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

[Richard Wentk]

At 11:52 07/05/2004 +0100, Paul Maddox wrote:
>Bert,
>
> > I don't know if the public stops and thinks about how they make sound.
> > When I am at a local music shop, the only thing these people do is look
> > at pulsating blue leds and push buttons and expect the box to make a
> > cool sound.
>
>Perhaps they ought to stop and think before buying a synth?

Synths are the guitars of the day, and synth music is the blues of the day. 
Blues and R&B haven't changed for *decades* now. They're an ideal hiding 
place for people who are kind of a bit a musical and kind of a bit 
rebellious, and want - more than anything to *look* like same. It's simple, 
formulaic music that's easy to pick up and understand and isn't going to 
challenge anyone, while still providing enough positive feedback to at 
least give some semblance of cool.

Berlin School is the synth world's version of Stairway to Heaven. Anyone 
can do it, it's not hard, it sounds okayish, and while you're doing it you 
can pretend that it's 1975 and you're on stage with Tangerine Dream with 
the lasers and 20,000 people and everything.

> > The question is: if you are a professional musician and you already have
> > a huge amount of gear and samples at your disposal, would you spend that
> > amount of money for a synth you will probably only use on rare
> > occasions?

If you're a professional musician £3k is pocket money. Peter Gabriel spent 
six figures on a guitar for charity recently. £3k is non issue.

>I agree the neuron is a brave attempt and offers a lot of
> > ground breaking synth for that money, but that might not be enough to
> > keep a company running. That is why some companies have mass market
> > products which sell well, and they use the returns to invest in the
> > development of prestigeous projects?
>
>Agreed, the 'innovation/Stability' thing is a very very hard act 
>forcompanies to get right, many don't..

This really comes down to the music market, which is driven by convention 
at every level. There's very little public interest in interesting 
instrumental music. There's always experimental electronica, but most of 
that sounds like free jazz, only not as - well - interesting.

There's also the fact that a lot of early synth music made it on the basis 
of novelty. (E.g. Switched on Bach, Tomita, Jarre, all the usual suspects.) 
There's absolutely zero novelty in musical electronics now, which makes 
electronic music much harder to sell, and *interesting* electronic music 
harder still.

> > It's like the customer walks into a clothing store and is looking for
> > the same jacket everybody is wearing. Once he enters the store he is not
> > sure anymore if he should wear that jacket or try something else. He
> > needs a fashion consultant.
>
>so, perhaps there ought to be shops like the "Sycho systems" used to be.
>Where you can visit talk, find out what you need, whats available, rather
>than just saying "I've seen that, I'll take one please".

Big overheads for little reward. Tur(n)key comes closest to this, I think.

> > No surpirse to me Kurzweil wants a VA too. Ah.. I never liked the sound
> > of the K2500 anyway.
>
>i'm not suprised, perhaps their sales are dropping and need to 'boost' them,
>but unless the quality of the sound improves, the new kurzweil VA isn't
>gonna do that.

Kurzweil have been riding high on the strength of the original design for 
maybe ten years now. The designers of the new VA are completely new and 
were probably paid a lot less, so I'm not surprised the sound isn't as good.

Richard