MOTM

>
>>> 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