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JonnyAngle wrote:Well there’s gain, modulation,delay, pitch, and filter. Everything will be a derivative of those

Companies are coming up with original circuits but the core functions are all the same

I would add dynamics and reverb, but I totally get you and agree.

I'm also frustrated by the knee-jerk conflation of "new" with "good" or "pleasing." You could have the newest, most cutting-edge effect, but if it didn't sound good (or pleasingly / appropriately bad, whatever), then so what?

Also, there's a case to be made (especially with musical instruments and artistic tools) that many things that feel TOO new just plain won't sell. There's a reason that there are a million tele clones on the market, while builders who create "unique" looking instruments are lucky to sell a couple a year.

clearly you've all slept on this shit...

Inovative use of gear > Inovative gear

troo dat.

jrmy wrote:I'm also frustrated by the knee-jerk conflation of "new" with "good" or "pleasing." You could have the newest, most cutting-edge effect, but if it didn't sound good (or pleasingly / appropriately bad, whatever), then so what?

Well, that's kind of a different topic of discussion.
I mean, "good" isn't an objective thing. Hell, even the first recordings of "distortion" were considered unacceptable by technical gatekeepers at record labels. And I'm talking recordings by guys who were already established, like Jimmy Page. One of his Yardbird recordings was recalled from shops because techs just assumed they were flawed recordings. Most technological advances are usually searching for an application. Same with music tech.

ognoy wrote:Inovative use of gear > Inovative gear

define innovative please

harpies wrote:Glitch might be the closest to its own new category but ultimately they are just samplers with new means of interacting with it.

The trouble with trying to stuff things into existing categories is that eventually you end up with just a couple categories: delay, and distortion. I suppose filtering might be considered its own category.

Reverb? Just a bunch of delays in some specific configuration.
Chorus? Just a delay with a specific sort of wiggle.
Looping? Just a delay with a specific set of controls.
Glitch? Just some delay with chopping.

Novel, unusual, and undiscovered circuits and ideas still exist; they just usually tend to operate outside of the bounds of "musical application".

Of course, if you boil something down to the purest elements of amplification stages, reactive loads, and maybe capture media then it's true we're still mired in a sandbox full of well documented pieces. That keeps the vast majority of people who prefer to stay within the confines of the familiar and fixate on nuance happier.

I think the biggest complaint I have in this arena are those who attempt to pass off a little lipstick on the pig as being an innovation, but that's just a symptom of our very ego based posture in regards to the sonic arts. Many, if not most, people want the effect to support their sound as opposed to show them new things (that last statement isn't very ILF-centric, but more an operator to the processes and directions driven by designers when faced with the rest of world audience/market).

You mean like charging 300 bucks for a rat clone? Hahahahaha


No but for real. Why the fuck is anyone buying those?

Magpie'd

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xINhfF2yzmk[/youtube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xINhfF2yzmk

Jwar wrote:You mean like charging 300 bucks for a rat clone? Hahahahaha


No but for real. Why the fuck is anyone buying those?

Dude for real. A specifically tweaked Rat for $300 seems crazy. It sounds nice but not $300 nice.

I suppose there is something to be said for, “hey, if the tool works for you then go for it,” but that’s one I don’t understand.

the super-special hand-wired Tube Screamer that Ibanez put out is the silliest thing i've ever seen.

Novel application has always been the driver of the "alteration" of musical instrument equipment.

However I think pedals in particular are in a fairly uninspiring place compared to 5-10 years ago. Market saturation, as well as the way the market has adapted, play a part in that.