Cattle

[Jim Inman]

It seems that musicians are being herded like cattle into a field full of cactus. In 1983, the Korg Poly 800 gave us a hay wagon full of nutritious instruments to munch on. It was compact and self-contained. We didn't need sound modules, screens, relays, MIDI cables, USB converters, bank & program changers, DAWS, iPads, apps, forums, and tech help. It was the “real” Plug and Play. I bought one, perched it on top of my full-sized Kawai organ, and turned it on. I didn't need to read the manual. Why can manufacturers not tuck a little sampled-sound module into a nice little keyboard? Moooooooo!!!!

 

[happyrat1]

Weird rant about the "good ole days."

I prefer to focus on the plus side of modern technology.

In the "good ole days" a Poly 800 new cost as much as a decent used car and when it first came out the original PolyMOOG sold for the price of a small house

Nowadays tech has brought the prices down to a point where any kid with a paper route can afford a Behringer Analog Knockoff synth.

Furthermore, all it takes is a 5 minute search on youtube to see what kind of amazing things people are doing with modern synths and sequencers and modules and DAWs.

Is the human race prone to lemming like behaviour? Sure. But modern tech is putting the tools of musical expression into the hands of the great unwashed at breakneck speed and allowing a flow of creative accomplishment hitherto unheard of in mankind's history.

The learning curve may be a bit steeper for the dinosaurs who grew up with roll-your-own devices and tube and transistor technology while the kids today eat it up with a spoon, but that's always been the case since the dawn of history.

What can I say except "suck it up granpa."

Change is here to stay and it is the sole measure of the fact that we live and breathe to fight another day.

Can the kids today tell time on an analog clock, add up correct change in their heads and find a fact in a library of paper books?? Probably not..

But that's evolution in action and either we embrace it or join our prehistoric brethren in the tar pits of extinction

Gary

 

[Rayblewit]

The good thing about the good old days is they are history now.
They are gone and that is a good thing. . .Ray

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Most "digital keyboards" that you buy these days-- as opposed to "analog synths" or "MIDI controllers"-- do in fact have a sampled-sound module inside of them. Some keyboards even have multiple modules or "sound engines"; for instance, the Korg Kronos has nine sound engines inside. Other keyboards might have only one sound engine. These types of sample-based keyboards are often called ROMplers because their built-in sound samples are stored in ROM, but many ROMplers also include RAM for loading new sound samples.

I had a "good old day" once. But most days I just feel old.

 

[CowboyNQ]

 

[Biggles]

Technology moves on and with it and my keyboards I can set them up and achieve very easily the sound of a full out of tune/time orchestra.

 

[happyrat1]

On behalf of the Borg Collective I would like to say "Moooo!"

Gary