Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Everything eventually becomes obsolete



A comic, via Oliver Chesler (proprietor of the pro-audio blog, Wire to the Ear.)

You probably already know this, but that iPad-ish looking thing in the lower right-hand panel is one of these:



Why? According to the inventor:

"In days gone by, a musical instrument had to have a beauty, of shape as well as of sound, and had to fit the player almost organically. [...] Modern electronic instruments don't have this inevitable relationship between the shape, the sound, and the player. What I have done is to try to bring back these [...] elements and build them in to a true musical instrument for the digital age."


I play some guitar, some horn, and some drumkit, but the piano was my first (and remains my primary) instrument. And though these days I tend to do most of my writing away from that particular axe, I still suspect that my basic conception of pitch is horizontal.

Which is just another way of saying that the tools you use affect the things you make.

2 comments:

Jill-o said...

That Little Boots song earworms me like almost no other. I will be singing this for a month now.

I saw that video back in late 2008, and I've been wanting a Tenori-on ever since. I have it on my Amazon Wish List (and on my eBay Watch List), but I guess nobody loves me enough to buy me a $900 gift.

WHERE ARE MY ADORING FANS?

Andrew Durkin said...

If you get one of these, I will totally write it into the show.