AES August '26 Seminar Summary

1. The evolution of music technology

The evolution of music technology from the 60s is something that needs to be studied to analyze how far we've come.

2. Building in public

Building in public is the key in these times of automation. This doesn't mean that one should ditch the fundamentals altogether. The line between a music producer and an audio programmer has blurred.

3. Why should anyone care?

This should be the key query while developing a product or starting a portfolio project. There are millions of EQs in the market, and many developers are creating customs too, but what's new? Why should anyone care about the game?

4. Be irreplaceable

Key questions to ask yourself:

• What are your roots?
• What is unique in you?
• Why should this exist? The product.

5. What's the future of workflows?

This is subjective and quite philosophical too. An inspiring figure from the good old 70s, Tom Scholz, who is the lead guitarist of the band Boston, comes to our attention as an example.

He was an MIT-trained engineer who used his skills to invent gears and custom analog studio effects, which are the signature sound of the band Boston.

The message here is that now things are subjective when it comes to the workflow, and a clear definition of what, why, who, how, and which is the deciding factor.

6. LLMs and creative synthesis

LLM's are generic. The development workflow is all about synthesis in the creative flow. Craft custom sounds, taste and beyond.

Keywords noted during the session:

MaxMSP, Ableton Live, MPC, FPGA, Ableton Extensions, Auto/Pilot, aiformusic by Roland, LTV System, Zig, Knock Drum Plugin