MOTM

> What you say is not "heresy," certainly, but still, I think there is another
> way to look at this, and as one of the resident old farts on the list, I
> can't allow it to go un-addressed. ;)

as one of the resident young guns, i can't allow myself to shut my
mouth... :)

> But then again, what exactly "electronic music" *is* seems to be wide open
> to interpretation, and that alone makes me bristle. When I was a wee lad, EM
> was its own idiom, a very experimental form of sound creation. You would

which is essentially what this computer music is now... i could see how it
would be possible to divide the world between "electronic music," which,
unfortunately, i think would refer to the pop/dance stuff) and "computer
music," which would refer to the more experimental/academic stuff coming
out of CPUs everywhere... haujobb etc. would be sort of poppy adaptations
of that...

> So has EM really advanced? It has been *usurped*.

or it has changed directions... moving from PCBs to CPUs, leaving behind a
legacy of what we know as electronic music today...

> >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.

oh, i'll give you that... the mass-productive force of our society has
beared down onto our little world, and now mass produced machines mass
produce music for the mass audience... karl marx is spinning in his grave
with glow sticks... yeah, i hate it too. :)

> For my money, the analog sound and techniques of the 'last century' (gawd!)
> were not nearly explored enough. It's exploration was cut short by the

are you talking about techniques of working with what is now vintage
equipment? cuz we've still got the equipment... or are you talking about
techniques of electronic design, techniques that would have brought us
"next  generation" vintage equipment? that's an interesting question...

> It's like developing a fast new warp engine, exploring Mars for about a
> week, moving onto the next star, and then ten years later snickering at the
> guys still back there exploring Mars (hey, maybe there are huge diamond
> deposits there that got overlooked because farther stars were suddenly in
> reach!).

yeah... part of that is economics. people decide diamonds are boring and
they'll drop in value, oooh! look at that phrygian ice crystal!!!
unfortunately, musicians who cannot make their own equipment are enslaved
to the market just like the manufacturers are...

> That's why many of us are interested in analog modulars. Not because we
> can't adjust to the tremendously-advancing digital and software technology,
> but because we're going back to find something that was lost, tragically
> lost, by the wayside. At the very least, a superior user interface. In some

agreed... a sound, the immediacy of contact, the smell of solder in the
studio, the connection developed between artists and the machines they
help to build... oh yes, the MOTM on my mom's old coffee table is indeed a
treasure chest of fulfillment and possibliity...

> course, the poor saps are listening to it on vinyl, because the CD player
> never got invented...

that's a whole *other* debate... :)

bleep.
out.