Hello All -
A large part of some people's frustration is the user interface to
many popular software audio tools. That's because they all share the
same metaphore and some folks hate it. An alternative to this kind
of metaphore is software called 'Trackers'. Here's a great example:
http://www.renoise.com/news.htm. Trackers are usually associated with dance music, but any creative
type can do lots of different and equally cool stuff with them. I
personally prefer the standard metaphore, simply because that's what
I've used from the beginning (DOS Cakewalk!).
There are many excellent programmers writing wonderful software in
the tracker community. That is also true of the more 'commercial'
community, though as programs get more complex, they tend to get less
stable...
Mike
--- In motm@yahoogroups.com, "elle_webb" <elle_webb@h...> wrote:
> There seem to be a lot of people frustrated with the state of
> computers and music.
>
> I share that frustration to some extent. Early programs that ran on
> my 128 had many features of interest that are lacking in current
> software. I mentioned Dr T.'s Keyboard Controlled Sequencer before,
> because it had loads of features for manipulating midi chunks in
> real-time that were interesting for both performing and composing.
>
> But saying that music software is bloated junk now, or rehashes, is
> failing to separate the wheat from the chaff.
>
> If you look back at old analog equipment, there are a few dozen
> machines that people consider classics, and a thousand also-rans.
> When you look at early electronic music albums, its the same. For
> every "Switched on Bach", there are a thousand recordings like
> "Switched on Buck", and junk like that.
>
> There are a lot of applications that are done very well, even some
of
> the "rehashes". Take the Arturia Moog software - that brings the
> power of modular synthesis to thousands of people that can't afford
> hardware systems. Native Instruments has programs that rehash old
> hardware, such as FM7 or Pro-52. These expand on the capabilities
of
> their predecessors, and sound good, too.
>
> There are some interesting applications that cover new territory,
> too. Absynth is one example - it can create evolving textures that
> were impractical with older technologies. Reaktor allows you to
> explore all different types of synthesis, and to build your own
> synthesizers. What you get out of it is limited by what you put
into
> it.
>
> Another interesting thing that's happening is that the cost to jump
> into computer-based music has plummeted. The English magazine
> Computer Music comes with a CD that contains a basic computer music
> system. It's worth a look - it has a sampler, drum synthesizer,
> virtual analog synthesizer, and a sequencer.
>
> Making things easier means that there's going to be more bad music
> than ever...but, hopefully, there should be more good music than
> ever, too.