Some things are better, some are worse in specific ways, same as always. Anyone who denies either is not being critical or serious, but it’s true that you either learn to adapt to what’s around or be the old man yelling at the lawn
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There are still plenty of digital recorders (with higher specs than the Boss?) + fully featured mixer-recorders like the Tascam Model 12/16/24, no?
Tracker Mini, Dirtywave M8?
No, development has just shifted to computers - who needs 16 lanes of multitimbrality and 300 note polyphony when you can just open Ableton?
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Yep and yep.
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My in-law, who works in the computer tech industry, told me, years ago, that cpu and memory optimization was becoming less and less of an issue for most people working in computer tech jobs. The computers have become so large and so powerful, we can throw a lot of instructions into them without having to address issues regarding inefficiencies in the code.
Then, on the other hand, there are groove boxes. Seems like more of a challenge, programming a groove box, with its limited memory and cpu. Optimization, I’m guessing, matters a lot on these small devices.
I’ve heard old timers deride younger generations of tech workers as being weak on fundamentals. There are, for example, many more higher level, library functions out there for doing various tasks. They don’t require much knowledge to use, and understanding their inner workings is pretty much optional.
This all suggests to me that there may be fewer people interested in, or skilled in, the optimization of small devices, or for that matter, any other application relying on lower-level computer coding skills. Which could have something to do with the OP’s question about the stunted growth in (non DAW) music tech.
I’m not a computer scientist. I’m interested in what other think about this half-baked hypothesis.
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Maybe someone else already said it, but my guess is that things are heading in a pretty positive direction, if Elektron’s trajectory is any indication. DTII supposedly has a lot of room for growth and it’s simpler to update, and they added a bunch of convenient features people asked for. And other MK2s from various brands seem to be doubling memory or voice count (don’t have my sources here), the next gen of instruments seem to be on their way, weren’t we all talking about that somewhere?
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I think you just described the Deluge by Synthstrom Audio.
As everyone has already said the answer is laptops. Hardware will always have a perspective or, to some people, limitations (same thing). Many of us who enjoy hardware enjoy the perspective the instrument designer has created for us, even if it is not perfect.
Any hardware that tries to be the “one box” approaches a computer but ultimately never arrives there and is always second best. Apple and Microsoft are some of the biggest corporations on the planet and computers (including phones) are a functional part of everyday global life. No one knows who Elektron, Sequential, and Akai are and few care what a sampler or wavetable synthesis is. The energy of society is towards the computer which designers can then utilize to make max/msp, the ability to eq every second of every track, and to have your local symphony mutisampled…
Because really the whole post is just why don’t we have more? More strings do not (necessarily) make a better guitar, etc…
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“Why would I sell you one box that does everything for 999, when I can cut them in 1/2 and sell you two boxes for 699 each?”
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I agree somewhat, considering what the MPC One+ can do today versus the MPC2000, mainly on the hardware side—colored touchscreen, plugins, WiFi—features that were just a dream 20+ years ago. But also, if you consider that a full-on DAW like Logic Pro can run on an iPad, one can’t help but think that most hardware manufacturers have now reached some plateau with innovation. I am curious, too, what is next.
Some are pretty obvious. For example, I’d like to see the MPC X with faders or modular expansions, but these are incremental hardware innovations. I’m guessing all the significant innovations will happen mainly on the software side. Elektron’s probability conditions were unique before, but they’re now widely available on other platforms.
I remember 20+ years ago, hardware releases were at a faster pace. There were new exciting releases almost every month, such as Studio 440, Emax, CZ1, FZ1, OSCar, Ensoniq, etc., and it was so exciting to receive the music mags covering them. I wanted the FZ1 so badly! 
Nice to reminisce…
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what is it that people really want? what is it you’re looking for? do you want a musical instrument or a spec sheet?
instruments did no go “back”, they just got smaller, more focused. living space, where many music is being created today, costs a whole lot, so smaller instruments sell more then big ones.
digital audio made insane progress and you can find the “unlimited” in any daw, as much polyphony you’d like, as big samples libraries you have space for, why would anyone make a “music workstation” when you have literally everything inside a daw. no one can beat a modern laptop’s spec sheet.
so, you want unlimited spec sheet? laptop is the answer. you want instrument? well, they are different now, not worse, just different.
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I’m totally stealing this
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The thing to remember about music tech, is that it’s both music, and tech.
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Music hardware tech is insanely slow to adopt new things imo. Like why doesnt every device have BT midi in it? It’s been rock solid for 5+ years.
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Hardware is less about the number of features than how you get a fluid workflow to make the most of what you get.
Elektron gear are IMO perfect examples of instruments that make the most of a limited set of features.
Granted, I like more features, more modulations and FX (and a cross fader).
But I prefer a fast workflow any time. This is, to me, what hardware is about.
With all its power but so few controls and a very heterogeneous workflow, Push 3 SA feels pretty far from the perfect groovebox, to me.
And btw Eurorack is a good example of very innovative field in hardware instruments.
My 0-Coast is still giving me some amazing time.
Lyra-8 and in general SOMA stuff are also far from rehashing the same concepts over and over.
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Also, I think, more advanced technology is not always better for creating (or playing) good music.
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Exactly. The shortest path between idea and realization is where it’s at.
And happy accidents I guess ^^
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Id say gear like Take 5, Rytm, Eventide pedals ( and others ) , eurorack market, it is all possible because of new tach.
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One of the only things I prefer about some of the best vintage gear is individual outs. I’d still take that before overbridge, personally
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I wouldn’t say it’s hit a nerve - more that it teed the most obvious response.
All the audio production features and more than you could have hoped for 20 years ago are now available in small self contained single boxes that can be bought for a fraction of the cost of certain vintage analogue drum machines.
Surely a more pertinent question is that given this, why is there still a market fir any bespoke music tech hardware that isn’t just a laptop?
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