Moog sells its business to InMusic

Likewise, knowledge of effective hijacking prevention techniques could be relevant in defensive program and system organization.

I don't think his point is very good because array overruns in a heap can be exploitable. Lisps (and other kinds of run-times) don't necessarily separate code from data in their heaps.

InMusic where music software goes to die. Has MixMeister been updated yet?

Huh, TIL. Thanks for clarifying!

I think the answer is no. They may be more prevalent and widely adopted, but there's essentially no point in owning a hardware synth. It's been heading this way for a while, but the 5 years or so has really seen software modelling synths become almost free from drawbacks compared to soft synths.

I say this as someone that loathes soft synths, and loves playing with the hard synths. I absolutely despise the mouse interface outside of certain specific contexts, even outside of music.

There are a couple reasons. First, the fact is that you can create any sound from a hard synth on a soft synth given enough time. The sound quality will be better, or at least the same as a hard synth. Software can expand up until you run out of resources, so there's no limit on ENV, LFO... entire instances of the synth. There's probably use cases for getting two identical synths with different settings. Of course you can sample and layer, but even that is easier in DAW, either way.

So why even bother with the hardware synths in 2023? If you have a large amount of money, for a hobbyist, go ahead and get in the game. Be prepared to pay $1,000-20,000 or more, vs. $300-2000 for a good software setup.

It does feels more natural and like playing an instrument, and more fun to explore than a GUI. I can also move two knobs at once among a number of tricks in hard synths. This is a pain with software, even if you create macros, because you might not always want the same proportional adjustment in settings... ie. you can simultaneously turn on knob up and down (I imagine this is "possible" with DAW, but not natural and seamless).

There's another reason to use hardware. When you want a very specific sound, that you just know you can get easily from a specific synth. You could probably make a similar one with a generic synth, but don't want to. On the other hand, this is only necessary if a high quality plugin doesn't exist for your synth, which is unlikely unless it's an obscure one.

So, yes we're seeing a really interesting renaissance of hardware synths. This will continue for some time, and may not truly "end". However, right now they can't compete with hardware for easy control.

I can't help but think the control issue can be figured out, although it requires cooperation of a ton of different businesses, to support some number of controllers. Maybe this is truly impossible, but it seems do-able to have an array of knobs, and sliders... it's just that all the plugin companies would have to play around. I think NI has been doing this.

I think it's possible that we see more merging of DAW, controller, and plug-in. This is already occurring to a limited extent. DAWless machines are being loaded with single board computers that can run plug-ins. Your synth will also be a PC.

Anyway, what a rant, I'm sure no one will ever see this. Perhaps you can get by with just the learn button, but this has been a nightmare to me.

It's kind of unfortunate that eurorack cases and power supplies tend to be so expensive. My approach is to use cheap Meanwell supplies (a pair of RS-35-12s wired in bipolar configuration rather than the more common RT-65b) and laser cut more racks out of birch ply when I need more space, but if I was paying full retail price for rack space I would probably be using much smaller modules, and fewer of them.

(This is my most recent design: http://jsnow.bootlegether.net/84hp-rack-2row-slantback.svg -- the parts are made by running two jobs on the same file, always cutting red and alternating between cutting purple and blue. Turns out 3mm screws work fine in plywood if you can get the hole size just right.)