Ok, moving on. I left the workstation quite deliberately last on the list above for no other reason than one particular machine, the Korg M1, would make music production available to the masses in a way no other instrument had done previously. But it can't claim all the credit for this by itself. Typical of most synths of the day it's front panel was sparse to say the least and the main reason was simply cost.

To provide a button, knob or slider for every function would have been so cost prohibitive the machine may never have been made at all. Also it is only the digital microprocessor that allows for the functions hidden behind the front panel to be managed and presented through a cost effective display. Where the M1 was really significant was due to the fact that integration or packaging of technology would take place at the end user level rather than the manufacturer.

While Korg would market such a benefit of using the M1 in this way it was the musician using a combination of the M1, MIDI and a home computer that made it happen. Cynically to some it would become ubiquitous but it was a powerful package that 'evolved' in a very human way out of cheap home computing platforms, early adopter developers creating the sequencing and librarian software, MIDI and the instrument itself. If any of these things were missing it simply would not have worked.

While computing and the Internet have socially revolutionised the world we recognise today it is important to note that the fundamentals that underpin these technologies have been around for a couple of centuries. The Charles Babbage Difference Engines of the early 1800's laid the foundations of thinking around mechanical switching states that evolved into electrical switching states that represent those glorious 0's and 1's.

The technology upon which the Internet depends is in itself more than half a century old. The landscape we have today is revolutionary because evolution has reached a certain critical mass or maturity. While audio professionals have enjoyed the benefits of this rapidly evolving capability the truth is however that very rarely do the demands of audio professionals drive the platforms they use.

There are specialist or niche computer builders supplying machines specifically for the audio environment but by and large audio people select the 'best fit' solution and then adapt it further to their needs based on what is available. Apple Mac Pro's, long considered the platform of choice, was turned on it's head last year with latest release from Apple, who made it clear that it was built for the 4K video crowd and not for audio professionals.

Not surprising really when you consider the question of whether any broad computing platform has been designed with those guys in mind. In terms of either revolution or evolution we will see a system designed for you in these terms? I would think not unless you were prepared to pay for it.

So what's next? You be the judge. I'm not a revolutionary guy, I'm just not wired that way. What I am is someone who looks at what we have now and asks some basic questions about whether something meets my needs and if it doesn't what could be done to make it better.

Sometimes there is that eureka moment but that does not necessarily mean it's a revolutionary moment, sometimes it is, sometimes not. Revolution also comes from evolving maturity and it can also come from a need shared by a large enough group of people who are just waiting for the solution they don't even know exists yet.

The person who finds that solution, they are the clever ones.

Jason Durbin (aka Lagrange Audio) has been a synth and music tech enthusiast for 30 years since getting his hands on his first synth in 1983 at the tender age of 16. He hasn't earned a single Aussie dollar from music but the journey has been nothing short of incredible and he has met and interacted with some amazing people along the way. Jason is a true enthusiast doing it for nothing more than the pure love of it.