[sdiy] presets on a modular - the real solution

[Don Tillman]

   > Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 19:12:53 +1100
   > From: sasami at hotkey.net.au (Ken Stone)
   > 
   > It occurs to me "presets" on synths have been around since the
   > beginning, though admittedly expensive, and it's something most
   > of us have already invested in. Simply put: duplication of
   > modules. If you want true analog style and to be completely free
   > of bit resolution, this is the only way to go.

It's not the only way to go, but yeah, I mentioned this in a previous
post, relating it to the fact that flutes and harmonicas are such
simple and portable devices that the flute player often carries an
additional flute, a wood flute, a piccolo, a fife, a recorder, or
others, and that guy with Blues Traveller is known for carrying dozens
of harmonicas.

Double neck guitars would also be an example.  

Further, the musician gigging in the real world already has a
requirement for backup instruments.  They always need to be prepared
for the case where any given piece of equipment might fail, and that
should be included in the overall strategy.  

Duplicate modules with parallel signal paths allow you to continue
when modules (or racks/panels/cases/whatevers) fail, so that's a pretty
good thing.

(Someone once wrote to me with this idea for a bass with a swappable
fingerboard, so a bass player could go to a gig and play both fretted
and fretless with a single instrument.  I told him that I thought this
was a bad idea, crippling the instrument with a less than optimal
fingerboard-neck when a real world bass player will often bring a
second instrument as a backup anyway.)

  -- Don

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