Brian Eno used to keep a few pieces of gear in the studio (I think he had a
small Synthi machine that he particularly loved) that were BROKEN. He didn't
even want to fix them; he said that gave them personality.
Maybe that's a little extreme for some, but the point is important. Here's
another example that you may cringe at, but makes the same point.
I used to have a PAIA 1550 Strings & Thingz in my destitute youth. It was my
first poly synth (I would pretend it was a Mellotron and my Korg MS10 a
Minimoog...I had a good imagination...). I would write a lot of songs, and
after a while I noticed a lot of them tended to be in the key of D minor. I
figured my hands must just like D Minor.
One day I was tweaking the chorus unit trimmers, and after that I realized
that my songs didn't sound as good. And yet things in A-Flat Major sounded
pretty sweet!
The chorus unit was so nasty and off-balance (due either to design, limits
of the SAD-1024 chips, or my own craftsmanship) that the two delay lines
tended to couple and it flanged in such a way as to make the comb filter
effect emphasize certain keys/scales! But the fact is that I just adapted my
playing to it, and it had real character.
When I got my first sampler, I thought it would be neat to sample the flat
tone of the 1550 so that I would have that sound available, but that was a
complete failure. The nasty choruser was the soul of that unit, such as it
was.
Now, someday, maybe virtual synths will be designed to "break down" and act
more natural. In fact, maybe that will become a design feature to sell
aftermarket repair jobs (wouldn't surprise me in a world where copy
protection is king, where the end credits of every TV show are crammed with
4 simultaneous advertisements, and DVDs have commercials at the beginning
that you are locked out of skipping even though you own them).
With modulars, we don't have to worry about the "patch 36" syndrome! We give
the machines personality whenever we patch them (and whenever we solder in a
part backwards).
-----Original Message-----
From:
ivancu@... [mailto:
ivancu@...]
Sent:Tuesday, 21 November, 2000 10:44 AM
To:
motm@egroups.comSubject:Re: [motm] Virtual Everything
Its kind of like the Honda or Yamaha Harley-clones; if you want a Harley,
then BUY a Harley! It seems like music technology has become battle of the
poseurs. I own obscure gear because I like the challenges, specifically
because I DON'T want to be like everyone else in terms of gear. Whether it
is the MOTM, or JoMox, or SidStation, or some vintage piece of crap drum
machine that is sitting in my basement, I like to dig up sounds that don't
sound like every dance hit out there. PLEASE lets not get back to the days
when I used to listen to the radio and say "oh, that's a DX7, patch number
36."