That's probably it.
I heard someone say that there's been no major improvements in audio in 50 years and there's something to that. The major things like mics, drums, guitars, and amps have had only minor improvements.
If you go back 20 years ago analog audio was where digital hasn't got yet.
I don't agree at all; the very existence of this board proves that digital audio has been a major change in the way audio is performed and produced. There are several examples of musical techniques that simply didn't exist in analog.
As for the traditional rock instruments, part of the problem is that most musicians are extremely conservative when it comes to their choices of instrument. Even so, twenty years ago you didn't see baritone guitars or seven string guitars very often, few people drop-tuned except for Van Halen tribute bands, and guitar to MIDI was basically crap. Acoustic basses (not uprights, the fretted kind) were rarely seen.
Now the power to develop complex tools is not beyond the ability of an ordinary musician; I could write a simple wave-to-MIDI VST myself, except it's been done a thousand times already. A better example would be my interactive concert experience; I know how to code that at a conceptual level but I'm not familiar with any of the operating environments that would be required for it to actually work.
Somebody is though, and they are probably already working on that app . . . the best analog could do by comparison would be a low-power FM transmission that could be modulated with the usual analog techniques and mixed with another analog source. That's a far cry from what I envision interactive
digital wireless technology will achieve.
Together with the digital revolution, people seem to forget that the cost of analog parts has dropped greatly and the quality has gone way up (whether that's true of assembly is a different question). Also, tiny SMT packages enable analog devices to be cheaper, smaller, and higher performance than the analog circuits of 20 years ago. People who start now don't realize how expensive all of this stuff used to be, and Chinese labor is not the only reason for the change.
And finally, the internet allows for the exchange of information for new developments to be created and disseminated quickly and cheaply. That's perhaps the largest benefit of all
or even your present!
