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Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

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Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#51

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

usrusr wrote: post #34
ACCount37 wrote: post #23

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…

> physical synths all but disappeared

Disappeared from where? In terms of units moved I'm guessing there's an order of magnitude more sold today than in the 90's or 80's.

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#52

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

barrenko wrote: post #16

When the word synthesizer is used, it's not meant to be a piano like thing or? For me the word is analogous to "piano keyboard" but it seems to not be so...

The OG synthesizer concept is the combination of oscillator + frequency filter + amplifier.

As a musical instrument it is closest in function and mode of operation to the singing human voice and nothing at all like a piano.

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#53

Post by jscheel »

I recently got a Daisy Pod (https://daisy.audio/product/Daisy-Pod/). It supports a few different runtimes, including a max/msp runtime and a Pure Data wrapper called Plug Data. It's a pretty neat little device, even though the documentation could use some work.

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#56

Post by rjh29 »

ofalkaed wrote: post #26
rjh29 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some synths like Blofeld, you're paying $10-20 for something that used to sell in a box for $300. And it's the exact same synth (100% digital) often with a better UI. The iPad is a great choice for music - you get the variety of hardware synths with none of the annoying setup (power, midi, audio routing), at a cheaper price, but it still feels more immersive than sitting at a desktop PC and a daw.

But they are not the same, if you are a musician going to bars and practice spaces and the like that $300 Blofeld will handle the abuse and accidents much better than a laptop or tablet. No matter what you do and how careful you are, cords get snagged and stepped on, stuff gets knocked over, things get spilled etc etc etc. My Blofeld has taken far more abuse than any laptop or tablet will handle and still going stron…

Agreed. My comment doesn't apply to the 0.005% of synth owners who actually perform live :P

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#57

Post by zeknife »

usrusr wrote: post #34
ACCount37 wrote: post #23

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…

I assume you're not very interested in the subject if you think synthesizers aren't real instruments

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#59

Post by packetlost »

m_kos wrote: post #11
4k93n2 wrote: post #8

theres also things like the M8 tracker from Dirtywave which uses a teensy board and sounds really good for a chip of that size

The m8 and the recently, heavily promoted Woovebox 2 are the Emacs/Vim of grooveboxes. They hide a vast amount of functionality behind what initially seems like an impenetrable jungle of button presses and shortcuts; a system that ultimately proves* to be highly ergonomic. *Based on what I read. Sadly, I don't own these devices.

I own an M8 (and also, happen to be a vim user lol) and it's sorta true, but it feels a lot more natural if you're familiar with the LSDJ-style workflow. LSDJ is a DAW built for the GameBoy so was working with very constrained hardware. Both are derived from sequencer workflows, but I'm not quite sure which or where those originated.

That being said, the M8 workflow isn't all that bad, but it's definitely less visual than most other DAWs.

Re: Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths

#60

Post by bzzzt »

m_kos wrote: post #14
lolive wrote: post #3

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.]

For synth heads, there is also a well-regarded Syntorial app/course. (BTW, has anyone tried their Building Blocks? There are very few online reviews.)

Building Blocks was a pack-in when I bought Syntorial in last years sale. It's technically different (web-based instead of a standalone app like Syntorial), and tries to do with music theory as a whole what Syntorial does with synthesis. Since it goes through the same 'theory, practice and create' cycle every time (eg. once for every chord type) I found it getting a bit tedious after a while.
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