VST Music for the masses...

[mao]

When I was 19 I started working... and some money later I bought my first synth a korg DS8. One month and I was really in depth with it's synthesis... Other friends of mine were excited on buying a cheap guitar. Some lucky ppl had an instruments buyed by the parents... but...today kids and teenAgers are so addicted to download everything that they don't need anything else then a PC, a modded playstation, an mp3 player and... adsl.

Download download download... thousand of mp3... without knowing nothing about the style, or the band... they barely know some idiot doing the worst commercial music... (I'm from Italy... here commercial music is really awful !)

They want to start playing music? well what about buying a guitar??? nooo... let's download everything related, from cubase to all vst... and plays putting notes with the mouse.

So... my question is...

Is really all gold we found in the software-vst world ?

I know that this technology in good hands has a lot of potential... but I think that can be more interesting for young ppl to ask for a guitar or bass or a synth instead of an ultra-powerful pc an adsl... It's a completely different approach to music. It's like years ago music cames from inside of you and now from outside pushed by tv, fashion and advertisement.

what do you think about it? and I'm really so old ?

[tk421]

But how many good musicians are going to come out of downloading stuff for free? Maybe a few will stick with it.

All my software is legal. Hearing a few bands using computers and realizing I could do it myself with no band got me hooked on the VST world. Now I want to get a keyboard or guitar.

[Ildon]

I think I know what you're saying here.

There's no excuse for pirating, but people who get into computer music legit and use computers and sequencers to get down their musical ideas are no different from any other type of musician, really. They just do things differently... it doesn't make their approach any less valid. We're just reaching an era where computers are becoming musical instruments and recording music is becoming a much more accessible activity to people.

I don't see how using a mouse and clicking in notes is any different from a composer hearing a melody in his head and notating it down on paper. The only difference I see is that the former relies on technology, which is somehow considered taboo in many circles.

I just don't really think much has changed, except for the means used to get musical ideas down. That is, there're more ways (and in many cases more efficient ways) of creating music, which allows for everyone to get into it much more easily.

If someone wants to get into drum and bass music, a guitar won't help them at all. A synth will play the same role as FLStudio and a bunch of drum samples, but in this case, FLStudio would be the better choice for obvious reasons.

[vurt]

while i dont agree with piracy i also dont think music should be something only the rich can access.
when i was 19 i couldnt have afforded a synthesiser,to be honest at that time i could barely afford to eat some days,but i had ideas and musical passion,things got better for me obviously but still to be honest i could not afford to build myself a decent stufio with synths and recording gear,the advent of vst technology gave me access to sounds i could only dream of before and yes for free/very cheap and without piracy
time has passed since i downloaded my first vsts,due to what ive put in i have had some returns on the little investment to begin with.
if however this hadnt been available perhaps id still be brimming with ideas and no one would ever hear them
so i guess what im saying is no anything that is for the masses cannot be a bad thing.just think of the people who otherwise would not have the chance

[Ildon]

Amen, brutha'.

[Left Headphone]

while i dont agree with piracy i also dont think music should be something only the rich can access.
when i was 19 i couldnt have afforded a synthesiser,to be honest at that time i could barely afford to eat some days,but i had ideas and musical passion,things got better for me obviously but still to be honest i could not afford to build myself a decent stufio with synths and recording gear,the advent of vst technology gave me access to sounds i could only dream of before and yes for free/very cheap and without piracy
time has passed since i downloaded my first vsts,due to what ive put in i have had some returns on the little investment to begin with.
if however this hadnt been available perhaps id still be brimming with ideas and no one would ever hear them
so i guess what im saying is no anything that is for the masses cannot be a bad thing.just think of the people who otherwise would not have the chance

Co-sign...

[Morgaxx]

I agree that there is a great joy to be found in music if there is movement involved in the making. Beating on a single drum can be great fun. To me mouse clicks are not exactly soul stirring. This does not mean the end result is any less if come by through mouse clicks only.
After playing way before mousing this seems only natural to me.

[projektio]

They just do things differently... it doesn't make their approach any less valid.

Ildon, this is an EXCELLENT point. My personal musical progression is virtually like how my instrument has been refined over many years. Old technology is ALWAYS replaced with the new.

I started playing piano at age 4, pipe organ at age 13, and got into hardware synthesizers at 16. Now I am 26, and have gotten rid of almost all of my hardware synths, choosing to use VSTs instead.

It's a completely different approach to music. It's like years ago music cames from inside of you and now from outside pushed by tv, fashion and advertisement.

Mao, while I do understand your position on this issue of modern technology and the influence of the internet, I cannot accept it. Martin Gore (of Depeche Mode) is no less a composer and musician, compared to Andres Segovia, Miles Davis or Tomaso Albinoni, simply because Martin uses synthesizers and virtual instruments, as opposed to natural and acoustic instruments.

Are you allowed to have an opinion about what approaches are good ones? Are you allowed to believe that the modern world is losing something very old, tangible and precious like solitude, simply because the technology is getting faster, smaller and louder? Absolutely.

But music STILL CAN come from inside of you. The inner, intimate and introspective music is ALWAYS emotionally driven and amazingly beautiful and is STILL being made today.

So what if other people choose to let outside social/political/pop culture concepts influence their music? Living in a cave is not my idea of fun.

Download download download... thousand of mp3... without knowing nothing about the style, or the band... they barely know some idiot doing the worst commercial music... (I'm from Italy... here commercial music is really awful !)

First off, not everyone is a musician, so appreciating music when you are a kid/teenager with no concept of basic music theory, consists of nothing more than exposing yourself to as much varying types of music as you can, and picking and choosing what you like best.

Secondly, MOST commercial music sucks, but even I can find myself tapping my feet to something deemed as "good and popular" from time to time.

The real question is this: Are we into music for the money, or for the art, or both? Do what makes YOU feel rewarded, passionate and experimental with music, and worry a little bit less about the other 90% of the planet that is mindless and can't appreciate music like WE can.

[bambooman]

while i dont agree with piracy i also dont think music should be something only the rich can access.
when i was 19 i couldnt have afforded a synthesiser,to be honest at that time i could barely afford to eat some days,but i had ideas and musical passion,things got better for me obviously but still to be honest i could not afford to build myself a decent stufio with synths and recording gear,the advent of vst technology gave me access to sounds i could only dream of before and yes for free/very cheap and without piracy
time has passed since i downloaded my first vsts,due to what ive put in i have had some returns on the little investment to begin with.
if however this hadnt been available perhaps id still be brimming with ideas and no one would ever hear them
so i guess what im saying is no anything that is for the masses cannot be a bad thing.just think of the people who otherwise would not have the chance

yepp.. i pretty much agree on that.

i remember my first touch with music production,
was back in 1993 or so.. ???
back then i had the chance to get
a very expensive yamaha-workstation,
worth: $ 3.000,-
(it was lend from a friends (big brother))

it probably had similar abilities,
like good VST`s today.

but, it was out of question,
that i ever could buy one of those things,
back then.

(also did some stuff with c64/amiga)
but:
my first touch to pc based music,
was 1996 or 97...
since computers were too slow then,
it was only good enough,
to evaluate things and to learn...
(and i also had 3 small hardware synths)

so.. it took until the year...
1999..or so.. (when pc+software were good enough)
to get great results etc.

----
so, back in 1993 professional music making
was for rich people..
and the poor, were playing
table-tennis, arcade games, or whatever..

now,
everyone can do it,
but not many are really into it,
not too many have talent,
but still..
everybody can do it, more and more do it,
just like in 1993..
..where everybody was into..
table-tennis or arcade-games
or collecting stamps..

so, music has made an evolutionary
step ahead...
and by using the internet,
virtually everybody,
can even run his/her own radio-stations etc.

even my cellphone has a studio inside

------

so, whatever...

maybe in 50 years everything has changed..
and you can even take a walk
inside your computer...while making music..

and if you feel like,
your computer will beam you to mars,
for your daily lunch-break..

whatever...

and, yes,
i too get some interest for..
going back to the roots..
for buying "real instruments"
like:

real pipes, real woodsticks,
real ethno-drums,
or even creating my own instrument,
out of beer-cans.. who knows??..