[sdiy] Another new hard to find part....

[Oakley Sound]

Why do I build synths?

Because to build a synth is to make something solid. Something tangible,
something that one can hold, show your friends (which is almost
garanteed to impress) and that will last.

To build things is a creative need that many of us have. This applies
also to flower arrangers, people who build their own cars, sculptors and
the rest. Why paint a landscape when one could take a photograph?
Creating something tangible that has been made from smaller parts using
skills that can be developed is a worthwhile and enjoyable experience.

And that's before we actually try to play our newly made instruments.
The process of building is an enjoyable thing.

Creating something on computer is different. Its still building, but it
doesn't satisfy the need to make something real. Of course, the
resultant instrument may be better, programmable, be easily updated and
tweaked, but its still software. It doesn't actually exist to hold in
one's hand. It won't impress your friends as much. But worse than
that... there is always that feeling that its not finished. After all,
once that new 4GHz processor comes out you can add this and that. A work
of art, a synth module and flower arrangement can be finished. But is
there a piece of software that isn't being continually tweaked?
Sometimes limitations are a good thing.

So is writing code not making things? Of course it is... but I believe
it doesn't satisfy as many people as much as building something solid.

And personally, I find staring at a damn screen all day so much more
depressing than using my hands to build something beautiful that can
make music in the right hands.

I think the Luddites would have been happier to know that people are
still buying hand made clothes, synths, cars and pieces of art even in
this day of automated instancy.

Regards,

Tony Allgood                         www.oakleysound.co.uk

Oakley Modular Synthesisers      Penrith, Cumbria, England