Wow, I've been off the group 2 weeks and now people are screaming at Yamaha
for parameter documentation?
Bruce, being a musician as well as an engineer has slammed the point down.
This is not Rolls Royce were dealing with here, ladies and gentlemen. This
is Yamaha, a company who produces about 3 synths a year and moves on. (And,
by the way, how many of those synths are "hits" - big money makers that
become standards (that is, selling for more than 2 years?))
Recently someone asked me what equipment I was using because he knew Gadget
Labs had gone out of business. I suppose he was trying to put me down by
pointing out i was using "obsolete" gear. I proceeded to list 4 synths, a
sampler, 3 guitar synths and other stuff that was no longer supported by the
manufacturer.
Question: Is a Stradivarius old? Is it therefore obsolete? Is it supported
by the original manufacturer?
The damn thing about synths is that they are computers, basically, and
become "obsolete" on a regular basis. "Musical Instruments", however, are
eternal tools in the hands of the artists.
Conclusion: If the computer (synth) you're using to make music has become
obsolete, you'll just have to go buy another one. If you are an artist, you
may be able to overcome the limitations of the instrument you are using.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Wahler" <bruce@...>
To: <AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2001 10:51 PM
Subject: Re: SV: [AN1x-list] Before everyone goes into battle ...
> Jan,
>
> The questions being asked in this forum -- the frequency of the LFO, MIDI
> SysEx information needed to convert patches between platforms -- are not
> typical end-user questions. In fact, I know many musicians who would love
> to own an AN1x, but would have no use for this information, feeling that
> approaching the sound in such an analytical way spoils their creative
> process. That's not to say that the questions aren't valid, but it means
> that the requests are uncommon ones, and one cannot take the approach that
> Yamaha is being "negligent" by not providing the information. These
> questions are related to decisions and processes used by the developers,
> which are rarely documented in a format for end users.
>
> Outside of the keyboard -- in particular, synth -- world, such questions
> are very rare. How many musicians are screaming at Fender for not
> publishing the frequency response curves of a Twin Reverb amplifier? Or
at
> Tama, for a lack of mechanical drawings for their cymbal stands? Most of
> them could care less, as long as the sound and features are there. Like
it
> or not, Yamaha is in the business of creating musical instruments, not
> explaining their inner workings in fine detail.
>
> I think the difference is that Access is a small company with a limited
> product line. Under that scenario, the person you are talking to in
> "support" might very well be the product's designer. (I know that was
true
> when I dealt with Voce, Inc. on their V3 Hammond organ clone: the support
> was handled by the founder of the company!) The goal is usually to keep a
> single product line alive as long as possible, through updates and such,
to
> minimize development expense. As companies grow larger and the product
> lines diversify, this method becomes increasingly hard to manage and keep
> profitable, so the teams usually specialize (hardware, software, support,
> etc.). By the time you get to a large company like Yamaha, you find that
> the people who designed the product usually move on to other tasks after
> the product goes into production. This is great, from the view of product
> breadth, not so good from the perspective of individual product
> support. One of the good points about a small company is the continued
> support for older products. There are down sides, too: Voce, Inc. went
> out of business, and while some of their products survived under different
> management, many of their products are "orphans," without support, repair,
> or replacement.
>
> Also recognize that while the AN1x has a strong following among users,
> including this author, it wasn't a "runaway success." If it was, there
> would probably be an AN2x on the market right now, and eBay would be
> swimming in AN1x's. Creating, documenting, and releasing information on
> the internal design of a product takes time and money, and diverts the
same
> from other projects. If the product is out of production, with a small or
> moderate user base, throwing additional resources in its direction is a
> difficult business decision to make.
>
> Just my $.02 ...
>
> Regards,
>
> -BW
>
> --
> Bruce Wahler
> Design Consultant
> Ashby Solutions"
> www.ashbysolutions.com
> CloneWheel Support Group moderator
> 978.386.7389 voice
> 978.776.0096 fax
> bruce@...
>
> At 03:43 a 03/03/2001 +0100, you wrote:
> >Hello
> >
> > I agree with you Bruce, write to Yamaha if you have a complaint of
you
> >own, not to have 400 people write Yamaha because for the "fun" of it, or
to
> >complain about a thing they are not "expected" to make available.
> >
> > You could always discuss if f.ex. an LFO numeric-value-to-Hz table,
> >should be made available or not. But you have to agree that if Yamaha, by
> >themselves made these things available to their customers, they would
have a
> >wide range of satisfied customers. Take Access f.ex. they continue to
make
> >new sound banks, editors and system updates available for download for
their
> >Virus. I guarantee you that they have a huge number of satisfied
customers.
> >I own a Kurzweil K2000, and I can still get support on that machine, this
is
> >not possible at Yamaha. If your synth is a couple of years old, they
hardly
> >know what you are talking about.
> >
> > I think all this also have to do with the fact that, when getting
in
> >touch with Yamaha, with a problem, you often end up feeling, they have no
> >clue to what you are talking about. I mean, they should know, they
developed
> >the machine.
> >
> >Jan
> >
> > > I've read the file "LFO to Hz NOW!!!" and at the risk of sounding
> > > like a wet blanket, I'm not sure that sending 400 copies of the
> > > letter to Yamaha is going to accomplish the desired result. As an
> > > engineer who has both developed and supported consumer products, as
> > > well as a musician who has been using synths since the early 70's,let
> > > me provide a different perspective...
> > >
> > > While an LFO numeric-value-to-Hz table is certainly a useful item, it
> > > is not in the category of something that a synthesizer manufacturer
> > > is "expected" to provide.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> >
> > > Bruce Wahler
> > > Design Consultant
> > > Ashby Solutions"
> > > www.ashbysolutions.com
> > > CloneWheel Support Group moderator
> > > 978.386.7389 voice
> > > 978.776.0096 fax
> > > bruce@...
> >
> >
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