Wiardgroup

While the calibre of posts on this forum is generally quite high (the 
Grant/Paul posts have been particularly insightful) Gary gets 
my "Post of the Month" award.  It's a bit frustrating, though-- 
there's nothing to argue with!  :-)

johnm


--- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, "Gary Chang" <gchang@c...> wrote:
> East Coast, West Coast, Middle Coast....
> 
> As far as I can see, the caveat about the current state of the art 
of
> offering eleventy million modules and having each customer choose is
> there is no pedigological developement because everyone's instrument
> is different.  
> 
> Discussions about patches are more like Bob Villas' home improvement
> show - which is really designed to sell tools.  Why develop skill 
when
> you simply add a few more modules?
> 
> I think that this utopian philosophy of providing choices for a
> customer minus the bias of a system design is like offering people
> parts to a guitar, expecting the average person or new comer to know
> what to buy and how to put it together.  
> 
> What made a Buchla, a Moog, a Wavemaker, Electrocomp 100, Korg MS20,
> or a 2600 isn't what biases the designer pandered to in module 
design
> - it was that they were created by people who were trying to design 
a
> complete music system - not simply providing a comprehensive catalog
> of modules.
> 
> What makes a 2600 or a Music Easel great is not the module-for-
module
> comparisons with other synths - it is the subsystems that exist in
> these instruments - the patch potential of the factory designed
> system.  The genius was the systems, not the modules.
> 
> Minimoogs are not just a ladder filter - they are also the choices 
Bob
> made on the patch and keyboard retriggering of the filter, and the
> choices of keyboard tracking, the cv response of the vca...
> 
> The same idiosyncratic design elements are found all of the classic
> systems.  Modular systems reflected similar biases - Buchlas had 
quad
> VCA and Envelope modules, insuring that most Buchla systems had many
> more of these than found on Moogs and Arps.  Why?  Because there
> aren't any LFOs on a Buchla.   This doesn't mean that you can't make
> normal sounds - it means that you have to think differently. 
(Imagine
> that). 
> 
> Additional modules were offered as additional complement, but, by 
and
> large, many of us spent our first experiences in front of a factory
> designed system.
> 
> Can you make West Coast Music on an East Coast synth?  Who came up
> with these terms?  Is the music of Columbia Princeton in the 60s any
> less far out than that of "West Coast?"  Many "bug music" pieces 
have
> been made on Moog and Arp systems.  
> 
> You might say that Buchlas and Wiards are the Macs in a world
> dominated by Windows.  Most pros have both kinds - discussing which 
is
> better is a moot point. 
> 
> How dare any of us to presume the potential of any of these
> instruments?  As if the human playing these devices have no bearing 
on
>  what we hear - it is predetermined by the circuit design - 
bullshit!
> 
> 
> Are they over valued?  They are what they are. 
> 
> 7 years ago, I bought a Buchla Music Easel for $8,000.  5 years 
later,
> I sold it for $8,000.  You might say that I borrowed it for five
> years, leaving an $8k security deposit, which was returned to me 
when
> I passed it on.  
> 
> 
> Gary
> 
> 
> P.S. 
> 
> The Wiard systems doesn't need more midcoast modules.  That is 
easily
> provided by a little bit of Midcoast thinking from the one standing
> before it with the patchcords.