And Michael, I'd say you and I agree. I don't think there's anything wrong with spending all your time trying to be a rock guitar hero with a keyboard, I just think the extreme examples have taken us away from viewing the synth for what it is, as opposed to "trying to live up to the REAL instrument for soloing which is a guitar." I won't mention any names, but these guys are called "the greatest keytar player" on YouTube while the great innovators like Hammer aren't even mentioned. Synth gets no respect and the evidence is that nobody can even name the true greats like Zawinul, Duke, etc. while a 5-year-old has heard of a multitude of guitarists. That needs to change, and it won't if Joe Public think the ultimate synth soloist can do no better than "almost as good as a real guitar" (which it isn't imo).
My thing is I'd rather continue to make new sounds and alter what I do every time I play, and demonstrate the unlimited expressive power of the synthesizer, rather than get in a rut of always trying to do perfect emulations of an existing instrument. It sorta fits with my philosophy that style is a self-imposed limitation on creativity. When people hear my music they often can't say what style it is, because I listen to and play all sorts of music and never try to make it sound like something else. I have been heavily influenced by a few musicians, and when I play it's quite remarkable how obvious that is, but that's not intentional for the most part. When I play a rock solo where a guitar might fit, my solos sound different than a guitar and I try to demonstrate that synths are the equal of a guitar when they're being themselves and not trying to be guitars, and can do things guitars can't.
btw notice how everyone is playing the Roland AXs with the ribbon controller - so they can hold the synth like a guitar? No matter that to play the ribbon on a conventional keyboard requires all the movements to be reversed, and no matter that the design leaves your left hand entirely unavailable for playing the keyboard...What matters is it looks phallic and guitar-like, enabling your guitar-hero persona to really shine!
I personally have never been satisfied with anything but a custom controller. But again, the guitar is the measure of everything everybody is doing in synth soloing in popular culture. I wish I were young again... Sorry about the digression folks...
Urs
