McFin's recent activity
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Comment on Is there an intuitive (but powerful) music thingie? in ~music
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Comment on You don't need to document everything in ~tech
McFin (edited )LinkThere's something to be said about exploiting others for social media (eg, children who can't consent to being filmed or don't understand that parents are incentivizing them to act a certain way...- Exemplary
There's something to be said about exploiting others for social media (eg, children who can't consent to being filmed or don't understand that parents are incentivizing them to act a certain way for likes).
But I've always been averse to the kind of gatekeeping that is implied with "stop filming and enjoy the moment." Who makes you the authority for how people enjoy their moments? The "you" not being OP directly, but aimed at people who dictate that someone filming an event or moment means they're not enjoying it properly.
If someone wants to take issue with using minors (or adults who haven't agreed to be posted on social media) for personal gain, it's a logical point to argue that has merits grounded in how we understand consent, notwithstanding laws about filming on public property.
But criticizing someone because they don't "enjoy the moment" in the same way that you think they should is just hollow. It's the same "technology is ruining the new generation!" drum that's been beaten since the printing press, probably before that as well. They don't come from a well-meaning place nor do they generate constructive discussion.
This is just another reframing of same old argument: "this damn generation is ruining everything! People sure were better back in my day!"
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Comment on Apple is turning William Gibson’s Neuromancer into a TV series in ~tv
McFin (edited )Link ParentIf they don't cut much from the book, (to say nothing of adding things) I believe it would be enough material to cover 10 episodes at 45 min each. And while certain works like The Matrix and Blade...If they don't cut much from the book, (to say nothing of adding things) I believe it would be enough material to cover 10 episodes at 45 min each. And while certain works like The Matrix and Blade Runner are/were popular in the mainstream, I don't think there's enough pure cyberpunk works out there that this story and its characters wouldn't be fresh and engaging (cyberpunk is relatively niche in the scope of things). You'd need to have consumed a lot of cyberpunk media and completely skipped Neuromancer in the meantime to yawn at this. And I don't think the overlap in audiences is great enough for that to be very likely. I think this is going to be pretty engaging for a lot of people who haven't read it.
Regarding length specifically, Neuromancer is very dense without being overly descriptive, moreso than any other book Gibson has written, even in the rest of the Spawl series.
For example: he spends about 3 very brief paragraphs describing Case's maiming at the hands of his former employers from whom he stole. In just that short passage, he goes from the US East Coast where he presumably stole the data during a job, to Amsterdam to fence it (where he was caught), then to Tennessee where his nervous system is rendered incapable of jacking in.
That takes a lot of time to tell visually in a way that isn't a shitty montage or rapid cuts - and I'd be baffled if Graham Roland tried either of those two things.
Neuromancer is littered with this kind of stuff. The entire segment of stealing the Dixie Flatline with Yonderboy and his crew from the Sense/Net Pyramid is rough for someone unfamiliar with the cyberpunk genre, which this show will (and should) most certainly attempt to draw in. This means a lot of visual context will be required so vewiers unfamiliar with the genre can keep up.
Plus all the expository stuff that will need to be told visually. You can't have Gibson telling the viewer how shitty Night City is, you have to show it. I expect a lot of very long, lingering shots on scenes similar to Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 in order to provide context to the viewer. All that chews up a lot of screentime.
Anyway, Graham Roland has a good track record so I'm going to stay optimistic about Neuromancer. Roland's resume isn't flashy but what's there is rock solid, even if, like me, you're not 100% into it (e.g., Jack Ryan wasn't my cup of tea but I recognize that it's a well produced show and, according to my Tom Clancy superfan father, didn't tarnish Clancy's work).
Edit: I can see them taking a lot of cinematography cues from movies like the Matrix, Blade Runner (and BR 2049), Dredd, Altered Carbon, etc., in order to build the world visually - which is ironic to me since Neuromancer is the root of most of those works.
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Comment on Link's Awakening DX HD - PC port (unofficial) in ~games
McFin Link ParentTypo on my part but I do find it quite fun that I so easily swapped out one hyper-litigious legal department with another without noticing.Typo on my part but I do find it quite fun that I so easily swapped out one hyper-litigious legal department with another without noticing.
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Comment on Link's Awakening DX HD - PC port (unofficial) in ~games
McFin LinkLooks like it's already been flagged for review. Won't be up long I imagine. Nintendo won't have to do anything - itch will probably preemptively bomb it specifically to avoid summoning the Disney...Looks like it's already been flagged for review. Won't be up long I imagine. Nintendo won't have to do anything - itch will probably preemptively bomb it specifically to avoid summoning the Disney lawyers.
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Comment on Microsoft might want to be making Windows 12 a subscription OS, suggests leak in ~tech
McFin Link ParentProton is a tool built into Steam to run any game or program you please on Linux (though your mileage will vary based on the game/proton version). Just click the gear icon, go to compatibility...Proton is a tool built into Steam to run any game or program you please on Linux (though your mileage will vary based on the game/proton version). Just click the gear icon, go to compatibility mode, and select a version of Proton.
I have very few games that won't run on some version of Proton, and I've never exerienced reduced performance. My experience is all or nothing - the game will run just as fine as in windows, or it won't run at all. Others might experience hitches, ofc. Just my experience, never seem to encounter them.
You can run non-Steam games/programs though Proton by adding them to your Steam library.
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Comment on Short(er) easy reading fantasy series that isn't YA or Discworld in ~books
McFin LinkThe Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. It's a series of 10 books. First 5 are from the POV of a single character, next 5 are from the POV of a different character. Each book is about 175-200...The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. It's a series of 10 books. First 5 are from the POV of a single character, next 5 are from the POV of a different character. Each book is about 175-200 pages. Very easy to get through. Forgive the sometimes cheesy book covers - series was written in the 70s.
The rough, overarching plot of the entire series is that Amber is the only real city that exists, and every other city is just a shadow or distortion of Amber. The main character is from an immortal family (though not invulnerable - the family members can be mutilated and killed) who have been sabotaging one another for millenia to curry favor with their father (the king), in order to become THE successor to the throne of Amber.
Although it's fantasy, it gets really psychedelic and occasionally sci-fi since every city that you can imagine exists will exist in this multiverse, and the main characters do a lot of sliding to other versions of Amber in order to escape from or chase down each other, or rally armies to invade (and Earth is just a shadow of Amber, or an imitation of the one, true city).
Link to the first book:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/92121.Nine_Princes_in_Amber -
Comment on Is this really what renting is like now? (Pennsylvania, USA) in ~life
McFin LinkDefinitely not my experience. Much of that 100% not legal here in NY state. If you're in the US, even small towns should have some kind of housing board or urban development. Contact them for...Definitely not my experience. Much of that 100% not legal here in NY state. If you're in the US, even small towns should have some kind of housing board or urban development. Contact them for resources. Keep this lease even if you don't plan to ever rent with this landlord so you have something to give the housing board or urban development board. If your town is large enough/proactive enough, you might even have a tenant advocacy group you can contact.
Also, leases are not set in stone. If you find a place that has a couple of things in the lease you don't care for, ask for changes to be made. Obviously this particularly landlord sounds very shady so I wouldn't bother trying to negotiate with them, but many other landlords who aren't corporations or who don't own vast swaths of homes are perfectly reasonable human beings and will change the lease if the changes are reasonable enough.
To answer your last question, I've rented from landlords who own 1-2 properties. They've been perfectly reasonable and wonderful humans - so they're still out there. My wife and I used to chill on the porch or living room and have a beer with our landlord when he'd come by to fix things or do minor seasonal maintenance.
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Comment on How long was it before you let your dog off leash? in ~life.pets
McFin LinkNever let you dog off leash in an uncontrolled environment. It's unfair to your dog and it's unfair to other people. Even if you believe that nobody else is around and you believe your dog has...Never let you dog off leash in an uncontrolled environment. It's unfair to your dog and it's unfair to other people. Even if you believe that nobody else is around and you believe your dog has 100% recall, if you don't control the environment then you simply have no guarantee. For your dog's safety, keep it leashed.
My wife and I have both been attacked more than once by dogs off leash while their owners screamed at them and swore to us that "they never do this" blah blah blah. And they probably believed their dog was just fine off leash and maybe their dog really never had done that before. We're nervous as fuck now when we're out for a walk or in the park and we see a dog off leash. You don't know how many people like us are out there.
And I promise you, no matter how consistent your dog's recall is, when a dog is hyper-focused on something that isn't you, sometimes they hear or consider nothing else. When that happens, all your recall training will be for nothing. God forbid it chases a smell out into traffic and causes an accident or gets hit by a car, or wants to check out a parent whose kid was mauled and gets its skull caved in by the parent.
Take your dog to a designated dog park if you want them off leash.
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Comment on A harrowing vision of mind uploading in the form of a fictitious Wiki article in ~books
McFin Link ParentPermutation City by Greg Egan follows this premise, but obviously explored to a larger degree with more existential dread. All mind uploads are required (by law) to be able to self-delete. No mind...Permutation City by Greg Egan follows this premise, but obviously explored to a larger degree with more existential dread. All mind uploads are required (by law) to be able to self-delete. No mind upload has lasted longer than something like 15 minutes before deleting themselves.
The novel starts out from the perspective of a person who is initially disoriented by waking up, then over a couple paragraphs realizes that they're not their original self, but a mind upload. Horrified, they attempt to self-delete, only to discover that their original has removed the self-delete option. Their original makes a deal with them: do the research and work I need you to do, and I'll let you delete yourself.
The rest of the book is appropriately mind boggling and bonkers.
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Comment on What game is your current addiction? in ~games
McFin Link ParentThere are some absolutely hilarious mechanics in that game. I can debuff someone by forcing them to tell me about their mother, then transform into a werewolf to maul them after they've shared...There are some absolutely hilarious mechanics in that game. I can debuff someone by forcing them to tell me about their mother, then transform into a werewolf to maul them after they've shared their deeply personal family history with me.
Go on to level my interpretive dancing and calligraphy skills so I can leave random notes for players to find.
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Comment on Anger from voice actors as NSFW mods use AI deepfakes to replicate their voices in ~games
McFin Link ParentThis is an excellent argument. I believe you're right that AI will likely replace dedicated adcopy writers to some degree, but not completely. For a very brief time (about 1 yr) I was a copywriter...So things like copywriting, illustration, and concept art.
This is an excellent argument. I believe you're right that AI will likely replace dedicated adcopy writers to some degree, but not completely. For a very brief time (about 1 yr) I was a copywriter and adcopy writer. My perspective is that freelancers will probably have a hard time finding consistent work, so they'll need to branch out or pivot (but most freelance writers are already skilled in a couple adjacent writing disciplines anyway).
I believe larger companies will probably retain a smaller cadre of in-house copywriters/editors to tweak the AI output according to whatever target corporate sets. Or just outsource it to an adcopy writing agency (what many do already).
Personally, for writers anyway, I see an evolution more along the lines of "AI prompter and editor." There is a skill in talking to these things and massaging the output, and people with skills in writing/editing and AI language will flourish. I also believe the transition will be relatively natural. As older hats who don't want to touch AI retire, the subordinates and newer employees will have had enough exposure to branch out into this new, adjacent writing field, or they'll come in already educated in something like LLM linguistics (a master's already offered at several universities), so they'll already understand how to use AI as a tool and just adopt it naturally into their role.
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Comment on Anger from voice actors as NSFW mods use AI deepfakes to replicate their voices in ~games
McFin Link ParentThis has always been the argument, though. I remember when Photoshop first released and everyone claimed that now physical medium artists would become obsolete and that "real" artists would no...This has always been the argument, though. I remember when Photoshop first released and everyone claimed that now physical medium artists would become obsolete and that "real" artists would no longer have a job and that art would be replaced by fake hacks that used Photoshop. But that didn't happen. There are still physical medium artists and digital artists now. Creativity didn't atrophy and everyone was fine. It was just another technopanic, even though everyone argued that, no no, it was different this time.
One of my classes in college was about the evolution of paper-making (I studied creative writing) and we read more than one eloquently worded old-timey argument about how the printing press would destroy literacy and writers, and ruin the art of writing because now anybody could print a book, and now instead of one really rich guy buying one of only ten copies of a book, there would now be thousands of copies of that same book. But here we are now, people are still writing things by hand and printing things via press, and the printing press has allowed us to reach new creative heights.
Here's a single article, among many, from twelve years ago trying to quell a technopanic: https://www.techdirt.com/2011/02/25/fifteenth-century-technopanic-about-horrors-printing-press/
But as it turned out, the monks were just fine, writers, calligraphy art, and letter artists survived professionally and not just as hobbyists, nobody was pushed out of the marketplace, and it opened the door to even more wonderful art for people to experience.
The point I'm making with that artivlcle is that technopanic has been a thing for hundreds, probably thousands of years. And each time, people say "No, it's different this time." It's not different. We're not special people living in special times. It's the same thing since time immemorial. It's just another technopanic in a long line of panics that people get caught up in.
I don't know how you can believe that creativity is so vital to being human, while simultaneously believing that it's so weak and underwhelming that it will atrophy just because something that isn't human can also be creative. Our creativity will survive just fine, and will likely be complemented by generative tools that allow us to reach new and unexpected creative heights.
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Comment on Anger from voice actors as NSFW mods use AI deepfakes to replicate their voices in ~games
McFin LinkThis is the crux of it. Arguments rooted in the danger of AI being used to deceive people and spread misinformation are just about the only arguments that hold water. But any argument that centers...AI just 'learns' like we do. By copying.
This is the crux of it. Arguments rooted in the danger of AI being used to deceive people and spread misinformation are just about the only arguments that hold water. But any argument that centers around copying or job replacing is completely ridiculous.
I know a few working illustrators and they all learned by copying and continue to do their work by referencing other work. Literally everyone learns by first copying what someone else has done, and then applying our own style to it.
If we're unsure how to proceed, we either ask someone who knows more about a process what they would do, or we use a search engine (oh no, more algorithms and not the card catalog at the library made and maintained by actual humans) to find a reference. And nobody asks permission to use these references in their work. But somehow it's bad when computers do it?
What I find equally frustrating is how arbitrary and entitled the arguments against AI are. All these people who are knee-jerking about AI overtaking the art industry...why aren't they also complaining about switchboard operators being replaced by automated systems, librarians replaced by search engines, postal workers replaced by email/message boards (the irony of complaining about AI on a message board is just beyond rich). And do these same people do any shopping online? Do they ever use self-checkout?
Like suddenly, art is under threat so now it's a big deal. The (perhaps unintentional) subtext of these arguments is that artists are more important than other laborers. Nobody rages about all the other ways machines have taken over manual labor because those people weren't important enough and those jobs weren't important enough. All the work that we see machines doing were once done by people. But I don't see 100 articles a week pearl-clutching about those jobs. But now it's artists so let's rage.
The entitlement is so frustrating to watch.
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Comment on Favorite out of bounds experience? in ~games
McFin LinkOn the original LoZ: Link's Awakening (OG GB): screen warp glitch. So in normal gameplay, the screen swiped when you transitioned from one screen to another. If you hit select at just the right...On the original LoZ: Link's Awakening (OG GB): screen warp glitch.
So in normal gameplay, the screen swiped when you transitioned from one screen to another. If you hit select at just the right moment, all the sprites wonked out and swapped parts, and you were warped into some kind of Koholint Upsidedown. Duneon layouts changed and became nonsense, NPCs grew arms out of their faces, enemies became even stranger...and it usually yeeted you to some random part of the overworld.
Doing it in caves and dungeons was even crazier.
I loved it when I was a kid because the randomness and unexpectedness of the warp was so exciting to me, as was trying to map out exactly what part of a given map would cause certain glitches and warps. This was like 93 or 94 so roguelikes weren't really a thing at all. I don't even think it was a term back then and if it was, I certainly didn't know about it. Nethack, Rogue, and Angband were my only experiences and I didn't like them as much as I liked LoZ back then.
It was such a fun glitch. Tried it with the DX version and this newest Switch tilt-shift version, hoping some kind of Easter Egg tribute to it would be there. Sadly, there was none. If it works in an emulator you should definitely try it, because it's one of the more "feature rich" out of bounds areas in a game.
Edit: oh yeah, and enemies would talk to you sometimes. They weren't supposed to, ofc, but whatever happened with the coding when you screen warped worked such a number on the game, that some enemy sprites would toggle NPC dialogue when you tried to attack them. Made it even more surreal.
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Comment on What are your go-to mobile apps? in ~tech
McFin Link ParentSpiritual successor to stumbleupon: Cloudhiker. https://cloudhiker.net/explore The internet will be bigger for you again. Interesting sites are out there.Spiritual successor to stumbleupon: Cloudhiker.
https://cloudhiker.net/explore
The internet will be bigger for you again. Interesting sites are out there.
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Comment on What do Tilderinos theorize regarding the Mandela Effect? in ~talk
McFin LinkI find the Mandela Effect unnerving for two reasons: It shows how malleable and unreliable human memory is. Someone says "hey, remember this thing, right? You remember it." Your brain makes a...I find the Mandela Effect unnerving for two reasons:
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It shows how malleable and unreliable human memory is. Someone says "hey, remember this thing, right? You remember it." Your brain makes a memory on the spot. Chances are very few people even thought about the Fruit of the Loom cornucopia until someone suggested the memory, and the listener's brain then makes a memory on the spot. I'm paraphrasing in a very sloppy manner here. Better info: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5248593/
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It shows people's willingness to believe in tantalizing fantasy rather than face the reality that their memory is shit. Interdimensional time-travel shenanigans make the world seem more exotic and vibrant, especially if you're one of the special ones. But the truth is, we're all capable of being manipulated, even accidentally.
The fact that people would rather believe in fantasy rather than face the fact that their memory is wrong is what I find most disturbing about the Mandela Effect.
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Comment on I would really appreciate some help. Looking for moving, thoughtful or observant or interesting songs that aren't metal or rap/hiphop in ~music
McFin LinkIs 2010 modern enough? Anathema is a prog rock band that I find particularly moving. I suggest the albums We're Here Because We're Here and Weather Systems.Is 2010 modern enough? Anathema is a prog rock band that I find particularly moving. I suggest the albums We're Here Because We're Here and Weather Systems.
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Comment on What's your favorite scene in Tolkien's Legendarium? (Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion, etc...) in ~books
McFin LinkGandalf recounting his fight with Durin's Bane, specifically after he'd fallen into the chasm. The deep earth terrifies me. Huge phobia. Caves are nightmares. Where Gandalf went is pure hell to me...Gandalf recounting his fight with Durin's Bane, specifically after he'd fallen into the chasm.
The deep earth terrifies me. Huge phobia. Caves are nightmares. Where Gandalf went is pure hell to me - lost in tunnels so far below Middle Earth that it's indescribable except through mythic language. "The foundations of stone" indeed. I'd be catatonic.
I imagine him tracking Durin's Bane for those eight days while both of them were trying to remain quiet enough to not rouse the Nameless Things that ate the very tunnels they crept through, Gandalf only rarely using his magic to light the way. In their hunted, weakened states, I don't imagine either of them wanted to square off against some hideous flesh amalgam with a hundred tentacles trying to eat them. I know that description isn't canon, but I always imagined the Nameless Things as an even worse version of the Watcher in the Water.
A close second is Morgoth being nearly consumed by Ungoliant. As with much of the Silmarillion, Tolkien leaves the finer details up to us. Since Morgoth was massive, and Ungoliant was large enough and dark enough to frighten even Morgoth, I always imagined the scene as this massive spider, large enough to step over mountains, the living embodiment of every twisted shadow and ill-intent on and below Arda. So powerful that her attack made Morgoth himself scream in pain. A truly terrifying creature.
If you can't tell, I most enjoy Tolkien's forrays into eldritch/primordial horror. They're far too brief, in my opinion. I wonder sometimes if he approached them purely from a utilitarian perspective - a way to place his heroes in context - rather than from a perspective of curiosity. Perhaps that's why they're so shortly explored despite their scope.
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Comment on It's July 1st, my third party app still works to visit Reddit? in ~tech
McFin Link ParentI didn't say anything about you being a shill or that you have any sort of bias towards reddit, nor did I make any claim about you having an ulterior motive. You're putting words into my mouth. I...- Exemplary
I didn't say anything about you being a shill or that you have any sort of bias towards reddit, nor did I make any claim about you having an ulterior motive. You're putting words into my mouth. I gave no thought or mention about what you may or may not have to gain because I don't care. It's irrelevant to the discussion.
I said two things.
1: If the only evidence you have is locked away in an NDA, then you don't simply cannot engage in honest debate. Claims require evidence, and evidence requires presentation. If you cannot present the evidence to a claim, you don't have a claim.
2: You are being irresponsible with the information you've been entrusted with if you voluntarily say "I have evidence that proves you wrong about this specific thing you are claiming, and that information is in an NDA." Now we know the general that nature of what's in your NDA. While that alone won't violate low-level/generic NDAs, it does demonstrate your propensity to be rather loose with the information you've been entrusted with.
To answer your question:
So you'd rather I was just silent and let the narrative I know to be misconstrued continue to go unchallenged?
Yes. This what it means to be a responsible custodian of sensitive information. Your personal beliefs must be taken out of the picture, unless laws are being violated. You signed an NDA and promised to be a custodian of information. But now you're out here blabbering about the nature of your NDA because someone said something that you believe is factually inaccurate. By telling everyone on the internet that information protected by an NDA contradicts a specific claim, you've revealed some information about what's in the NDA. INFOSEC requires custodians to reduce the surface area of social attacks. Best practice to accomplish this is not even revealing that you've signed an NDA or know anything about any information related to the NDA. If that layer is penetrated, the next advised defense is to simply be uninteresting and uninterested. But you went out here and just volunteered all of that, going against best practices of INFOSEC. The responsible way to handle this is to remain silent about your NDA unless confronted directly in such a way that you cannot talk around it or deflect interest. But nobody asked you anything about an NDA.
So yes. If you believe the narrative is wrong, it doesn't matter. Unless there is criminal behavior or egregious breeches of ethics, NDAs take priority over whether or not someone is wrong on the internet.
Present real, actionable evidence, or don't make the claim.
You're getting into the hobby at a time when options are falling out of our ears for music thingies in which entire albums can be produced. You picked a good time.
Polyend Play has already been mentioned. It's fun but I'm a bias source because I like trackers.
On the topic of trackers: M8 Tracker is insanely powerful. I suggest it over the Polyend Play and Play+ because simply because the M8 leans harder into its form factor. It's my main dish when I'm away from my eurorack or banjo. I love it to death. Pre-orders for the Model 02 should be reopening again soon. $$$$ but worth every penny if you're fearless of trackers.
If you want fun curiosities that are relatively inexpensive, Teenage Enginneering's PO-33 (versatile little sampler) and the PO-20 (a quasi-chiptune maker). Their interfaces are not exactly user-friendly but they get the job done.
Avoid all other Teenage Engineering products. You'll run into them eventually if you continue down this path. They're overpriced, poorly built, gimmicky (as the POs are but at least the POs are relatively inexpensive for what they are), and whatever you want from a TE product you can find better elsewhere.
The Korg Volca line is just okay imo. They sound great (wonderful, actually, except a couple but that's subjective or course), but the workflow is just not there on many of them. If you're going to get a Korg just commit and get one of their classics or a flagship. Something bigger - Korg doesn't do compact workflow well (for my admittedly shitty taste, I mean I'm up there suggesting trackers which can be notoriously obtuse so take my opinion with a heap of salt).
If you really want to get experimental, SunVox on Android and iPhone. Really hard to use on the phone but it's also pretty cheap and uses modular synthesis philosophy in instrument design and quasi-tracker for composition. So just really super flexible and equally obtuse and cumbersome. I love it, but for all its efforts at approachability and despite its many improvements, I would still call it "user hostile" though it tries earnestly not to be.
For computers/DAWs (digital audio workstations): well SunVox is free on PC.
FL Studio is what I grew up in when it was still called Fruity Loops so I'm obviously very inclined to suggest it over something like Ableton but there's no technical or logical reason for me to prefer FL over Ableton. It's just what I'm used to and also I paid a bunch of money for it so why switch?
Ableton is another DAW that's extremely powerful and pretty much infinitely flexible. With both FL Studio or Ableton the only reason you might not be able to do something is because you haven't watched the right YouTube video or read the right tutorial. If it's even distantly related to sound design or music composition, Ableton or FL Studio can do it natively or someone has made a free plugin that can do it.
The above can be said about many DAWs. When you're working "in the box" with a DAW, they'll always be eternally more powerful, more flexible, and significantly easier to use than any groovebox or music thingies for actual music production. But sometimes a person wants to get away from a computer screen and instead look at a tinier, more difficult to read computer screen with multiple layers of menus, so we turn to things like the M8 or Polyend.
There are other DAWs out there like Cubase and Reaper but with Cubase it's something youths talk about and I don't know about them, and Reaper is a tracker and I've said enough about them (but can you really say enough about them)?
Things I don't have direct experience with but envy those who do:
Liven XM - an FM groovebox that seems to have a relatively painless workflow.
Liven Warps - chiptune instead of XM but same as above.
Liven Texture - granular synth instead, but otherwise same as above above. Granular synthesis will change your life. It's my one lament about the M8 - it's incapable of doing so on its own and needs outside help.
I've heard good things about the Roland MC-707 but I also see a lot of people complain about Roland in general so I'm not sure. But it fits the bill for what you want...maybe.
Some unsolicited advice:
Stay way from modular/eurorack. It's a hobby for drooling idiots like myself. I've spent several thousands over several years building mine to perfection, and it does exactly what I can do with a piece of 50 dollar software on my computer (or free if you are intelligent, unlike me, and just use VCV rack) in a fraction of the time. And unlike my eurorack, when I spend hours building a patch, I can click save on my computer and come back to it later.