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Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

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Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#61

Post by vegadw »

solomonb wrote: post #48
pdntspa wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is an unsolvable disconnect between what the performer's actions and their audience Is that really true though? If I watch a cellist play I can pretty clearly see all the things they are doing and it will correlate neatly to the timbre of the sound. Secondly I think it's important to note the tube amp and the guitar are seperable, and I don't think that their connection is particularly magical. I can reamp a…

I'm talking about electronic instruments how they are deficient in expressiveness compared to your cello example. > Secondly I think it's important to note the tube amp and the guitar are seperable, and I don't think that their connection is particularly magical. I can reamp a sound from my synthesizer (or maybe a keytar?) into a guitar chain, and if I manipulate the mic and other controls in the same way I might man…

So... use a reamp box to make it hiZ again?

I'm a guitarist, but there's nothing particularly magical about a high impedance signal, other than they tend to lead to noise and make really obnoxious things matter, like how low capacitance your cable is. Also, a TON of modern guitars are low(ish) impedance out because they use active pickups.

The pedals and system being dependent on the high impedance was always a bug, not a feature, and make the setup incredibly dependent on variables that really wouldn't be that hard to just buffer then recreate deterministically. Like, if your pedal should react to that impedance just buffer the front, put a big inductor (or a transformer using only half, or, - and I've actually seen this - just a whole guitar pickup) in the pedal. Then you're not dependent on the pickups of the guitar or the capacitance of cable or anything else and you can make sure the effect sounds good regardless of pickup type.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#62

Post by vegadw »

solomonb wrote: post #52
asdfman123 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could argue that it's one of the most versatile instruments, sure. "Greatest" is completely subjective. But is it one of the most versatile instruments? You can do signal transforms with any kind of audio input, although it's done more with the electric guitar than any other instruments. I would say it in practice , it has the most versatile sonic profile .

A modular synth is more versatile in terms of enumerated signal transformations. Its the ability to be expressive with those signal transformations that makes the guitar+tube amp what it is.

I'm a guitarist, but also have a modular.

With the right interface, I think the synth can be more expressive. Look at the Haken Continuum or ExpressiveE Osmose - both can be used with something like the Expert Sleepers FH-2 to get MPE data to the modular.

I do see your point, and agree the amount of articulation you can do with guitar is hard to beat, but I do think a synth can win, if the setup is built for it.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#64

Post by soulofmischief »

dajt wrote: post #15
btown wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Art and engineering are both constrained optimization problems - at their core, both involve transforming a loosely defined aesthetic desire into a repeatable methodology! And if we can call ourselves software engineers, where our day-to-day (mostly) involves less calculus and more creative interpretation of loose ideas, in the context of a corpus of historical texts that we literally call "libraries" - are we not ar…

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.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#65

Post by bigiain »

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.

"Muddy Waters invented electricity!" -- Willie Brown, Crossroads (movie), 1986

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHMv0ORn0hg

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#67

Post by [deleted] »

solomonb wrote: post #48
pdntspa wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is an unsolvable disconnect between what the performer's actions and their audience Is that really true though? If I watch a cellist play I can pretty clearly see all the things they are doing and it will correlate neatly to the timbre of the sound. Secondly I think it's important to note the tube amp and the guitar are seperable, and I don't think that their connection is particularly magical. I can reamp a…

I'm talking about electronic instruments how they are deficient in expressiveness compared to your cello example. > Secondly I think it's important to note the tube amp and the guitar are seperable, and I don't think that their connection is particularly magical. I can reamp a sound from my synthesizer (or maybe a keytar?) into a guitar chain, and if I manipulate the mic and other controls in the same way I might man…

[deleted]

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#68

Post by stewarts »

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?

Strikes me as an opposite of the Uncanny Valley.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#69

Post by solomonb »

vegadw wrote: post #61
solomonb wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm talking about electronic instruments how they are deficient in expressiveness compared to your cello example. > Secondly I think it's important to note the tube amp and the guitar are seperable, and I don't think that their connection is particularly magical. I can reamp a sound from my synthesizer (or maybe a keytar?) into a guitar chain, and if I manipulate the mic and other controls in the same way I might man…

So... use a reamp box to make it hiZ again? I'm a guitarist, but there's nothing particularly magical about a high impedance signal, other than they tend to lead to noise and make really obnoxious things matter, like how low capacitance your cable is. Also, a TON of modern guitars are low(ish) impedance out because they use active pickups. The pedals and system being dependent on the high impedance was always a bug,…

> So... use a reamp box to make it hiZ again?

That is going to be something like a transformer to step down your line level signal and some series resistance to match the load to help drive the amp.

An actual coil pickup has reactive impedance that is frequency dependent and will result in a more complex interaction between the devices.

> The pedals and system being dependent on the high impedance was always a bug, not a feature

Sure if you think like an engineer, but everything you are complaining about is what allows someone like Jimi Hendrix to do what he did with a guitar.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#70

Post by vanderZwan »

soulofmischief wrote: post #49
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…

Great recommendations. Throwing Klangphonics in the ring even though they use electronic instruments as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bixtQAq2LzE

Nice addition! First time I heard of them and I'm liking what I'm hearing so far.

And just to clarify: I don't dislike electronic instruments. I just think that on some subconscious level the human brain can detect other humans playing a live instrument. Like there's something "embodied" in the sound that is likely missing from a pure electronic instrument. And I needed that element to "unlock" access to techno.

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