[sdiy] Radio Shack catalogs

[Colin f]

> And, no, the Jellinghaus programmer didn't help much.

The Jellinghaus programmer had one major flaw.
You couldn't see what the current value of each knob was.
If they'd had encoders and cheap LCDs in those days, it may have been a
different story.
 
> And in some cases there's just no way you could go back to 
> twiddling knobs. After all, an SY77 voice can have up to 
> 4096(!) parameters (4AFM) There's no way you could get this 
> *easily* with knobs.

A lot of those parameters are duplicated across multiple operators.
I think a single set of encoders for each operator parameter, with a
dedicated key to select each operator, and a large LCD to show all the
values would get you quite far.
I have a rough design for a harware 6-op FM programmer waiting for a rainy
month sometime.
 
> I think the major problem here is that bean-counters think 
> that sampling is a good replacement for real instruments. 
> Which isn't true. A piano is a piano is a piano -- no matter 
> how many Gigabytes of sample storage you throw at it.

Remember, for bean counters, good == cheap.
So even the cheapest crappy Casio is a 'good' replacement for a piano, if
you only compare the price.

> Which, in term, also means that a synthesizer is an 
> instrument of its own with its very own distinct sound -- and 
> reducing it to a playback device of pre-recorded sounds just 
> takes away the fun.

Amen.

Cheers,
Colin f