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Re: [microsound] confield and the uses of new technology



Philip Sherburne wrote:

> I'm more intrigued by something in Kim's comment -- is it something that
> only somebody with a pretty intimate grasp of the software (in this case, I
> guess Kyma) would pick up on? I'm not sure, Kim, whether your point was
> simply that Confield didn't sound terribly evolved and/or compositionally
> interesting, or whether it was that any user of Kyma could see through their
> tricks immediately.

I'm not sure how Autechre make their music, whether they are using Kyma or the
Nord Modular or whatever, but I don't think this last is much of a criticism.

(I know one thing though -- I would run out immediately and buy a Kyma system
if I had the $$$, I saw a demo of it back in March and it was amazing.)

I play the bass as well as working with computers...if I play a really simple
(but effective) bass part on a track, is somebody going to come back in a
review and say that all I did was play a few notes on my E string?

The important point is that it was my artistic decision to play those notes
there and with that sound, just as it is Autechre's decision about what
equipment to use and how.

Or compare with DJing -- all a DJ does is play records. The important thing is
deciding what records to play and in what context.

I seem to recall that Photek uses a JV-1080 on some of his tracks, perhaps I
read that in an interview somewhere...there are certainly some sounds on his
records that sound like unedited Roland patches, but often in contexts where I
have thought -- wow, that simple pad sounds just perfect right there.

> Which, if it's the latter point, I think has some
> interesting implications for the role of novelty and the "wow" factor in
> popular reception of music, at a point when tools appear to be advancing so
> rapidly.

I'd be interested to hear others' opinions about these issues.

John

--
John von Seggern
DJ/producer
Digital Cutup Lounge
Hong Kong

http://www.digitalcutuplounge.com