Here's where the LinnStrument falls short...

Official support for: rogerlinndesign.com
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

...there aren't 180,000 sold yet, forcing every software and hardware manufacturer to adopt MPE as the new standard! :D

Ahh, wishful thinking. :wink:
Duality without regard to physicality

Post

Yes, selling 180,000 LinnStruments would certainly be very nice. :)

Post

Here's how to fix that (along with more linnstrument purchases)

Select products that offer support for MPE. Eventually other companies will need to keep up with the Jones's
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

Post

Well, the LinnStrument isn‘t the only expressive controller. I have no idea how many Seaboards are sold, but it is a significant amount... I bet the LinnStrument comes in as second...
Roli is a much bigger company with marketing resources a small company can only dream of. Good they are that strong, they really pushed MPE...

Post

Not that I'm trying to compare Roger Linn and Roli to Tesla and Edison, but the AC/DC wars were something else...

Tesla had to take on Edison, Westinghouse, Marconi and the majority of the USA, at that time, for being Serbian...

Imagine if he hadn't? 2019 would be radically different.
Duality without regard to physicality

Post

I certainly don't mind being compared to Nikola Tesla or Thomas Edison. :)

Post

:D
Duality without regard to physicality

Post

Tj Shredder wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:55 pm Well, the LinnStrument isn‘t the only expressive controller. I have no idea how many Seaboards are sold, but it is a significant amount... I bet the LinnStrument comes in as second...
Roli is a much bigger company with marketing resources a small company can only dream of. Good they are that strong, they really pushed MPE...
I've talked about this before... I really think the Seaboard's main advantage is its familiar form factor and how easily it translates to its target demographic. That is to say, there are a lot of keyboard players out there, and of course, the Seaboard is instantly recognizable as a keyboard, and therefore immediately playable. Whereas, if string players are the LinnStrument's target demographic, I don't think it's as obvious what the LinnStrument is at a glance. In addition to that, keyboard players have been starved of expressive control for centuries, so the Seaboard could be seen as a real step forward in that respect; while string players, on the other hand, may not necessarily see the advantages of playing a LinnStrument over, say, their guitar or their violin or what-have-you. And many keyboard players, despite starting on piano, use synths as a matter of course, especially if it's their profession; but I can't say that I know a lot of career guitarists, aside from myself and a handful of others, who also play keys and are expected to cover synth duties. So, again, looking for something the likes of the LinnStrument may not be on their radar, so to speak.

Speaking from personal experience, even though I'm a guitarist primarily, I wasn't sure what to make of the LinnStrument at first. In fact, funny story, when Roger and I were working together on the Tempest's firmware, Roger offered to send me a LinnStrument to try, and I actually said "Gosh, I don't know, Roger, I'm not really sure I have a use for one...". I was even in the market for a new keyboard synth at the time. That's hilarious to me now, because I think I would literally quit my job if I had to give up my LinnStrument and go back to playing keyboards (smirk).

I get asked about the LinnStrument all the time, but often find myself having to convince my fellow multi-instrumentalists of the LinnStrument's merits, simply because they see it as being somewhat esoteric, even though, in reality, it's as straight forward as it gets. They usually come around though, once it's explained to them (wink). This is also why I was part of the campaign to have "independent row tunings" added to the LinnStrument's optional "guitar tuning". While it's true (and partly Roger's vision of the future) that isomorphic fourths may become the new standard someday, for now I think the trick to selling more LinnStrument's is to better convey its relationship to the guitar and other stringed instruments. Hence why I also think we should be able to customize the lights to represent "fret" markers (wink, wink) ... Anything to make it seem more familiar!

Cheers!

P.S. I also think there should be a synth channel on the upcoming LD2, and a USB host port on the back for connecting and powering the LinnStrument, because I, for one, would still prefer to be touring with a hardware synth... But that's for another conversation (grin).
Last edited by John the Savage on Sat Feb 02, 2019 9:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

Post

@John the Savage, I agree with you 100%. I think extreme user adoption is only hampered by user education and that isn't knocking anyone's efforts. People are naturally scared of what they don't know or don't understand.

I really like the premise that Roger had for building this: music should be emotive.

We live in an age where everyone is connected, but seemingly disconnected (not unlike Toffler's Future Shock). Music should make you feel something. Hell, anything. That's what makes great art great.

Don't get me started on the 'superstar dj' syndrome and whatever else is mainstream. IMHO, it is all more homogenized than bovine juice.

Roli is Roli and I will not knock them for helping push MPE forward. But, I'm on day #2 with the LinnStrument and I'm ready to pack up the Seaboard and add it to the piles of used Seaboards out there.

Roger built a better mousetrap and, you know as well as I do, he's spent his entire career building better mousetraps. We all get to benefit from it and it's a testament to the quality that is the LinnStrument that every adopter is a 'spokesperson' of sorts for it!

To wrap this up in a nice contextual bow: all of this is happening in the age of fidget spinners!
Duality without regard to physicality

Post

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

Post

John the Savage wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 12:39 am I've talked about this before... I really think the Seaboard's main advantage is its familiar form factor and how easily it translates to its target demographic. That is to say, there are a lot of keyboard players out there, and of course, the Seaboard is instantly recognizable as a keyboard, and therefore immediately playable.
Yes I've certainly seen that familiarity draw people in. It also leads to a fair amount of disappointment from some people that the similarity turns out to be somewhat superficial though. They quickly discover that they will still have to put a lot of practice in to adapt, and I often see comments about how different it is compared to playing a traditional keyboards.

Post

I think its a bit like in the early days of cars. Everybody expected them to be a carriage without horses, so they looked like that. For me the LinnStrument is already a step further, its neither a keyboard with its know disadvantages nor an electronic string instrument (I learned violin and do,play electric bass) The closest would be something like a bandoneon maybe. Even the continuum is still close to the classical keyboard. When I first touched a Seaboard I wasn‘t impressed too much (though it still was fun) for the simple reason I had touched a continuum before...
When I got the LinnStrument I first missed the softness, thinking it would give me more control, but just playing and getting used to the hard surface made me realise how much better the design of the LinnStrument is...

Post

I don't think it's as obvious what the LinnStrument is at a glance....
I think its a bit like in the early days of cars. Everybody expected them to be a carriage without horses, so they looked like that.
For me the LinnStrument is already a step further .......
^this

And me thinks, this very openness and programmability of the LinnStrument, while hampering its current adoption, will ensure its success in the long run.
It will take a while to sell 180'000 :ud: , but wait til someone writes 'The Killer-App' and everybody and their grandmother of the EDM-crowd will want one.
I'm pretty sure, if you look back on our time in a decade or two, the LinnStrument will be regarded as one of its iconic classics and may well be a sought after collectors item.
Hence why I also think we should be able to customize the lights to represent "fret" markers (wink, wink) ... Anything to make it seem more familiar!
..well, just do it! All it needs is a bunch of MIDI-messages. Not really rocket science.

Post

dr_loop wrote: Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:12 am
Hence why I also think we should be able to customize the lights to represent "fret" markers (wink, wink) ... Anything to make it seem more familiar!
..well, just do it! All it needs is a bunch of MIDI-messages. Not really rocket science.
Yes, duly noted, but I'm not using a computer in my live rig, so I would need the LinnStrument to retain the custom lights, which it cannot do currently. Roger knows what I'm talking about, and has taken this request under advisement. Now, whether or not it's likely to become reality is anyone's guess, but it's not the end of the world either way.

Cheers!

Post

..... ah, I see.
I tried to dive into the LS-firmware somewhat, and while the first steps were surprisingly easy and straigthforward in the end it's not made for my mindset, debugging is just too much of a PITA (for todays standards anyway)
May be, if I have some time, I will give it another try. Actually what you want should'nt be too hard, all is well layed out and documented properly. :tu:

But on a larger scale, I suppose the majority of LinnStrumentalists will use a computer anyway, so for them this would be a piece of cake.

Post Reply

Return to “Roger Linn Design”