>
>>> Do you consider Beatles songs with all the above back in the 60's
>>> to be
> "real music"?<<
>
> Which reminds me, I've wanted to call for some kind of synth pop/rock
> competition where people would pick some tune from the 60's - 90's
> and do a
> synthesized version. I've always wanted to do a synth version of the
> Beatles "Strawberry Fields Forever", but I'm wondering if even with
> a synth,
> it's possible to get it as strange and psychedelic sounding as the
> original.
> However, as you know, over the years the only synth competitions that
> succeed are the non-musical aleatoric ones, and any other
> suggestions to
> doing something that requires musical ability can't get any support
> beyond
> about two people. Which supports the point in my other thread
> about synth
> use.
>
> -Elhardt
>
For me sound synthesis is almost completely in the realm of my EE
knowledge/experience, rather than my musician experience - and I
suspect it is that way for most people who use synths. At the very
least, programming a synth is a technical task, particularly if you
are trying to create a specific sound and not just randomly turning
knobs. There probably aren't many people in the world who really
understand sound synthesis and are also talented musicians; most
people who are great at one are not great at the other. This
observation may be obvious, but I think it may partially explain why
the aleatoric synth competitions get more interest. People who can
listen to a song, transcribe it, arrange it in a novel and creative
way, perform and record it, generally are not also people who can
program a (modular analog) synth with creative and interesting sounds
for all the parts. Almost all the demos AH people post for example,
are some variety of dance/techno or whatever the latest name is -
drum machine (or at least loop) -based rhythm tracks. Not to knock
it; some of it I enjoy listening to (once anyway). One of the
reasons I like W. Carlos is he has lots of musical talent as well as
technical skills, and the combination of the two results in some
really interesting music. This may be really getting off-topic, but
all the most talented musicians I know - players and writers - are
drawn to acoustic instruments to write and perform on - very few
people seem to write traditional music for synthesizer. (I was going
to say "actual music", but don't want to open that can.) Maybe its
because the synthesizer is still a relatively new instrument, or
maybe its something inherent about it - I guess time will tell.
ld