good flavor means good taste!

[Kim Cascone <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> i'm happy to announce that "good" music has *nothing* to do with "good"
> software.
well I'd argue just the opposite: that good tools do not necessarily make
good music...while on the surface these two arguments might seem similar
they are different:

- the first conjecture supposes that a piece of music already judged to be
"good" (by some agreed upon criteria) was not necessarily made with "good"
(also by some agreed upon criteria) software...

- the second supposes that a software tool already deemed "good" will not
necessarily yield a "good" piece of music...

two ends of the same horse but a different smell altogether...

so the task seems to me to examine more closely what determines "good" in
music as well as what determines "good" in software...not to arbitrarily
create links between the two, but after careful consideration to see if any
correlation exists...this search for a correlation might reveal other
factors involved in the process of creation that have more to do with the
quality of the creators ability to select the "proper" tools that play an
active role in the organization of musical elements that achieve an
appearance of "good"...

while on a train ride from Stuttgart to Amsterdam I chatted with a
professional violinist in an orchestra who informed me that her violin cost
around 20,000 euro...when I asked her if there was a big difference between
a 20000 euro instrument and a 3000 euro instrument she indicated that a
orchestral musician was not (tacitly) "allowed" to play a cheap instrument
in a professional orchestra...her profession demanded good tools in order to
play that type of music (classical) in that sociopolitical/cultural
context...

so while not all music is created the same way (i.e., using "good" software)
there is something to be said for using a tool that performs tasks reliably
while offering a wide range of creative possibilities that is not limited by
the tool itself but only by the imagination of the user...there are so many
software tools now available that fit this criteria...as Gregory pointed
out: one only has to find the one that suits them best...

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