Peak 90s Opcode in a Vision workout tape, NIN music video

Would you like to travel back to music production in the 1990s? Are you new to the world and want to experience it in a comprehensive way? Josh and Nine Inch Nails from Opcode are here for you.

The (1996?) “Getting Started With Vision” video has it all – those 3D graphics. This theme song. The feeling of seeing OMS and Vision's awesome Blocks and Sequencer implementation again. (Okay, that last one will definitely depend on when you started Mac music production.)

And so much Roland sound.

I feel a bit like I'm reciting ancient religious texts. We've all been telling the story of MIDI since the beginning of time. “MIDI is a secret code that runs over these MIDI cables…” (I'm not sure what was secret about it, but maybe he wanted to make sure people knew to send in their MIDI Manufacturers' Association membership dues. )

The graphics… the graphics. (Video Toaster, I think?)

By the way, if it were you not If you're interested in the OMS (Open Music System) era but have a recent Mac, load up the Audio MIDI setup. You'll notice some similarities. I believe Audio MIDI Setup was released with Mac OS X Jaguar in 2002 and its development was led by former Opcode engineer Doug Wyatt. I may revisit this story, but you'll see that AMS has essentially become a next-generation reimagining of OMS. See also MOTU's pre-OS-X competitor FreeMIDI. And…oh, I really forgot about that AppleTalk warning. Memories.

But we're already done with the 90s.

Nine Inch Nails made this music video for “Gave Up” in 1992 and it features a hilarious amount of exposure for Opcode Vision.

Show of hands, how many of you have also used the same Digidesign mouse pad? (It was a simpler time, kids. Actually…no, it was a much more complicated time, one that required a hell of a lot of reaching into the Mac case to fiddle with horrible hardware settings on NuBus cards to make DAE work. That I'll come back to this as much as I wanted to hear Bill Clinton this week. But Opcode was great.)

Plus, it turns out they label their projects about the same as the rest of us. I don't think these were edited for the video.

Vision still looks brilliant almost 30 years later. But it's not just nostalgia: we've lost some of the elegance of the first generation of sequencers. Again, it's worth thinking about again now, because while the world of Western DAWs is pretty much exhausted, there's every chance of developing new systems from the ground up based on other musical traditions and with developers outside the usual suspects of the US and Western Europe – see DAW, Music Production and Colonialism, a bibliography.

Anyway, modern software: you're up to speed. At least consider some vaporware music and graphics for your next tutorial. You can blame me.

I realize I've tagged things with “I love the '90s” and a significant portion of the world has no idea what the hell I'm talking about. It is this:

I'm obviously obligated to bring this clip back every time I mention Opcode:

I'm sorry, what? Music technology news? How for today?

Look, there's a new plug-in model of a vintage compressor and one day a fancy polysynth is coming and there are some new modules. Happy?