41–50 of 99 posts
What is the point of making hardware synths on a Pi when you could just make a VST?
Do you think that making a VST is a realistic alternative to the linked instruments in the submission article? I'm guessing they're building hardware because they want something physical, it's pretty self-evident isn't it?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Creating music was never more accessible than it is now. Conversely, the likelihood of making it big just by making some good damn music was never lower than it is now. Makes for a fine hobby though.
How will that hobby fare against gen-AI prompt composing? Synths and samplers and sequencers were once removed from playing real instruments, softsynths and DAW twice removed and now there's genAI, thrice removed and arguably the biggest jump of them all. When softsyths appeared, real instruments weren't affected at all, but physical synths all but disappeared, just carried on by inertia, integration with real instru…
The beauty of a hobby is that you do it for yourself, not for others.
So even in a (terrible) world where 100% of commercial music was AI-composed, someone's hobby of writing music by hand would likely remain unaffected.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> My Blofeld has taken far more abuse than any laptop or tablet will handle and still going strong 15 years later; three laptops and two tablets later. On the other hand, my Blofeld had wonky unresponsive knobs after just a couple of months, not that they were very good at the first place, who thought having knobs with no tactile feeling of grip was good idea?! Personally the biggest win for actual hardware is that i…
The encoder issue was fixed with a firmware update, they switched encoders and did not quite account for how they would work once broken in. I had one of those Blofelds for awhile, bought a second because the deal was too good to pass up and it was pretty much new in box. I like the knobs, love the detentless encoders.
No joke? I was sure it was a hardware issue, but guess I should give that a look, still have my Blofeld around here somewhere, thanks for sharing the "news" :)
> love the detentless encoders
I have no issues with them being detentless, makes a lot of sense. What I do have issues with, is using the smoothest material they could find for the knobs instead of something you can "grip", sometimes it just slipped between my fingers when trying to turn them, unless I make my fingers slightly humid first.
theres also things like the M8 tracker from Dirtywave which uses a teensy board and sounds really good for a chip of that size
I discovered by pure chance the vast ecosystem of iOS synths apps. And I was absolutely blown away. 90+% of the synths of the past century are available for ~5-20€ each. Connect that to a basic KORG MicroKeys Air [extra cheap, but includes Bluetooth]. And you are the next Jean-Michel Jarre. [Note: and the amount of tutorial videos on YouTube is huge.]
GarageBand is free on every iPhone and has a good selection of starter synths, with added DAW capabilities. Bluetooth midi controllers are supported (via bluetooth midi connect App). Using a pi or Arduino to build a midi controller can also be great fun.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes! But, huge but, very huge but, you lose the affordance of the switches and the buttons and the knobs and the patch cables. And that is a terrible loss for fiddling and discovery.
Midi controllers work plenty good with ipads
I mean, it's terrific to have an affordable replica, especially for discovery, I'm not debating the price-point advantage (for both acquisition and maintenance), but this is not an on-par replacement.
In an analog (less so in digital, but still somehow) synth, the controls are the instrument itself: they are in a specific place, react in a specific way, and physically part of the device that outputs the sound, and they stay there: you cannot move one without the other. The instrument has its own character. It's still more abstract than a classical instrument like the violin or the piano where the physical action alone is done and felt in real time, of course. It's significantly more incarnated than software + generic (in a good way) controllers.
The good side of this is that after having software replicas or original synthetisers, there's room to build new exciting embodiments/physical instruments.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
GarageBand is free on every iPhone and has a good selection of starter synths, with added DAW capabilities. Bluetooth midi controllers are supported (via bluetooth midi connect App). Using a pi or Arduino to build a midi controller can also be great fun.
This is the real competition. I'm not a Mac head but the one Mac in my house that will runs MacOS is connected to my Yamaha piano and runs Garageband. Is there any other software that works as simply as this, on any other platform?
What complications do you run into outside of garage band, or you imagine you would run into?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Creating music was never more accessible than it is now. Conversely, the likelihood of making it big just by making some good damn music was never lower than it is now. Makes for a fine hobby though.
How will that hobby fare against gen-AI prompt composing? Synths and samplers and sequencers were once removed from playing real instruments, softsynths and DAW twice removed and now there's genAI, thrice removed and arguably the biggest jump of them all. When softsyths appeared, real instruments weren't affected at all, but physical synths all but disappeared, just carried on by inertia, integration with real instru…
Pretty well, I believe. The joy of playing is largely the act itself, becoming one with your instrument and stepping into a world outside of time. Composition is an adjacent pastime.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Creating music was never more accessible than it is now. Conversely, the likelihood of making it big just by making some good damn music was never lower than it is now. Makes for a fine hobby though.
> Conversely, the likelihood of making it big just by making some good damn music was never lower than it is now. Is that statement backed by any facts? Otherwise it sounds like a soundbite that sounds good, but I'm not sure how true it is. Maybe what "making it big" has changed more compared to how many people make their living making music, which for me would be enough to be considered "making it big".
What is the point of making hardware synths on a Pi when you could just make a VST?
(Only a very tiny minority of people want to record music. Music is mostly a realtime experience.)