What is happening with music tech?

The Lounge General Discussion
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And so this must be me, but I can’t escape the feeling that, despite all technological advances
(AI anyone?), current music devices don’t seem that advanced, really.

I mean there seems to be limitations in polyphony, number of tracks, memory, functionality… all over the place.

My old Roland Fantom X6 doesn’t look out of place in today’s landscape. My Boss BR-80 has 8 mono tracks of audio over SD card and plenty of fx in a tiny device. My QY-70 sequences 16 tracks of MIDI with a huge sound library. Etc. Yes all had limitations too, but now (after 20+ years?) it seems that people have to be content with 4-6 tracks, suboptimal functionality, a few ten MB, severe limitations, and all sorts of manufacturing problems. Some current stuff is almost ridiculous. There are a few gems out there, but in this smartphone age, shouldn’t we expect virtually unlimited tracks and memory, super-flexible sequencing/sampling, full connectivity and huge sound libraries, all in relatively small packages?

Have we gone backwards? Have we hit a brickwall? Are companies just lazy? Has talent moved to other sectors? What is the issue?

Or is it just my impression?

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shouldn’t we expect virtually unlimited tracks and memory, super-flexible sequencing/sampling, full connectivity and huge sound libraries, all in relatively small packages?

Yeah it’s called a laptop :smile:

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Get a laptop.

Stop moaning.

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No body is buying this stuff anymore.

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Surely you must have seen the answer to this coming?

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My MPC can fly to the moon

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I agree completely. It’s a shame that so many companies just keep rehashing the past over and over instead of pushing forward with new technologies.

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lapdog… I mean, laptop

And let you play among the stars?

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Hardware folk rejoice in limitations. Its like the done thing.

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But they make piano keys that bend now. They wiggle. Sideways.

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Oh shit, that like triggered a lost memory.

MPC FLY!!!

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My new stupid acoustic guitar sounds just like the one I had twenty years ago. It’s a real bummer man!

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Try a cutting edge new technique to spark your inner soul

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I didn’t expect to hit a nerve. Very interesting.

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I don’t see any nerves being struck. I do see comedy though.

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I thought about that too lately and came to the conclusion that there might have been a shift from hardware designed for a professional use, to a hobbyist use, the most obvious improvement being in the user interface, not that much into the machine specs.
But there’s always exceptions to that of course.
And yes computers have evolved a lot.

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No. I don’t think so. I see lots of advances. Take the time to learn the tool of your choice. I started digging into pigments a lot more lately. its quite amazing how they packed so many features and functionality into one piece of software.

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Please stop putting things in relatively small boxes. I like spacious gear with plenty of room to work a few knobs/sliders without tripping over the rest. I don’t need everything to be tiny.

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I don’t know who needs to hear this but… put the crossfader on the left man!

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I think one thing has remained fairly constant and that is the amount of effort involved in coding for synthesizers. Also sound quality/resolution which brings with it more cpu hunger

And with laptops+midi you agree to a degree of latency, hardware synths prob have more restrictions on tolerance there which probably limits the type of cpus and multithreading shenanigans you can get up to… i expect…

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