Software vs. Hardware

[Jay Vaughan]

> And I've considered if not, the greater advantage of using faders  
> and buttons
> instead of a mouse in daw environments is related to the fact that  
> users in
> such environments use many other machines/instruments besides the  
> computer?
> The reason I wonder is that as the mouse is a relative positioning  
> tool, then
> for the user to click a virtual button, it is a lot more work to do  
> it, if
> first, the user has to grab the mouse and position - it's sort of  
> like two
> motor-control tasks. This disadvantage isn't present in a work- 
> environment
> with only a computer (or at least not in the same degree...).
>


mouse+keyboard is typically single-user, faders and knobs and buttons:  
not.

laptop music is anti-social, if only in terms of studio physics.  two  
people hacking at a computer is twice as boring as one.


> If the above is true, then one would expect this problem to go away  
> once
> users throw out their old instruments/machines and use a computer  
> exclusively
> - unless the advantages of these interfaces are so great that once  
> they're on
> the market, can't get off (which would indicate that these  
> interfaces are of
> good use, and that the reason that these interfaces aren't more  
> universally
> used has more to do with entry costs for these markets)
> Does any of this make sense?


surely there is a lot o' sense in these discussions, true.  in my  
opinion your view of the market is coherent.  the thing is though, we  
must always consider: hardware users get younger and younger.  what  
was once a rich white mans plaything (expensive) is next decades  
bargain-basement tool in the toybox.

synths have surfed many waves of family, now, i wager.  its not just  
markets that play the hardware game, but the generations too.  flynn,  
by way of example, loves his ms20 more than my laptop, though he does  
spend time bashing and chewing on both.

which, i might note, is an interesting corollary to my a-view on  
keyboard+mouse as a boring, single-user experience.  flynn does not  
think that mouse+keys are single-user, he bashes right along with me,  
"silly daddy, of course keyboards are for everyone!"

;
--
Jay Vaughan