| Neuron Resources Revival - The Neuron Idea | ||
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Contemporary music productions have benefited from computer assistance for many years now. Often tracks are created entirely in the virtual realm. Though computers have taken on the role of the actual recording equipment, they also come in many other musical guises. Case in point: Where in the past synthesizers and samplers were composed of discreet electronic components, today they run as programs on a DSP (digital signal processor). The past five years have seen the advent of a technology so powerful that it allows emulations of musical instruments to be integrated into computer-assisted music systems in the form of software plug-ins. This lets users enjoy the convenience of accessing virtual instruments right there on their computers. The instruments are "played" by means of a graphical user interface. An image of the instrument control panel appears on the screen alongside the actual recording software. It presents various control features such as faders, knobs, buttons, switches and so forth that serve to play or operate the virtual instrument, sampler or synthesizer. Despite this convenience, though, ever more users are voicing their dissatisfaction with the ergonomic shortcomings of playing an instrument via screen, computer keyboard and mouse. Musicians and producers alike feel that this working method is an encumbrance, hampering creativity and the all-important impelling force of musical intuition. The growing success of specialized remote controllers - outboard gear sporting physical knobs and faders - attest to the fact that many musicians miss the touchy-feely vibe of a real instrument. The irony of this retro yearning is that most virtual instruments are nothing but a computer-generated emulation of what was once a real instrument. But the allure of the corporeal is compelling, and savvy users have come to appreciate that tactile sensations play a part in making music, and that hands-on handling of an electronic instrument's man-machine interface gets their creative juices flowing. Though this bias towards the palpable helped birth Neuron, tactility is just one of many aspects. Taken in its entirety, it is nothing less than the next logical step in the ongoing development of synthetic sound generators. Courtesy of an innovative conceptual approach, we are able to make the most of the benefits which state-of-the-art computer technology can bring: At heart, Neuron is a highly specialized PC. With its custom-configured operating system and peripheral components (user interface, power unit, mass storage, etc.) tailored to the system, it provides the hardware underpinning for a novel take on software synthesis. And its man-machine interface is a remote control designed specifically for this application. Though this interface affords direct access to the formidable creative powers of a sound synthesis engine, it is so much more than merely an access tool. It is an organic extension of the synthesizer's heart and soul, the synthesis engine. That said, though, any explanation of the true breadth and depth of the concept behind Neuron requires a trip down memory lane to recap the history of electronic musical instruments and synthesizers. Almost a century ago, the pioneers of electronic music began experimenting with colossal sound generators powered by electricity. On a quest for new sounds that classic instruments were incapable of producing, these musical modernists developed devices that would inspire many great tunesmiths and composers of film scores. The driving force behind this crusade was the desire to explore the great sonic frontier. That would change over the course of the coming decades. Commercialization and corporatization changed the way music was perceived and made. Technological advances, particularly strides made in the past 30 years, made it possible to produce entire compositions using electronic instruments called synthesizers and samplers. The new market paradigm for instrument builders was to fashion "authentic" sounds - timbres and tones as close as possible to those produced by traditional instruments. Imitation gave way to innovation in the last decade or so when musicians began to see the tremendous creative potential that the all but forgotten classic synthesizers harbored. Concurrently, a new musical style emerged that celebrated the sound of electronica as such. Today contemporary productions are for all practical purposes musical hybrids in which typical synthesizer sounds share sonic space with the time-honored instruments of pop music. That explains the modern-day renaissance of archetypal synthesizers, albeit in the guise of the aforementioned digital emulations rather than as an assemblage of complex discreet circuits. In the course of these development phases, mad scientists toiled away in labs, concocting all manner of approaches to synthesis. Key technologies emerged and held sway over the synthesizer market for many years. Hordes of companies embraced them and incorporated them in proprietary products. A handful of technologies prevailed - to this day, they provide the coordinates by which every manufacturer charts his synthesizers' course. A case can be made for the point that a trailblazing technology arrives every 15 to 20 years and, equally important, spawns generations of commercially successful products:
Like a sentient being, Neuron recognizes a sound. But more than that, its intelligence is such that it puts at the user's disposal parameters whose structure is dynamically adapted to suit this sound. And that makes Neuron the first synthesizer with a nerve center that does not work with fixed parameter assignments. Neuron is a professional synthesis tool for musicians, producers, sound artists, and sound enthusiasts. It debuted for all the world to see at USA's premier musical instrument fair, the NAMM show, in January 2002. |
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