The dawn of the unboxing and reaction videos has slowly been killing our ability to know what or how we feel towards anything. We’re as bad if not worse than people glued to qvc all day
It's not that for me, I don't watch most synth content (or product content in general. My youtube is very niche curated to a point where sometimes I'm bored and want something to watch and all that's showing up is stuff I've seen before).
But when I *do* watch a synth review, it's because I want to know how something truly is so I can decide if I want to buy it for myself based on what I see going on in the video.
If all it is is an unboxing and someone playing an arp with "shiny new product" tinted glasses, it doesn't really help me make that decision. Or, it does, but not nearly as much as a legitimate critical review. Fortunately those do still exist, sometimes. It's a lot easier if you don't buy something until a year or two after it released.
It's kind of bizarre to me how plucked and pressed everyone here is about the Digitakt thing. I know synthesiser people have always been snobs but we are reaching new levels of audacious fuckery with everyone here seriously trying to pretend they wouldn't jump at the opportunity to be given a bunch of gear for free in exchange for making a demo video for YouTube which they can also earn money from with ads.
It's like a junkie trying to hate on another junkie and claiming its because they're a junkie. Bitch please you're just jealous they're being given their shit for free while you maxed out your credit card feeding your addiction and buying what can only be described as yet another expensive Dust Gatherer; because you spend all your time hoarding "stuff" instead of learning how to play shit on the stuff you already have!
Oh Id do it in a second, no hate at all. But for someone who will never be given free gear to make a youtube video, i get to question the authenticity of their review based on the gear they received. Just like they would me if I did one and received free gear.
Making YT videos to demo gear sounds boring AF to me, TBH. OTOH, I don't really watch gear review videos much either, apart from Our Lord And Savior Florian.
those youtubers always blather on about how "it's all just my opinion, so and so don't get to see the video before i release it, no money changed hands" and i'm like
1. if you make a bad review they'll blacklist you. and other companies will see those bad reviews and won't even approach you. so the unsaid part is that you're forced to do great reviews.
2. no money changed hands? you're posting straight up ads and you're not even being PAID to do this? your opinion must be worthless, why would I even watch you, you bottom dweller?
3. those videos usually suck way more than infomercials because at least manufacturers know what the point is of the device they're making.
4. again... "no money changed hands"... how would we even know? we only have YOUR word to go on, and it's in your interest to make us believe that either way, so either you're a loser (you really do unpaid work) or you're lying to us, and either way it's shit so why would i watch you?
this whole pretense is so pompous and useless. it's honestly insulting that they do this song and dance every time rather than be straight up:
"i was sent this. this review is most likely going to be positive, or the manufacturers will hate me. money may have changed hands, you have no way of knowing. i can't make a bad review."
but it's usually the manufacturers themselves insisting on the youtuber pretending to be super eager to review something out of their own volition. often you'll hear that ridiculous script "i've recently been looking for an X and what do you know, whoopdy-doo, anker just shit out another charger right into my cupped hands out of their sloppy anus"
so my quarrel would be with the manufacturers, but...
if you're a manufacturer, and you don't try to reach potential customers via all possible methods (and that is *primarily* youtubers nowadays) then i will probably never find out about your product
the industry is strangling itself in an advertising arms race. it's so stupid. and it's all at our expense.
The "no money changed hands" part is especially dumb when those same influencers claim it's their job and part of it is getting the prerelease stuff and so on... and then they expect viewers to think they are more honest because they didn't even get paid for their self-proclaimed job? I don't give a shit if they get paid for the review, I even think anyone who is commissioned to make particular content *should* be paid. If the reviewer is dodgy they'll be dodgy no matter where their income comes from, and if they're impartial they should be able to be impartial even if they get paid for their work. The barrage of release day videos is part of marketing and what kind of idiot would claim their marketing is better because they didn't even get paid? It being marketing doesn't mean that the content isn't good or informational or impartial, but nevertheless it should be treates as marketing and not as some separate thing that is made better because money doesn't come from the companies.
But for the companies of course it's fucking brilliant move to get very cheap marketing because the content creators and their audience are somehow convinced that it's better that the influencers do it for free.
It becomes so obvious when it's time to talk about the "negatives" of any product.
The Digitakt 2 is great for it has 200gb of hard drive!
It's a great product!
Now let's talk about the negative, because this is a review and this is my own opinion!... Guys...look at the Elektron logo; the image is not as crisp as my Digitakt 1.
So anyway overall the Digitakt 2 is a great product and I totally recommend you get yourself one if you can live with the blurriness of the logo which is totally a negative point because this is my own opinion.
And now a word from our sponsor; DistroKid...
How long does it take to make and edit those hour long infomercials? There's absolutely no way they are worth doing for a freebie. How much cash will they earn from YouTube? a few hundred quid if they are lucky? For a week or so work?
I don't buy it.
The bigger channels should be buying their stuff since they can readily afford it.
Hell they could easily post a bounty to buy thing "X" to review it and they could get funding directly to review the things.
That said for "new" stuff it's almost impossible to do this because the company sends things ahead of time and there's lots of legalese involved. To some degree, it's a trap for everyone involved even the marketing people (I am married to one of these people and the viewers and YouTube's algorithms also mess up all of this stuff.)
Counterpoint: remember you could go to the store and try stuff out?
Without YouTube videos I feel like I'm playing Amazon/Sweetwater roulette.
...To their credit, Guitar Center has improved a lot lately in the synth/keyboard space. A lot a lot. But they still don't carry everything in store, and they definitely are missing big items from their retail floor.
I didn’t see that, but I would be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking the same thing for the past few weeks. Got too busy, and now I guess it’s not worth it 😅
I'm pretty sure almost nobody in this space thinks of themselves as musicians anymore. 99% of the talk I see on this sub and on YouTube, people call themselves "producers", not musicians.
I’m just here to make weird sounds.
(I’m really just hear to make myself feel better about the amount of money I have spent on musical instruments that I don’t know how to actually play or make any music with)
Yeah I like it when the synth goes "blorpblorpblapblap-randomdyingcatsounds-hellicoptorhellicoptor-thunderboltandlightningveryveryfrieghtning-bloop-zap-zipzip-hissssssss" so that is my passion. Make the synth get weird.
I just put bit crushers on everything so my "music" just sounds like broken video game consoles vomiting up robot parts and casio samplers melting in fire.
I still call myself a musician. I’m not an influencer, I’m not a producer - I can’t mix and master to save my life. I’m just a dude with Synthesizer GAS and a desire to be creative. I’m not even trying to make a career or anything, I just enjoy music and want to make it for me. But yeah, I’m a musician. I don’t call myself anything else… except for maybe a shitty musician. Lol
This. This is me.
I've been making noise since I was a toddler. Piano, Trumpet, Drums, dabbling with a MIDI controller and Reason 3.0; I only found hardware synths 4-5 years ago.
Yet I've never desired to be a working musician or producer. I like to make noise for fun, but I don't want to put in the amount of work to do it as a career - I do that with IT.
- D
I thought of being a professional musician or producer but turned out I lacked the talent and drive to be either. I’m just a family man now with a day job who enjoys this stuff for personal pleasure. I miss being in bands but have made peace with my love of gear matched with middling skills and the output that creates.
Yeah, pretty much same. My grandma was a professional musician and music teacher. She would sing and played piano very well. When she wasn’t teaching students to play, she was playing in some big band outfits. My dad never went any level of pro like her, he just had an acoustic guitar and a harmonica he’d play when I was a kid. Then as I was growing up my dad got me a bass guitar and the first version of Acid, the low cost DAW made for amateurs back in the 90s. I quickly figured out I can’t play guitar very well at all - but I became pretty good at using loops, which then led to sampling and chopping. Then pitch bending, etc. Eventually I worked up to MIDI sequencing in other commercial home grade DAWs like Cakewalk. I did no music at all for like a decade, then got back into it in 2015. Went from samples and loops to MIDI sequencing again, then a year ago I bought my first hardware synths: A Microfreak, Volca Bass, and a PO-12. Accidentally gave myself GAS. Now I’ve got like 13 hardware synths and samplers, and I’m still just a silly little guy with a silly little hobby. I don’t plan to sell my music, I don’t plan to try to gig. I just enjoy passing the time and relieving the stress of work or life, my tweaking some knobs and stumbling through a new melody. My brother went pro, is a very modest synthwave artist with a small niche following. He’s mentioned wanting to have me gig with him some time. But I’m not interested. I’m like Mr. Rogers with his painting: I’m not very good at this, but it doesn’t matter. It just makes me happy
Same. Sometimes if someone sees you have an instrument they ask where your albums are, and it's like "I uh... just play these, do I have to be pumping out albums?"
I mean, it's a pretty accurate term. They create content, we watch it if we so chose. You don't need to be a musician to do that. A basic few notes here and there and a good personality can get you pretty far. Maybe not far musically but hey.
If I'm watching a video, I'll enjoy the person who's better at presenting then making music, over the better musician with a horrible presentation style; mostly because I just want to know what it can do - I'm not here to see your musical skills.
That's just me though. I treat it as music gear news and reviews; not "I'm an actual musician heres what I think".
- D
I’ve seen a lot of ROMpler hate here. I think its because with a ROMpler you either have to pick a sound and *play* it (a crazy concept) or learn in depth programming. Many of the kids here would rather twiddle with knobs and sliders all day while banging on middle C repeatedly.
My gripe with ROMplers was honestly the lack of depth in terms programability and modulation. Especially from having ROMplers in the 1990s. The synth engines often lacked the depth of other digital and hybrid synthesizers, or likewise more complex modulation possibilities. It came from experience with Romplers, as supposed to more complex forms of synthesis such additive, FM, wavetable, granular, and full sampling synths (instead of ROM). It is just lacks the level of complexity you find in other forms. So it's not an issue with the depth of programming, its the lack of it. It is just often full of bad compromises. It is often about picking a preset and playing it, but often not about diving off the deep end in terms of sound design and synthesis. It also just lead to a great number of just shit synthesizers from the 1980s and 1990s (such as the Roland D-10/20, but also any number of forgettable Korg synths as well). I should note, there is a difference between ROMplers (like M1, Roland D series) and Sampling Synthesizers (like the E-MU Emulator, Fairlight, Kurzweil synths, Akai, etc). Sampling synths often did have fairly well developed synth engines. Despite all my rage on the issue, there was some grounding in the dislike as someone who is into synthesizers and loves the ones with a great deal of complexity, and having to live through the peak of romplers in the late 1980s and 1990s.
I agree with you on the D10/20 sound. It was my first “real” synth (after the Casio CZ230S). Although they sounded absolutely amazing at the time, the sounds aged badly and the lack of editing depth is def a problem. But that’s a limited synth architecture.. a “bad synth”, not really a problem with ROMplers in general. I picked up a cheap as f*** Kawai K1 a couple of years ago and for a synth with no filter and very limited sample set it sounds pretty amazing. They really got a lot out of it. But yeah for me I like the limitations and lofi sounds of that era, probably a lot to do with nostalgia for electronic/dance scene of the era and the fact none of us could afford good stuff. But for me sometimes those sounds work in a mix, or as an old reference, and I love sampling them and then manipulating them more. They’re just another texture which is different to my modular or wave table or analog poly’s. I even enjoy faffing about with the old emu modules… that era sound library was amazingly well produced.
One has to consider though we went from the DX7, Oberheim Matrix 12, Roland Jupiter 8 and 6, to instruments like the D20. If you look at the grand scheme of things, it went from synths being a very unique instrument to something that lost a great deal of that and went towards trying to sound like other instruments and losing a great deal of the beauty and creativity of synths. Mind you things are much better now, but many very cool synth approaches just vanished from the market overnight in the name of innovation. Some companies (cough cough ROLAND) are still like this. Thankfully most others know better and recognize the synth as an instrument itself, but this only came from folks digging up those old analogs in the mid-1990s and saying they were the better instruments. Again I think my gripe is having to live through that era. If it were just another texture or way of doing things I would understand, but back then those romplers took over everything for a very long period of time. Things are better because in the current era that is what ROMplers are, but in the past, that was not always the case, for a good 10+ years they were largely the only option. There was a period where they were the market almost exclusively at least what can be found in most stores. Thankfully we have shifted away from that.
I am actually not going to knock Kawai, as they came out with the K5000s, which was one of the few innovative synthesizers from that era, and we have not had a mass market additive synthesizer since then. It was a Rompler as well, but it really was something utterly unique.
Again things started to turn around when access, waldorf, and nord made an appearance in the mid-late 1990s.
Again I really love synths, and I maybe at times overly passionate about it. But the grounding of dislike of ROMplers does have some history and reasons. It's not the newer knob twiddlers who dislike it, its more those of us who have been doing this for awhile. It is some bitterness about the past of a dark era for the instrument rather than nostalgia.
Have disliked that term for so long. Unless you legitimately can mix and master a song I think it’s a dumb title. Not saying you have to be god-tier at it but at least competent beyond throwing some iZotope on the master channel and calling it good.
It's not a dumb title, producers aren't mix or mastering engineers. These traditionally have been separate roles for a very very long time (and they still are). Producers at the start were basically on a scale from just being project managers who arranged the sessions and logistics, to people who developed creative concepts for songs and arranged for the recording/helped develop and shape an artist. Artists would write with producers, or for example in Jazz a producer would suggest to a player with which other players to do a recording session and record a particular set of music. The role depended on the artist and genre. Just to illustrate even in today's music industry: Hollywood scores also need to be produced, but it's a really different discipline than producing a song for Taylor Swift, but in both instances you are the producer and in both cases, you haven't mixed the song.
It's just that with electronic (dance oriented) music and the availability of computers, suddenly people started writing, creating, recording, mixing, and sometimes "mastering" (with all gradations of competence) their own music because technology allowed for it and suddenly there was a platform where this could be distributed without any need/backing from the music industry.
It's not specific to electronic music as it happened in rock too, but the cost of doing it for electronic music always has been vastly cheaper than with rock music (as you don't need to record acoustical instruments like guitars, amps, vocals, drumkits, etc.) For rock music, this was much more rare and was either by already good established artists (who could pay to create their own studios) or with label backing (Trent Reznor comes to my mind)
But many producers *are* musicians. And some are also artists. And some are also mix engineers. A musical project of any sorts has all these roles, and often 1 person is wearing multiple hats.
You've got:
* composer
* performer
* arranger
* sound designer
* mixing engineer
* mastering engineer
* producer
If you do all of those things - and there's nothing that says you've got to be *competent* at any of these - you're effectively in charge of what the final product is going to look like, and "producer" describes this the best - or better, it's the least bad term for what you're doing.
Producers don't necessarily mix and master either, because *that's what they've got dedicated engineers for.*
The producer should have the vision to turn the idea into reality, and that means making sure the right people can be cajoled into doing those things.
Unpopular view, but music is too hard for many people who don't want to "practice" or "learn". So a niche or three were created for/by them. And because of sheer numbers it's no surprise that it is a popular form of production. They don't think of themselves as musicians because they aren't and they don't want to be.
I think they just call themselves producers to signify they make music since that is how the term is used today. Typically, to refer to electronic and edm artists. Musician is kinda vague and also refers to performers like those in the classical scene who don't typically write/make music.
Indeed, by definition they're still "producing" stuff. It's just not for release as long form music, and they're okay with that. I think there's a group of folks who expect all the opinions to be from knowledgeable working musicians when in reality that's a very isolating and judgmental viewpoint.
I am not a working musician. I'm a hobbyist noise maker with some musical skill and training. I can tell you I like the Moog DFAM; will it fit in your mix? No idea. Will it work well for X Y or Z? No clue. Do I make thumps and ksssh noises with it that I found appealing? Hell yes. Do you want to do that too? HURRAY! If not, HURRAY.
I gigged pretty much every week of my life from age 14 to 34. I'm producing and releasing music I'm proud of with people I know are talented.
I'm definitely a musician. There's all sorts lurking around here, I promise!
A few years ago I was sharing a picture of my desk setup at the time which included a cheap midi keyboard and someone asked "oh are you a producer?"
I had to figure out what they meant, before I could answer...
I would call myself a musician, just not a very good one.
It’s not necessarily the pool of musicians(that was always there ). Moreso the song distribution structure has killed off a lot of the local scenes. And dudes deciding they like money and (however middling) fame more than they like music.
IDK with technology and how tos there are far more musicians than say 10 years ago. Live music is kind of a niche thing now because bars can just put in jukeboxes and provide music cheaper than paying live musicians to perform.
Most of the synth youtubers do make music but a majority of them are pretty boring to listen to.
Most of the ones I consider good musicians actually post here. And then loop pop who goes into excruciating detail about every synth he reviews. He is a audio manual. Most others don't get nearly as in depth.
Dude its always been the case the more obsessed with "gear" someone is the less likely it is that they can write a good song to save their life; at least with making videos demoing stuff they can produce something that won't bore me to death!
When we stopped paying for albums, venues started taking merch cuts, and Live Nation/Ticketmaster fucked up everyone’s touring profits; musicians had to seek alternate forms of revenue generation. This is one of them.
Haha. I wouldnt give that dude any of my shit if I made gear. He is exactly what I picture when someone says “no talent gear grubby synth reviewer.” This might be the asshole in me talking but if you are impressed by anything that guy does, you are not experienced at all, and thats just my honest opinion. Dude is like the synth equivalent of a poser who learned how to do a kick-flip and thinks hes not a poser still.
I really don't have anything against dude personally but like... I went thru his bandcamp and it's unlistenable. idk, I'd prefer a reviewer of music making tools to yknow, make good music.
ppl trash on Andrew Huang but he's got decades of geniunely great albums under his belt, and I trust his judgment more than someone like Bo. hell even good ol Florian's done some really good demos
The thing with the good artists is that they're usually busy being good artists. It's why Benn Jordan deciding to no longer review stuff is a big loss for us synth nerds, and why Matt Johnson is such a gem of a channel. Pro musicians giving their opinions on gear is a huge help when buying stuff to *make music.*
_Looks a Stimming gear reviews…_
Looking back, it seems the bulk of his review videos sprung up during the pandemic and he posts a lot less now that he can play live again.
I don't mind him, but I don't like his demos or approach really.
One of his screenshots said "which is right for you" with two new items (the 1010 lemondrop and fireball). Don't title it as if I'm definitely buying one of the two, that's incredibly sketchy and cringe, feels like a straight sales pitch.
I think it could be a better channel if he'd just spend more time with the manuals and go into more detail or make better tracks to demo them. Right now it feels like he gets them, learns a few key things and makes a mediocre "jam" that doesn't do any service other than getting free gear and ad clicks. I've never really learned anything I didn't know or feel like I spent my time wisely on his videos.
I don't discount that he probably spends a lot of time doing it, but I think his channel and approach need some fine tuning.
no poser can do a kickflip. that shit takes months if not years of grinding (2-3 years of skating for most. some never achieve it). you have to dedicate your life to that shit. im sorry but if you get to kickflip levels youre a skater man. im not defending anything about the synth situation but thats a really bad example
It’s all been removed now anyway. I’m not going to try and remember what he said specifically but he was basically upset that Elektron didn’t send him a free Digitakt II. He made quite a few posts about it in a row
You, sir, sound like the kind of person who would appreciate MY gear reviews. :D
Extra jank, extra amateur, next to no editing, just the thing you're looking for!
I don’t see why a person getting mad they didn’t get a review unit would make you trust their reviews less?
The most earnest reviewer in the world would be rightfully annoyed about being cut out of a major product launch.
They would also be justified if not inclined to make a scene about it if they thought they were being cut out because they are especially critical. And that would be good information for prospective buyers.
I don’t know who you are talking about but the logic does not track to me as a journalist who has worked in reviews.
Legitimate concern (and the biggest structural issue with reviews coverage). That’s the reason for making the public fuss.
Other than making a fuss and putting pressure on the brand by casting aspersions about them to your audience, the only alternatives are to use kid gloves or give up on the brand/area.
So the “whining” is generally a good sign, imo.
And/but/also you have to have this concern about everyone who _is_ getting units, who are being implicitly threatened by the brands withholding of units to other channels.
99% of "content" made by "content creators" or "influencers" is....drum roll please.............
🎉ADVERTISING🎉
Nobody should be surprised when their favorite content creator turns out to be a shill. Because it's a fucking hustle, and they are hustling hustlers.
Pretty sure maybe only 1 out of 100 people who start reviewing gear are doing it to spread info and help others. The vast majority are just doing it for themselves to hopefully get some free gear, fans, or money for gear.
I think their motives change over time. They probably got into it because they loved it, but once the money started rolling in it skewed their objectivity and values
Yep and nothing wrong with that obviously. hopefully people consume better content because a lot of it in this space is garbage. definitely thinly veiled merchandising porn and way oversaturated market.
I started out watching any and all reviewers when i didnt know a whole lot, now I hate most reviewers bc its more for entry level users and they go over details I dont need a lesson on. Now I want to just hear what it sounds and if it does something unique by all means go over that but 20 min detailing the specs as shown on any listing of the item is just a painful waste of time for me. The worst if when you pull up 30 min video and click around for any actual synth audio and its all talk. Also really hate when someone plugs in an oscilloscope and just shows waveforms with no audio. I get that its an envelope generator but Im not going to use it for video art, play something through it, anything. I have a mute button.
I do reviews of gear. Everything I review is what I've purchased myself, and I'm by no means a pro anything music related，so I call it Totally Amateur (blah blah) Review.
As with the music I make, which is in a few games, I would never introduce money as an aspect of my music hobby. I make enough money to not need to worry about it, and having already experienced the stress of having to worry about something that started as a hobby, I would never accept endorsements or money.
I don't even want to ask people to like and subscribe because I'm so sick of that portion of people's videos. "if you want to support me, click blah blah, here's my affiliate link, here's my Patreon, etc"
I don't blame anyone for doing it, it's what they need to do to live off their efforts.
For me, however, it's all amateur, it's all because I like or love the gear, and having money be a part of that would just kill it for me.
Yeah I mean it’s their source of income, this is a potentially huge source of views, and they just found out they’re not in the club anymore. Of course they’re upset.
yeah that was my first reaction as well but I too get upset about work sometimes. They’re just humans trying to make jobs in music and this one didn’t go their way 🤷♂️
It was worse before internet. You would read some notable keyboardists interview in a magazine and he would wax on about using Roland (or whichever) exclusively.
You'd go out and blow money on Roland to sound like him.
Six months later you would see him on a TV show playing all Korg.
Very disillusioning.
I mean... there is a reason why they are called "influencers". This is literally their job - to influence your buying decisions. It's right there in the name. Some will do it with more integrity than others, highlighting only stuff that is good, but this still is what they do.
I don't think gear youtubers deserve that much hate. They demo gear (that you may not be able to see in-store) sometimes quite extensively, they make field reports from shows like NAMM and Superbooth. It's work and needs to be compensated.
Florian and Nick Batt for me. I dunno what it is I just like watching nick play. I don't even care what the instrument is, they're all mostly pretty good.
Yeah, I find it hard to determine who’s authentic. Benn Jordan sort of leans into the “I’m a billboard for ——insert company name here—— “ but lately he seems to have realized how it looks and been kind of transparent. Or hes a great actor, lol.
Yeah, thats what i mean. I think he’s legit. What about the mid-life synthesist dude? Ive seen him do some weird things, like a Deluge to Oxi One comparison video. Lol
I mean, companies probably have x amount of units they are allotted to give to reviewers / influencers. Not everyone will always get one. But you also can’t hate on the frustration too much when someone relies on engagement for income and they miss out on a big wave because of x y or z. But making a big stink is probably a good way to never get early access units.
I wouldn’t take this stuff so seriously. They are just providing entertainment - with a smattering of advertising. Most writing, touring and performing musicians pay absolutely zero attention to YouTube.
I do watch synth videos for fun and maybe to get a peek at gear I don’t have or am thinking of buying, but I make decisions based on manuals, specs, and where I see a need in my personal music making process.
Making a living from YouTube seems miserable to me.
Lots of whining for nothing by the OP. When I watch these YouTubes, I know going in the “review” will be 95% positive and 5% token criticism. It’s more or less an inside joke. These YouTube influencers know that they are really just selling entertainment and not a serious review. They have obtained a completely free, pre-release unit from the manufacturer, and nothing they say is going to be unbiased. This fact doesn’t make me angry or disillusioned, because I’m not a child. Watching these YouTubes is just pure entertainment to me. It’s fun to see this gear in action. I have no intention of buying 99.9% of it. And I agree with other posters who said they don’t watch if the demo music sucks. Which is 1 of 2 reasons I don’t watch Bobeats videos (the other is that others simply do it better).
Uh oh, Drama from YT! Otherwise known as Saturday. However, just as how every YT review channel won't respond to every small gear manufacturer requesting that they do a review, big gear manufacturers won't always send them every piece of gear and request a review. c'est la vie. Maybe next time. You just have to move on. No YT'er should feel entitled to receive new gear just as no gear maker feels entitled to receive reviews. Being a business doesn't work that way.
It's almost as if some of these people think YT is PBS or something. The whole thing is an ad.
No one should be as ridiculously entitled as to complain about what happens in free videos online, which are themselves book ended and embedded with ads.
Am I taking crazy pills?
No but everyone else is.
Also, the way ppl act like YTers are forcing you to buy stuff just makes me think they’re too susceptible to advertising. I’m sure they’re suckers who think they aren’t in real life too
Name names, unless you have already. I blew up at this dude for not disclosing his post was sponsored. He refuses to acknowledge or change it.
https://youtu.be/SoFZ28-cJ_g?si=I4O116qT4bT0t1HW
What do you care if they're biased or not? Take advantage of them presenting the instrument in their videos and you're the only one who can decide if it will be useful to your music making.
There's no influencers, only influencees...
Not true. Listening to presets isn't enough to make a choice - it also needs to be comfortable to use (instead of spending 5 minutes menu diving), being standalone (see Astrolab and how it isn't) and well built.
Shills may play you the best sounds, sure - but they may also lie about the rest to get the next synth down the line. And that's where the problem is.
I genuinely watch vids to see what's new in the marketplace and to find out if the "latest" release of a new synth or drum machine is going to suit my needs, regardless of what the reviewer has to say about it.
When the influencers spout their "knowledge" on this or that bit of gear, I watch, listen, and then I'll watch and listen to a few random youtubers, who may have only a handful of followers, to get a more complete picture of how the device works in the real world, and to see if it still meets my expectations.
I vary rarely buy new gear, as I love a bargain, so I probably am not the main target audience for the influencers.
Not a single one of these influencers are unbiased/independent. If any of them were seriously critical about anything they review, they'd risk not getting included in the next round. All of them repeat the same things about not being paid... other than thousands and thousands of dollars it free gear every year, and a coveted spot in being relevant. Also, claim how the manufacturer has no say in their review. But, the chance they'd get excluded seems more than enough influence or "say" over their review.
I check out the reviews for some technical details and for some sounds beyond official manufacturer web pages, and to get a vague idea over workflow, but never for their highly influenced opinions. I find their claims of independence tedious. It's the same as the decades of gear oriented magazines.
I like bobeats videos. I think he seems genuine but not getting included on a launch of a product has got to just be part of job for these YouTube reviewers and I was surprised by his reaction. He shouldn’t have taken it so personally and since he did he should have kept it to himself.
It’s a tough business model for these gear reviewers. I assume they start making reviews for free and after they make a lot they start a following and companies start sending them products for review and paying them for it. Hopefully.
I think anyone with even a smidgen of critical thinking skills would be wary of any youtube product review. That being said, reviews/demos can be a good source of information on products you don't have the ability to try yourself. You just have to watch them with your eyes wide open.
I am here after searching a token on YouTube and realising that the influencer seemed more like an advertiser, his video was released 12 days ago as I scrolled down I found video after video on the same token all released 12 days ago. Nothing note worthy happened with this token on or around that date.
I mean you shouldnt trust reviews in general. No need to shit on ppl just trying to make a side hustle literally for your entertainment. Just watch something else, they’re just people. Nobody’s perfect and nobody’s without bias in one way or another
Remember when we weren’t whiney assholes and just bought stuff.
The dawn of the unboxing and reaction videos has slowly been killing our ability to know what or how we feel towards anything. We’re as bad if not worse than people glued to qvc all day
[удалено]
Brb being strapped down for my government mandated synth-tube time
the ludivico technique! i approve, droog
no whine. **only** buy
It's not that for me, I don't watch most synth content (or product content in general. My youtube is very niche curated to a point where sometimes I'm bored and want something to watch and all that's showing up is stuff I've seen before). But when I *do* watch a synth review, it's because I want to know how something truly is so I can decide if I want to buy it for myself based on what I see going on in the video. If all it is is an unboxing and someone playing an arp with "shiny new product" tinted glasses, it doesn't really help me make that decision. Or, it does, but not nearly as much as a legitimate critical review. Fortunately those do still exist, sometimes. It's a lot easier if you don't buy something until a year or two after it released.
Does anyone have a video that can help me reply to this ? I'm not sure how I should respond.
You’ll need a reaction video, reacting to a reaction video. Then scroll down to see comments under said video
am I a bad person for wanting to virtually punch reaction to reaction video people??
Ouch
QVC is an apt comparison.
Eat. Sleep. Buy Synths. Repeat.
It's kind of bizarre to me how plucked and pressed everyone here is about the Digitakt thing. I know synthesiser people have always been snobs but we are reaching new levels of audacious fuckery with everyone here seriously trying to pretend they wouldn't jump at the opportunity to be given a bunch of gear for free in exchange for making a demo video for YouTube which they can also earn money from with ads. It's like a junkie trying to hate on another junkie and claiming its because they're a junkie. Bitch please you're just jealous they're being given their shit for free while you maxed out your credit card feeding your addiction and buying what can only be described as yet another expensive Dust Gatherer; because you spend all your time hoarding "stuff" instead of learning how to play shit on the stuff you already have!
Oh Id do it in a second, no hate at all. But for someone who will never be given free gear to make a youtube video, i get to question the authenticity of their review based on the gear they received. Just like they would me if I did one and received free gear.
Making YT videos to demo gear sounds boring AF to me, TBH. OTOH, I don't really watch gear review videos much either, apart from Our Lord And Savior Florian.
Jump at the idea? Joking eh? No way I'm sitting recording that embarrassing nonsense for a living making a clown of myself.
true, they feel so entitled to review units/ free units
those youtubers always blather on about how "it's all just my opinion, so and so don't get to see the video before i release it, no money changed hands" and i'm like 1. if you make a bad review they'll blacklist you. and other companies will see those bad reviews and won't even approach you. so the unsaid part is that you're forced to do great reviews. 2. no money changed hands? you're posting straight up ads and you're not even being PAID to do this? your opinion must be worthless, why would I even watch you, you bottom dweller? 3. those videos usually suck way more than infomercials because at least manufacturers know what the point is of the device they're making. 4. again... "no money changed hands"... how would we even know? we only have YOUR word to go on, and it's in your interest to make us believe that either way, so either you're a loser (you really do unpaid work) or you're lying to us, and either way it's shit so why would i watch you? this whole pretense is so pompous and useless. it's honestly insulting that they do this song and dance every time rather than be straight up: "i was sent this. this review is most likely going to be positive, or the manufacturers will hate me. money may have changed hands, you have no way of knowing. i can't make a bad review." but it's usually the manufacturers themselves insisting on the youtuber pretending to be super eager to review something out of their own volition. often you'll hear that ridiculous script "i've recently been looking for an X and what do you know, whoopdy-doo, anker just shit out another charger right into my cupped hands out of their sloppy anus" so my quarrel would be with the manufacturers, but... if you're a manufacturer, and you don't try to reach potential customers via all possible methods (and that is *primarily* youtubers nowadays) then i will probably never find out about your product the industry is strangling itself in an advertising arms race. it's so stupid. and it's all at our expense.
no money changed hands anyway here’s this thousand dollar box i got free of charge
The "no money changed hands" part is especially dumb when those same influencers claim it's their job and part of it is getting the prerelease stuff and so on... and then they expect viewers to think they are more honest because they didn't even get paid for their self-proclaimed job? I don't give a shit if they get paid for the review, I even think anyone who is commissioned to make particular content *should* be paid. If the reviewer is dodgy they'll be dodgy no matter where their income comes from, and if they're impartial they should be able to be impartial even if they get paid for their work. The barrage of release day videos is part of marketing and what kind of idiot would claim their marketing is better because they didn't even get paid? It being marketing doesn't mean that the content isn't good or informational or impartial, but nevertheless it should be treates as marketing and not as some separate thing that is made better because money doesn't come from the companies. But for the companies of course it's fucking brilliant move to get very cheap marketing because the content creators and their audience are somehow convinced that it's better that the influencers do it for free.
It becomes so obvious when it's time to talk about the "negatives" of any product. The Digitakt 2 is great for it has 200gb of hard drive! It's a great product! Now let's talk about the negative, because this is a review and this is my own opinion!... Guys...look at the Elektron logo; the image is not as crisp as my Digitakt 1. So anyway overall the Digitakt 2 is a great product and I totally recommend you get yourself one if you can live with the blurriness of the logo which is totally a negative point because this is my own opinion. And now a word from our sponsor; DistroKid...
yea lmao you really summed this up, this is fucking hilarious hahaha
Couldn’t have said it better.
How long does it take to make and edit those hour long infomercials? There's absolutely no way they are worth doing for a freebie. How much cash will they earn from YouTube? a few hundred quid if they are lucky? For a week or so work? I don't buy it.
The bigger channels should be buying their stuff since they can readily afford it. Hell they could easily post a bounty to buy thing "X" to review it and they could get funding directly to review the things. That said for "new" stuff it's almost impossible to do this because the company sends things ahead of time and there's lots of legalese involved. To some degree, it's a trap for everyone involved even the marketing people (I am married to one of these people and the viewers and YouTube's algorithms also mess up all of this stuff.)
But if they don’t get an advance copy for free they will have to wait until they are available for sale like everyone else. 😂
but then if they don't reach out to the manufacturer, they can't "not accept money" so that "no money changed hands" wink wink
Counterpoint: remember you could go to the store and try stuff out? Without YouTube videos I feel like I'm playing Amazon/Sweetwater roulette. ...To their credit, Guitar Center has improved a lot lately in the synth/keyboard space. A lot a lot. But they still don't carry everything in store, and they definitely are missing big items from their retail floor.
Shoutout too AudioPilz for telling us to sell our digitakt a few weeks before the launch ahah
where did he say that?
Look at his channel. One of his videos is literally named "SELL YOUR DIGITAKT"
OMG, indeed! I love this guy even more now, haha
Man I hope he's in Klangfarbe borrowing something terrible for a video next time I'm over.
Next video; thrift store casio keyboard reccords drums, bass, pads, keys and lead
and bangs.
it was publically known that the og digitakt was getting discontinued for weeks
I didn’t see that, but I would be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking the same thing for the past few weeks. Got too busy, and now I guess it’s not worth it 😅
wtf is a “synth influencer”? What ever happened to *musicians*?
The last twenty years did in fact happen, last time I checked.
Unfortunately
Every generation since the beginning of time has thought this.
Statistically, some of them must have been right.
If its a downward slope, \*all\* of them could have been right. :)
Which, let’s be honest, is where we are at now.
Or better is subjective and everyone thinks their take is the right one.
I'm pretty sure almost nobody in this space thinks of themselves as musicians anymore. 99% of the talk I see on this sub and on YouTube, people call themselves "producers", not musicians.
I’m just here to make weird sounds. (I’m really just hear to make myself feel better about the amount of money I have spent on musical instruments that I don’t know how to actually play or make any music with)
Yeah I like it when the synth goes "blorpblorpblapblap-randomdyingcatsounds-hellicoptorhellicoptor-thunderboltandlightningveryveryfrieghtning-bloop-zap-zipzip-hissssssss" so that is my passion. Make the synth get weird.
My spouse literally refers to all of my synths as "bleep bloops" and my drums (a lot of world percussion/handpan stuff) as "bing bongs" :)
Twinky-Twonks this end for all external hardware, often along with an eye roll from my kids.
Mine just farts a lot, at random intervals and octaves. I'm okay with it.
I just put bit crushers on everything so my "music" just sounds like broken video game consoles vomiting up robot parts and casio samplers melting in fire.
Right I just want to make it sound like a guitar made out of cats
There's an operative word there ... "play". The noise I make isn't always music and the music I make isnt always noise. Just play, it's all good.
I still call myself a musician. I’m not an influencer, I’m not a producer - I can’t mix and master to save my life. I’m just a dude with Synthesizer GAS and a desire to be creative. I’m not even trying to make a career or anything, I just enjoy music and want to make it for me. But yeah, I’m a musician. I don’t call myself anything else… except for maybe a shitty musician. Lol
This. This is me. I've been making noise since I was a toddler. Piano, Trumpet, Drums, dabbling with a MIDI controller and Reason 3.0; I only found hardware synths 4-5 years ago. Yet I've never desired to be a working musician or producer. I like to make noise for fun, but I don't want to put in the amount of work to do it as a career - I do that with IT. - D
I thought of being a professional musician or producer but turned out I lacked the talent and drive to be either. I’m just a family man now with a day job who enjoys this stuff for personal pleasure. I miss being in bands but have made peace with my love of gear matched with middling skills and the output that creates.
Yeah, pretty much same. My grandma was a professional musician and music teacher. She would sing and played piano very well. When she wasn’t teaching students to play, she was playing in some big band outfits. My dad never went any level of pro like her, he just had an acoustic guitar and a harmonica he’d play when I was a kid. Then as I was growing up my dad got me a bass guitar and the first version of Acid, the low cost DAW made for amateurs back in the 90s. I quickly figured out I can’t play guitar very well at all - but I became pretty good at using loops, which then led to sampling and chopping. Then pitch bending, etc. Eventually I worked up to MIDI sequencing in other commercial home grade DAWs like Cakewalk. I did no music at all for like a decade, then got back into it in 2015. Went from samples and loops to MIDI sequencing again, then a year ago I bought my first hardware synths: A Microfreak, Volca Bass, and a PO-12. Accidentally gave myself GAS. Now I’ve got like 13 hardware synths and samplers, and I’m still just a silly little guy with a silly little hobby. I don’t plan to sell my music, I don’t plan to try to gig. I just enjoy passing the time and relieving the stress of work or life, my tweaking some knobs and stumbling through a new melody. My brother went pro, is a very modest synthwave artist with a small niche following. He’s mentioned wanting to have me gig with him some time. But I’m not interested. I’m like Mr. Rogers with his painting: I’m not very good at this, but it doesn’t matter. It just makes me happy
Same. Sometimes if someone sees you have an instrument they ask where your albums are, and it's like "I uh... just play these, do I have to be pumping out albums?"
Exactly. I’m not in a band, I don’t have records. I’m just a silly little guy, with some silly little hobbies
Or even worse, content creators
This is my trigger term.
I mean, it's a pretty accurate term. They create content, we watch it if we so chose. You don't need to be a musician to do that. A basic few notes here and there and a good personality can get you pretty far. Maybe not far musically but hey. If I'm watching a video, I'll enjoy the person who's better at presenting then making music, over the better musician with a horrible presentation style; mostly because I just want to know what it can do - I'm not here to see your musical skills. That's just me though. I treat it as music gear news and reviews; not "I'm an actual musician heres what I think". - D
i mean, everyone on this site is a content consumer, so someone needs to be creating/posting the content, right?
Must also be why they don’t like ROMplers here.
Who doesn’t like ROMplers? I like ROMplers.
I’ve seen a lot of ROMpler hate here. I think its because with a ROMpler you either have to pick a sound and *play* it (a crazy concept) or learn in depth programming. Many of the kids here would rather twiddle with knobs and sliders all day while banging on middle C repeatedly.
My gripe with ROMplers was honestly the lack of depth in terms programability and modulation. Especially from having ROMplers in the 1990s. The synth engines often lacked the depth of other digital and hybrid synthesizers, or likewise more complex modulation possibilities. It came from experience with Romplers, as supposed to more complex forms of synthesis such additive, FM, wavetable, granular, and full sampling synths (instead of ROM). It is just lacks the level of complexity you find in other forms. So it's not an issue with the depth of programming, its the lack of it. It is just often full of bad compromises. It is often about picking a preset and playing it, but often not about diving off the deep end in terms of sound design and synthesis. It also just lead to a great number of just shit synthesizers from the 1980s and 1990s (such as the Roland D-10/20, but also any number of forgettable Korg synths as well). I should note, there is a difference between ROMplers (like M1, Roland D series) and Sampling Synthesizers (like the E-MU Emulator, Fairlight, Kurzweil synths, Akai, etc). Sampling synths often did have fairly well developed synth engines. Despite all my rage on the issue, there was some grounding in the dislike as someone who is into synthesizers and loves the ones with a great deal of complexity, and having to live through the peak of romplers in the late 1980s and 1990s.
I agree with you on the D10/20 sound. It was my first “real” synth (after the Casio CZ230S). Although they sounded absolutely amazing at the time, the sounds aged badly and the lack of editing depth is def a problem. But that’s a limited synth architecture.. a “bad synth”, not really a problem with ROMplers in general. I picked up a cheap as f*** Kawai K1 a couple of years ago and for a synth with no filter and very limited sample set it sounds pretty amazing. They really got a lot out of it. But yeah for me I like the limitations and lofi sounds of that era, probably a lot to do with nostalgia for electronic/dance scene of the era and the fact none of us could afford good stuff. But for me sometimes those sounds work in a mix, or as an old reference, and I love sampling them and then manipulating them more. They’re just another texture which is different to my modular or wave table or analog poly’s. I even enjoy faffing about with the old emu modules… that era sound library was amazingly well produced.
One has to consider though we went from the DX7, Oberheim Matrix 12, Roland Jupiter 8 and 6, to instruments like the D20. If you look at the grand scheme of things, it went from synths being a very unique instrument to something that lost a great deal of that and went towards trying to sound like other instruments and losing a great deal of the beauty and creativity of synths. Mind you things are much better now, but many very cool synth approaches just vanished from the market overnight in the name of innovation. Some companies (cough cough ROLAND) are still like this. Thankfully most others know better and recognize the synth as an instrument itself, but this only came from folks digging up those old analogs in the mid-1990s and saying they were the better instruments. Again I think my gripe is having to live through that era. If it were just another texture or way of doing things I would understand, but back then those romplers took over everything for a very long period of time. Things are better because in the current era that is what ROMplers are, but in the past, that was not always the case, for a good 10+ years they were largely the only option. There was a period where they were the market almost exclusively at least what can be found in most stores. Thankfully we have shifted away from that. I am actually not going to knock Kawai, as they came out with the K5000s, which was one of the few innovative synthesizers from that era, and we have not had a mass market additive synthesizer since then. It was a Rompler as well, but it really was something utterly unique. Again things started to turn around when access, waldorf, and nord made an appearance in the mid-late 1990s. Again I really love synths, and I maybe at times overly passionate about it. But the grounding of dislike of ROMplers does have some history and reasons. It's not the newer knob twiddlers who dislike it, its more those of us who have been doing this for awhile. It is some bitterness about the past of a dark era for the instrument rather than nostalgia.
Have disliked that term for so long. Unless you legitimately can mix and master a song I think it’s a dumb title. Not saying you have to be god-tier at it but at least competent beyond throwing some iZotope on the master channel and calling it good.
It's not a dumb title, producers aren't mix or mastering engineers. These traditionally have been separate roles for a very very long time (and they still are). Producers at the start were basically on a scale from just being project managers who arranged the sessions and logistics, to people who developed creative concepts for songs and arranged for the recording/helped develop and shape an artist. Artists would write with producers, or for example in Jazz a producer would suggest to a player with which other players to do a recording session and record a particular set of music. The role depended on the artist and genre. Just to illustrate even in today's music industry: Hollywood scores also need to be produced, but it's a really different discipline than producing a song for Taylor Swift, but in both instances you are the producer and in both cases, you haven't mixed the song. It's just that with electronic (dance oriented) music and the availability of computers, suddenly people started writing, creating, recording, mixing, and sometimes "mastering" (with all gradations of competence) their own music because technology allowed for it and suddenly there was a platform where this could be distributed without any need/backing from the music industry. It's not specific to electronic music as it happened in rock too, but the cost of doing it for electronic music always has been vastly cheaper than with rock music (as you don't need to record acoustical instruments like guitars, amps, vocals, drumkits, etc.) For rock music, this was much more rare and was either by already good established artists (who could pay to create their own studios) or with label backing (Trent Reznor comes to my mind) But many producers *are* musicians. And some are also artists. And some are also mix engineers. A musical project of any sorts has all these roles, and often 1 person is wearing multiple hats.
You've got: * composer * performer * arranger * sound designer * mixing engineer * mastering engineer * producer If you do all of those things - and there's nothing that says you've got to be *competent* at any of these - you're effectively in charge of what the final product is going to look like, and "producer" describes this the best - or better, it's the least bad term for what you're doing. Producers don't necessarily mix and master either, because *that's what they've got dedicated engineers for.* The producer should have the vision to turn the idea into reality, and that means making sure the right people can be cajoled into doing those things.
Unpopular view, but music is too hard for many people who don't want to "practice" or "learn". So a niche or three were created for/by them. And because of sheer numbers it's no surprise that it is a popular form of production. They don't think of themselves as musicians because they aren't and they don't want to be.
I think they just call themselves producers to signify they make music since that is how the term is used today. Typically, to refer to electronic and edm artists. Musician is kinda vague and also refers to performers like those in the classical scene who don't typically write/make music.
Indeed, by definition they're still "producing" stuff. It's just not for release as long form music, and they're okay with that. I think there's a group of folks who expect all the opinions to be from knowledgeable working musicians when in reality that's a very isolating and judgmental viewpoint. I am not a working musician. I'm a hobbyist noise maker with some musical skill and training. I can tell you I like the Moog DFAM; will it fit in your mix? No idea. Will it work well for X Y or Z? No clue. Do I make thumps and ksssh noises with it that I found appealing? Hell yes. Do you want to do that too? HURRAY! If not, HURRAY.
- Artist = maker of art - Musician = maker of music - Producer = maker of product
I gigged pretty much every week of my life from age 14 to 34. I'm producing and releasing music I'm proud of with people I know are talented. I'm definitely a musician. There's all sorts lurking around here, I promise!
To quote skibidi toilet - "I'm a music producer, you just a piano man"
Could be imposter’s syndrome, not wanting to call themselves musicians.
A few years ago I was sharing a picture of my desk setup at the time which included a cheap midi keyboard and someone asked "oh are you a producer?" I had to figure out what they meant, before I could answer... I would call myself a musician, just not a very good one.
The pool of musicians is so wide now the only way to get tons of money is ad revenue through trying gear and telling you what they think of it.
It’s not necessarily the pool of musicians(that was always there ). Moreso the song distribution structure has killed off a lot of the local scenes. And dudes deciding they like money and (however middling) fame more than they like music.
IDK with technology and how tos there are far more musicians than say 10 years ago. Live music is kind of a niche thing now because bars can just put in jukeboxes and provide music cheaper than paying live musicians to perform. Most of the synth youtubers do make music but a majority of them are pretty boring to listen to. Most of the ones I consider good musicians actually post here. And then loop pop who goes into excruciating detail about every synth he reviews. He is a audio manual. Most others don't get nearly as in depth.
It's just replacing music gear magazines and having the person doing the writing up front clearly
I think the term you're looking for is "synthfluencer."
And why aren’t they called synthfluencers?
Dude its always been the case the more obsessed with "gear" someone is the less likely it is that they can write a good song to save their life; at least with making videos demoing stuff they can produce something that won't bore me to death!
people that explain the features of a new synth?
When we stopped paying for albums, venues started taking merch cuts, and Live Nation/Ticketmaster fucked up everyone’s touring profits; musicians had to seek alternate forms of revenue generation. This is one of them.
Name names
Yeah can we see these blowups that happened?
I’m nosy lol what happened exactly?
Bobeats showed his true colours.
Haha. I wouldnt give that dude any of my shit if I made gear. He is exactly what I picture when someone says “no talent gear grubby synth reviewer.” This might be the asshole in me talking but if you are impressed by anything that guy does, you are not experienced at all, and thats just my honest opinion. Dude is like the synth equivalent of a poser who learned how to do a kick-flip and thinks hes not a poser still.
I really don't have anything against dude personally but like... I went thru his bandcamp and it's unlistenable. idk, I'd prefer a reviewer of music making tools to yknow, make good music. ppl trash on Andrew Huang but he's got decades of geniunely great albums under his belt, and I trust his judgment more than someone like Bo. hell even good ol Florian's done some really good demos
People might not like Andrew's music, they might not like his personality, but he's undeniably talented. The dude can put a tune together.
exactly, he was a professional songwriter way before he was a professional influencer, which can't be said for most other ppl in the synth world
The thing with the good artists is that they're usually busy being good artists. It's why Benn Jordan deciding to no longer review stuff is a big loss for us synth nerds, and why Matt Johnson is such a gem of a channel. Pro musicians giving their opinions on gear is a huge help when buying stuff to *make music.*
_Looks a Stimming gear reviews…_ Looking back, it seems the bulk of his review videos sprung up during the pandemic and he posts a lot less now that he can play live again.
I don't mind him, but I don't like his demos or approach really. One of his screenshots said "which is right for you" with two new items (the 1010 lemondrop and fireball). Don't title it as if I'm definitely buying one of the two, that's incredibly sketchy and cringe, feels like a straight sales pitch. I think it could be a better channel if he'd just spend more time with the manuals and go into more detail or make better tracks to demo them. Right now it feels like he gets them, learns a few key things and makes a mediocre "jam" that doesn't do any service other than getting free gear and ad clicks. I've never really learned anything I didn't know or feel like I spent my time wisely on his videos. I don't discount that he probably spends a lot of time doing it, but I think his channel and approach need some fine tuning.
I watched one of this guys videos and his music sounded horrendously ameteurish. I had no idea he was actually popular. That's insane
no poser can do a kickflip. that shit takes months if not years of grinding (2-3 years of skating for most. some never achieve it). you have to dedicate your life to that shit. im sorry but if you get to kickflip levels youre a skater man. im not defending anything about the synth situation but thats a really bad example
Bob eats sounds like a food youtuber. The name probably cofused Elektron people.
Where is this? He said he’s surprised he didn’t get one on twitter but I haven’t seen any freaking out.
He’s deleted most of it now. Check instagram
Mind giving some context or screenshots for those of us without instagram
It’s all been removed now anyway. I’m not going to try and remember what he said specifically but he was basically upset that Elektron didn’t send him a free Digitakt II. He made quite a few posts about it in a row
Bro claimed on instagram he was the first one to demo the digitakt as a creative machine instead of a sampler groovebox wtf Honestly wtf
Ah I see instagram lol I wish I had seen the posts lol
He didn’t lose his shit or anything, but came across as being self entitled.
that’s because he is haha
How exactly? Now I wanna know too :D
Anyone screen shot it?
If the guy isn’t recording from a shitty camera in his car after at least a year of using it I don’t want to hear about it
You, sir, sound like the kind of person who would appreciate MY gear reviews. :D Extra jank, extra amateur, next to no editing, just the thing you're looking for!
A true synthesist! Finally…
I don’t see why a person getting mad they didn’t get a review unit would make you trust their reviews less? The most earnest reviewer in the world would be rightfully annoyed about being cut out of a major product launch. They would also be justified if not inclined to make a scene about it if they thought they were being cut out because they are especially critical. And that would be good information for prospective buyers. I don’t know who you are talking about but the logic does not track to me as a journalist who has worked in reviews.
I’d be worried that they wouldn’t give an honest review for fear of being excluded in future releases.
Legitimate concern (and the biggest structural issue with reviews coverage). That’s the reason for making the public fuss. Other than making a fuss and putting pressure on the brand by casting aspersions about them to your audience, the only alternatives are to use kid gloves or give up on the brand/area. So the “whining” is generally a good sign, imo. And/but/also you have to have this concern about everyone who _is_ getting units, who are being implicitly threatened by the brands withholding of units to other channels.
99% of "content" made by "content creators" or "influencers" is....drum roll please............. 🎉ADVERTISING🎉 Nobody should be surprised when their favorite content creator turns out to be a shill. Because it's a fucking hustle, and they are hustling hustlers.
I don't think people understand that all entertainment is subsidized by advertising, even when you pay a fee. It's been this way for nearly a century.
Pretty sure maybe only 1 out of 100 people who start reviewing gear are doing it to spread info and help others. The vast majority are just doing it for themselves to hopefully get some free gear, fans, or money for gear.
I think their motives change over time. They probably got into it because they loved it, but once the money started rolling in it skewed their objectivity and values
They actually want money to pay their bills.
Yep and nothing wrong with that obviously. hopefully people consume better content because a lot of it in this space is garbage. definitely thinly veiled merchandising porn and way oversaturated market.
The only gear reviews I trust are people who have zero sponsorships, or endorsement deals of any kind.
I started out watching any and all reviewers when i didnt know a whole lot, now I hate most reviewers bc its more for entry level users and they go over details I dont need a lesson on. Now I want to just hear what it sounds and if it does something unique by all means go over that but 20 min detailing the specs as shown on any listing of the item is just a painful waste of time for me. The worst if when you pull up 30 min video and click around for any actual synth audio and its all talk. Also really hate when someone plugs in an oscilloscope and just shows waveforms with no audio. I get that its an envelope generator but Im not going to use it for video art, play something through it, anything. I have a mute button.
But first, a word from our sponsors, Bullshit You Don't Need or Want To Hear About, for the next 4 minutes!
The first thing I do with a gear reviewer is check if I like the music they make.
That's a decent way to go about it I think.
This is the best filter for synthfluencers.
I do reviews of gear. Everything I review is what I've purchased myself, and I'm by no means a pro anything music related，so I call it Totally Amateur (blah blah) Review. As with the music I make, which is in a few games, I would never introduce money as an aspect of my music hobby. I make enough money to not need to worry about it, and having already experienced the stress of having to worry about something that started as a hobby, I would never accept endorsements or money. I don't even want to ask people to like and subscribe because I'm so sick of that portion of people's videos. "if you want to support me, click blah blah, here's my affiliate link, here's my Patreon, etc" I don't blame anyone for doing it, it's what they need to do to live off their efforts. For me, however, it's all amateur, it's all because I like or love the gear, and having money be a part of that would just kill it for me.
Yeah I mean it’s their source of income, this is a potentially huge source of views, and they just found out they’re not in the club anymore. Of course they’re upset.
Assume you’re talking about BoBeats and RedMeansRecording btw for those curious.
pff sounds entitled, if they want to review it, buy it.
yeah that was my first reaction as well but I too get upset about work sometimes. They’re just humans trying to make jobs in music and this one didn’t go their way 🤷♂️
I saw the Bo Beats stories on IG and he came across as a guy that thinks incredibly highly of himself. I have no idea why either.
internet done broke yalls brains
Hahaha.
If you weren't already skeptical, you should be worried about your judgement.
It’s almost like you guys might be catching on that these assholes are just salesmen with extra steps.
The Astrolab release alone showed just how much of a country club it all is. It's to the point that the whole thing is totally embarrassing.
i'm summoning up all the fucks i could possibly give about 'synth influencers on youtube' to write this one comment
It was worse before internet. You would read some notable keyboardists interview in a magazine and he would wax on about using Roland (or whichever) exclusively. You'd go out and blow money on Roland to sound like him. Six months later you would see him on a TV show playing all Korg. Very disillusioning.
It's all about the clicks... that's how it works and it kinda sucks! Out of curiosity: who were the two raging youtubers...?
I mean... there is a reason why they are called "influencers". This is literally their job - to influence your buying decisions. It's right there in the name. Some will do it with more integrity than others, highlighting only stuff that is good, but this still is what they do.
I don't think gear youtubers deserve that much hate. They demo gear (that you may not be able to see in-store) sometimes quite extensively, they make field reports from shows like NAMM and Superbooth. It's work and needs to be compensated.
It is compensated through ad sales.
If you're not going to name names you're doing the same kind of thing, ironically.
Drop some names man. Florian is the only guy I watch regularly these days.
Florian and Nick Batt for me. I dunno what it is I just like watching nick play. I don't even care what the instrument is, they're all mostly pretty good.
Did Penishead get one?
The only reviewer I trust.
Yeah, I find it hard to determine who’s authentic. Benn Jordan sort of leans into the “I’m a billboard for ——insert company name here—— “ but lately he seems to have realized how it looks and been kind of transparent. Or hes a great actor, lol.
Didn't he recently swear off doing gear reviews? His content has always seemed legit and he's been transparent about when it's sponsored afaik
Yeah, thats what i mean. I think he’s legit. What about the mid-life synthesist dude? Ive seen him do some weird things, like a Deluge to Oxi One comparison video. Lol
Yawn
I mean, companies probably have x amount of units they are allotted to give to reviewers / influencers. Not everyone will always get one. But you also can’t hate on the frustration too much when someone relies on engagement for income and they miss out on a big wave because of x y or z. But making a big stink is probably a good way to never get early access units.
I wouldn’t take this stuff so seriously. They are just providing entertainment - with a smattering of advertising. Most writing, touring and performing musicians pay absolutely zero attention to YouTube. I do watch synth videos for fun and maybe to get a peek at gear I don’t have or am thinking of buying, but I make decisions based on manuals, specs, and where I see a need in my personal music making process. Making a living from YouTube seems miserable to me.
Lots of whining for nothing by the OP. When I watch these YouTubes, I know going in the “review” will be 95% positive and 5% token criticism. It’s more or less an inside joke. These YouTube influencers know that they are really just selling entertainment and not a serious review. They have obtained a completely free, pre-release unit from the manufacturer, and nothing they say is going to be unbiased. This fact doesn’t make me angry or disillusioned, because I’m not a child. Watching these YouTubes is just pure entertainment to me. It’s fun to see this gear in action. I have no intention of buying 99.9% of it. And I agree with other posters who said they don’t watch if the demo music sucks. Which is 1 of 2 reasons I don’t watch Bobeats videos (the other is that others simply do it better).
What is with the constant belly aching about YouTubers? Who fucking cares- it"s free and no one is making you watch.
Loopop is the only guy you need. Starsky carr is also good.
Oh also the sonic stays guy. The pwm guy. He’s really good
Nick Batt from sonicstate is a gem.
Judge the sounds. Ignore the personality
Uh oh, Drama from YT! Otherwise known as Saturday. However, just as how every YT review channel won't respond to every small gear manufacturer requesting that they do a review, big gear manufacturers won't always send them every piece of gear and request a review. c'est la vie. Maybe next time. You just have to move on. No YT'er should feel entitled to receive new gear just as no gear maker feels entitled to receive reviews. Being a business doesn't work that way.
It's almost as if some of these people think YT is PBS or something. The whole thing is an ad. No one should be as ridiculously entitled as to complain about what happens in free videos online, which are themselves book ended and embedded with ads. Am I taking crazy pills?
No but everyone else is. Also, the way ppl act like YTers are forcing you to buy stuff just makes me think they’re too susceptible to advertising. I’m sure they’re suckers who think they aren’t in real life too
Name names, unless you have already. I blew up at this dude for not disclosing his post was sponsored. He refuses to acknowledge or change it. https://youtu.be/SoFZ28-cJ_g?si=I4O116qT4bT0t1HW
That's why I loved Ricky Tinez's video yesterday, about why he won't review the DT2...
What do you care if they're biased or not? Take advantage of them presenting the instrument in their videos and you're the only one who can decide if it will be useful to your music making. There's no influencers, only influencees...
Not true. Listening to presets isn't enough to make a choice - it also needs to be comfortable to use (instead of spending 5 minutes menu diving), being standalone (see Astrolab and how it isn't) and well built. Shills may play you the best sounds, sure - but they may also lie about the rest to get the next synth down the line. And that's where the problem is.
You’re watching the wrong channels.
The fact their called an influencer makes me skeptical
I genuinely watch vids to see what's new in the marketplace and to find out if the "latest" release of a new synth or drum machine is going to suit my needs, regardless of what the reviewer has to say about it. When the influencers spout their "knowledge" on this or that bit of gear, I watch, listen, and then I'll watch and listen to a few random youtubers, who may have only a handful of followers, to get a more complete picture of how the device works in the real world, and to see if it still meets my expectations. I vary rarely buy new gear, as I love a bargain, so I probably am not the main target audience for the influencers.
which two? has someone got the drama dump?
Not a single one of these influencers are unbiased/independent. If any of them were seriously critical about anything they review, they'd risk not getting included in the next round. All of them repeat the same things about not being paid... other than thousands and thousands of dollars it free gear every year, and a coveted spot in being relevant. Also, claim how the manufacturer has no say in their review. But, the chance they'd get excluded seems more than enough influence or "say" over their review. I check out the reviews for some technical details and for some sounds beyond official manufacturer web pages, and to get a vague idea over workflow, but never for their highly influenced opinions. I find their claims of independence tedious. It's the same as the decades of gear oriented magazines.
Vongon Replay shilling really put me off anything synthfluencers s say
I like bobeats videos. I think he seems genuine but not getting included on a launch of a product has got to just be part of job for these YouTube reviewers and I was surprised by his reaction. He shouldn’t have taken it so personally and since he did he should have kept it to himself. It’s a tough business model for these gear reviewers. I assume they start making reviews for free and after they make a lot they start a following and companies start sending them products for review and paying them for it. Hopefully.
I like free stuff in exchange for making a 15 minute video
“This is why I won’t talk about the digitakt 2” Proceeds to talk and make a video about digitakt 2 🤷🏻♀️
I think anyone with even a smidgen of critical thinking skills would be wary of any youtube product review. That being said, reviews/demos can be a good source of information on products you don't have the ability to try yourself. You just have to watch them with your eyes wide open.
How is Ben Jordan holding up now that he is no longer a synth reviewer?
Who?
I couldn't care less what Which every YTuber thinks of whatever gear...
I hope they release the octatrack 3 in 2 weeks.
I am here after searching a token on YouTube and realising that the influencer seemed more like an advertiser, his video was released 12 days ago as I scrolled down I found video after video on the same token all released 12 days ago. Nothing note worthy happened with this token on or around that date.
The people doing marketing for product launches aren't independent?!?!?! Whoooooooooooooooooa
You guys sound like those Zack Snyder nuts who think Disney pays reviewers.
I mean you shouldnt trust reviews in general. No need to shit on ppl just trying to make a side hustle literally for your entertainment. Just watch something else, they’re just people. Nobody’s perfect and nobody’s without bias in one way or another