Roll yer own!

[Dave Bryce]

I'm sure that we all have our own ideas of what directions, technologies and products that we'd like to see the musical instrument manufacturing industry pursuing - here's your chance to share.

 

Design your own ideal instrument from existing features and technologies; or, improve them if you wish. 512 voices of polyphony? 24-bit samples? 10 onboard fx processors?

 

Daydream about new features or approaches that you'd like to see; or, resurrect stuff that you miss from way old machines....even if it's little stuff like wood end panels...

 

The sky's the limit. Get creative. Have fun.

 

dB

[joegerardi]

Ok, I'll start this off.

 

From the ground up it should be offered in 3 versions: a rack module, an 88-key piano-style keybed, and a 76-key organ-style keybed, BUT the friggin' organ-style keybed should be really decent. Far too many synths today do NOT have decent organ-style keybeds.

 

Let's go with 128 voices, and then let's put together the pieces from existing technology: Let's use Kurzweil's VAST technology for algorithms to get the sounds, let's throw in the resonating Digital Filter's from the Vintage Keys (best sounding DF's I ever head, and you could selectively use them as 2-pole or 4-pole.) 6-stage EGs, MIDI mapping built in, with 3 MIDI outs that are programmable to the sound and the channel to a specific out, program mapping, 32 meg of sample ROM, 128 programs, 128 combinations, and support for other manufacturer's sample formats. For the old-fashioned synth waveforms, programmed drift for more realism.

 

Now for effects: The effects sould be multi-stage, but user designable. By that, I mean that the user should decide where each effect falls in the chain. For example: On many oldersynths, I remember distortion following the rotary effect for organ programs. WAY WRONG! The signal chain is very important to create the proper sound. Sometimes we want the reverb AFTER the delay, sometimes BEFORE, and we should be able to do this selectively. But we can scrimp here. Let's organize the effect algorithms to the samples. For example: How many times would one put distortion on a stereo piano? Seldom, I'd imagine. Then we remove this from the piano effect algorithm, opening up perhaps more sweeter reverbs. Similarly, organ seldom uses fuzz, because of distortion, so we remove this from that algorithm, offering more "organ-specific" effects. If someone did then need these omitted effects, well there's always outboard gear.

 

Lastly, I'd make the UI so that it was on a front panel, a la the Kurzweil Midiboard, so that stacking instruments was not a problem. I hate the way we keyboardists are reduced to using these really ugly stands to get our rig on a stage. The case would be strong enough to support other instruments, and I have to say that I do really miss the days of wood on synths.

 

Oh, yeah. The price. Let's keep it under 2 grand street price.

 

(I've got a hope don't I?)

 

This message has been edited by joegerardi on 02-19-2001 at 11:41 AM

[BillW]

Ah, but how 'bout the user interface. Personally, I could get used to some sort of device you wear on your head, possibly similar to a headset microphone that also includes non-invasive pickups and converters that interpret brain waves and convert them to MIDI data. (No laughing in the back row please). This info can then be remapped to the desired MIDI channels as needed. Voice recognition capability for commands and even modulation would be handy, too. I know, I've been watching way too much Star Trek, but this is a fantasy, right?

[Dave Bryce]

Originally posted by bwilcox@hcarchitects.com:

I know, I've been watching way too much Star Trek, but this is a fantasy, right?

 

If memory serves, it isn't a fantasy at all.

 

I believe that there is (or was) a biofeedback sort of device that attached to the head and generated sound ...it was called something like the Black Box, if I remember correctly.

 

Anyone else know what I'm talking about here?

 

dB

[joegerardi]

Dave wrote:

Anyone else know what I'm talking about here?

 

Dave, you're causing some synapses to fire, but I can't really be sure. Wasn't it distributed by PG Music, the same company the distributes Band-in-a-Box?

[marino]

Back to the topic...

In a real world, immediate situation I would follow joegerardi's steps: Something like VAST plus E-mu filters (let's make it the filters on the Ultra Proteus, I think they're the most complete version), plus FM (both analog-style and "operator"-style), plus some kind of physical modeling and, of course, sampling would keep me busy for quite a while.

The point is, I already have these things, on separate machines.

 

I don't care much about polyphony, 24-bit or onboard effects (I got good outboard, thank you).

 

BUT yes, there's something else I would like to have. Something so important to me, in fact, that I'm going to start another thread about it soon. (I'm keeping postponing it...)

 

In the meanwhile, I'd like to talk about controllers. Or better, THE controller I'd like to have. And I can assure you that after 25 years of playing music live, I'm pretty confident about my needs...

 

76 keys, fully weighted. The S-80 style of weighting would be perfect.

Wheels above the keys, to keep it small and light.

*Display* for programming and showing program names.

A few programmable sliders, buttons, knobs - with dedicated display to show what they do in each patch. The display should be programmable.

16 zones. Programmable velocity and aftertouch curves. POLY AFTERTOUCH.

3 MIDI outs will be enough, and 1 or 2 MIDI ins with merge. Plus of course, a few footswitch and sweep pedal inputs.

Input for breath controller.

Maybe also an onboard arpeggiator, and even a MIDI file player!

And now the big one: Not more than 12 kg. (28 lbs.) The Yamaha P80 weights 16 kg. with its 88 keys, so it should be possible! I would even stand an external power supply (something I usually don't have any tolerance for) if necessary to reduce weight.

 

Here it is.. my 1 cent

 

marino

[Tusker]

Nord modular with sampling .... or

 

Reaktor as a hardware sampler/synth.

 

Cheers,

 

Jerry

[Jim Aikin]

Most of what most of us would wish for is available on the market today -- it just isn't all available on one instrument. So, how much would you pay to have it all in one box? And would there be a large enough market for that (very expensive) box to pay for the R&D? I doubt it. Would you even want to carry it to your gig?

 

One of the things I'd love to see that NO manufacturer currently offers is standardized plug-in left-hand controller modules. Want a joystick? We'll sell the board to you with an empty bay in the left endblock, and you can plug in a joystick. Want Moog-style wheels? No problem. A ribbon? An X/Y pad? A five-channel CV-to-MIDI converter? A Clavia pitch stick?

 

See, if the spec existed, small manufacturers could build any of these modules and you could plug them into your board. The spec doesn't exist. So if you buy a Roland board, you get a Roland paddle, whether you like it or not. Same with Korg, Yamaha, and all the other manufacturers.

 

--Jim Aikin

[joegerardi]

Jim Aiken wrote:

One of the things I'd love to see that NO manufacturer currently offers is standardized plug-in left-hand controller modules. Want a joystick? We'll sell the board to you with an empty bay in the left endblock, and you can plug in a joystick. Want Moog-style wheels? No problem. A ribbon? An X/Y pad? A five-channel CV-to-MIDI converter? A Clavia pitch stick?

 

Jim:

KineticSound's Prism was designed just like that. You got what you wanted and stuck it in the bay. In fact, you could have one of each: There were 3 bays, and you could have any or all of wheels, joystick, or sliders.

 

This message has been edited by joegerardi on 02-20-2001 at 09:16 PM

[wormhole]

I know this was suggested awhile back but how about a hardware standard so we can customize our systems. Seems like it wouldn't be a big deal to have a standard plug and voltage level for peripherals like joysticks, ribbon controllers, and even for keybeds. How about VGA ports on workstations?

 

Most of all, how about a charity fund for pie in the sky drooling fools suffering from a debilitating synthesizer fetish?

[wormhole]

I know this was suggested awhile back but how about a hardware standard so we can customize our systems. Seems like it wouldn't be a big deal to have a standard plug and voltage level for peripherals like joysticks, ribbon controllers, and even for keybeds. How about VGA ports on workstations?

 

Most of all, how about a charity fund for pie in the sky drooling fools suffering from a debilitating synthesizer fetish?

[chong]

Hi

I have been dreaming of a "centralised super synthesiser company". All you need is a controller. Where ever you go, just plug your controller into a "telephone" socket or via your future mobile phone and play. The "company" will process the data put out by your controller and the sound and the synth of your choice will be instantly transmitted back to you. You can use a computor screen instead of the tiny LCD. You will be provided with an area in the "company" to create and store your own patches and samples. The whole thing will be similar to the way what the internet service provider is providing to the internet users. My day job is in telecommunication and with advancement in switching and transmission technology, this dream is very viable. What do you think?

CP