Re: [microsound] building blocks

[derek holzer <derek@xxxxxxx>]

David Powers wrote:

> I can't wait 3-4 years to be an expert at this way of making music!

I'd say that for making music for your own enjoyment--computer punkrock, 
digital folkmusic, bedroom DJing, whatever--this is perfectly valid. But 
for music that you would present as innovative in a public forum, 3-4 
years of learning is nothing. How long does a violinist or pianist 
study? Or a composer, who has to understand all the instruments they score?

This is the myth that is most fascinating about "creative" software: 
that it allows one to instantly and easily make art. "Easy to use" is 
often made possible by a strong default style hardcoded into the 
structure of the software, and your "original" instant results are 
usually filtered entirely through the artistic visions and tastes of the 
software's creators.

I'd recommend those interested in a critique of this kind of software, 
which responds very much to market pressure for certain musical styles 
and for products which allow the average user to feel very empowered, to 
have a look at Signwave's AutoIllustrator software.

AutoIllustrator began its life as a piece of "software art"; i.e. a work 
of art in the form of software made to address issues around the 
consumption/use of software itself. AutoIllustrator looks very much like 
an Adobe product of brand-name recognition. But it has a mind of its 
own, and any attempt to make "your" art with it results in it making its 
own lines and shapes regardless of your input. There are various menus 
and toggles, such as a slider between "stupid" and "pointless", or 
"bugs" which crawl around leaving vector-based track marks all over your 
canvas. But the best button of all is the button which is labelled "I am 
incapable". In the end that is what much of this fancy consumer-grade 
software is telling you: that you are incapable of doing it yourself 
without that software. Let us do it for you. And it's in their best 
commercial interest that you believe this.

These kind of algorithmic instant results made AutoIllustrator very 
popular with lazy graphic designers, however, and soon they were selling 
lots of licenses and even plugins. One was a plugin which generated 
three dimensional "architectural" shards which could be exported as an 
EPS file and used in a "normal" vector editor. I saw these shards pop up 
on websites and CD covers for about 6 months, which is about as long as 
any gimmick in the graphic design world lasts anyway before they all 
move on to the next hype. Remember the "Flash wobble"?

In short, the reason I spent the time that I did learning how to work 
with PD and other kinds of open environments was that I didn't want to 
feel like I was trapped in someone else's idea of how to make music. And 
more than that, I felt that the tools I use to make art shouldn't reply 
on consumer marketing trends, "user friendliness" or how well they 
imitate expensive or rare pieces of music hardware from other eras in 
order to ensure their development and lasting support. For me it was 
about freedom from all that, and I don't regret a moment spent "not 
creating" so I could learn.

d.

--
derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
---Oblique Strategy # 105:
"Listen to the quiet voice"

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