WHY? (was Re: [sdiy] ... Simulating a Moog)

[Paul Maddox]

Dave,

> OK, I'll and rise to the bait on this one:

I've replied to this on list.

>  - it's somewhere to start - somewhere that people are comfortable through
> familiarity of usage and about which they can converse (with their peers)
> and on which they can (more easily) educate the people new to this arena

true, but then everyone begins to think and sound the same, a good thing?

>  - given that the hardware/software is a means to an end rather than an
end
> in itself, people are using it to make music for an audience and the
> audience (in my experience as consumer of the product rather than a
producer
> of it) is far more comfortable with the familiar rather than the
innovative
> (and isn't this a lesson learned throughout the whole of musical history?)

well said, this explains the current EM scene obsession with Berlin School
(30+ year old style)

>  - unless one is prepared to throw money into promoting it or gambling
> heavily (and what company's finance dept is prepared to give the marketing
> dept an unlimited budget!), it costs a lot to innovate successfully on a
> large scale (I'm not counting the innovators who post on SDIY because many
> of them are "kitchen table" operations - and I'm not being disrespectful,
> just stating a fact)

Agreed, but then many people will put down the new technology as costing too
much, when thepeople who invested heavily in this new 'concept' are trying
to get back what they have put in.

>  - there's a (dubious) "sense of history" in the hardware which elements
of
> the industry (both the developers and the musicians) seem to feel
compelled
> to recycle for the (also dubious) "benefit" of those who come after them -
> as in "It worked for me when I was using it, now I can sell it to someone
> else for more."

yep, its pandering to the market, its not innovation.. The problem is, do
this for too long, and it backfires and you kill the market.

>  - fashion!

Good one!

>  - it's easier (and cheaper - in the long run) to stagnate rather than
> imitate

but its not benficial for long term prospects of small companies for things
to stagnate.

Paul