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Computers are powerful but boring as hell when it comes to creating music. Lately physical machines have been getting popular again (drum machines, modular syst

Computers are powerful but boring as hell when it comes to creating music. Lately physical machines have been getting popular again (drum machines, modular systems like eurorack, etc). The computer is then used to glue everything together (mixing and mastering) You can do electronic music without a computer and with the immediacy of an acoustic instrument : pick up a Volca or an Analog Rytm and you can go a long way (some machines are quite expensive, but hey, guitars and piano are, too)

Applejinx 9y ago
No reason they have to be. I recently ordered a couple 'Bastl Kastles' to use as oscillators and LFOs (patching them into Xoxboxes and/or each other). Part of the reason some of those old things like DINsync hardware are prized is retro nostalgia, but the other reason is they're using primitive timing systems that have less jitter than the more sophisticated centralized MIDI systems. If you're using DINsync, all your instruments are playing their own sequences and a timing tick is just keeping them aligned. If you're running MIDI then you have to send actual note descriptions over a 31.25 Kbaud serial bus before you can get any sounds out. If you're sequencing from a DAW (not doing realtime processing) and daisy-chaining instruments, forget it ;) I'm currently getting a bank of Delta Labs Effectrons together for delays: old delta-sigma (like SACD, but potato grade) digital delays. It's possible that popularizing this would make Effectrons trendy and pricey, like the EMS VCS3 synth is trendy and pricey… but Bastle Kastle kits are dirt cheap. There's no reason there can't be a delta-sigma digital delay kit with the same functionality as Effectrons and the same or better sound in relevant ways. Tools don't have to be expensive these days.
- hashmal 9y ago
  I only have basic knowledge about these old things, so thanks for the info. While MIDI endured the effects of time quite well, as a developer it is a pain in the ass. Every device (or DAW) handles things a bit differently.

Applejinx 9y ago

No reason they have to be. I recently ordered a couple 'Bastl Kastles' to use as oscillators and LFOs (patching them into Xoxboxes and/or each other). Part of the reason some of those old things like DINsync hardware are prized is retro nostalgia, but the other reason is they're using primitive timing systems that have less jitter than the more sophisticated centralized MIDI systems. If you're using DINsync, all your instruments are playing their own sequences and a timing tick is just keeping them aligned. If you're running MIDI then you have to send actual note descriptions over a 31.25 Kbaud serial bus before you can get any sounds out. If you're sequencing from a DAW (not doing realtime processing) and daisy-chaining instruments, forget it ;) I'm currently getting a bank of Delta Labs Effectrons together for delays: old delta-sigma (like SACD, but potato grade) digital delays. It's possible that popularizing this would make Effectrons trendy and pricey, like the EMS VCS3 synth is trendy and pricey… but Bastle Kastle kits are dirt cheap. There's no reason there can't be a delta-sigma digital delay kit with the same functionality as Effectrons and the same or better sound in relevant ways. Tools don't have to be expensive these days.

hashmal 9y ago
I only have basic knowledge about these old things, so thanks for the info. While MIDI endured the effects of time quite well, as a developer it is a pain in the ass. Every device (or DAW) handles things a bit differently.