-----Original Message-----
From: unknown freak [mailto:
modularcharles@...]
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 12:17 AM
To: ModularMoog
Cc:
analogue@...Subject: Re: [AH] JP-8 and more / VA sound quality
On Mon, 29 Jan 2001 19:07:33 +0100, ModularMoog wrote:
> on 29/01/01 17:34, unknown freak at modularcharles@... wrote:
>
> > Both count. Sliders are ∗massively∗ important (real or MIDI). And I
> > suspect the Virus plug-in doesn't put up much of a fight on the audio
score.
> > But it may be fun.
>
> Might also be used for the best track ever produced.... as long as you´re
> the right person to produce the track.
>
> What was it J-M Jarre once used?... Casio RAPMAN??
No argument there -- sort of depends on what sort of sound you find
inspiring. An interesting patch on almost anything can be inspiring, even
if or ∗because∗ a sound is somehow pathetic and wrong. That's all valid.
But the richer, more alive, and more interesting the sound is, the better
stuff you'll probably be inspired to make with it. I mean, how much
orchestral music would have been ∗written∗ if all orchestras sounded like
high school orchestras?
> It mostly has to do with how good you´re behind the mixing desk.... This
is
> where it really happens.
True. That's also how they turn Madonna into a singer. But if a VA sounds
good with the right mixing and compressing, an even better-sounding synth
should be downright spectacular (though perhaps also spectacularly devoid of
patch memory).
> It´s like with the TB-303 in the 90´s... _most_ people could not get a
> single note sound good.... while some made fantastic tracks with it... I
> think it´s the same with the VA powered machines today, it´s just that
> people do not want to accept or even understand how good they really can
be.
One unfortunate fact here is that when you're simply ∗playing∗ the thing,
it's not in some glorious mix. It's just whatever it is. And often that's
just a little uninspiring -- so if you're looking for music in the sounds,
and you're accustomed to pure analog, it could be a different experience.
Then again you might hit some exotic fabulous patch and be over the moon.
I'm dealing in intangibles here -- sound quality and something's character
of being "inspiring" -- very individual. But however important it is to
accept and respect what's been done with VAs to date, it's probably even
more vital to keep comparing VA sound very critically with analog, and keep
demanding that the VA instrument be pushed until it comes alive in that same
special way. (And I mean that ∗under∗ the hood.) If the show's good with
taxidermy puppets, think how great it'll be with actual living animals.
> And heeey!!... they have even given them sliders and knobs!!!...
> That´s far better than all those PCM synths with stinking LCD´s and silly
> piano samples :-)
That's really apples and oranges, but yes.
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