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Analog For The People: Synth Master Tatsuya Takahashi On Engineering Fun

144 points by jcrabtr 9y ago

jedanbik 9y ago
Tatsuya Takahashi understands the importance of accessibility in design. He has lowered the barrier to entry for new instrument buyers that want to get into analog synthesis, and that’s what has made him so successful.
trevyn 9y ago
"I called them up and they asked me to come in for an interview — so I brought this thing I'd made, this sequencer synth thing. I showed it to them and they gave me the job." https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/12/08/tatssynth_custom-4dff28462b287bd25600226339c3c9952995f293-s700-c85.jpg https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/12/08/tatssynth_custom... This is how you get a good engineering job -- show your impressive thing to people as high up as possible (and everyone else). You'll still have to do a whiteboard interview, but it'll be mostly a formality.
- dominotw 9y ago
  > show your impressive thing to people as high up as possible How do you even get access to ' people as high up', most programming jobs make you go though "Standardized screening" programming puzzles before they even look at your github, if at all. Many high profile sfo tech companies straight up told me that github is merely a formality in the application and that they don't have time to look at it. Many interviewers get you resume like 5 minutes before the interview and start asking you standard interview questions.
  - jakobegger 9y ago
    I think the takeaway is that he showed them a complete product, rather than a pile of schematics. Looking through Github accounts is extremely tedious and boring. On most profiles I’ve seen it‘s hard to tell what all the repos are about, and what the important stuff is. So if you‘ve made something awesome, you need to market it a bit. Don‘t point people to your Github account. Point them to the project website, where they see a screenshot or a demo video, a short, easy to grasp description of your thing, and some impressive stats of your choice that convinces everyone that this project is brilliant. And make sure the project page also prominently credits you as the author!
    - Gravityloss 9y ago
      There could be a product in there - verified contributions of actual people?
      - tomcam 9y ago
        Yes. And I shall call it “my GitHub repo!”
  - indigochill 9y ago
    Networking. Work with and impress people who know people, then ask for an introduction if need be. My experience has been that "volunteering" (working for free, if you prefer) has helped me make connections I wouldn't otherwise have the skills/experience/connections to get through conventional means. Granted, I've actively avoided California, so YMMV.
  - anigbrowl 9y ago
    Music equipment corporations are pretty small on the whole, and Korg in particular was originally formed by engineering refugees from a larger gear company, so their culture is a bit more open.
  - lsc 9y ago
    People complain about the coding tests at interviews. I don't think it's as big of a deal as people say. Treat it like a social skill or any of the myriad other unrelated things you are evaluated for at an interview and spend some time practicing. I think for a reasonable programmer, yes, you are probably going to have to practice your whiteboard interview.[1] But no, it's not that hard, and it's pretty standardized, so you don't have to practice differently at each company you interview. I personally think that practicing for the programming test is usually way easier than the social test... and I think the programming test is less biased than the social test. on the other side of the fence, I think it's a good failsafe. Yes, it will fail many qualified people who don't practice, but it will also fail a lot of people who talk a good game but can't code their way out of a wet paper bag. Overall, I think it's a great counterbalance to how overvalued confidence is at most interviews. [1]I personally think that you should use one of the screen share programs designed for this; I like https://codepad.remoteinterview.io/ https://codepad.remoteinterview.io/ but anything that reduces the amount of handwriting required is going to vastly reduce your false negative ratio without impacting your false positive ratio (unless you code using whiteboards at your company)
    - rxhernandez 9y ago
      > I think it's a good failsafe. Yes, it will fail many qualified people who don't practice, but it will also fail a lot of people who talk a good game but can't code their way out of a wet paper bag. I don't. I do R&D for a living and have next to no time to relearn those types of undergrad programming techniques because it doesn't apply to the work I do at all. Ask me to create a model for a system, implement a classifier that hits 90% in a way that no one has ever done before and publish a paper on it, I can do that. Ask me about a breadth first search on some tree and I'll look at you blankly. It seems a bit ridiculous that some of my cookie-cutter engineering colleagues(some that relied on me to help them with homework) can make it into places like Google but I can't make it past the 3rd or 4th interview. I can also assure you that none of my colleagues where I work could make it past that same stage of interviews despite having a PhD and despite them being great researchers.
      - lsc 9y ago
- pinewurst 9y ago
  I remember getting a Korg interview in SV many years ago when I was really into synthesizers and owned quite a collection. The interview was a massive disappointment as it was all about passing a written C++ (feh) test with no room musical passion or domain knowledge - and I was an expert C programmer at the time too.
indescions_2017 9y ago
Not bad $300 retail. Looks like a great way to get into microtuning and atonal scales for electronic music as well ;) https://www.midi.org/articles/microtuning-and-alternative-intonation-systems https://www.midi.org/articles/microtuning-and-alternative-in...
- dates 9y ago
  i could be wrong but i owned a minilogue and don't think it supports microtuning. only some really fanxy synths do.
  - ericwood 9y ago
    They recently released the Monologue, which supports it.
- alfiedotwtf 9y ago
  If you're interested, you should check out Roland's SE-02 https://www.roland.com/global/products/se-02/ https://www.roland.com/global/products/se-02/ Also, here's a nice video on 3-Oscillator synths: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7RlLZrnugQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7RlLZrnugQ
jcrabtr 9y ago
"[T]he stuff I was making was really weird, because I didn't have real-world, existing examples to work from. I mean, they were around, but I guess I wasn't interested enough. It just seemed beyond what a kid could buy with his pocket money." His good intuition and willingness to disregard tradition seem to be the key to his success. Studying examples of the "right" way to build something might be a useful learning exercise, but it can also be mentally constraining.
urig 9y ago
Any tips or online guides for newbies wishing to pick up electronic music via analog synthesizers? Asking for a friend with no experience and no knowledge of music theory etc ;)
- kindohm 9y ago
  By far the most helpful resources for me have been product reviews and demos. Specifically the Sonicstate Sonic Lab reviews. https://youtu.be/eR1PrKfUvsQ https://youtu.be/eR1PrKfUvsQ Not really a "guide" like you're asking for, but for me these have been the best because they expose a wide array of products and ways of using them.
- schwabacher 9y ago
  I don’t have any recommendations for reading, but do enthusiastically recommend the korg volcas from the article - they are self contained, fun and intuitive to use, and very affordable. They sound good enough that you will continue to use them even if you have more expensive gear, and what you learn about synthesis transfers easily.
- hashmal 9y ago
  the short answer will disappoint you: pick one you like and experiment. the long answer: entire genres were built on not knowing music theory or disregarding it (techno, i'm looking at you). most music producers started by turning knobs without knowing what they were doing. most music producers continue to turns knobs just to see what happens, even after learning stuff about synths. the knowledge will come over time ; if you get "the bug" you will inevitably start reading stuff about all this. of course, there may be exceptions. most "worldwide mainstream" electronic is obeying the usual codes of popular music, so if that's what you want to do, don't listen to me (and maybe produce on a computer).
  - laumars 9y ago
    > the long answer: entire genres were built on not knowing music theory or disregarding it (techno, i'm looking at you). Thats putting things mildly. The entire electronic music scene was born from experimentation. From the Kraftworks and other synth pioneers, to the beginnings of the dance scene with Chicago house and Detroit techno. From sample heavy genres like Jungle and Hard House, to synth heavy genres like trance. Even IDM was born from producers disregarding popular conventions and look how much that has since bled into the mainstream with tracks incorporating glitchy effects into pop songs. But it's not just the domain of electronic music either. Prog Rock existed because uni students wanted to push the boundaries. Then Punk came about because they wanted to redefine what it meant to writing music and play an instrument. So long as music remains an art form, it will be subjected to ignorant hobbyists with a creative flair. And that is what I love most about music; when people say "I have an idea, it might not work but we will have fun trying". But very occasionally, those hobbyists create something so popular they then become trendsetters themselves, like Prodigy, Orbital, Aphex Twin, and the other artists I alluded to above.

144 points by jcrabtr 9y ago

Tatsuya Takahashi understands the importance of accessibility in design. He has lowered the barrier to entry for new instrument buyers that want to get into analog synthesis, and that’s what has made him so successful.

trevyn 9y ago

"I called them up and they asked me to come in for an interview — so I brought this thing I'd made, this sequencer synth thing. I showed it to them and they gave me the job." https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/12/08/tatssynth_custom-4dff28462b287bd25600226339c3c9952995f293-s700-c85.jpg https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/12/08/tatssynth_custom... This is how you get a good engineering job -- show your impressive thing to people as high up as possible (and everyone else). You'll still have to do a whiteboard interview, but it'll be mostly a formality.

dominotw 9y ago
> show your impressive thing to people as high up as possible How do you even get access to ' people as high up', most programming jobs make you go though "Standardized screening" programming puzzles before they even look at your github, if at all. Many high profile sfo tech companies straight up told me that github is merely a formality in the application and that they don't have time to look at it. Many interviewers get you resume like 5 minutes before the interview and start asking you standard interview questions.
- jakobegger 9y ago
  I think the takeaway is that he showed them a complete product, rather than a pile of schematics. Looking through Github accounts is extremely tedious and boring. On most profiles I’ve seen it‘s hard to tell what all the repos are about, and what the important stuff is. So if you‘ve made something awesome, you need to market it a bit. Don‘t point people to your Github account. Point them to the project website, where they see a screenshot or a demo video, a short, easy to grasp description of your thing, and some impressive stats of your choice that convinces everyone that this project is brilliant. And make sure the project page also prominently credits you as the author!
  - Gravityloss 9y ago
    There could be a product in there - verified contributions of actual people?
    - tomcam 9y ago
      Yes. And I shall call it “my GitHub repo!”
- indigochill 9y ago
  Networking. Work with and impress people who know people, then ask for an introduction if need be. My experience has been that "volunteering" (working for free, if you prefer) has helped me make connections I wouldn't otherwise have the skills/experience/connections to get through conventional means. Granted, I've actively avoided California, so YMMV.
- anigbrowl 9y ago
  Music equipment corporations are pretty small on the whole, and Korg in particular was originally formed by engineering refugees from a larger gear company, so their culture is a bit more open.
- lsc 9y ago
  People complain about the coding tests at interviews. I don't think it's as big of a deal as people say. Treat it like a social skill or any of the myriad other unrelated things you are evaluated for at an interview and spend some time practicing. I think for a reasonable programmer, yes, you are probably going to have to practice your whiteboard interview.[1] But no, it's not that hard, and it's pretty standardized, so you don't have to practice differently at each company you interview. I personally think that practicing for the programming test is usually way easier than the social test... and I think the programming test is less biased than the social test. on the other side of the fence, I think it's a good failsafe. Yes, it will fail many qualified people who don't practice, but it will also fail a lot of people who talk a good game but can't code their way out of a wet paper bag. Overall, I think it's a great counterbalance to how overvalued confidence is at most interviews. [1]I personally think that you should use one of the screen share programs designed for this; I like https://codepad.remoteinterview.io/ https://codepad.remoteinterview.io/ but anything that reduces the amount of handwriting required is going to vastly reduce your false negative ratio without impacting your false positive ratio (unless you code using whiteboards at your company)
  - rxhernandez 9y ago
    > I think it's a good failsafe. Yes, it will fail many qualified people who don't practice, but it will also fail a lot of people who talk a good game but can't code their way out of a wet paper bag. I don't. I do R&D for a living and have next to no time to relearn those types of undergrad programming techniques because it doesn't apply to the work I do at all. Ask me to create a model for a system, implement a classifier that hits 90% in a way that no one has ever done before and publish a paper on it, I can do that. Ask me about a breadth first search on some tree and I'll look at you blankly. It seems a bit ridiculous that some of my cookie-cutter engineering colleagues(some that relied on me to help them with homework) can make it into places like Google but I can't make it past the 3rd or 4th interview. I can also assure you that none of my colleagues where I work could make it past that same stage of interviews despite having a PhD and despite them being great researchers.
    - lsc 9y ago
pinewurst 9y ago
I remember getting a Korg interview in SV many years ago when I was really into synthesizers and owned quite a collection. The interview was a massive disappointment as it was all about passing a written C++ (feh) test with no room musical passion or domain knowledge - and I was an expert C programmer at the time too.

indescions_2017 9y ago

Not bad $300 retail. Looks like a great way to get into microtuning and atonal scales for electronic music as well ;) https://www.midi.org/articles/microtuning-and-alternative-intonation-systems https://www.midi.org/articles/microtuning-and-alternative-in...

dates 9y ago
i could be wrong but i owned a minilogue and don't think it supports microtuning. only some really fanxy synths do.
- ericwood 9y ago
  They recently released the Monologue, which supports it.
alfiedotwtf 9y ago
If you're interested, you should check out Roland's SE-02 https://www.roland.com/global/products/se-02/ https://www.roland.com/global/products/se-02/ Also, here's a nice video on 3-Oscillator synths: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7RlLZrnugQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7RlLZrnugQ

jcrabtr 9y ago

"[T]he stuff I was making was really weird, because I didn't have real-world, existing examples to work from. I mean, they were around, but I guess I wasn't interested enough. It just seemed beyond what a kid could buy with his pocket money." His good intuition and willingness to disregard tradition seem to be the key to his success. Studying examples of the "right" way to build something might be a useful learning exercise, but it can also be mentally constraining.

urig 9y ago

Any tips or online guides for newbies wishing to pick up electronic music via analog synthesizers? Asking for a friend with no experience and no knowledge of music theory etc ;)

kindohm 9y ago
By far the most helpful resources for me have been product reviews and demos. Specifically the Sonicstate Sonic Lab reviews. https://youtu.be/eR1PrKfUvsQ https://youtu.be/eR1PrKfUvsQ Not really a "guide" like you're asking for, but for me these have been the best because they expose a wide array of products and ways of using them.
schwabacher 9y ago
I don’t have any recommendations for reading, but do enthusiastically recommend the korg volcas from the article - they are self contained, fun and intuitive to use, and very affordable. They sound good enough that you will continue to use them even if you have more expensive gear, and what you learn about synthesis transfers easily.
hashmal 9y ago
the short answer will disappoint you: pick one you like and experiment. the long answer: entire genres were built on not knowing music theory or disregarding it (techno, i'm looking at you). most music producers started by turning knobs without knowing what they were doing. most music producers continue to turns knobs just to see what happens, even after learning stuff about synths. the knowledge will come over time ; if you get "the bug" you will inevitably start reading stuff about all this. of course, there may be exceptions. most "worldwide mainstream" electronic is obeying the usual codes of popular music, so if that's what you want to do, don't listen to me (and maybe produce on a computer).
- laumars 9y ago
  > the long answer: entire genres were built on not knowing music theory or disregarding it (techno, i'm looking at you). Thats putting things mildly. The entire electronic music scene was born from experimentation. From the Kraftworks and other synth pioneers, to the beginnings of the dance scene with Chicago house and Detroit techno. From sample heavy genres like Jungle and Hard House, to synth heavy genres like trance. Even IDM was born from producers disregarding popular conventions and look how much that has since bled into the mainstream with tracks incorporating glitchy effects into pop songs. But it's not just the domain of electronic music either. Prog Rock existed because uni students wanted to push the boundaries. Then Punk came about because they wanted to redefine what it meant to writing music and play an instrument. So long as music remains an art form, it will be subjected to ignorant hobbyists with a creative flair. And that is what I love most about music; when people say "I have an idea, it might not work but we will have fun trying". But very occasionally, those hobbyists create something so popular they then become trendsetters themselves, like Prodigy, Orbital, Aphex Twin, and the other artists I alluded to above.