Moog Minitaur

Peter Korsten EMAIL HIDDEN
Tue Jan 10 20:53:29 CET 2012


Op 10-1-2012 19:38, Paul Maddox schreef:

> Tempest wasn't a small box ;)
> http://www.vacoloco.net/synths/tempest/

Hey, if you could build it for less than £2200, I might get one. ;)

> I need to start small before I can grow big, but the reason I replied, which bit puts you off?
> That the Aesthetics comes after the function?

No, that it's just a PCB with pots. Or maybe there's a small box around 
it, but I remember that one project of yours that was a very small 
sequencer, and I never saw a box.

> Don't get me wrong form and function are closely related, but I wonder how much form affects the way you "use" a synth, it certainly doesnt affect the sound, but it could perhaps affect the way you "approach" or "use" a synth.

Put it this way: I got a silver EX5, just because it was different and 
(from what I understand, although I saw another one in Amsterdam) a 
limited edition.

The ironic thing is that an EX5 is instantly recognisable, because it's 
a huge dark blue synth. The only other synth that I know that has more 
or less the same colour (other than the EX5R module) is the AN1x, and 
it's not huge (nor particularly good looking). A silver EX5 looks just 
like a Trinity, Triton or Motif.

But it's the synth I've always wanted, because I just love it despite 
all its faults, and it's relatively rare, and it's mine, and it's such a 
joy to switch it on, see it do its little light show with the LEDs, and 
have all these wonderful sounds come out of it.

Even though I play my synths very rarely (I'm usually too tired, or just 
need to chill after a day at work), that bond is an emotional one. I did 
sell the EX5R, but it was a second-hand, and I got the EX5 instead. I 
would NEVER sell a synth I bought new.

> Sorry, I think I'm talking drivvel, I'm just really puzzled what gives something a "OMG I need that" just from it's form.

Nah, you're not talking drivel, but it's a bit hard to explain what 
draws me to an instrument. I have it a bit with model trains as well, 
which nowadays have reached a level of detail that is almost scary. 
There's one French or Walloon manufacturer that even modelled the fire 
extinguisher in the cabin of a loco maybe eight inches long (which in 
reality is 17.6 metres long and weighs 80 metric tons). It's just a 
thing of beauty, that I want to look at and touch.

As mentioned, the design of the AN1x is downright ugly, but it was my 
first synth, and again it makes those wonderful sounds.

And this is why I just don't "get" software synths. No doubt they work 
more convenient, and have loads more features, and you just need a 
laptop instead of half a truck of synths and roadies. But they don't 
work for me, because there's not the physical connection. The whole 
"unplugged" scene from the nineties is testament to the fact that you 
don't need a ton of technology to create music, sometimes even great music.

- Peter



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