Blog
Gobbler
Written by Andy Patterson
Last week we had a Skype call with Mike Gitig of Gobbler.
Gobbler is a new web based backup system for audio projects. It scans your audio drives and works out which folders are ProTools session folders, or Logic projects, or any other DAW session. Also included in the software is the ability to send files to other people, in much the same way that other file sending servers works such as
Since the beginning of our Singing Wells project and the collaboration with musicians from Ketebul in Nairobi and drummers in Sao Paolo on 71 Hours to Monday, we have been looking for a simple way to share audio files between studios. We have experimented with Dropbox and using symlinks, but nothing was quite as easy as we hoped.
I first read about Gobbler in Sound on Sound, and after signing up for an account, we got in touch with Mike to tell him about the Singing Wells project. This lead to our trans-Atlantic Skype Call.
We had a few questions about the system – mainly to do with the Upload system. The internet connection at Ketebul in Nairobi is very intermittent and the ability to pause and re-start uploads is a a big plus for us. As is the compression algorithms used by the system, which can reduce the size of the files by 40%. The files are checked before the upload begins to make sure that exactly what goes in, comes out at the other end. If this isn’t the case, then the system begins again, by re-compressing the original files.
Mike is very keen to support our project, as in his words ‘this is the sort of thing we developed Gobbler for’.. We now intend to test the system on our upcoming trip to Africa as part of the Singing Wells Project, including hopefully, end of day session backups from our hotel in Kisoro as part of our recordings of the Batwa people. We’ll take notes of our experiences, and post them here and over on the Singing Wells website.
Gobbler is available now for free as part of its Beta program, with a 25Gb account available. Once a PC version is available (Mac only for now) and it is fully tested, there will be a shift to a paid system.
The increasing reach of the internet and Digital audio recording based around DAW has meant that we are at a position where we can truly collaborate as part of a Global studio. For Abubilla Music, this begins with Ketebul Music in Nairobi, and we hope to create more tracks such as ’71 Hours to Monday’. Gobbler hopes to help us achieve this, and we are pleased to announce Gobbler as a partner.