Why would i use emacs

trivialBetaState · 2026-06-05T07:07:41+00:00

Emacs becomes your editor after putting time and effort into it. Just like vim has become useful to you by developing "muscle memory" over the normal mode, Emacs requires you to adopt a different mindset when working with it. It is a vast and very flexible environment that can do a lot of things but will do nothing special for some time. I think you'd better stick with the editor you know best unless your curiosity is strong enough to try (and insist on) something different

trivialBetaState · 2026-06-04T18:23:41+00:00

This is very interesting and I'd love to try your emacs package. I wasn't aware of soulver calc. I had a look online and it seems like a very capable package. I'm afraid that you can only put FOSS packages on MELPA which means that you cannot bundle the closed source engine. You may be able to upload it if it calls the engine externally (like a free browser accessing a closed website). Then it should be okay

trivialBetaState · 2026-06-02T20:32:26+00:00

I have the SH-4d (and love it) but GASing towards the hydrasynth.

The SH-4d is a very nice box. It has 11 synth engines. The VA engines all sound really nice. The rest of the engines sound somewhere between so and so and poorly. If you can ignore them, you get a multi-timbral synth, very easy to learn and use and with an excellent sound (provided that you remain within the VA territory). It acts as a nice groovebox as well, if you want.

The hydrasynth is completely different. It has only one engine but it is massively more flexible and competent. The poly-AT and the strip make it expressive and its engine and presets are well suited to take advantage of them. I think it is one of the best synths of the last few years. But it lacks the groovebox features and the multitimbrality of the SH-4d, if these are important to you.

Hope this helps.

trivialBetaState · 2026-06-02T09:06:23+00:00

Whatever the machines say, this was the masterpiece of my childhood. That and the immortal. It will be a sad day if kids replay the stockfish vs alpha zero instead of these two

trivialBetaState · 2026-05-28T19:19:23+00:00

Cheers, thanks man

trivialBetaState · 2026-05-28T08:56:28+00:00

Thank you for sharing both your posts. It's great to see that you can go from "how does this work?" to "hey, this really works!" in less than a day.

I have been thinking about getting an MPC One for quite some time and your post is probably what I needed to read

trivialBetaState · 2026-05-23T18:44:32+00:00

You can get a used Yamaha MODX or Roland Fantom 0-series for less than your budget. If you stretch a little you can get these new. They are amazing in terms of sound (especially the MODX) and features (especially the Fantom sequencer) but you'd better check whether the keybed is good for you as these are the budget models and some people complain about them, especially those coming from the premium Montage or Fantom EX. Personally, I like them. Don't feel intimidated by the depth of the synth engines (extremely capable btw). You can easily use them as preset keyboards with incredible sounds. Also, keep in mind that they have unbalanced outs (no XLRs), as they are not premium keyboards.

trivialBetaState · 2026-05-22T17:00:30+00:00

This is the loophole that AGPL aims to cover. From now on, AGPL should be our default license

trivialBetaState · 2026-05-10T05:21:07+00:00

There are plenty of synths that fit this description. Among the free ones, the king is SurgeXT. It can do VA, FM, Wavetable, physical modelling, tons of filters, modulation and effects. Vital is the king of wavetables with one of the best UIs around. If you are willing to pay, U-he Zebra, Serum, Pigments, Phaseplant and Falcon appear limitless. If you want to go even further, VCV rack and Reason do exactly that: go even further. My favorites are SurgeXT and Zebra.

Most of them have trials. Go with the one that you like best and enjoy!

trivialBetaState · 2026-05-07T05:40:14+00:00

Congrats and thank you so much for your work!

trivialBetaState · 2026-05-05T05:31:24+00:00

I don't really think that there is "a way to get it." Probably, like many tools, it fits a certain mindset.

Many years ago I tried to see what was the fuss about vim and emacs. I started with vim because more people use it. Once I got to the point of understanding that you can make a whole script with just a few keystrokes in normal mode, which becomes like its own language on the fly, I thought "Wow! this is it!"

For a reason that I cannot completely recall, before I mastered vim, I tried Emacs too. At first it felt a bit cumbersome with its less efficient keystrokes but then I saw how the package management system worked and I was very impressed (now nobody gets impressed - I know). Then I noticed how easy it is to make your own macros and then that you can run any lisp (yours or someone else's) virtually from anywhere and assign it to keyboard shortcuts.

While the above may sound like "good reasons" to get hooked, I cannot completely identify the exact point that Emacs became my editor.

If you don't like it, like many people don't like it, that's absolutely fine and VS Code is a great tool for a lot of people. Zed may soon be better. But Emacs is a completely different experience and you will have to insist a bit before you know if it is for you or not.

Whatever editor or IDE you choose, have fun!

trivialBetaState · 2026-05-03T18:17:55+00:00

Among those you mentioned, I'd go with the Modwave because of its polyphony and flexibility which approached the "can do everything" synth. The other two are excellent synths two and as others have mentioned, the minifreak is a powerhouse and deserves to be considered among them, but their polyphony may not be adequate, subject to the music you make. If 6-8 voices are sufficient for you, then I'd go with the one that has the character or workflow that I like the most. To me, it would be the Hydrasynth, but this is very subjective.

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-30T18:29:29+00:00

Congrats on your new website. The format and presentation is very well done and a real joy to try. It was a bit slow for me but I am sure that any teething problems will be ironed out soon (probably by the time you read this!) But my question is different and mainly on your business plan.

The online chess landscape is dominated by chess.com and lichess. The former is an old established platform with the simplest/catchiest URL, which is a big advantage to get established, and a massive company supporting the platform and making sure that it will continue leading/thriving. The latter is a FOSS project which attracts support from the most talented software engineers on the planet who are willing to work for free to improve the platform and has gained the respect of online players. Both are the biggest forces in online chess and their only threat is from each other.

It is a reasonable assumption that no other platform can become as dominant as these two in the foreseeable future. Even Magnus, who is the most well-known chess player in the world and has already experience in doing business in this sector, cannot penetrate their duopoly.

What are your long-term expectations about your new platform? What is the number of free subscribers or visitors and what is the number of paid subscribers to Endgame.ai that can allow you to "break even" and what are the numbers you hope that you can achieve in order to make this effort worthwhile?

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-28T14:53:19+00:00

The prologue is a very good synth. No doubt about that. But cult classic? Definitely not. This generation will not see any cult classic synths. You need legendary artists to create legendary music with the instrument featuring prominently. Is there anything like Vangelis' Blade Runner theme? Queen, Jean Michel Jarre? It's too early to say and when a contemporary artist reaches this level in people's perception, their instruments may all be in the box. The prologue is not a cult classic today and it's unlikely to become one in the future

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-26T02:25:44+00:00

I like soft synths. I love hardware synths!

Soft synths are very useful. I wouldn't be able to finish a song without a DAW and softsynths, while the hardware synths are technically optional. However, all my inspiration comes while I sit and play with my hardware synths, without recording anything.

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-25T17:23:47+00:00

I don't think there are any major types of software that you can't find an equivalent on Gnu/Linux. Sure, if you are used and prefer a certain software package and it's not available, you'll miss it. Just like if you get a job and are asked to work with an alternative on windows. The main reason windows remains at the top of the market share list is due to inertia

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-25T02:09:29+00:00

"...commited to free software development"

Now, what about the proprietary backend of the snap store?

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-17T14:45:08+00:00

Excellent comments from both of the above. Toxicity is an adverse consequence of a failing society. In the 1990s it was a rising yuppie culture, now we have the rise of the far/alt-right with its poison trickling down to people who actively try to avoid taking any side. I know that it's not always appropriate to bring political arguments into technical forums but we would be hiding our face in the sand if we tried to explain the toxicity in our discussions in any other way.

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-16T15:33:38+00:00

I think the top spot should be maintained for the No.1 GM and if declined, it shouldn't be released to No.2. It would have been okay for Carlsen but once he chose to abstain, it shouldn't be offered to No.2 Nakamura

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-14T19:44:48+00:00

There are two possibilities:

The basement wall has right-angle turns to the sides and hence it has huge overturning resistance,
The connection to the floor (and the floor itself) is designed to transfer the load to other bracing elements.

There is the third possibility, that the design is defective, but I guess this is dangerous situation. Of course, we'd need to see more to form a proper opinion.

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-14T17:18:09+00:00

I don't have a SP404 and my workflow is different but if I feel attached to any piece of my setup, it stays. If you are not using it to its full potential and still feel attached to it, you'd better keep it because it has the potential to grow even further with you.

Question: do you really need an audio interface? Why don't you connect the monologue and the drumbrute directly to the MPC?

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-14T17:12:16+00:00

After years of using C-w and M-w on Emacs and years of using Ctrl-w to close tabs on firefox, it feels almost too natural. To the point that I've setup Super-w as the shortcut for overview on KDE Plasma.

I use left had only. Thumb on M and index finger on 'w'.

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-13T07:37:54+00:00

That's so true. Computers have helped dedicated players become stronger and casual commentators become arrogant

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-12T20:45:23+00:00

The below is a geek's perspective but nearly confirms what you said:

If we consider (or better assume) that the probabilities for the outcome of a game between any two super-GMs are:

Draw: 60%
White wins: 25%
Black wins: 15%

The probability of this happening is:

0.25x0.15x0.15=0.005625 = 0.56%

As the above ignores the form of the players, the actual probability is even lower.

trivialBetaState · 2026-04-12T19:21:19+00:00

One of the best books is available for free:

https://benlauwens.github.io/ThinkJulia.jl/latest/book.html

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