[sdiy] midi controller DIY'ing

[WeAreAs1 at aol.com]

"Andreas H" <ampe at swipnet.se> writes:

<< >It also featured a MC-303 MIDI interface for controlling the sad

MC-303. >>

I suspect that the main reason certain people feel compelled to diss the 
MC-303 is because it singlehandedly made it possible for just about anybody 
to instantly create fairly credible-sounding dance music tracks.  Those 
critics may think that it shouldn't be so easy; that one should have to sweat 
and strain a bit before enjoying such fruit; that the preferable tools and 
techniques to use should be vintage, exotic, arcane, and expensive.  I find 
such commentary tiresome and highly hypocritical, considering that much of 
the dance music community gleefully shuns the idea of spending any of one's 
time learning or practicing the traditional, "boring and useless", basic 
tools of music, i.e. theory, harmony, composition, orchestration, and the 
virtuosic playing of one's chosen instrument.  To those vacillating 
dilettants/elitists who feel one needn't practice scales or learn theory, but 
feel that artists should only work with certain clique-approved toys and 
techniques, I would say "Yo, DJ!  Check the kettle, it's also black".

I believe that the proliferation of interactive music "toys" (such as the 
MC-303, the Yamaha DJX, and the couple of million other auto-accompaniment 
keyboards that get sold every year) is bringing about a revolution in the way 
music functions in people's lives, just as the popularization of the personal 
computer has revolutionized the way we think, work, and live.  It's 
irreversable.  Get used to it and celebrate it.  Now, I gotta go practice 
scales on my DJX-II.  See ya.

Michael Bacich