[sdiy] MIDI isn't musical : Flame bait?

[Scott Gravenhorst]

Speaking of the onus being (in part) on the sound module,
how many of us have taken the time to explore what they
will do beyond the presets?  I consider this on topic, since
it is synth and programming it yourself is a form of DIY.
In my own work, I got tired of presets very quickly and studied
the internals of the modules I have very carefully.  I also
grew weary of the tiny display (at least on the D-110).  I
realize that not all of us are programmers, so this is esoteric
to some degree, but I decided to write PC programs to allow
manipulation of all of the parameters of a sound on the screen
at once.  This made a huge difference and has been a good tool
ever since.  At this point, I rarely use a preset and if I
do, most often, it's not totally stock.  On the whole, most
of the sounds I use on the D-110 and my WaveStation are my own
inventions.  The presets are more of a sales demo for what the 
hardware *can* do, but they don't represent everything imaginable.

I also agree that controllers lack in their ability to translate
human commands (in whatever form they might take) into MIDI
data.  As far as things we can buy go, I think a major issue 
here is what manufacturers are willing to invest in.  Obviously, 
they are in it to make some money and that pretty much means one
of two things: either a very expensive custom design or a design
that can be mass produced to keep costs under control.  I will
speak for myself in that I am not independantly wealthy, (and the
market would apparently support a conclusion that) this pretty
much means keyboards mostly since that's a commonly learned skill
and therefore a fairly dependably well populated market.  Given
that, it behooves us in this group, to develop our own
specialized custom devices.  Wind controllers attempt to help here,
but still aren't adept at controlling a synth the way one might
control a sax or a horn.  But again, my conclusion is that this
is not the fault of MIDI, it's more the fault of synths made for
popular consumption.  After all, most are limited to responding
to pitchwheel, velocity, note number, and modwheel with a subset
responding to pressure.

Glen <mclilith at ezwv.com> wrote:
>At 05:39 AM 1/14/02 , Tony Allgood wrote:
>
>>So now midi has to replicate the failings of every single ancient
>>instrument? I don't think so. This onus must be on the sound module
>>itself. 
>
>I agree, but I would also like to add controllers along with the sound modules,
>as potentially bearing this sort of responsibility.
>
>Later,
>Glen
>

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