Oh I wish I had never said that...

[Goddard, Duncan]

>>>back in 1990 some people were still
> throwing out analog equipment. I think that the turn came
> in 1993 (here), but only for some crazy people like us.
> The mainstream is digital today, at least I believe so.<<<
> 
> 
I'd agree, broadly.... there's been evolution, though- at the end of the first analogue boom (early 80s: the last moogs and arps and sequentials), there was a sea-change, and I don't think I was alone (to judge from the list) in thinking that the abandonment of hardware control surfaces was just one of many hasty moves by the manufacturers that survived. 

certainly it helped some of the big names to survive or revive themselves; the digital controls were fairly cheap to implement and had to be if there was to be the remotest chance of the manufacturer recouping their development costs and the cost of any proprietary hardware *inside* the instrument.

latterly, there's been a shift back towards a "proper", musician-friendly hardware interface, so that programming a modern synth is a little less like painting one's living-room through one's letterbox (as one user described his experience with a proteus to me); even samplers, with improvements in processor power, can enjoy the benefits of realtime control. 
and witness the growth in sales of dedicated programmable midi controllers- when I bought my pc1600, there was only one other product on the market (the jl cooper) and I bought the peavey because it was there in the shop and the cooper wasn't. now, everyone makes one.
 
how much of this is driven by fashionable interest in "old-school" synths?  and how much by the manufacturer trying to make his stuff saleable by making it easier and more rewarding to use? as the novelty of having more control (not to mention repeatable results) over one's synth wore off, dissatisfaction grew with the minimalist interfaces of the 80s digital machines. and not everyone wants to or can enlist the help of a computer editor interface. 

I think that this factor is as significant, if not more, than any considerations of the "sentimental" appeal of older machines. otherwise, why didn't roland make a special gold-plated anniversary edition of the tb303 when they saw the price rocketing? their eventual response instead was to offer a new, more versatile product which offered some similar sounds and a better interface. a few purists complained but the mc303 still sold.

elsewhere, so-called "analogue modelling"- apparently driven by the second-hand value of first generation analogue synths, is as much a reflection of the use of the *sounds* of those instruments by the present "recycle-or-die" culture of sampling artists; a lot of people still buy synths for these sounds and not because there's once again something on sale that makes farty bass or squealing lead sounds and has "oberheim" written on the hood-  newer manufacturers are selling just as well. 
*we* are the weirdos, collecting old moogs and building our own analogue stuff, and in that sense, we are closer in spirit to audiophiles using high-end separates to play their vinyl collections than we are to the likes of norman cook or the chemical brothers who happen to have appropriated some of our favourite sounds for their dreadful output.
long may it remain so.

d.


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