Re: [microsound] [.microsound] "sound" of max/msp

[Joshua Maremont <thermal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 12:40 AM 7/27/01 +0000, nobo jackson wrote:
> isn't max/msp supposed to be able to do *anything*, soundwise?  please 
> excuse my unintelligence, but from what i understand:
> that to me would tend to lead to very diverse, "non-sourceable" sounds, 
> which seems not to be the case (in the idm sector at least).

Yes.  The guitar has nearly infinite possibilities as well, yet metal bands 
never get past the chunka-chunka output type.  Much of the pop/dance 
digital music seems to fall into the same trap.  When I first tried out the 
Bitcrusher plugin in Logic I thought:  ah, that is how everyone is making 
That sound.  But even the limited Bitcrusher is capable of so much more 
than That sound.  Similarly a quick look around Reaktor's preprogrammed 
libraries let me to think:  ah, this is how everyone is making These sorts 
of tracks.  But my early fumblings on the tabula rasa of a new Reaktor 
ensemble have made very different sounds (perhaps because I have not yet 
advanced very far).  I am sure MAX/MSP has a similar near-infinity of sonic 
possibilities.  Music in its popular spheres is driven by trends, and 
within these trends gear is not sought so much for its possibilities as for 
its recognizable sound:  the Roland X0X series, the Fairlight, the Linn 
Drum, and the DX-7 all come to mind here.  Then again, sometimes a 
recognizable preset is just the thing for a piece.  But I imagine in 
retrospect digi-music will be seen to have its own bestiary of dreaded 
sounds, as did the early samplers with their orchestra hits.  And if Taco 
Bell could ruin the DX-7 bell forever, when will a softsynth share that fate?

np - The Human League "Travelogue" (speaking of the Linn Drum...)

Joshua Maremont / Thermal - mailto:thermal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Boxman Studies Label - http://www.boxmanstudies.com/