I’m glad I’m not a software synth developer. Customers are just so entitled. So much feedback comes down to “all you have to do for me to maybe buy this is completely redesign the interface and implement this thing that your competitor does which doesn’t fit your concept for this synth.”
Seeing a lot of this with the Zebra 3 beta. Let me start off by saying, I plan not to buy Zebra 3 at least during 2026, because of that resolution I made. I’ve read things that makes it sound like it is indeed pretty wonderful, and based on u-he’s reputation I can absolutely believe it. But it’s a flagship synth that would deserve a lot of focus if I were to pick it up, and I’m going to give that focus to… a lot of other things which I already have. (I’m hesitating to call it a “depth year” because there’s still a lot of breadth!)
(I’m also kind of hoping that mostly abstaining from new stuff in 2026 becomes a habit. So I might never get Zebra 3, and a lot of other really amazing synths that I would love. It’s not my job to collect them all.)
The KvR thread though… I’ve only barely skimmed it, in fact I searched it for FM to see what people said about that because of a mention elsewhere that piqued my interest. But there’s an awful lot of “you shoulds” with regards to architecture and interface. For a product that’s been in development for 13 years and honed over many, many iterations by a master of the craft.
I know, often I have my own feedback on what I would want to be different. Musicians are opinionated! Sometimes there’s one specific thing that feels like it’s in my way, or one specific feature that feels conspicuously absent that would really open things up. Sometimes, it’s very much part of the design intent. Sometimes that’s just what they say because they don’t want to change it (and like Xaoc Zadar’s sustain/loop points, sometimes they change their minds). Sometimes the design intent missed the mark, or in hindsight, missed an opportunity. But generally I do respect instrument makers and their choices, and recognize that boundaries and limits are necessary and not everything can or should be a do-everything machine.
Quite often, it’s the customer that’s wrong. People wanted to add MIDI to the Soma Lyra-8, which is an all-analog, extremely hands-on, wonky, unquantized, self-modulating, temperamental beast. It is NOT the right instrument for anyone who thinks it should have MIDI.
Having worked as a designer and developer in an online game… people can be really demanding, going into rudeness and open hostility. Even when people really love a game, they tend to love… the game, not the developers. Obsession without appreciation.
I was more or less randomly assigned a therapist, and had an appointment booked for afternoon on Christmas Eve. But then I started second-guessing. I was so careful when I picked out which PMHNP to go to (because I thought she’d be the one doing the therapy), choosing someone with experience in gender identity and who listed “LGBTQ+” under “Populations” (which also includes things like “First Responders”, “Veterans”, etc. giving some clue as to the sorts of issues they help people face). This random therapist listed “Christian Counseling” and “Men’s Issues” but had no mention of LGBTQ+. I know this doesn’t necessarily mean bigotry or proselytization, but I want to feel free to discuss gender identity and spiritual stuff with my therapist. So I chose someone else, though it means waiting another month before the first appointment.
I’m at week four on Lexapro. I have said before”I think it’s helping” on good days, but those were followed up by not-so-good days. But I’m increasingly thinking like it is helping, it’s just 100% there yet.
Speaking of brain chemistry… there’s a new study about a correlation between artificial sweeteners and cognitive decline, and it doesn’t look super good. Unfortunately, this one lumped in aspartame, saccharin, ace-K, erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol and tagatose. It doesn’t attempt to establish any mechanism or figure out which of these specifically is problematic.
Given there are a lot of other studies of artificial sweeteners that give some cause for concern, I’ve decided to try to cut them out as much as possible. It’s annoying that there isn’t totally conclusive evidence of either safety or danger. A lot of the “diet soda is correlated with diabetes type II” stuff probably gets the cause and effect backwards.
I do like my fizzy drinks though, so I’m looking for alternatives… something without caffeine, added sugar or artificial sweeteners. There are some, I just don’t know if any are worth drinking. So far I’ve managed to reject Zevia caffeine-free cola as tasting way too much like stevia after the first couple of sips — really disappointing considering how expensive it was. Still, I have been drinking less soda generally because of the caffeine thing, so this makes it easier to make a further change.
Besides soda, artificial sweeteners are in Powerade Zero as well as the ice cream, some of the yogurt, sugar-free chocolate, and sugarless chewing gum that I regularly would get. So there’s a few fairly easy habits to change.
