In November, I eBay'd a "For Parts" Yamaha QY100, and yesterday I got around to finishing up the repairs by adhering [1] new conductive rubber pads to each of the 52 silicon rubber buttons. It still reflects someone using it until twenty plus buttons had worn to failure and the headphone line out jack was wobbly and intermittent.
But it now plays great, even though it won't win a cosmetic award.
Rather I would say it plays great in the way Yamaha's instruments are genius. But the Yamaha approach to sequencing/MIDI recording just doesn't work well for me, even though I wish it did. Yamaha's design aesthetic falls more toward the planning-thinking end of the spectrum while I sit more toward listening-reacting.
The QY100 interface is great at creating a composing experience and most of the time, Usually my spark is wanting to jam and although the QY100's amp simulations might make it attractive solely as an effects processor, the interface isn't ideal for that.
It's all buttons and menus and zero knobs.
Sure I could MIDI program one or more controllers to allow listening and reacting in real time. But programming MIDI doesn't feel like making music to me. I've learned from hands on experience needing MIDI programming is not a limitation that drives my creativity. Once I go into the wouldn't-it-be-cool-if headspace, my listening-reacting experience dries up.
Wouldn't-it-be-cool-if doesn't feel like one of my flow states. [2] Programming MIDI is the wrong kind of problem for me. When my MIDI programming doesn't work, it doesn't work in the wrong way for me. It doesn't create a sound I can listen to. And when it does work, technical contingency and interintendency create a fragility that means it works in the wrong way for me. MIDI programming requires me thinking in the wrong abstractions.
How I programmed the MIDI is not an interesting story. It's a non-musical metatext.
For me, I think the same is true for the DAW. The story of making music with a computer doesn't interest me. Mostly because computers are fungible. I mean creating music with a Raspberry Pi or Ableton is mostly an interesting metatext in proportion to Raspberry Pi or Ableton interest level.
The story of computer abstractions takes up space that might be occupied by musical abstractions. I think DAW's are cool. Just not right for me. It's a high impedance paradigm. I high impedance interface.
I get more out of the abstractions of hardware.
[1]: cyanoacrylate after using a primer for cyanoacrylate.
[2]: repairing things is a flow state though.