[sdiy] presets on a modular

[Don Tillman]

(Should I get involved in this conversation?  With my crazy opinions,
technical background, and zen attitude?  What the hell...)

Harumph... this is going nowhere.  I'll claim that preset schemes,
such as the ones described so far in this thread, are fundamentally
doomed for three reasons:

The first is that they're way too complex.  Whether you measure that
by the parts count, by the cost, by the panel space, or by the time
spent building it, the value of the patching circuitry comes in at
several times the circuitry being patched.  Or more.  At that point it
makes much more sense to just spend the resources on more modules and
dedicate some modules to some patches.

The second is that the preset schemes suffer from a bad user
interface.  Remember, you're building a Musical Instrument (capital M,
capital I), and for that a bad user interface is unacceptable.

And third, the patching schemes are all based on the awful patching
model found on any modern computer-in-a-plastic-box keyboard, where
arbitrary sounds are selected by a binary number.  No real Musical
Instruments use that preset model.

Instead of forcing a bad preset model on an analog modular synth, I
think it would be better to develop a new preset model that's more
appropriate to the instrument.

Consider what other Musical Instruments do for presets; guitars,
organs, other keyboards, etc.  Consider not trying to present any
arbitrary set of patches and control settings.  Consider better ways
of selecting a patch than a binary number.  Consider your actual
musical needs; the sounds you want to use and how you want to go
between them.
    
  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California
don at till.com
http://www.till.com