Hello!
to add a little more to Ed's mail, ask you one question: is the music or the technology used to produce it the most important?
You know (for sure!!) that the technology of most of the instruments is very old, sometimes as old as mankind. Archeologists have found a flute∗ (ca 20 000 years old..) in the Isturitz cave somewhere between France and Spain (i don't remember exactly where it is). Most of today's instruments, except the piano, the saxophones and of course all electronic instruments, were known and used by J.S. Bach. Of course some were a bit upgraded since the XVII century, but strings, woodwinds, percussions... are basically the same.
Aside to these considerations you surely know the "vintage fashion" (madness?) that has invaded the little world of guitar or keyboards players; or the "holy grail" of "historical instruments" for some classical musicians, wishing to play "exactly as the composer" with accurate replicas of centuries old violins or organs?
On another hand electronics and programmation can be very exciting in themselves. So you have to decide : sound, or synthesis power, tenths of voices of polyphony and "user friendly" interface?
OK, the AN1x is not some vintage Moog, but it is more "user friendly", more reliable, less expensive. OK today's synths can be more powerful in terms of synthesis and polyphony. But AN1x is at least worth trying.
Cheers
J.F.
∗The original being broken but complete a fully functionnal replica was build (not by me of course!) with the same kind of bone; curiously it sounded a bit like an irish tin whistle (!)... made with a large bird's wingbone it was narrow, made in a very hard material and of similar size. But i was at first surprised, thinking it may sound like traditional south american or asian flutes. But they're larger and mostly made with bamboos.
OK, sorry for the prehistoric flute test !!
> Message du 09/03/08 04:26
> De : "Ed Edwards"
> A : AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com
> Copie à :
> Objet : RE: [AN1x] Re: .mid --to--> .syx .ans .an1 .an2 without AN1x ?
>
> > Juan,
>
> Just to keep it short and sweet:
>
> 1. The AN1x is 11 years old. You need to keep your expectations of its
> technology based upon 1997 criteria instead of 2008.
>
> 2. It seems the best advice for you to just go ahead and _buy_ yourself an
> AN1x to demo it and see if it is what you want rather than try to jump
> through a lot of conversions. If you don't like it, sell it off.
>
> I realize that most younger musicians live in the world of virtual synths...
> I completely understand the desire to have it all small, all in one system
> and all under the control of one operating system. That would be a really
> great world for a composer to live in. I hope I have the money to live
> there someday.
>
> Ed
>
>
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