When I was probably 13 years old, I got Duke Nukem 3D. I really wanted to figure out how to build my own levels. I had found other levels online and I couldn't figure it out. My 7th grade teacher made us do was write formal letters as a project for class. So I wrote a snail mail support request to 3D Realms asking for help getting set up with build.exe. They sent me a printed version of the manual, and some troubleshooting tips for the issue I was having.
As a kid I played Ken's Labyrinth, a raycaster FPS from around the same time as Wolf3D. Only years later I found out that this was actually the same Ken Silverman that went on to create the Build engine for Duke Nukem 3D etc. Kind of funny considering the vast difference in tone between these two games.
But would you have refused to buy that guitar if it looked a little more different than a Fender Stratocaster?
You clearly aren't bothered by it having a different headstock shape, Suhr could and probably will just change the body shape a little bit and it would be fine.
Ibanez sells tons of guitars like this. They're double cutaway guitars that are kind of similar to the Stratocaster shape, but they are uniquely different and still loved.
The weirdest thing is someone who hates Fender and won't buy a Fender but simultaneously demands that their guitar looks so close to a Fender that it would be in danger of infringing.
I'd say, if you find joy in soldering and DIY electronics, something like this could be great. It's hard to say without hearing it...
I really think a first synth (I know you already have one, but it seems like you're unhappy with it...), should be a polyphonic one. I went a similar route as you, but with a Behringer Neutron, and it was fun, but I immediately wanted something more.
Anyway, If you've got the itch for a new instrument, get a Microfreak, or a Minifreak from Arturia instead of either of these. Microfreak is paraphonic, so not full polyphony, but you can play chords, and when I use mine I don't miss having 1 filter per voice.
I love my TD-3 and my KO pocket operator. The comment below suggests the minifreak, and I kind of agree with them.
Behringer Pro 800 looks pretty great too, same price, analog, but fewer sound options.
Also, I'd like to say, if you're looking for a nice community for this stuff, look up EZBOT on youtube, and join his discord. It's a great group of people and they'll talk all day about this stuff with you :). And say "hi" if you join.
I've got a couple 256-button monomes (no longer in production, basically -- they only make smaller models now) and waited twelve years for something velocity sensitive with as many buttons to come around. Eventually the Lumatone did, and now the monomes sit in a closet -- but I'd really like something with smaller buttons, because I divide the octave into 58 pieces, which means I can barely reach an octave on the Lumatone (whereas I could easily reach across three octaves on the monome).
If you're familiar with hardware design, it wouldn't be terribly hard to make a big grid of pressure-sensitive buttons using force-sensitive resistor material (Sensitronics makes some that they sell approximately by the foot, possibly velostat or a similar material could work too) laid over the top of pairs of interdigitized fingers of copper, connected through a bunch of multiplexers or similar to the ADC inputs on a microcontroller. The buttons can be whatever semi-squishy material you want to lay over the top of the pressure sensors.
(I bring this up because I'm working on a similar project, but not with a regular grid. My keyboard has 113 pressure-sensitive keys. I've been using JLCPCB, who are surprisingly cheap even for large boards and even when buying in quantities of 5 or so.)
I've been looking into this (thanks for the pointer to Sensitronics!), do you have any pointers to a manufacturer of squishy material pads? (silicone I guess)
Sensitronics was recommended to me by Roger Linn one time I met him when he happened to be in town for an event. They apparently make the sensor in the Linnstrument.
What I do is I glue a sheet of 1/8th inch birch ply to a sheet of felt using liquid hide glue, then use a laser cutter to cut that into keys. (They're irregular polygons, but you could do the same easily with squares.) I have another piece of laser cut plywood (or the "negative space" of the same plywood, but with the felt removed) that serves as a frame to hold the keys in place. I use packing tape on the back of the frame, sticky side up, to grab onto the felt so they don't all fall out when you turn it upside-down. The felt gives the keys a satisfying squishy feel. Wood screws hold it all together.
In other words, from top to bottom a key is comprised of 1/8th inch birch ply, a layer of glue, a layer of felt, a layer of tape sticky side up, a layer of FSR film, then ENIG-coated copper traces on an FR4 PCB with the solder mask excluded. I also have another layer of plywood (1/4") on the bottom for structure.
I made an early attempt at using some kind of silicone rubber, but I wasn't successful. It might be doable and I imagine there are companies that can make that stuff for you but in the end I decided I liked wooden keys better and they were just plain easier.
I don't have leds on the keys, but if you want that, WS2812's are surprisingly cheap and could be placed by a pick-and-place machine by the hundreds -- if you can figure out a way to get the light to shine through all the intervening opaque parts.
I considered it! But I'm a piano player, and I like to be free to keep my hands wide apart, which I think requires more tactile feedback than the Linnstrument provides.
