Endless Pedal: the future is coming
- Thread starter Alan W
- Start date
drgonzo1969
Well-known member
yeah fuck micro transactions and subscriptions. I specifically look for products without extra subscriptions and shit after buying a dumbass HP printer a few years ago. If I had hair I would have pulled it out trying to get the damn thing set up. I don't want to download an extra app and set up a new account for every goddamn appliance and pedal I use. I cant remember logins and passwords as is. No need to for compounding the problem on behalf of corporate greed.
Robert
Reverse Engineer
I think one of my biggest issue (aside from the obvious) is that no one is going to dig one of these out of a dusty attic in 50 years, plug it in, and actually get use it to it's full potential.
The app will no longer exist, any communications protocol will likely be depreciated, and you'll (at best) be stuck with whatever presets / models / impulses the last owner loaded onto the thing.
It may be a bit extreme to call it "disposable" gear, but it's not completely absurd either.
The app will no longer exist, any communications protocol will likely be depreciated, and you'll (at best) be stuck with whatever presets / models / impulses the last owner loaded onto the thing.
It may be a bit extreme to call it "disposable" gear, but it's not completely absurd either.
Guardians of the analog
Papi Fuego
This is how I feel about proprietary dsp in pedals and especially digital amps and modelers. They won't be repairable once the company goes out of business.
Aleph Null
Well-known member
As a raging FOSS nerd, let me remind everyone that if you can't read the code, you don't control the hardware! Proprietary software is only ever going to limit what you can do with the hardware you purchased. If the software isn't open source, you're just renting, and you can be evicted at any time.
The Polyend, at least, is open source. The connector or protocol might become obscure, but it should still be useable in the future if someone is determined, whether or not the parent company survives.
Erik S
Well-known member
The AI component seems like the main hype generator - both for and against, but I actually like the idea of the polyend more than things like that subscription based boss pedal.
View and edit the code for the presets, write your own from scratch - both pretty cool if you’re interested in dsp code.
The AI component being pay per use instead of subscription based is also a plus.
I don’t even really hate that application for AI either. Most of my experience learning to code comes from searching out a code snippet someone used to solve a similar problem to mine, then editing it to fit my needs. Having AI spit out something in the ballpark of what you want and editing it from there sounds like it could be part of an actual creative learning experience. Sounds cooler than just pulling the lever on a slot machine image/ music/ text generator app anyway.
I’m wary of ever investing much in software that runs on an operating system for that reason. I’m not really clear on when you’d call a piece of software “firmware” but if your dsp pedal doesn’t connect to the internet or need updates to stay functional within an ecosystem, seems like the eviction risk is low. I guess if you want to continue to use it as a platform to load new code onto you’re relying on some app continuing to exist.
I’ve been using a lot of 25 year old digital rack gear lately. It doesn’t have the same repairability as analog gear, but it seems pretty stable.
Guardians of the analog
Papi Fuego
I'm not saying like amps can't be pcb, but they should be tube
I just think that traditional gear is cool AF and don't see myself using anything else. If other people want to have bad taste in gear and tone who am I to judge 
Erik S
Well-known member
If other people want to have bad taste in gear and tone who am I to judge
I’m not saying I’m gonna buy one. Just that to whatever extent these are being used to enable people to learn to code their own effects, I probably respect that more that folks just buying up the latest plug-in in a stompbox. (Despite the AI component making this thing the latest fun thing to dunk on)
Also, calm down grandpa. Nobody’s trying to take your amp away.
Guardians of the analog
Papi Fuego
Band of Dans
Well-known member
God forbid the contraption goes into the attic with a lithium-ion battery inside. Then it's not just disposable; it's a fire hazard. [he says looking nervously at a pile of old battery-powered electronics that need to be taken to the electronics recycler]
As far as someone using one of these in 50 years… There is a whole subculture of people getting stuff like this to work again. People who will disassemble the binary, modify or add patches, etc. Just like how people create emulators for vintage video game consoles.
The real question is, will this ever become popular enough for anyone to even care to attempt it?
Anyway, I think one of these pedals would go great with my active pickup subscription and my AI tube amp.
The real question is, will this ever become popular enough for anyone to even care to attempt it?
Anyway, I think one of these pedals would go great with my active pickup subscription and my AI tube amp.
drgonzo1969
Well-known member
AI hookers and blow just don’t hit like the real thing…. To use the parlance of our times
drgonzo1969
Well-known member
I’ll stay analog… Elon and those cucks can fuck all the robots on mars they want
Cybercow
Well-known member
Don't get me started on subscription based software! As a photographer I have used Photoshop for over 20 years. You use to go to a computer shop, buy a box with the software on a disc in it, install it and it was yours for as long as the computer worked(!). Now I am retired from photography I still want to use Photoshop but need to keep paying the subscription for something I have no wage to pay for it from. And I don't want to update it because the new versions have AI in them and I do NOT want that!
Again, sounding like a grumpy old man (I'm only 60 FFS!) I recently realised that although I have loved being a photographer for a living, my favourite jobs were all pre-digital photography. When I had to do it all on colour transparency we had to be so much more creative, and damn that was fun! Some of the crazy stuff we got to do... And not so long ago if you wanted aerial shots you went up in a helicopter, hung out the side of it and took photos. Now they use a drone. BOOO!! Anyway I'm getting off topic...
Again, sounding like a grumpy old man (I'm only 60 FFS!) I recently realised that although I have loved being a photographer for a living, my favourite jobs were all pre-digital photography. When I had to do it all on colour transparency we had to be so much more creative, and damn that was fun! Some of the crazy stuff we got to do... And not so long ago if you wanted aerial shots you went up in a helicopter, hung out the side of it and took photos. Now they use a drone. BOOO!! Anyway I'm getting off topic...
drgonzo1969
Well-known member
These days, photographers refer to the dark room as the space between their ears…
drgonzo1969
Well-known member
Photography was one of my first loves. I still have all my old enlargers and timers from when I built my own darkroom in high school but prices of chemicals quickly extinguished that hobby.
Mentaltossflycoon
Well-known member
I had access to a dark room in highschool and got pretty in to black and white photography for a few years. The challenge and ritual, the weird specialized skills, it was all so satisfying. While I haven't had access to a dark room since, buying my first digital camera was when I truly stopped taking photos in an artful manner.
My darkroom is now a storeroom. I actually enjoy digital photography. Standing in a darkroom for hours printing the same negative for a client who wants 1000 copies of their face gets old pretty fast! But the work changed after digital became the norm. From shooting roughly 50% B&W and 50% colour transparency it became 100% digital. I still turn some images into B&W digitally but it's not the same.