[sdiy] presets on a modular

[Ian Fritz]

Good points.  Before I built my hybrid system I spent a couple of years 
developing the patches I found most useful for my musical needs.  Then I 
implemented a limited patching matrix that could realize what I needed.  It 
is somewhat restricted in size, but that disadvantage is outweighed by the 
ability to develop subtle effects and recall them.

BTW, am I the only one here who has actually built a hybrid system?  There 
always seems to be a lot of talk, but what has anyone actually done?

   Ian

   http://home.earthlink.net/~ijfritz/sy_cir1.htm


At 03:43 AM 11/12/2004, Don Tillman wrote:
>(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