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re: [microsound] old thread



: :
> yes, but... if you take this argument to its logical conclusion , you
> would say that all electronic music sounds the same as there are a
> limited number of tools which are in circulation. Would you level
> this ciriticism at piano music, or orchestral music? The statement
> 'sounding the same' is fairly nebulous. A quartal chord on a piano
> imparts a different colour to a triad, or a tone cluster. the timbre
> is essentially the same in terms of its building blocks, but the
> musical colours are different as a result of the stacking. i think
> these beliefs about 'sounding the same' tend to come more from a
> tendency in recent music to froeground or abuse the processor/s -
: :

thanks for pointing in that direction julian.
hope i'm not getting tautologic with my addition of some fast, unsorted thoughts.

i'm quiet sure a computer makes no music at all nor does max or [ -insert you favourite software- ] make music. to stick with the m-word application you could open the msp tutorial lesson #1 "test tone" and push go. thats not making music in the first place but if you should deceit to record this result and play it to your best friend he might pat your shoulder and probably he will even come up with a new term and the world sees the dawning of another new genre.
in fact no instrument makes music on its own and computers and especially software are becoming too much mystified for my taste.
music is so much more about the person(ality) behind it than the tools being involved no matter if your intention is to make it sound like a calculation book or if you make music for, say -children.
german inventor and improvising musician hans reichel builds his own guitars [ http://www.daxo.de/Pages/page9.html ] like some blues players did ever since (well, mainly out of different reasons probably but see virginias lonnie pitchford with his increadible one-string electric guitar ). as long as the concept of body, neck, strings is involved it will sound like a guitar or at least like a string instrument but also here the soul of music isnt necessarily included for everyone who touches it.
i wonder how the reactions where back in the days when one of the first electric guitars was played by charlie christian. i do remember when samplers entered the scene through david bowie, depeche mode, the residents. pretty soon the instrument became a suspect wonder weapon.

oren ambarchi works with a couple of rusty analogue devices and a lot of people might swear he owns the hottest laptop around running the tool of the week. a while ago i heard a concert by tore bøe and roel meelkop. tore was equiped with an small wooden box with pins and nails, some small found stuff and a contact mic, roel with a laptop. their idea (according to bøe) was to play with the audiences expectations by switching the "given" roles of their tools - bøes instrument secreted hiss, crackle, clicks and feedback, roel meelkop played room/field recordings and warm atmospheric soundscapes.

meet me somewhere for a cup of tea and say "computer" or "software" - my eyes will turn milky and you'll find me brabbling away for 2 hours (try to insult madonna and i'll order beer!). its a rich topic, especially when i can talk german but i dont think these things are making music behind my back.
 - stephan
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