Re: [microsound] audio software environments

[John Nowak <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Oct 11, 2004, at 10:20 PM, Michael Wright wrote:

>  I'm making a bit of a presumption in thinking that everybody on this 
> list makes music and an even further assumption that the majority use 
> predominantly audio software.

I think that's a pretty fair assumption.

> Does audio software that requires high levels of user input produce 
> musically more valuable results than those that require little?

It depends on what you consider input. Personally I work 
algorithmically, and I have no interaction with it while it is running.

> Do you favour speed of result over being closer to the machines 
> language?

I like to work at the highest level that allows me to do what I want. I 
think this would be the same for just about anyone. If I can't do 
something then I'll drop down a level or two so that I can. It's a 
decision that is usually made on a practical basis, not an emotional 
one.

> At what point does ownership stop and become more of a collaboration 
> between the user and the software programmer?  Would you ever release 
> a record that was created using e-jay, playstation music 2000 or 
> garageband?

I believe there are possibly some ethical issues involved with using 
something like garageband (and its provided loops) to make music. 
However, the music will undoubtedly be awful anyway, so I do not 
concern myself with such issues usually. :-) As long as the people 
doing it are having fun, then I think it is a positive thing. What I 
believe is a far more interesting question is ownership in regards to 
sound produced without human interaction, controlled entirely by 
software.

> At the other end of the scale, when does it start to become something 
> that's more to with computers than music?

Hopefully never, unless your goal is to produce process art, in which 
case everything changes. ;-)

> In my opinion many computer musicians that program their own software 
> environments seem to produce music that doesn't justify the time and 
> effort it takes to create such programs (i.e. why create a granular 
> tool in msp when run of the mill audio software or freeware can do 
> much the same only better sounding and in far less time?).

Sure I can use software that comes with granular modules out of the box 
(like Reaktor). However, you have far less flexibility in how you can 
take advantage of such capability when everything is prepackaged. While 
I do agree with you that it is silly to go and make a 303 emulation in 
Max or Supercollider (unless its a programming excercise), I think the 
example you gave is poor. It is true that many programmers do not 
produce music that's worth all that programming time. However, that's 
an issue that lies with their creative end of things, not the fact that 
they are making music via programming... there is also much music 
produced programatically that is simply impossible to produce 
otherwise.

> Do you think computer musicians are trying to widen the gap between 
> the tools they use and that of the mainstream media?

I believe this is more of an effect of the desire to experiment rather 
than a conscious decision. In fact I'd suggest many such artists 
actually wish their work had more mainstream acceptance.

> In general i'd like to find out how much of peoples music is a 
> consequence of the software they use?  Are any of you proud to have a 
> certain softwares sound in the same way people are proud to use a 909, 
> 303 etc?

I believe most people on the list use softwares that are highly 
programmable, and hence do not have a distinctive sound to be "proud" 
of. However, I assume many people are proud of the softwares they've 
written in such environments, as is only natural. There is less of a 
degree of idiotic techno-gear-fetishism though amongst the computer 
music community, which is undoubtedly a good thing. That statement may 
not apply to computer artists such as myself who use Macs. ;-)

> Your opinions are of great value to me with my research as well as my 
> personal quest to find out what the hell this whole computer music 
> thing is about,

You're not going to find out much by asking questions. You have to do 
it to understand! Yoda this, Yoda that...

- John Nowak


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