Why DIY? (was Re: [sdiy] Another new hard to find part....)

[jbv]

john mahoney a *crit :

>
> You know what's annoying, JB? To have a remark taken out of context and used
> in a way that contradicts your larger message -- and that's what you did to
> me, there. Did you read the last paragraph of my post, or did your attention
> give out before you got there? (That's where I mentioned that people are
> doing new work.)
>
> You don't get into synth DIY by inventing and building, say, a new type of
> frequency shifter as your first project. You need to build the equivalent of
> a "Hello, World!" program; then you build some more existing circuits;
> finally, you may try to develop something new and different. Besides, most
> synths have a set of standard modules. Are you suggesting that we should all
> build everything from scratch? I think that I'm missing your point.
>

OK OK folks. calm down please.
didn't mean to attack anyone, just tried to shake the coconut tree a bit while
making a short pause in the middle of weeks of coding - nothing to do with
sdiy, unfortunately [sigh]

I've been on this list since spring 1997, and if I've always been (pleasantly)
amazed by the terrific skills of most members, I've also regretted that most
of them seem happy to refine a very limited range of skills and applications...

Just like vinyl collectors who explore to death recordings by Elvis between
1954 and 1960... or entomologists who specialize in reproduction of a very
specific kind of worm that lives only on a specific kind of tree in the south-
west rainforest of Costa-Rica...

and BTW why is the discussion always dying in the "analog vs DSP"
bottleneck ? Because marketing campaigns of big manufactors focuse on
this issue since the early 90's ? That's not an valid excuse IMHO...

Just off the top of my head (sorry I'd like to spend days & days discussing
those issues, but I really lack time these days), here are a couple of topics
regarding mixed / hybrid technologies & projects that could be discussed
here (AFAIR they appeared on the list during the past 12 or 24 months, but
didn't live very long - and of course, these are just examples of how to
escape the (sterile IMHO) "analog vs DSP" topic; many others are possible
of course, just put your imagination at work) :

1- realtime 3D GUI running on a PC and used to program / drive an analog
modular (not just emulation of modules front plates & patch cords, I mean a
totally new kind of 3D GUI to design & control sounds & musical processes)

2- several distant modulars (with their own ISP) connected over the net...
what kind of applications (beside remote maintenance), musical collaborations,
concepts, new kind of modules, etc ?

3- a continuous realtime stream of data available on the web, on which anyone
could connect a soft-synth or an analog modular and participate to / interact
in
an online performance, eventually influence the data stream according to
certain
rules (biological, evolution)...

4- new modules including NN, GA, but not in a soft-synth : real modules with
switches & knobs to be included in a modular...

etc etc.

these are examples of mixed technologies that IMHO could create a synergy
between existing (but still isolated) technologies, would perhaps lead to new
and really cool concepts, and would certainly leave the "analog vs DSP" topic
on the side of the road for good.
Last but not least, some technologies developped for cellular phones could
probably be borrowed for some of these projects...


>
> Back to my original point: Richard keeps talking about Reaktor, which is not
> SDIY. His other remarks seem anti-DIY.
>

not sure... being interested in soft-synths can make you want to learn more
about what's inside the beast, and pretty soon you find yourself coding in C,
just like 30 years ago I found myself soldering trannies because I felt the
irresistible need to know more about the way those great new electronic devices

worked...
and coding your own soft-synth on your laptop IS s-diy (although this is
brillantly covered by the music-dsp list, which is not only about DSP chips,
but more generally about digital signal processing and associated technologies
applied to musical concepts...

JB