AES Show 2024 NY

Every year, the availability and capabilites of processors and sensors expand greatly while their cost decreases correspondingly. As an instrument designer, the temptation to include every possible advance is an obvious one, but one that comes at the cost of additional complexity and probably more concerningly, reduced *character*.

Looking back on electronic instruments from the past, note that what we love about the classics are the quirks and idiosyncracies that come from the technical limitations of the time and how the designers ended up leveraging those limitations creatively. This panel will bring together designers to discuss how we are self-imposing constraints on our designs in the face of that temptation to include everything that's possible.

As Brian Eno said: "Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided."