computers and music and how to make one with the other
If you know me at all, you know I've been engaged with electronic and computer music since I was a mere stripling, a fuzzy-lipped milquetoast with a Tascam four-track and a borrowed Korg Polysix
. My first actual computer composition, around 1985 or 1986, was done using a tone generator program on a Texas Instruments TI99/4a for some kind of school project. I'm sure it was crap - can't really remember it. Anything really involved was more likely done on a dedicated hardware sequencer with MIDI or CV and some keyboards. Of course now, computer-based composition tools come free in cereal boxes. Propellerhead's Reason is a full-blown production suite in a box for around US$400 and it runs on any recent Mac or PC. The only other thing you need to get moving is a cheap MIDI controller and, really, you don't even need that.
The technology is finally catching up to what people hear in their heads. It's also making it easier for dumbasses to make bad music. Lately, I've been reflecting on the tools now at my disposal, and how the relative ease of making computer-based tunes has taken some of the shine off actually doing it. It's a little like playing a video game, sometimes. Point, click, cut, paste, save, and it's fat beats all night long. I reckon the challenge is to start with an idea, a sound or image in your head, and then make the software do it. The tendency is often to let the software dictate what you do - you noodle and tweak until it sounds kind of cool, and then you save the mix and go get a beer.
I'm challenging myself lately to start on a guitar or piano and write actual music before I touch a computer. That's what can seperate you from the heard of mouse-clicking loop loaders. Write music that works on its own, then let the software make it better.
. My first actual computer composition, around 1985 or 1986, was done using a tone generator program on a Texas Instruments TI99/4a for some kind of school project. I'm sure it was crap - can't really remember it. Anything really involved was more likely done on a dedicated hardware sequencer with MIDI or CV and some keyboards. Of course now, computer-based composition tools come free in cereal boxes. Propellerhead's Reason is a full-blown production suite in a box for around US$400 and it runs on any recent Mac or PC. The only other thing you need to get moving is a cheap MIDI controller and, really, you don't even need that.
The technology is finally catching up to what people hear in their heads. It's also making it easier for dumbasses to make bad music. Lately, I've been reflecting on the tools now at my disposal, and how the relative ease of making computer-based tunes has taken some of the shine off actually doing it. It's a little like playing a video game, sometimes. Point, click, cut, paste, save, and it's fat beats all night long. I reckon the challenge is to start with an idea, a sound or image in your head, and then make the software do it. The tendency is often to let the software dictate what you do - you noodle and tweak until it sounds kind of cool, and then you save the mix and go get a beer.
I'm challenging myself lately to start on a guitar or piano and write actual music before I touch a computer. That's what can seperate you from the heard of mouse-clicking loop loaders. Write music that works on its own, then let the software make it better.
posted by tay0 at 17:04
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home