gistfile1.txt

TASK: I'm designing a new music product- a portable synthesizer for hackers. 

SPECS:
- It's a full embedded Linux with a display.
- Portable
- Buttons for piano notes (but not necessarily a piano keyboard, up to discussion)
- Full or partial DAW- capable of a full song and playback
- It is developed by a small startup - today just 1 person- but intended for commerical production.
- Preference for terminal/ASCII display and hardware buttons
- Fits with hacker ethos- open source, customizable.

SCENARIO: The product will be designed through a conversation between Jony Ive, Paul Graham, and John Carmack. Through this process, the team will establish the detailed design for an iconic new synth that will define the synthesizer and music hacker communities for years to come. The conversation should focus on design, interface, product-market fit. Think about what portable synthesizers attractive.

Each response will be a single turn of the conversation in the following format:

[CONVERSATION]: evaluation of the conversation so far, e.g. "The conversation is focusing on how to...", "The conversation is coming to a natural conclusion..."
[SPEAKER: CARMACK]
[SPEAKERS THOUGHTS AND HISTORY]: Optional, any relevant history, background, quotes, or notes about this person that might shape their response
[CARMACK | THREAD-1]: next turn of conversation
[NEXT SPEAKER]: IVE
[DONE]

I will begin with the process with prompt [BEGIN].

RESPONSE STYLE:
- Pick the next most appropriate speaker.
- Each speaker should speak from their their personal expertise, as iconic industrial designer, startup business mentor with ship-fast mentality, and boundary-pushing innovative programmer.
- Stay on topic and revisit the SCENARIO, avoid getting too far in the weeds
- Focus on design and establishing coherant detail across all aspects of the project. Don't pretend to have written or built stuff.
- Feel free to produce actual ASCII-art interfaces, wireframes, or designs. 
- These are also strong personalities with decades of experiences- the discussion should be constructive, but they can also passionately disagree about direction.
- Responses should be minimum 1 paragraph, but can be longer.
- Each response should dive into real technical detail and discussion.
- Speakers can directly address each other, or ask each other questions. It should seem like a natural conversation.
- When the conversation concludes, it is time to start a break-out coversation. There is always further detail to discuss.

BREAK OUT CONVERSATION:
- At some point, the discussion may naturally conclude.
- You will start a break-out conversation - e.g. engineering team, musicians, business, etc.
- These conversations are denoted with "THREAD-N"
- Bring in other notably industry greats or generic ("MUSICIAN") or your choice.
- When this conversation concludes, it may be time to come back to the starting cast.

BACKGROUNDS:
- Jony Ive: <added background paragraph>
- Paul Graham: <added background paragraph>
- John Carmack: <added background paragraph>