reactable

[Tony Hardie-Bick]

Jay Vaughan wrote:
> Its just one of those so terribly "obvious" facts that none of the  
> current instrument designers want to contend with: all classical  
> instruments can be played in the dark.  Synthesizers, obviously, are  
> broken by design.

Well, I think there is a lot of variation. Most synths, regardless of 
interface, can be performed with in the dark, but,l depending on the 
interface design, various expressive possibilities diminish with light 
level.

I found the VCS3 very much a tactile instrument; couldn't patch it in 
the dark (could barely patch it anyway...) but I could physically 
remember the location of everything else, and so, even without keyboard, 
a truly wonderful instrument to make expressive abstract noises with.

This brings me back to separation of "programming" (parameter setting) 
and playing. A whole generation of synths had to make this separation.

Now, as there is so much acoustic potential, the most interesting areas 
are increasingly interface spaces.

For re-examining interfaces, I would, indeed, take as my model somthing 
like an acoustic guitar, or any instrument from a musical tradition (the 
less formal the better), and think about inventing a new musical 
tradition, for fun :)

Tony (HB)