Are wavetable synths even "musical" at all?

[seafire]

I dare you to play my Microwave and tell me that.

I can play anything and be told it isn't musical. I have a gift...

[ugo]

...sounds that are dissonant or inharmonic are generally found to be thought of as less musical...

That varies greatly between cultures, let alone personal preferences. Degrees of dissonance and inharmonicity that are thought of as less musical in the much of the US and Europe are considered beautiful and essential elements in the music of many other cultures.

[bermudagold]

...sounds that are dissonant or inharmonic are generally found to be thought of as less musical...

That varies greatly between cultures, let alone personal preferences. Degrees of dissonance and inharmonicity that are thought of as less musical in the much of the US and Europe are considered beautiful and essential elements in the music of many other cultures.

there is definitely truth in that...but not as widespread as one might think to be a controlling variable in the argument...there was a study that found some indigenous tribes in the amazon were "indifferent" to dissonance but that is rather anomalous...there is also indonesian music where the dissonance is not for preference, but instead their whole music theory is structured to align with and reflect hindu religious beliefs...that's the real reason it sounds that way, not by natural preferential selection

some interesting reads for folks interested
https://books.google.com/books?id=A3jko ... &q&f=false

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1505768112

[osiris]

Now I do mean Waldorf Microwave, not the reheat kind. Although......

[kritikon]

Why would you put a Waldorf salad in the microwave? The lettuce would get really soggy.

[havran]

Oh, heck -- I had a stupid quatrain ready to post in the "Lyrics needing more lyrics" thread, made the mistake of checking this thread, and now I'm not quite sure what those lyrics might have been.

What a magic-crystal tank is KVR.

[BertKoor]

Why would you put a Waldorf salad in the microwave? The lettuce would get really soggy.

Screenshot 2025-10-09 at 13.48.18.png

[koalaboy]

Why would you put a Waldorf salad in the microwave? The lettuce would get really soggy.

Screenshot 2025-10-09 at 13.48.18.png

And just how many salads has ChatGPT had, huh ?

[BertKoor]

It has consumed (and produced) enough word salad

[dune_rave]

In the right hands, anything can be musical. Do you know the origins of the cajon drum? Some people started drumming on wooden boxes. Is that musical? It can be.
So if you have a wavetable synthesizer, you have more then enough...

[ghettosynth]

In the right hands, anything can be musical. Do you know the origins of the cajon drum? Some people started drumming on wooden boxes. Is that musical? It can be.
So if you have a wavetable synthesizer, you have more then enough...

Right?!? My cabbage stew is deadly in the right hands. Tone for days, but, well, it's more of a vege table than a wave table, so I might be veering off topic.

[osiris]

Yes I have seen people playing an antique washboard. Quite well I might add.

[vurt]

Yes I have seen people playing an antique washboard. Quite well I might add.

how would you know if they were playing it badly?

its like spoons, no matter how good you are, youre still just twatting about with cutlery

[kritikon]

I don't think it's a coincidence that you see spoons being played but never see anyone playing the knives. Would anyone trust a drummer playing sharp implements? Could be really entertaining but it must then be difficult playing drums with less fingers...

[osiris]

Because I was in the audience and the guy did a solo that was amazing. I do believe someone also had spoons. New Orleans and zydeco just go together, and I usually don't care for that kind of music.