The stylophone is probably not a very good choice if you actually want to make a musical track, it’s quite a bit limited.

Also, please don’t assume that hardware is simpler than plugins. A lot of hardware has plenty of menu diving or arcane shortcuts due to the limited hardware controls, tiny (or absent) screens etc. You should be looking at “one knob per function” devices.

If you just want to explore a bit and make tracks, get a groovebox l. If you are looking to dive into synthesis and a bit of sound design, look at the Arturia Microfreak.

A groovebox like the Circuit Tracks is a good recommendation.

I agree, but I’d also like to mention that it’s absolutely possible to get great mileage out of a “toy” synth, provided you already know what you’re doing.

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There are people out there who have mastered the Theremin and can absolutely play on point.

Also, not everything even needs to be perfect. Unpredictability, glitchiness, noise and not being pitch-perfect can be an aesthetic goal in itself.

I’m currently compiling a list of open-source audio streaming solutions and I think Sonobus is not on there yet, so this is a pretty useful comment to me. Thanks.

Is this your fire pit? If so, does the crack bother you? Also, what’s the the benefit of lighting from above, and do you feel it burns equally quick / evenly?

It’s not the TV settings of the poster that inspired these articles:

https://www.polygon.com/23661749/why-movies-look-dark-cinematography/

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/why-movies-so-dark-hard-to-see-batman-1235195535/

https://www.redsharknews.com/is-modern-cinematography-too-dark

While some movies were not graded perfectly for some home screens, shooting darker movies has definitely been a trend, sometimes up to a point where it is indeed impossible to actually see what’s happening, and a lot of people complain about that.

I could see it if it was a screen I get to control, akin to a smart mirror. Fridge door would be a pretty good surface since I’m guaranteed to look at it a couple of times each day.

Other than that, push notifications if the door is open? That’s about the max when it comes to usefulness I can imagine. Is that a problem that requires a connected device? No, probably not.

However, depending on the model range, it becomes difficult to even get a model that doesn’t have the “smart” features. No one can force you to connect the device though (yet).

Okay, if this is going to be a whole project you probably want a commercial supplier. Based on your geo-preference, one recommendation would be Formulor:

https://www.formulor.de/material/mylar

You can upload your own SVGs for laser cutting and engraving, the whole process is rather automated. They offer templates for Inkscape or whatever the matching, closed-source Adobe product is (Illustrator maybe?)

I linked the mylar material since that would be my recommendation for stencils used for e. g. painting, spraying etc. Mylar hits an excellent balance between cost, handling and durability.

Formulor is probably not the cheapest supplier, but it’s reliable and instant with no customer support agents involved and requires no quotes and approvals being sent back and forth.

How many do you need?

Sure, but you just said the same thing as I did. Do you think you can trust brands? Or that any company actually cares for their customers, as long as they can get away with it? Or at all, if the fines are smaller than the profits they gain from exploitation?

The solution is what you mentioned: independent testing (and systematic changes, but that is a whole other topic)

Sunscreen works, just not if you buy it from shady manufacturers that try to maximize their profits and care about nothing else.

By that logic, the best thing to do for the environment is to die - which is probably true, it’s just not a very good (or even particularly interesting) argument.

No, it’s not. Lego has been bullying local distributors of other brick systems (e. g. CADA) by issuing patent claims, knowing very very well that those claims are false and the patents have expired long ago.

However, customs has to hold and store the shipping containers until the court settles, and they charge for it. A lot. This forces small shops (down to your local mom&pop toy store) to pay for customs storage fees, for weeks, sometimes months. These costs are high enough to force small shops out of business, mind you.

Along with the declining quality of the sets and the increasing cost, Lego is very well a shitty company.

Jesus, how do you people always come up with the most inane conspiracies. I have a company that manufactures devices that communicate wirelessly. The new RED is a huge pain in the ass, along with the CRA.

Absolutely no company pushed for this. The new legislations and directives cause a ton of additional work and obligations for companies, e. g. software has to be certified as part of the compliance check, things that were previously approved via self-reports now involve trusted 3rd parties, and reports of violations to government bodies are now mandatory.

And you know what, even though this costs a bunch of money that could go elsewhere and the whole thing is so new that even the certification bodies have no idea what is going on, even though we have to setup completely new processes, spend endless hours documenting things, I still appreciate both initiatives.

As an end customer, I would love if e. g. the software that runs on the mobile payment terminal taking my card info is certified. I would love if the developer of the software running on the PLC on my shop floor has to check CVEs, inform me about security issues and has to deliver 5 to 10 years of updates.

Not a fan of Samsung and their shitty software, but they’re simply preemptively covering their ass, nothing more.

I’d also still want to unlock my bootloader. I’m sure the whole legal situation will become less muddled, enabling just that.

Even having a funny and weird relationship with my mother, this would be suuuuper cringe. And inappropriate.

What? We’re not talking about death here, what kind of a reply is that? We’re talking about making a decision at a very young age that might have irreversible consequences, a decision many 20yos are simply ill equipped to make, in particular, when alternatives exist.

No, they’re not always reversible. You can opt for one that isn’t, and even if you decide to go for it, it might simply not work.

I’ve had a vasectomy. Give it a few years, 22 might be a bit young.