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Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

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Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

1 Sep 2010, 19:37
OK. I'm not being sexist here. Has anyone noticed how the videos for both the Di and Gi featured young females predominantly? Does this tell us anything?

Have the product and the promo videos been driven by market research? They certainly should have been. Or is this tokenism and due to women in powerful marketing positions?

Serious question... Who do you expect to be the users of real synths? Have you ever personally met or known a female synth enthusiast? Are there any on this forum site?

Most challenging question... Is the instrument design becoming simpler to not olnly appeal to a younger (and less intelligent) market, but to women also? Sounds sexist but let's be blunt... Things HAVE been dumbed down. Do you think that Roland's strategists have, in an attempt to appeal to a broader market, found some overlap between 'simpler' and 'female'?

Hey... if they have, and it's driven the output, it's not sexist. But it does point to male/female differences... and doesn't exactly bode well for hardcore male enthusiasts!!

Oh god, it's like some horrible nightmare future we never saw coming!! ...Aagghhhhh!!!!
(No, I'm serious!!!)

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

1 Sep 2010, 20:23
Lol, you're funny, and very brave to discuss this taboo - so full marks for that.

Maybe women find it easier to be the keyboard player, because the guitar and vocal sector is very male dominated in rock/pop/synth bands, which is all down to marketing again isn't it? Not too many all female heavy rock bands, obviously more money selling death and gloom to guys, you don't see too many leathered up women with FML on their t-shirts. Lead women in pop are used like eye candy and don't play any instruments at all generaly, (but you never hear any sexual discrimination being shouted there - wierd huh?).

LCD Sound System have a lady synth player, and if you realy wanna be taboo, when I saw them live she was doing f-all, all preset posing - but she looked good ?!?

Erm sorry, that's life eh? I ain't their marketing GUY !?!
Does a Juno manual over the head hurt more than reading it?

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

2 Sep 2010, 00:27
RobJuno, mate, about dumbed down gear - min. 90% of male users I've met here or in person are clueless about most of the features!

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

2 Sep 2010, 00:44
Seriously?

You don't understand the direction Roland is taking in their latest products and marketing, so you go and paint yourself into a misogynistic corner?

You're kidding right?

Wendy Carlos
Delia Derbyshire
Suzanne Ciani
Pauline Oliveros
Laurie Anderson
Cosey Fanni Tutti

..... without even starting on more popular, current, or underground female artists.

TBH. Instead of giving a modern history lesson on the importance of women in electronic music, I would much rather see a thread regarding the use(s) of an 8 track recording/playback keyboard specifically in a live setting.

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

2 Sep 2010, 02:52
I've woken in a playful mood this morning.

@Artemiy
Yes, I can quite believe it.
And... when did you start using 'mate'? Where did that educated fellow go? Quick! Fight against the draw of the casual, mediocre, lowest-common-denominator, globalised society!
(I'm not really half as serious as what some people might think, but funnily I usually actually mean what I say. But I haven't really taken offence at 'mate'! LOL)

@dbjoux
Still being playful. I hope you're a Simpsons fan. I just couldn't resist this response to your sensible suggestion. Just think Homer...

"TBH. Instead of giving a modern history lesson on the importance of women in electronic music, I would much rather see a thread regarding the use(s) of an 8 track recording/playback keyboard specifically in a live setting"

"...Yeah, but what are y'gonna do?"

("It should, but it doesn't" wouldn't quite work)

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

2 Sep 2010, 03:54
"RobJuno, mate, about dumbed down gear - min. 90% of male users I've met here or in person are clueless about most of the features!"

At first this sounded offensive, but then I realised I should feel chuffed to be lumped in with as many as 90% of noobs, it could be a lot worse for me :)

I think we may need an Art appreciation day, cheer him up a bit and see if we can get that down to 75% or something (I'll still be in there).
Does a Juno manual over the head hurt more than reading it?

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

2 Sep 2010, 15:04
I'm still in amazement that there exists such a person called "Cosey Fanni Tutti"... Amazing!!! :D

Sounds like a pleasant night.

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

2 Sep 2010, 15:15
as a person who deals with alot of local bands,

ive seen a growing trend in female band members, especially in, i shudder to say is "pop punk" ( i feel dirty :( ), especially with vocalists.

so maybe Roland are catering for this,

Girls are natrualy less interested in the geeky side of synthesisers, and so a product that is easy to use will go down a storm with them.

I think you may well be right Robjuno, not necessaryaly a bad thing but certainly these synths are more tailored for people more worried about image than actually getting down and dirty with hardware.

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

2 Sep 2010, 23:11
According to Wiki she formally changed her name to Cosey Fanni Tutti from Cosmosis. It comes from Mozart's opera, Così fan tutte (tr. Thus Do They All, or Women are like that).

I know it's all in good fun with RobJuno innit, but I have to wonder if the real difference is only that fewer females frequent these forums. Who could blame them.

C'est la vie.

http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/search/label/Synth%20Babes

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

9 Sep 2010, 00:44
Nice synths she got there =)

"Girls are natrualy less interested in the geeky side of synthesisers, and so a product that is easy to use will go down a storm with them."

Well I am a synth geek and heavy electronic music girl (not to promote here..), although I can say 9 out of 10 people here in my country don't know what is actually synthesizer. They simply called it 'keyboard'. How sadly. Even my band are in the rock line.

I don't mind how easy-to-use synths are designed, the more important is how useful or great feature of the synths are designed.
::WORDS CAN BE BULLETS!::

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

9 Sep 2010, 03:51
Thats just so funny - I think this woman is suffering from Kleptomaia, not building a studio - that's so over the top. The fact she is in every photo tells me something here. She's probably spent more on patch bays than I have ever spent on gear.
Does a Juno manual over the head hurt more than reading it?

Re: Synth for Girls? (Serious Thread)

23 Sep 2010, 16:28
Hi SyncMax,

I too live in a place where bands play only rock and country music, and few people know synths except as "keyboards". I make algorithmic music using my own programming in Max (a download of maxWerk for Mac OS9 is available at my site) and hardware sequencers. In fact, I seldom play keys except to edit sounds. Discovering MIDI is what brought me into music gear 15 years ago when I started my studio.

Here, often people's first impression of electronic music is that it's a female thing, if I'm the first person they've talked to about it! I like that idea, and it makes sense, since women are hardwired to be detail-oriented and emotionally expressive. I believe more women would be interested if they were exposed to the possibilities.

There are always preconceptions to put up with in any area of interest, whether you're male or female. At heart I'm a teacher, so I love getting a chance to explain my gear and what I'm doing. That's the best way to get other people interested!

I agree that gear design is really important to our creativity--that's the founding topic of the SynthSights list. <--moderatrix' plug ;-)

Cheers!

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