[Syki]

Originally Posted by Synth80s

When you look at the more innovative synths of the last 20 years, most have not sold well. The Kawai K5000 comes to mind as does the Yamaha FS1R. I bought one of each when they were being blown out at crazy prices, used them for a while and sold them years later for the same price. They were both very capable, but they were also extremely complicated to program and had poor UIs. Maybe today, with the advent of a good computer-based software editor and a USB port they might have succeeded.

The big manufacturers are building what the masses are looking for: do everything workstations, virtual analog and "yo, you can make a phat beat with this" desktop boxes. So many people idolize analog synth legends that it's like the quest for the holy grail to emulate, emulate, emulate. It's like asking why Fender doesn't ditch the strat and move on. As long as retro music is big in pop (Killers, Bravery, Bloc Party, etc.), virtual analog won't be going anywhere and as long as hip hop is mainstream (which it has been for 10 years), you can expect lots of "me too" products for that set.

I don't see anything other than subtractive synthesis (even if emulated) and sample/wavetable playback becoming mainstream any time soon. If you really want something interesting, use a Kyma!

What alternate form of synthesis do you think or do you wish would succeed in a mainstream product?

-Synth80s

Yep......http://www.symbolicsound.com/cgi-bin...oducts/WebHome