a very straightforward Table of Contents, a detailed index and also a deep glossary... simple everyday words and phrases for the beginner... i hate trial and error unless IM doin it myself... if i need info from the manual, i want to be able to just open the pages, look thru the contents, and BAM, its right there in front of me... of course bein an RS7000 user, they did cover alot, but there are things that seem totally omitted from the manual... u discover simple things that should be in there by tinkering around... some of us NEVER discover shit... we give up and either sell the machine, buy something else, or it gets put to the side to collect dust... the manual has alot to do with that sometimes.

da relic

 

[Relic]

^^^ Im gonna agree with the other relic, and add its nice when a manual is written for the average human being and doesnt require a mindmeld with the designers.
I bought a korg s3 waaaay back n the day that required you to buy a whole other manual to explain the thing because the one that came with it suuuuucked.
Sometimes its good when they have excersies to do in the manual that helps you get acquainted with the functions.

 

[Sucio]

exactly...

Basically I want my manual(s) to be as if any dummy off the street started using it, he/she would be able to understand it.

 

[dahkter]

I'm a big fan of Craig Anderton's manuals, he wrote the manual for the SP1200 and NI Kontakt, he's a hell of a nice guy too (I'm a member of his forum over on Harmony Central).
I agree with Rel and Rel - a quick start to get you making music in ten steps or less + a second manual to show you how to use every single function on the product. And speaking of Korg, the manual for the TR-Rack (and the interface) SUCK. Same with my Yamaha FS1R - shitty manual.
Good luck, NI is a dope company, they have some great products, congrats on that gig.

 

[Shonsteez]

Just dont write it like an Akai manual and your straight! lol...
Naw but like most others already mentioned, i like to see a comprehensive explanation of every feature and task explained in plain terms.

 

[Formant024]

its like with hardware manuals....there THE manual and THE user's guide...shit nobody reads hehe...but seriously, it's the more effort you put into blowing up the user's guide, the less structured it becomes. You really need to take steps back and basically get you through the most common routine in like 15 steps.

I like logic's manual, everything is in there...open and search what you need but you need to know what to look for...its different when you have the real manual instead of the software equivalent (waste of paper).
mpc manual was clear on me too...i hate old school roland harware manuals (U110,U220, JV880/JD990,JV1080..weird fekkin japs... back in the days i hated OEM jargon, presets or patches ? performances or multi ? each brand its own terminology and in every manual you read they try to explain the same principle in way that's not standard knowledge... I never read the manual on the acces virus, props on that design because it speaks for itself or any other analogue synth hehe.

 

[Relic]

I'm a big fan of Craig Anderton's manuals, he wrote the manual for the SP1200 and NI Kontakt, he's a hell of a nice guy too (I'm a member of his forum over on Harmony Central).
I agree with Rel and Rel - a quick start to get you making music in ten steps or less + a second manual to show you how to use every single function on the product. And speaking of Korg, the manual for the TR-Rack (and the interface) SUCK. Same with my Yamaha FS1R - shitty manual.
Good luck, NI is a dope company, they have some great products, congrats on that gig.

Korg sux period, you HAVE to have a mind meld with them to figure them out! lol
maybe not true of all their products , just the ones I have owned I guess.

 

[mono]

from my experience almost none of the companies in music software/hardware production has good documentation. akai is terrible if you're not familiar with the mpc in the first place (it uses "data" as a synonym for "samples"). waves vst manuals are a joke. ableton did a good job with integrating the tutorials into the program.

what do you usually do when you need an answer ?
first thing i do is google. it takes less time then getting out the manual. and it feels less distracting. and i like the language in forum answers better than the language used in manuals. it feels more...social.

sometimes i like to search youtube for videos, but i hate instructional videos that are too long. i want only one specific task covered in a tutorial video. f.e. "side chaining": 35 seconds video, period. dont tell me who you are or what you had for breakfast, get to the point, quickly. i want to accomplish a task and see if the outcome suits my needs, quickly.

only situations i get out the manual is a) the internet didnt provide an answer or b)i know theres a quick chart inside the manual

 

[Relic]

youtube is great! watching someone do something is much easier!

 

[slik da relic]

^^^ show n tell has always been the best way if ya ask me.

da relic

 

[Sucio]

from my experience almost none of the companies in music software/hardware production has good documentation. akai is terrible if you're not familiar with the mpc in the first place (it uses "data" as a synonym for "samples"). waves vst manuals are a joke. ableton did a good job with integrating the tutorials into the program.

what do you usually do when you need an answer ?
first thing i do is google. it takes less time then getting out the manual. and it feels less distracting. and i like the language in forum answers better than the language used in manuals. it feels more...social.

sometimes i like to search youtube for videos, but i hate instructional videos that are too long. i want only one specific task covered in a tutorial video. f.e. "side chaining": 35 seconds video, period. dont tell me who you are or what you had for breakfast, get to the point, quickly. i want to accomplish a task and see if the outcome suits my needs, quickly.

only situations i get out the manual is a) the internet didnt provide an answer or b)i know theres a quick chart inside the manual

Why not make a DVD manual? It may be a tad more expensive, but if it's thorough enough, you would have satisfied customers who are willing to purchase the next piece of soft/hardware Have someone go through the steps from beginning to end, with step by step instructions clearly stated?

 

[Cell 2Dee]

what do you usually do when you need an answer ?
first thing i do is google. it takes less time then getting out the manual. and it feels less distracting. and i like the language in forum answers better than the language used in manuals. it feels more...social.

I definitely agree with that. And I agree with Sucio when he says it should be as if anybody can pick the manual up and learn it.

 

[H&R]

The manual is like a last resort nothing else left choice ... Usually google gives the answer
in about 3-4 minutes

 

[MagnaOpera]

i definitely think that its important to have a quick start guide in addition to a manual AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD REMEMBER TO MENTION WHAT TYPE OF POWER ADAPTER TO USE WITH HARDWARE.

omg. i have some old yamaha synths from like the 80s and i'll be damned if it was ever publicly stated what kind of power adapter to use with the synths.

 

[mono]

Why not make a DVD manual? It may be a tad more expensive, but if it's thorough enough, you would have satisfied customers who are willing to purchase the next piece of soft/hardware Have someone go through the steps from beginning to end, with step by step instructions clearly stated?

its definitely a question of cost. you are legally obligated to provide written documentation (dont know about usa, but in most countries thats the case), so video tutorials cannot replace the manual, they'll remain a pricey bonus.
i agree that video tutorials make happy users so in the long run they are a good investment. they are becoming more and more important.

how do you feel about "daring the gap" in manuals?
some say it might be a good idea to not put every last bit of information into a manual but rather to concentrate on key concepts and provide "expert knowledge" in other places (f.e. online).

 

[God]

The assumption that people reading the manual have any understanding of things synth-heads and audiophiles believe is "common knowledge."

Examples: Additive synthesis, formants, fundamental frequency.

The majority of musicians have no clue what these "taken for granted" words are. Perhaps you have a directive to write for a more sophisticated audience, especially for a soft-synth like Reaktor. But it seems like a less sophisticated musician/producer has to research specifics in the manual itself to actually understand the manual.

I could look at some of my NI manuals. But I remember Reaktor's manual made a lot of assumptions about the reader being more sophisticated than the reader really is.

This means a lot of stuff is left out on assumption or there is too much that makes it sound like the minutes from the meeting of the Mixing Engineers' Union...

This is extreme, but it tends to sound like this:

"If you apply the LFO @ X Hz and divide it by the root of the note you're playing, subtracted by the cutoff frequency inverted to the dithering algorithm's angle on a three-dimensional plot added to the square root of the frequency rate of sine wave adding the second harmonic to the fundamental - you come up with the unified theory of the universe as envisioned by Einstein."

 

[Kontents]

"If you apply the LFO @ X Hz and divide it by the root of the note you're playing, subtracted by the cutoff frequency inverted to the dithering algorithm's angle on a three-dimensional plot added to the square root of the frequency rate of sine wave adding the second harmonic to the fundamental - you come up with the unified theory of the universe as envisioned by Einstein."

BAhahahahahahaha Good point.

 

[2GooD Productions]

"if you apply the lfo @ x hz and divide it by the root of the note you're playing, subtracted by the cutoff frequency inverted to the dithering algorithm's angle on a three-dimensional plot added to the square root of the frequency rate of sine wave adding the second harmonic to the fundamental - you come up with the unified theory of the universe as envisioned by einstein."

lmao.