Are MPE Controllers a fad ?

[lfm]

BONES specifically claimed that every piece of music electronic music everyone here liked was 'almost certainly' played on a piano-style keyboards. Notwithstanding BONES' assumption he can speak for everyone here in terms of what folk like, it wont have been, though, because so much of it will have been written on sequencers, as vurt already pointed out.

And on sequencers being a daw or a hardware standalone - you cannot record live in realtime?

Most natural way for anybody that can play an instrument, I would say, is using a regular keyboard.

Some seem to think
- yes, they programmed those for all it's worth?
- no keys involved????

There are quite a few that ask for integration of notation into daws - because they enter music note by note that way.

So many ways to make a music - but end result is the same - audio that someone care about listening to. It's the same back then in 1700's and earlier and today.

[Tj Shredder]

And don't get me started on those laughable mod and pitch wheels.

Proof positive that you have no idea what you're talking about. Just listen to what Billy Curry can do on an ARP Odyssey, which doesn't even have a proper mod wheel -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW9ImnTL2jk

Of course its also a matter of taste, but the only expressive instrument in that piece is the guitar! You could easily replace all others by a robot and would not recognize a difference. Programming is the opposite of expression...

[zerocrossing]

I’ve got a Rise 49 and I love it because my main instrument is guitar and it offers me a way of getting some of that kind of expression into a synthesizer. I’ve tried every single type of guitar synthesizer or guitar like controller, and frankly they all suck. A keyboard without aftertouch feels terrible to me, like something is missing. I’ll probably end up with an Osmose at some point, as I like my Touché. I don’t think they’re a fad, but more like a kick back from the style of playing where a sequencer generates notes while the “player” tweaks knobs. That’s fine for some people, but not me.

[vurt]

BONES specifically claimed that every piece of music electronic music everyone here liked was 'almost certainly' played on a piano-style keyboards. Notwithstanding BONES' assumption he can speak for everyone here in terms of what folk like, it wont have been, though, because so much of it will have been written on sequencers, as vurt already pointed out.

And on sequencers being a daw or a hardware standalone - you cannot record live in realtime?

Most natural way for anybody that can play an instrument, I would say, is using a regular keyboard.

Some seem to think
- yes, they programmed those for all it's worth?
- no keys involved????

There are quite a few that ask for integration of notation into daws - because they enter music note by note that way.

So many ways to make a music - but end result is the same - audio that someone care about listening to. It's the same back then in 1700's and earlier and today.

what are you talking about?
bones said all synth music used regular keyboards. that is not true.

no matter if you believe a kb is the most natural or not. it doesn't change the fact, that many non traditional keyboard layout input devices exist. and have been used for decades! (often alongside kbs for sure, but to suggest all synth music used them, well, its idiocy.)

[Tj Shredder]

The Trautonium comes to mind, kind of an early Continuum...

[vurt]

The Troutonium comes to mind, kind of an early Continuum...

fish powered i imagine

different "scales" than a regular keyboard.

[vurt]

the theremin, its a synth

[eaman]

I have something like 6 keyboards around the house, guitars, bass, violin. I can do things with a Seaboard that I can't do with any other instruments, you can do a lot of alteration in post production inside a DAW but these are not "performance", I can play and enjoy instruments with MPE in a way that was not possible with ordinary controllers.

If you want some early experiments (all in real time): http://store.piffa.net/sounds/mpe/

I hope to see more MPE - expressive instruments now that MIDI 2.0 is out, the ones we have now are by no means perfect and are mostly overpriced, yet I don't regret the money I spent for the one I have.

[whyterabbyt]

BONES specifically claimed that every piece of music electronic music everyone here liked was 'almost certainly' played on a piano-style keyboards. Notwithstanding BONES' assumption he can speak for everyone here in terms of what folk like, it wont have been, though, because so much of it will have been written on sequencers, as vurt already pointed out.

And on sequencers being a daw or a hardware standalone - you cannot record live in realtime?

Most natural way for anybody that can play an instrument, I would say, is using a regular keyboard.

Some seem to think
- yes, they programmed those for all it's worth?
- no keys involved????

There are quite a few that ask for integration of notation into daws - because they enter music note by note that way.

So many ways to make a music - but end result is the same - audio that someone care about listening to. It's the same back then in 1700's and earlier and today.

Amazing how some people cant get it through their head of how logic works.
The opposite of the claim 'everybody uses keyboards' is 'not everybody uses keyboards'. (ie its not 'noone uses keyboards' ; everyone versus noone is a false dichotomy)
And if its a basic fact that not everybody used a keyboard(*), then the claim that everyone did is false.

Despite how you seem to be arguing here, though, 'some people did use keyboards' is not disproving 'not everybody uses keyboards.' Because the latter explicitly admits that the ones not 'not using keyboards' used keyboards.


(*) Fact : not everybody used a keyboard.

[lfm]

what are you talking about?
bones said all synth music used regular keyboards. that is not true.

No, he didn't - quoted 'almost certainly' is not stating that. It opens for that a small minority were made with other input devices.

And some seem to think a sequencer had to be programmed - but it's not. That is what I talk about.

Some see step sequencer when talking about sequencers - and they usually allowed real time programming too.

What I had that did not have keyboard was drum machines. Like TR909 etc. Pattern style building songs from sequencing patterns on that one. Each pattern could be done in realtime.

But I also used regular keyboard from a synth to play drums before I had pads+sticks for that. Then using a computer based sequencer. No audio recording features in computer those days - Commodore, Atari and then Cakewalk on a pc. All midi based.

Even the new MPE stuff seem to embrace keyboard style, and add some more sensors to keys - basically complicating just playing fluently. One comment in thread put it well "predictability" as you play is lost.

Regular keyboard style synths has been the dominating way to play them. Pioneer like Moog and Prophet were keyboards. Those before midi were played as audio and recorded on tape machines. Wendy Carlos was one pioneer to in using them.

Breath controllers and wind controllers started coming - have some concerts with Mahavishnu Orchestra from back then using "the latest hype". But disappeared pretty quick - just a new gadget, like the newest stomp boxes for guitar etc.

That's how I see MPE controllers - limited use and will go away rather soon as another gadget on the shelf. To have so many expressions on single notes is not "predictable".

But free to use of course - discussion is how useful they are in real life making music and performing music.

I can see use as much as theremin just about - fun for a couple of hours to explore.

Keith Emerson used both a theremin and a moog strip for a song.

[lfm]

(*) Fact : not everybody used a keyboard.

Those that used breath and wind controllers came from acoustic instruments favoring that - so true. No objections there...

A pioneer like Ralph Lundsten developed a theremin style of performing music.
https://www.andromeda.se/

There's a google translate up on the top right.

He developed with a finish guy. So he used gestures in space or close to objects to perform among other things like KEYBOARDS.

[whyterabbyt]

And some seem to think a sequencer had to be programmed

Who? Nobody Ive noticed seems to have said anything in this thread which indicates they think that.

[lfm]

And some seem to think a sequencer had to be programmed

Who? Nobody Ive noticed seems to have said anything in this thread which indicates they think that.

Well, I just did then.

Just the obvious alternative to keyboard was my thinking - since some just don't accept that keyboard is the dominant way to play synth music, samplers and such gear.

[whyterabbyt]

And some seem to think a sequencer had to be programmed

Who? Nobody Ive noticed seems to have said anything in this thread which indicates they think that.

Well, I just did then.

Just the obvious alternative to keyboard was my thinking - since some just don't accept that keyboard is the dominant way to play synth music, samplers and such gear.

Goalpost move. This conversation wasnt about what is merely the dominant device.
(Though I kinda betcha that it aint actually dominant in every single genre. )

[vurt]

No it isn't and that's an absurd thig to say, given that every piece of electronic music any one of us here likes has almost certainly been played on a piano style keyboard.

.

there you go, bones actual words.