> So has EM really advanced? It has been ∗usurped∗.
>
> From what I hear, a lot of so-called modern electronic music is
little more
> than in-your-face production techniques. It really doesn't affect
the roots
> of the composition, the "music," but just adds some "I wonder how
they did
> that" gloss to a bed of the same-old-thing.
while i think this to be your most salient point, i still disagree.
i would agree that to a large degree that production techniques have
largely eclipsed advancement, there are idividuals who are pushing
the definition of music just as much as any carlos composition. take
for example oval's earlier albums, or the most exciting of the
current breed for me, ryoji ikeda. ikeda's conceptions of how to
fill a space with sound are completely in line with what have gone
before him, but have pushed that into realms not seen before.
> However, I think that decades of music, music that would have been
much
> different from what we actually got, were lost because digital
electronics
> were so fast in coming.
this is very true, and sad really.
but to address bleep's point about what you can and cannot do with
modulars, i'd venture to say that there seems to be little one
∗cannot∗ do with modulars. modern tech just makes it easier. if
there's something you can think of, please post. it's certainly not
off topic.
the one exception being samplers of course. i'm still waiting for
the day when a modular company sees fit to incorporate a REAL sampler
module instead of this doepfer 8-bit shit. people combined tape
loops and synthesis, why not VC'ed samplers?
alex