http://mnteractive.com/archive/where-did-all-our-knobs-go Minnesota's Interaction Design, Information Architecture, and User Experience Design Community Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:53:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://mnteractive.com/archive/where-did-all-our-knobs-go/comment-page-1#comment-13356 Fred Wed, 25 Jul 2007 16:02:53 +0000 http://mnteractive.com/archive/where-did-all-our-knobs-go/#comment-13356 This has been a big topic in electronic music for around 10 years now. Old synthesizers used to be solely controlled (well, programmed) directly with knobs. Then came the digital revolution, and the knobs disappeared and interminable, unfathomable menuing systems in tiny LCD screens became the norm (not to mention crappy, tinny sound). Since Clavia's Nord Lead which came out in the early 90s, though, analog has come back in a big way. Modern synthesizers, instead of creating analog sound or playing back digital recordings, are actually computers that *model* the characteristics of analog components... and as such, they are covered with knobs. So they're actually MORE digital but musicians interact with them in a much more analog way. It's a good time to be a synth freak. : ) This has been a big topic in electronic music for around 10 years now. Old synthesizers used to be solely controlled (well, programmed) directly with knobs. Then came the digital revolution, and the knobs disappeared and interminable, unfathomable menuing systems in tiny LCD screens became the norm (not to mention crappy, tinny sound). Since Clavia’s Nord Lead which came out in the early 90s, though, analog has come back in a big way. Modern synthesizers, instead of creating analog sound or playing back digital recordings, are actually computers that *model* the characteristics of analog components… and as such, they are covered with knobs. So they’re actually MORE digital but musicians interact with them in a much more analog way. It’s a good time to be a synth freak. : )

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