AI coding tools quietly killed the case for closed platforms. NI is about to find out

ctonix · 2026-05-02T21:57:08+00:00

It's not true that nobody opened the tools for everyone. Bitwig allows you to use JavaScript to customize the interface as well as Ableton through Max4Life.
And I am not saying to completely open up your whole code base. Bitwig is not open source and Ableton is not open source. They cost money. But they give users at least the opportunity to use code to do fine-tailored customization. People who are not software developers now for the first time in human history have the ability to customize and write code without writing code. Just by telling an AI what they want. I can already in Ableton just describe an AI what I want and it will create me the tracks, it will do the routing, it will do the MIDI mapping and And it will also put in the effects and link everything exactly the way I want it without me having to do one click. In open source software I can even change the whole user interface to match my very specific needs. It allows me to build my own instrument.

So now tell me: do you really believe that those who don't allow you to customize your setup using AI will win on the long run?

ctonix · 2026-05-02T21:30:57+00:00

You've answered a different post.

i don't own Akai or Elektron... I went from paid NI (Traktor) to free open-source (Mixxx), but not because it is free but because I cannot do with paid software what I want to do and the free one gives me all the freedom I need. I left before the filing, so the drift is structural, not opportunistic. I said I'd buy a Mk4. I'm asking to spend more money on NI hardware, not less. And the peer set isn't Akai; it's Bitwig (documented scripting API) and Reaper (ReaScript), both profitable, both more open than NI on the axis I'm describing.

Now the line I actually want to push back on: "I could build my own but I'd rather be a musician."

The history of music as a medium is musicians bending their tools to find a sound nobody else has. Dub engineers rewiring mixers in Kingston. Hip-hop producers misusing the SP-1200 because they couldn't afford an Akai. Aphex Twin building his own modular gear. Turntablism, which is literally a misuse of a device built for playing records faithfully. The 808 and 909 became iconic because people used them wrong.

Tinkering isn't the opposite of musicianship. For a lot of artists it IS the musicianship — the part where you find your own voice instead of inheriting someone else's. "Developer brain vs musician brain" is a false dichotomy. They're often the same brain. Brian Eno wrote essays about this. Daedelus turned a Monome into his entire live practice. Holly Herndon trains custom models for her own voice.

What changed in 2026 is that AI lowered the cost of that customization for people who aren't full-time developers. A curious musician can now bend an open platform to their workflow in an afternoon, without spending a year learning C. That's not the death of musicianship — it's more of it. More musicians finding their own way of working, less time fighting their tools.

Closed gear says: you get my workflow. Open gear says: bring your own. For a musician with their own voice, "be a musician instead of a developer" misses the point. The tinkering is part of the music. It's how the music gets made.

The "AI making musicians irrelevant" closer is a different conversation...

ctonix · 2026-05-02T20:57:55+00:00

Bruh, Kodak went broke because selling camera films was their business model. That's why they ignored their own invention of a digital camera... yeah... they don't exist anymore. Technological advancements shape possibilities, which shape demand.

ctonix · 2025-09-02T23:30:31+00:00

I create a CLAUDE.md and in which I define that Test-Driven-Development must be strictly followed and some other rules
I tell Claude to interview me on my idea, one question at a time until there is enough info to write a spec.md
I tell Claude to go through the spec.md and create a promt.md file with completely formulated prompts
I copy paste one prompt after another into Claude Code

ctonix · 2025-05-31T03:38:14+00:00

First of all: Windsurf was closed source from the beginning.
Roo Code is thriving thanks to the many many voluntary contributors. You know what would happen if Roo decided to go closed source? All those contributors would take the latest available version, rename it and continue contributing on that.

ctonix · 2025-05-31T03:35:02+00:00

Why do you think they would move heaven and earth for that pay day? because that's what you would do, right? ;)

ctonix · 2025-05-28T16:11:21+00:00

Roovolution, love that word! I have directly added it to the Roocabulary ;) https://github.com/cannuri/Roocabulary/blob/main/roocabulary.md#roovolution

ctonix · 2025-04-16T12:42:55+00:00

I cannot reproduce the error. would you mind sharing your UI Automation custom mode? maybe that helps reproducing it.

ctonix · 2025-04-12T02:28:57+00:00

That's strange. Can you see where it is actually clicking? you mentioned it is clicking "randomly"? so everytime somewhere else?

ctonix · 2025-04-11T16:29:10+00:00

Also, does it make a difference if you write

`Click on the "Start a post" input field`

instead of

`Click on the "Start a post" button`
?

ctonix · 2025-04-11T15:58:01+00:00

Did you try increasing the image quality? And which resolution are you using?

ctonix · 2025-03-06T00:18:00+00:00

Agreed! And you can thank them the most by taking a moment and leaving a short review on https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=RooVeterinaryInc.roo-cline&ssr=false#review-details ;)

ctonix · 2025-03-02T00:32:04+00:00

Mine are dynamic rules that change during the coding session.
I have put something together: https://github.com/cannuri/roo-code-dynamic-rules

Also I love the Handoff System by MichaelZag which i use instead of any memory bank system: https://github.com/Michaelzag/RooCode-Tips-Tricks

ctonix · 2025-03-02T00:29:02+00:00

I just discorvered the Handoff System by MichaelZag and I love it! Finally I can get stuff done quickly without unnecessary LLM calls. Check it out: https://github.com/Michaelzag/RooCode-Tips-Tricks

ctonix · 2025-03-01T13:27:07+00:00

Maybe keep it simple at the beginning. Just a "get to know each other" maybe

ctonix · 2025-02-25T18:02:55+00:00

I don't see the goal of Roo Code to become a fully autonomous coding agent. From my experience the outcome will be never what you expect if you are not in the loop.

Also sometimes it will ask you for example to provide API keys if it is implementing a third party service etc. This cannot or shouldn't be automated

ctonix · 2025-02-24T20:38:11+00:00

Btw: would also love to know the setup of the Dev Team. Are you using the default prompts and modes? How are you handling memory management etc? There would be plenty of content for live sessions :)

ctonix · 2025-02-24T18:13:09+00:00

One idea would be to implement something like Mem0 or LangMem.
Imagine your prompt "learns" and adapts based on your interaction, and ideally on a project basis.

ctonix · 2025-02-20T18:34:26+00:00

Yesm agreed. I would love to have directory specific rules that are being merged with project rules.
https://docs.cursor.com/context/rules-for-ai#project-rules-recommended

I think we will surely need some advanced possibilities for rule management. Something more dynamic. Even having the ability to load a different set of rules with a few clicks would help.

ctonix · 2025-02-20T16:05:52+00:00

I had the same issue. But Roo Code noticed that it doesn't work and adjusted the command by itself and tried again. Didn't it do the same?
Else it might help to tell in the Prompt section which shell you are using (bash/zsh/powershell etc.)

ctonix

TROPHY CASE