[sdiy] Control Interfaces (was Wakeman)

[Rainer Buchty]

> The band Genesis had a policy of arranging their studio material as if
> performed live -- they intentionally restricted their arrangements so
> that nobody was playing anything that couldn't be performed on stage.
> You can just close your eyes and picture them playing.  Not
> surpisingly, live Genesis sounds exactly like studio Genesis except
> for reverberation, crowd noises, and the occasional stage patter.

Which I would consider a good thing from a standpoint of the "music
consumer". From the point of a music maker, I'd rather go with the way
King Crimson handled it.

> Sure.  And Bob Moog mentioned in that recent interview how he
> considered the MiniMoog to be a social instrument for that very
> reason.

Maybe that's the main reason why the common "band" or "combo" is usually
made up from a variety of string (*), wind and percussion instruments
where synth combos (using modern, heavily polyphonic equipment) are pretty
rare (I'd love to be proven wrong here...) The ones which come to my mind
use the "social" kind of synths and a bunch of step sequencers.

> But is a "one man band" really a good thing?  Do you really want the
> electronic equivalent of playing an accordian, with a kazoo in your
> mouth, cymbals on your knees, and a bass drum on your back?  I sure
> don't.

So what's the point then in running a home multitrack studio, getting
fancy step-sequencers or live-performer software? Doesn't that bring you
closer to the above "one man band" situation?

Or, the other way round: it frees you from the need of playing
polyphonically, allowing you to concentrate on the proper expression of
the lead track while playing back the pre-recorded stuff.

Rainer

(*) with at least one guitarist complaining about the keyboard being way
too loud -- even if the keyboard has been switched to "local off" :)