On Sun, 2014-08-31 at 12:21 +0200, Tim Goetze wrote: > [W.Boeke] > > Compared to the available technical possibilities of the past, software > > designers nowadays have a much easier life. A computer and a MIDI keyboard > > is > > all you need, you can try all kinds of sound creation, so why should you > > stick > > trying to reproduce the sounds of yore? > > I definitely agree with the sentiment but it's not an easy task to > purely digitally create timbres as rich, complex and pleasing as > produced by analog, let alone physical (non-electronic) instruments. > > For example, analog op-amp or diode saturation is quite simple to > realise and capable of producing anything from very smooth harmonic > extension to screaming distortion. The digital equivalent needs to be > oversampled, complicating things greatly. [snip]
Wait a moment. Building an anlog synth by electronic circuits could be harder or easier to do, it depends to the skills of the developer. For software designers in the past hard real-time MIDI was easier to provide, than it is to provide nowadays. There are many factors important. Several times even galvanic isolation for the MIDI interfaces provided by old gear and by modern USB devices was mentioned. What ever in theory could be programmed, even the different output amplifiers of different real synth already could provide differences for the sound, one computer, using the same sound card for several virtual instruments only would provide, if somebody would care about it. Not to mention CEM/Curtis filters etc.. Understanding an ADSR with or without a graphic display shouldn't be an issue for musicians, it might be hard for some beginners. Anyway, that is provided since decades, even the faders of a simple ADSR already show the envelope by the fader positions. I suspect the OP has got less experiences with professional gear, it abilities and what professional musicians do need. It can't be repeated often enough. The way that was provided already in the 80s is a vector control. Everybody can create sounds by a vector control, absolutely no knowledge is needed. For using an ADSR there's the need to understand very much, less how the envelope does look like, more important is what is controlled by the envelope and that the envelop might variate to the dynamic of the musicians playing, by the played note number etc.. _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-dev mailing list Linux-audio-dev@lists.linuxaudio.org http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-dev