What will the next "big" instrument be?

[JayFreddy]

For an instrument to achieve massive popularity like the guitar has, it will need to fulfill the following prerequisites:

1) Relatively affordable
2) Portable
3) Visually fun to watch being played
4) Readily identifiable by its unique tone
5) Applicable to a wide variety of different styles of music

Guitar has all of these, which helps explain it's enduring popularity. Violin or some kind of fiddle could be a contender, and violin has been a popular virtuoso instrument of choice in years past.

I don't think computers will "replace" musical instruments any more than plastic replaced beverage containers... Beverage containers are made of plastic these days more often than glass, but they haven't been replaced. The technology only adds to the original thing. Besides, who wants to watch someone program a computer?

Souaphones and banjos are expensive. So are saxophones.

Ukelele or mandolin could be serious contenders too.

[nosuch]

ableton live (a software) maybe.

I use it for a lot of stuff like music for theater and have also used in on stage for looping, sound manipulation and as a sampler - all in one intuitive, user friendly environment. unlike other DAW it is very improvistaion friendly and embraces change.
I have no idea what "real" instrument will be the next big thing, sorry not enough vision on my site.

[cowboytwang]

I heard an interview on NPR and they were talking about Theremins. They said Theremin sales are up over 200% the past few years, and growing.
The biggest part of that increase is because of availability on the internet and "Theremin Forums".

I've heard some REALLY good theremin players, so who knows maybe it may be the next big thing!

[emarsupial]

My crystal ball prediction is:

A - the hardware will be somewhat of a hybrid between an iPod Touch, a Korg Kaoss Pad, and a netbook sized computer; touch screen capabilities, with the option to connect external controllers.

B - The interface will be graphic like the Yamaha Tenori-on

C - The sounds will be samples + the ability to effect / modify them using synth-style filters / effects using the above mentioned

D - It will cost under $300

Picture something like those Guitar Hero controllers but able to play high-end samples and arrange / edit complex patterns.

All of the above are currently being used in DJing / playing electronic music. Apart they are too limited or too expensive to reach the zeitgeist required to revolutionize music making and become the next big thing. But it's getting close. All it will take is somebody to put the elements together, get somebody like Kanye West to use it, and then the kids will go nuts for it.

Bonus prediction: After maybe 50 years of electronic music being the mainstream, guitar-based music will achieve a status similar to what jazz and classical music have today: a form of "purist" music for the older folks, still played and enjoyed by many, but no longer really "mainstream".

Cheers,
ew

[emarsupial]

Originally Posted by cowboytwang

I heard an interview on NPR and they were talking about Theremins. They said Theremin sales are up over 200% the past few years, and growing.
The biggest part of that increase is because of availability on the internet and "Theremin Forums".

I've heard some REALLY good theremin players, so who knows maybe it may be the next big thing!

Theremins are great, but way too difficult to play actual melodic music on. It's kinda like an electronic harmonica - a 2 year old can get sounds out of, but after about 2 minutes of listening to it you'll want to stab yourself in the ears.

Of course, I want to stab myself in the ears when I hear what's being played in top 40 music nowadays, so who knows?

;-)

cheers,
ew

[telideli]

I'm hoping that this makes a comeback as an important instrument in creating music.

[Dirty Steve]

The next big instrument is ...:

[TheBlueNote]

I kind of think that computers in general aren't instruments because, as tiktok mentioned, instruments are something you use in real-time to produce sound. In a way, a computer such as a synth, I would consider an instrument.

Editing software and arranging notes to be played later, on the otherhand, I would consider composing (which of course is definitely not easier or harder than playing an instrument, a different beast in itself). Just my opinion, of course.

[8upSS]

Zamfir Mania!

[GhostofJohnToad]

Your pencil...


http://web.media.mit.edu/~silver/drawdio/

[walpow]

Originally Posted by bingy

I almost didn't scroll all the way down...
My first time seeing this...
Cool?

(Referring to Godin Glissentar above ...)

Yes, cool, though I feel like an idiot trying to play it because I keep coming up with the same faux-Middle Eastern song. It's fretless, which is a first for me (though I just pulled the frets on a Bronco bass I'm rehabilitating), but I'm discovering it's not that difficult intonating right, and when I don't, I can just say I'm playing some quarter-tone.

The strings are in pairs, except the low E, which is a single. I guess they're like classical strings. The high E and B are nylon; the rest are roundwound, but unlike those I'm used too, very limp when not under tension. I had to learn a new way of stringing.

It sounds really good through an electric amp; I ran it through the amp models on my Microcube and they were all worthwhile. Responds nicely to pedals. And the bass and mid sliders change the character of the thing considerably.

I'm going to find an oud book and try to learn something about how to really play it.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by cowboytwang

I heard an interview on NPR and they were talking about Theremins. They said Theremin sales are up over 200% the past few years, and growing.
The biggest part of that increase is because of availability on the internet and "Theremin Forums".

I've heard some REALLY good theremin players, so who knows maybe it may be the next big thing!

When there's a "Theremin Center" in every big city, and all the other musicians go there to buy their non-Theremins, that's when the Theremin will be the next big instrument.

[david_lewis93]

I think it will be the "FLATUFONE", bean and cabage powered and equiped with a smell canceling feature as an option ,extra tones avalible with chili burretos and ceso.

bend em tight and let er scream.

[brokenjoe]

Originally Posted by telideli

I'm hoping that this makes a comeback as an important instrument in creating music.

Too true!

[jazztele]

it is the computer, but not for recreating the sound of "acoustic" instruments.

look at the music being made on labels like ~scape and mille plateaux, artists using the computer as a generator of sound. it's been happeneing since the earlier part of the decade, and i find it very exciting.

[Dave_O]

It's kinda sad, but I would put my share portfolio money here...

Originally Posted by emarsupial

My crystal ball prediction is:

A - the hardware will be somewhat of a hybrid between an iPod Touch, a Korg Kaoss Pad, and a netbook sized computer; touch screen capabilities, with the option to connect external controllers.

B - The interface will be graphic like the Yamaha Tenori-on

C - The sounds will be samples + the ability to effect / modify them using synth-style filters / effects using the above mentioned

D - It will cost under $300

Picture something like those Guitar Hero controllers but able to play high-end samples and arrange / edit complex patterns.

All of the above are currently being used in DJing / playing electronic music. Apart they are too limited or too expensive to reach the zeitgeist required to revolutionize music making and become the next big thing. But it's getting close. All it will take is somebody to put the elements together, get somebody like Kanye West to use it, and then the kids will go nuts for it.

Bonus prediction: After maybe 50 years of electronic music being the mainstream, guitar-based music will achieve a status similar to what jazz and classical music have today: a form of "purist" music for the older folks, still played and enjoyed by many, but no longer really "mainstream".

Cheers,
ew

Let's wake up and smell the mouldy carpet-- that's already the state of play...

Originally Posted by jazztele

it is the computer, but not for recreating the sound of "acoustic" instruments.

look at the music being made on labels like ~scape and mille plateaux, artists using the computer as a generator of sound. it's been happening since the earlier part of the decade, and i find it very exciting.

... but true, IMO

[Wardpike]

My money's on the bari-tele.

[Miopic Chitlin]

Originally Posted by kelnet

How about a neural interface between the human brain and some kind of synthesizer technology so that any rhythm, melody, tone, or texture that we "hear" in our head can be instantly reproduced as sound?
We all have melodies and tunes running through our heads all the time. The difficulty is in turning that into notes on a guitar or audio tracks on a computer.
Neural interface is the next big thing.

That might work well until "I am woman" by Helen Ready starts cruising unbidden through my neural interface.....ah, crap! There it goes again.

[Colt W. Knight]

Theremin sales up 200 percent. So they are about 8 sold a year now?

[Miopic Chitlin]

Originally Posted by telideli

I'm hoping that this makes a comeback as an important instrument in creating music.

How do you adjust the neck?

[jjkrause84]

Originally Posted by Miopic Chitlin

How do you adjust the neck?

Don't even get me started on the ugly headstock that thing comes with.....

[eddiewagner]

Originally Posted by nosuch

ableton live (a software) maybe.

hmmmm.....
i have that software at home but was too lazy to dig in. maybe i should give it a try. eddie

[Donnie55]

The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows.
Frank Zappa