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Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

spectrum.ieee.org

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Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#131

Post by soupfordummies »

tclancy wrote: post #32
RyanOD wrote: post #19

I've often marveled at the success many guitar players had with experimental electronics - Hendrix, EVH, Les Paul, Brian May, Jack White, and Tom Scholz (special case, of course) are just a few examples.

The podcast "History of Rock in 500 Songs" (full disclosure: I am a devout, slavering fan) provides these on the regular. I was actually smiling when I heard a fairly new song that attempts a really flat, fuzzed out sound because it made me think, "Buddy Holly invented that by accident with a broken speaker". One of the episodes on The Who goes into the Marshall behind Marshall amps in similar detail. I suppose if I…

I’ve heard a few people strongly recommend that pod. I’ll check it out

What’s the newer song you mention with the flat fuzz?

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#133

Post by musictubes »

9dev wrote: post #53
Slow_Hand wrote: post #34

Nice article for engineers to understand something that most guitar players will intuitively know. One of the great things about a hi-gain setup like Hendrix's is how the feedback loop will inject an element of controlled chaos into the sound. It allows for emergent fluctuations in timbre that Hendrix can wrangle, but never fully control. It's the squealing, chaotic element in something like his 'Star Spangled Banner…

Star Spangled Banner was incredible. The way you can hear the machine guns, choppers, sirens, screaming in agony… that was a masterpiece.

If you listen to the Woodstock soundtrack it is clear that Hendrix was on a completely different musical level than anyone else in that scene. Ravi Shankar was probably the only person there above him from a chops perspective and possibly in the expressivity department as well. But when it came to sheer inventiveness no one was close to Hendrix. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to see and hear him. It must have felt like an alien was performing.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#134

Post by vanderZwan »

raddan wrote: post #111
vanderZwan wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reverse example of this is musicians who play techno with analog instruments, like Pipe Guy, Basstong, and Meute[0][1][2]. There are always some people who get extremely defensive whenever I say that techno didn't click for me until I heard this kind of "techlow" music. Specifically about the part where I think that the reason is also a human expression problem, because of limitations imposed by the electronic me…

> There are always some people who get extremely defensive whenever I say that techno didn't click for me until I heard this kind of "techlow" music. Specifically about the part where I think that the reason is also a human expression problem, because of limitations imposed by the electronic media used. I guess the part people don't like hearing is the implication techno is somehow not expressive. I'm not sure that i…

> I guess the part people don't like hearing is the implication techno is somehow not expressive.

I think of it more like a painter's palette: every instrument and tool involved in creating music has a different set of colors to choose from, and can also filter some "colors" out if we think of things like audio processing filters.

The tools and techniques typically used to produce techno filter out "colors" that feel essential to me to connect with a song, and yeah, that "controlled" aspect of it is probably a large part of that. That doesn't mean it's not expressive, it's just expressive in a way that I struggle to connect with.

EDIT: funny enough I actually have protanomaly, so my choice of analogy is slightly ironic there. Some visual art and design out there objectively looks terrible from my subjective experience, since the colors look completely off. But that doesn't mean I'm saying the art is objectively bad.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#135

Post by dwd »

kazinator wrote: post #106

> Electric guitars attack hard, decay fast, and don’t sustain like bowed strings or organs. Since the 1980s, we have had the "Sustainiac": an active circuit installed in the electric guitar along with a "reverse pickup" which is energized in order to excite vibration in the strings. With this device, at the flip of a switch, you get indefinite sustain on any note on the neck, at any volume, distortion or not --- even…

Ed O'Brien from Radiohead worked with Fender to develop a Strat with a Fernandes Sustainer.

https://au.fender.com/products/fender-eob-sustainer-stratoca...

You might enjoy this video. He really goes deep into using the guitar to create textures and emotions. He talks about the Edge (U2) and his Infinite Guitar and that he actually calling Michael Brook to see if he could get one. Eventually Fender did a custom build on his Clapton Strat which became the Fender EOB Sustainer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK4Fmrlqz3I

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#136

Post by exodust »

consumer451 wrote: post #51
purplekohav wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi! I work at IEEE Spectrum and there's no way an LLM wrote this. We have a pretty strict Generative AI use policy (bottom of this page https://spectrum.ieee.org/about ). I'm guessing this is from writers using actual writing techniques that Gen AI stole from...

I just wanted to relate a story. I was speaking with my 14 year old nephew via messaging last month. It was about a deep topic, synthetic consciousness. He wrote such an intelligent reply that I asked him: hey, was this from an LLM? He was insulted. I did research with his parents and found out that 90% no, he's just a very smart kid. Is there a name for this this mode of confusion yet?

He was insulted on two counts. Firstly doubting his intelligence. Secondly the insinuation of deception: "You aren't that smart, surely you cheated."

The insulting didn't end there. You asked his parents! Even then you only landed at 90%, yet another insult because why can't he earn 100%? Ethical dilemmas on all sides!

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#138

Post by spiralcoaster »

soulofmischief wrote: post #64
dajt wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should not call ourselves engineers - it's a massive insult to actual professional engineers.

Speak for yourself, some of us value and incorporate both science and methodology into our craft, and adhere to a system of ethics.

That's great, but it doesn't make you or any of us engineers.

Just because I drive my car with immense focus, make precision shifts, and hit the apex of all of my turns when getting onto and off of the freeway doesn't make me a race car driver.

Engineers don't just feel good vibes about science and mix it into their work. It is the core of their work.

Simply having a methodology absolutely is not sufficient for being an engineer.

And great, you have an arbitrary system of ethics, like everyone does I imagine. But no one holds you to these ethics.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#139

Post by soulofmischief »

spiralcoaster wrote: post #138
soulofmischief wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speak for yourself, some of us value and incorporate both science and methodology into our craft, and adhere to a system of ethics.

That's great, but it doesn't make you or any of us engineers. Just because I drive my car with immense focus, make precision shifts, and hit the apex of all of my turns when getting onto and off of the freeway doesn't make me a race car driver. Engineers don't just feel good vibes about science and mix it into their work. It is the core of their work. Simply having a methodology absolutely is not sufficient for being…

Care to share your operational definition of the word "engineer"?

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#140

Post by exodust »

buredoranna wrote: post #88

If you can track it down, Hendrix's home recordings are a gem. https://jimihendrixrecordguide.com/home-recordings/ (edit: syntax)

I like how the phone rings in the background on Gypsy Eyes. Wonder who called?

Voodoo Chile lyrics: "on the night I was born the moon turned fire red".

Poetic license? Stellarium reveals on the early evening of November 27, 1942 in Seattle, the moon was low on the horizon - just 25 degrees altitude at 5:30pm, directly East. The sun set at 5pm. While not a full moon it was 85%, so I'm calling it! The moon may have glowed a warm orange-red on the night (of the day) Hendrix was born.

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