This is kinda of a follow on from my experimental music Vs messing around (21st century style) post
This is to do with the "electronic music develops in structure and design with the development of the software/hardware" debate.
This is mostly to do with commercial electronic music as stuff like autechre and the AFX will be doing their own thing forever (I forsee Autechre developing mind-meld-music devices and the twin starting to use tin pots only
).Anyway. Hosts, synths, effects are getting more and more complex. Things like the "8-bar First Contact" preset on the Z3ta+ are amazing. That preset can act as the basis for an entire tune
Also with synths like Z3ta+, Rhino, Absynth, Crystal and the like, the patches have so much depth, timbres and overwhelming content.
By playing just one note (never mind chords
) a beautiful/rhythmic/harsh/dancy sound can be created.Anyway the point I am getting at, is that I think that commercial electronic music will get more and more simplistic in the writing as the sounds used will become more and more complex. A case of music writing itself?
Why spend time creating chord structres when the presets do it for you? Or if you are a twiddler, just create the biggest patch possible and play the same note throughout the tune
(Note: this is not a dig at the use of presets -presets are ace and help me a lot for many reasons)
Conversely, with the wider proliferation and availability of these synth, as well as SuperCollider, PD, Max/MSP etc, the Bedroom musician/Serious avant-garde artist fine line will become more and more blurred
So, what do you all think
[yeah, this post is elitest, but the music i am talking about - and you know the styles! - is not really music, IMHO, but a product]
rob
