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

[Metrophage]

I am happy with VCO->VCF->VCA, but certainly NOT ONLY those. I think
that subtractive synthesis is quite limited, especially with a stock of
four or five waveforms! My fave analogs have been systems such as those
made by Buchla and Serge. Lots of CV and trigger processing modules
which can be timed or tweaked. (inter)Modulating a few oscillators
and/or some nonlinear waveshaping is what I consider a good time. I
also like audio input/preamp / trigger extractor/ gate extractor
modules for fun with piezos, sensors, and location sounds.

I do often enjoy old tools and older styles of music. I am more
interested in the overall aesthetic of the musics and the feel of the
play than focused on what the instruments are. But- as a producer, I
worry about the homogeny.

So far as "the industry" is concerned, innovation is often expensive to
produce, and difficult to sell. I called Technos when they were still
around, wanting to buy one of their Acxel resynthesisers... (I did not
really have the cash, I just wondered if they were real. Wanted to talk
to them) They had no synths to sell, because they were 10,000 each, and
not selling well. They said not to send them money, they >might< make
more later. Anyway, the good stuff often costs a bit, and the marketing
usually is too tentative. Like Yamaha trying to market their pricey VL1
physical-modelling synth towards SAXOPHONISTS! How many sax players are
chomping at the bit to buy a great synth? But that was their bright
idea. The K5000 just kind of escaped... I'd not even heard of them
until a few years ago. The K150 Fourier Synthesizer was Kurzweil's
worst selling synth ever. I am amazed that the DX7 even made it.

OTAH, people do like to play and buy innovative synths if they can be
done for cheep. My experiences with circuit-bending have shown me this.
I can't count the number of times people have asked to buy these things
from me because of the simple interface and interesting sounds. It is
cerainly possible to make cheep, robust synths based on a CPU, DSP
chip, and some user-configurable controls, which can be sold for a few
hundred dollars. I expect we will see this very thing begin to happen
over the next few years! Likewise, the push will not be from Clavia nor
CreamWare, but more from the street level independants. THEN the big
synth companies will have presented to them a new bandwagon upon which
they may jump. 

Either way, people here have less to worry about with the synth
industry stagnating than does anyone. But it is silly.
CJ
 
> I feel that the synth industry is stagnating, its vanishing up its
> own arse
> at a fast rate.
> 
> But WHY?
> 
> Everytime someone tries to do something new, eg. Neuron, it gets
> slagged off
> because no-one can be arsed to understand the technology..
> Is everyone here TRULY happy with the standard VCO->VCF->VCA
> combination?
> I can't beleive this for one moment, truly I can't, so lets see (and
> hear)
> some NEW modules, some NEW ideas, some NEW concepts, not copies of
> things
> already done.
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
> 
> 



	
		
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