https://www.petervis.com/electronics-lab/denshi-block-series...

And:

https://axel.as-1.co.jp/asone/maker/MH17083/

https://github.com/FundamentalFrequency

Either way the time has come for open source projects of this nature and form factor .. the world tires of overpriced junk from boutique vendors, and wants more DIY music making toys for the kids to rock out ..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denshi_block

Still got mine, which has a synthesizer module that can be used for interesting experiments.

In Japan the company made professional versions for students - they were a bit bigger and more robust, but the same basic concept.

So, I do it a bit.

I think this ethos can be applied in many ways and with different media; preservationism is a high value objective. The future needs it, kinda.

I have often thought about how I could put steganographic techniques into application in the comments I've left sprinkled around the Internet over the past decades, so while it looks like I'm commenting on some relevant topic, I've just given myself 64 bytes of read-only memory, or so, to stash some magic message to myself in the future.

Just a thought, though ..

Everyone can write code these days. Trouble is, all code has to be SIL-4 code now, because, human, you will never know if your compiler trusts your AI until you trust your compiler. This rule will be true for decades into the future, I'm willing to wager...

But, ultimately, software has to follow certain rules, or it just doesn't work. Proper workflows - involving review - are needed. Because security is pretty much over, otherwise.

Folks are finding it easier to make their own software now, too - rather than use others. I predict an end to the app stores - or at least, the primary interface is going to end up being "describe the app you want to use today" instead of picking words from a list ..

And having AI code to review is no different than any other code that ever was to review, so the review tooling is - as it necessitates - also benefited by lugubrious application of .. more AI. But: all AI is human reviewed.

So it's not a big impact. We just don't ship code that isn't 100% human reviewed, If that's insurmountable: you're doing it wrong. Use AI to make code readable again.

And then, also, put AI back in its box. Don't give devs 100% full-time API access to subscriptions: give them actual hardware to use, to go 100% local.

Local AI is, thus, the best AI, folks. Don't use more than you can run locally, is a great way to keep AI code properly maintainable.

The industry will prove this, itself, sooner or later: If you can't put your AI in its box for safe-keeping, you're doing it wrong, anyway... and should've already learned this practice as a habit, decades ago, vis a vis future-proof tooling... (See also: not logging everything you do with an AI? Big fail.)

Sure, the absolutely intoxicating addiction of Big Metal AI™ is going to put a lot of consumers in a deep, deep pit of Neo-Illiteracy - however: 'good' AI code is actually just good code.

The great thing about these machines, actually, is that .. you can always find a new user for an old machine.

The 8-bit systems of today would give the 8-bit users of the decades past, positive conniptions at the mere concept that there are, pretty much every week or so, new releases for these ‘’ancient’’ systems ..

Actually, kids learning computers these days -definitely need to know more about ancient computers- as a positively directed purpose.

So, if you’ve got someone in your life who has the interest, all I can say is - crank out the old machine, turn it on, and do something fun/useful with it.

[1] Disclaimer: 40 years of computing, mostly in working order. Mostly missing the early things I bolted together myself in the outback HAM workshop where I first burned my fingers on building things ..

Vernor Vinge’s works have indeed had a huge impact on the way we think about things, and his immense insight is still extraordinary with every read.

But you should prepare yourself for a very, very large set of complex inputs and outputs. There must be a design to the spend.

So start virtually first.

You can connect software synths such as VCV Rack, with hardware synths eventually, as you get into the subject - you don't have to spend 600 straight away - unless you just really want hardware.

Go virtual for a while to explore the subject first - then you'll have a bit of an idea of what to spend the cash on, later.

There are tons and tons of free synthesizers that will give you the modular synth experience as well as serving as a playground for personal exploration of the subject.

VCV Rack is great. Use it to work out what to build in a Eurorack system eventually, for example.

A nice $600 Eurorack setup is feasible.

Browse the racks of others (https://modulargrid.net/e/racks) and learn all the basics a bit in advance, building your own setup in VCV Rack as you go ..

My holy trinity has long been: a multitimbral synth, a drum machine, a sequencer. Just doing things on a single multitimbral synth, with a separate drum/sequencing paradigm, makes for much fun, e.g. Virus,MachineDrum,QY700 .. okay that's two multitimbral synths, since the QY700 has XG, but yeah its a stonkin' setup that only takes 20 minutes to set up and turn on and warm up ..

Yes, some folks do just get into this subject for the GAS. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) .. but there are also professional reasons to build a new setup every year or so.

I use my Eurorack as an extension of the realtime synths and 19"-rack stuff I already have MIDI'ed up and so on. I do think I could put everything I need into Eurorack, eventually. It is extremely versatile.

In any case, Apple II simulators might be one way you can take another look at the subject, with wiser old eyes.