#315

There is also the scale of the production to consider. ‘more affordable’ means more people will buy it and this may brings unit costs down. The development costs are also less per unit. A bigger community of users also benefits most of us. The announcements sort of hint that this might be the approach. I think this could be a big seller it hits a nice spot - has a screen and is upgradable. If the talk of coding doesnt put too many people off- which it shouldnt as nice stack of community made instruments/apps /things are sitting ready for it. It should be a thing that works for what ever level of coding knowledge you can bring to it: lots or virtually none- it has something to offer to the user.
Im sure a lot of thought has been put into these things.

3 Likes
#316

Yeah that’s a common thing you hear on the webs: Assuming the cost of an instrument/device is purely made up by the cost of the materials/components.
Let’s say you want to develop an instrument and for it to go from a conceptual stage (coming up with the idea/s) to it being actually in the shop, including everything listed by infovore above, it takes 6 months of – 8 hours a day x 6 days a week – hard work (but that’s just random numbers so you get the idea). Who is going to pay for your rent, food, cloths, children’s school and transport, etc.? You need to pay that from he sales of whatever you have made. Plus you’ll likely want a little extra to be in there as well, wouldn’t you?
And the time it takes to make this happen is only half the story… there’s a very fitting anecdote about Picasso who once was approached by a person who asked him to make a drawing. He scribbled something on a piece of paper and then asked for 10.000$. When the person said: “but that took you only 30 seconds to make?” he replied: “No it took me 40 years”. If this happened or not might be subject to discussion, but it’s a great story and the fact is… it takes years of hard work to be able to do something in 30 seconds, let alone to be able to do something that will take months.

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#317

Speaking of potentially apocryphal Picasso anecdotes, my favourite is about one time when he was having dinner in a restaurant and the owner asked if he’d like to pay with a drawing, to which he’s supposed to have answered “I’m paying for my dinner, not the restaurant” :slight_smile:

Anyway, I suspect Norns is not for me (unless it can have a nice enough interface for a multitracks looper) but it seems to be a very smart device and I hope it’s successful…

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#318

to underline that… this quote is from august 2016

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#319

I just want to thank you @tehn. i learned max+msp because the monome and i use it every day ! and now i’ll learn supercollider and LUA because of Norns :slight_smile:

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#320

norns_metal
norns_metal.JPG1500×1000 1.09 MB

design

we create objects. we take object-ness very seriously. objects should invite and attract and live long lives.
we’ve said this before: minimalism is difficult. proportions and functionality and finish and materials are important in equal measure. (1) we believe that when minimalism succeeds it leaves space for your own ideas and enforces less of a singular, specified agenda.

milled aluminum block, hard anodized. (2) custom molded knob and key caps. (3) recessed rubber feet. huge bright monochromatic pixels.

no distractions. no branding. no labels. (4)

future wide open.

(1) thanks to @kelli_cain’s exceptional design sensibility.
(2) 3D architecture by @r__o!
(3) we’re using the same US manufacturers that have helped bring our designs into reality since 2006.
(4) no labels was a difficult decision. with so few controls and jacks you internalize the layout within minutes. and if you prefer, a stripe of masking tape fits perfectly for mixer-style reminders.

87 Likes
#321

That @r__o is a class act. Tell him to release more music or at least get the old stuff on bandcamp.

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#322

That’s a beautiful enclosure. What process gives it that hatched look? Looks different from the underside of my grid. Is that the milling or the anodizing? Looking forward to seeing it for real. I guess it will sell out in an hour or something crazy like that.

#323

I am always intrigued by the idea that the “future (is) wide open” wrt instruments. While I know you can’t commit to it at this time, have you and the team designed Norns to be upgraded/enhanced?

#324

wait, @tehn didn’t just wake up with this in the chicken coup? those little buddies are just crazy enough i wouldn’t put it past them…

1 Like
#325

I’d like to chime in if only to express how much I love this (just as I loved the Aleph). I’m excited about the integration of SuperCollider, and I’m looking forward to learning a bit of Lua!

I teach creative coding, including live-coded electronic music, to students from diverse backgrounds, and although we have a lot of fun with it, the students really crave and thrive on creative time away from their laptops. We’ve had success with utilizing Raspberry Pi, but this totally fills that need. If I’m understanding the device correctly, now they can do their SuperCollider programming, load it, step away from their laptops, and engage creatively on a deeper, more intuitive and tactile level!

20 Likes
#326

The finish is really nice - almost looks like fabric.

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#327

Norns esthetic is truly striking. Can’t wait for May 3rd

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#328

It (and Grids, and Arc…) looks very sci-fi, or dreamlike. Utopian. Like the Platonic ideal of the thing that it is (or can be), or a tabula rasa.

Contrast the look of Norns with the Behringer Neutron. I’m sure I’m going to enjoy making music with the latter, and won’t be put off by the color red or the gaudiness of the panel. But as objects go, it looks very capitalist and NASCAR-ish somehow.

2 Likes
#329

Will norns be compatibel with my 2009 Non-Varibright Walnut 256 grid??

And (a thing I‘m dreaming of for many moons now - maybe a feature request?) it would be so cool to use mlr without a computer… I‘m imagining: having all the audio files on norns, triggering them with the grid, using norns as some kind of audio interface, having the small display for orientation as you leave through the mlr-pages etc…

I‘m a total noob when it comes to such things and also not sure if I understand things correctly, because english is not my mothertounge, BUT would it be possible to create somethng like I‘m imagining? :slight_smile:

1 Like
#330

If I had to guess, I would imagine this would be down to the scripts, since all the serialosc-era stuff just sends/receives OSC willy nilly. As far as I can tell there’s no reason why that would be different for different size/brightness grids.

3 Likes
#331

As for MLR, I think we saw a preview of it in the original Norns video at the top of this thread:

1 Like
#333

yeah, but i think brian has recorded those sounds directly into norns’ mlr, so I’m not sure if norns can also be used as some kind of “sample/audio-file storage/manager”. maybe his recordings were just saved into ram-memory? it would need some storage space for, let’s say, wav-files which are transmitted via usb from the computer into norns. (dude, i’m having a hard time expressing myself right now, haha, but i hope you understand what i mean :smiley: )

i’ve seen the mlr-thing in the video… but this quote made me think afterwards: “but the norns also stands on its own. as a processor/effect, as a drone machine, as a robot drummer for your jam band (or metal band).”… will you need a computer after all for mlr?? (as i said i’m a noob - have mercy :wink: )

i hope for the best :slight_smile:

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#334

You’re totally making sense! Hopefully you can just load files on and save them on-board, or potentially on a usb stick. But I guess we’ll find out from @tehn eventually! :slight_smile:

1 Like
#335

I think there’ll be some storage for samples

1 Like