Wiardgroup

Hi John,

Your remark on AH that the LEDs "looked like fireflies vomiting" 
was bait. But I took it because I believe strongly about this. Thank 
you for taking MY bait because you feel strongly about it also. I 
admire that you obviously feel strongly about music and the arts.

> 
> Frankly, I thought Grant's post was rather beautiful, and I agree 
> with it--to a point.
> 
> If the aesthetics are as important as we are to believe, then 
why do 
> the jacks spill over onto the Celtic graphics?  Why wasn't more 
care 
> taken to make things centered and balanced?

The jack assembly needed to be offset to make room for the 
ground lugs on one side. If I made the panels wider, they would 
not fit into the 17" rack standard. Any compromise that was 
made, was made for the benefit of the end user and has been 
agonized over more than I can explain.

>  Thus, well-laid-out 
> modules and meaningful names are of paramount 
importance.  They are 
> tools, not doilies.
> 

Thank you for bringing up an important issue. Which is the 
fundamental shift in the perception of art caused by the industrial 
revolution. It is the industrialization of art itself.

Only an industry needs "tools", music and medicine, which are 
both arts, use "instruments".

If you have "tools" and you do not produce results desired by 
someone else, you are considered inept or lazy and the fault is 
yours.

If the "instruments" of surgery fail, the doctor is not blamed IF 
they did their very best in an uncertain and difficult circumstance. 
This is more like creating art and composing music.

Up to the point where music became big business, it was not 
treated as a craft where "results" are expected and predictable. It 
did not use "tools' to produce these predictable results. (and 
certainly not "weapons" for an "arsenal" of War)

It used precious "instruments" for a personal journey of 
discovery and enrichment with an outcome that is unknown. The 
fact that the destination is unknown, is what makes the journey 
exciting.

Music is for your personal enrichment, you are not obligated to 
produce music that anybody else likes, or even recognizes as 
music (consider the original reaction to "The Rite of Spring").

The attempt to produce art which is "popular" has led to all my 
artist failures. The Wiard is not intended to be popular. I can 
accept that you dislike it, but please don't think I'm obligated to 
produce "tools" for a process that I do NOT want to be 
industrialized.

With Respect,

Grant Richter
Wiard Synthesizer