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by em3rgent0rdr 5 hours ago
Noise and component imprecision has always limited analog computing.
1 comments

And a general lack of reconfigurability to solve general problems. There’s been interest in analog neural networks for a long time.

Those problems you mention are important in music synthesis where people could live with limited reconfigurability but reliability is at a premium: synth players in early touring bands (e.g. Yes) had to be electronics technicians and instruments have to survive being packed in boxes and transported everywhere. The Yamaha DX-7 made FM synthesis mainstream because digital FM synthesis was absolutely reliable.

Analog synths are a lot more reliable these days though.