[sdiy] MIDI isn't musical : Flame bait?

[CHoaglin at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/13/02 1:56:48 PM Eastern Standard Time, matti at devo.com 
writes:


> take a listen to some nitzer ebb. that's all MIDI, and it's got that
> nitzer ebb quality that you just _know_ it's nitzer ebb one iteration of
> the bassline in. and yes, it is very mechanical.
> 

That's true, Nitzer Ebb has a recognizable sound because of the sounds and 
beat structures they use. The same could be said for KMFDM, Front 242, Skinny 
Puppy, Frontline Assembly, or Velvet Acid Christ, to varying degrees. 
Industrial isn't all that dependent on the performer's touch usually, since 
much of it is loops and samples. I can pick out a KMFDM track from listening 
to Gunter Schulz's guitar parts, but that's more due to the type of guitar 
sound he uses (ie: what guitar and amp he's using and what effects it's going 
through) than to the way he hits notes, besides the high level of precision 
he does it with. Something like jazz is much more dependent on the nuances of 
how the notes are played.

Digital Hardcore has a recognizable sound as well, but it's also from the 
sounds used rather than how each note is actually played...usually none of it 
comes from a live keyboard player anyhow, and it might be stretching it to 
say that digital hardcore even *has* notes under most circumstances. Take a 
hardcore beat, add crash cymbals and funky drummer or amen breaks, distort it 
all, maybe add a few samples from Manga anime films, and you've got the sound 
to some extent...without any performer's touch being involved, besides on the 
sampled breaks.

-Chris 
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