[mrandish]

You nailed it. Cool idea. Nice design. Great demo. Fun toy.

I'm sure I'd have a good time playing with it for an afternoon and come up with some sounds I like. And, in principle, I'm all for more ways to create music existing - especially ones which are interactive and tactile. But the reality is, if I bought this device it would end up spending most of its time in the basement graveyard with all the other cool tools that are too narrow, too big, too hard to interface, store/recall patches, etc.

I decided several years ago to refocus on a stack that's purely microphone (or other a/d converted input) + MIDI controllers to a DAW driving infinite layers of internal real-time digital synthesis, analog modeling and effects plug-ins. There are fabulously expressive MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) controllers now which can capture every nuance of input my hands, feet and breath could ever provide. As you highlighted, the feeling that creating in a digital audio workstation is "too easy" or maybe somehow 'soulless' - is all in my head. That lurking suspicion analog circuitry or electro-mechanical waveforms are more authentic or pure is just magical thinking.

Always believing that the next new box's cool-looking tactile input, novel interaction model or unique set of opinionated constraints will unleash my creativity - is just getting in the way of actually sitting down and making myself create with all the insanely powerful, wildly creative, infinitely flexible, hyper-productive digital tools I already have. Being able to save and recall entire racks worth of patching at the press of a button isn't soulless or limiting - unless I let it be. Feeling like I need just-one-more new device to inspire me with its defaults or constrain me with its limits - is the limiting constraint I finally realized was holding me back.

[MrScruff]

I used to worry about recall but eventually realised I made more and more interesting music when I treated my gear like a regular musical instrument and just recorded myself playing to audio. Perfect recall put me in a brain loop of endless tweaking that didn’t actually benefit the music at all, it would all just end up sounding overthought. Plus I had more fun doing it. This was a bit of a revelation for me. Obviously, whatever works for you works for you, but just a counterpoint.

[mrandish]

> Plus I had more fun doing it.

Of course, that's what really matters most. I do appreciate that the infinite possibilities, permutations and even extreme convenience all-in-one digital integration provides can become a downside. It really depends on personal style, preferences and goals.

Confronted by all that boundless possibility, I have sometimes found myself freezing up with 'possibility agoraphobia' or just rat-holing into the tweak-cycling you describe. Ultimately, I figured out I have to enforce some discipline on myself - which felt a bit odd since I'm strictly doing this for fun. My realization was that the needed discipline can either be embedded in the tools or style I choose or I can choose to enforce it on myself - which is its own burden. Every approach has its benefits and costs. No free lunch :-).

In a broad sense, I suspect any of the different approaches (all acoustic, analog, digital or some hybrid) represent sweet-spots that balance latitude and constraints in different ways. All that truly matters is finding one that meets us where we are in the moment and feeds our soul.

[embedding-shape]

Yeah, I think a bit of difference gives it a bit more character, fully agree. Recall is more about being in the transition between two different songs when performing, and needing to get to a start point that works with what you're transitioning to. For jamming, it's fun to spend 2-3 minutes finding a sound that works, but for performance or recording, it gets really tiresome to manually patch 20 cables on the fly.

But as you say, no right or wrong, we all do things under different circumstances and contexts, and what works for someone is wrong for another, and all that :)

[wisty]

> Feeling like I need just-one-more new device to inspire me with its defaults or constrain me with its limits - is the limiting constraint I finally realized was holding me back.

That's true in so many fields.