Elektron Musical Instruments

> sorta like the whole 'you're 
> not a musician if you sequence your music' arguments
> i get into all my old 
> friends from metal bands.

What I have found interesting about these recent
threads is not just who, how, and with what skill
people use or do not use keyboards, but the variety of
approaches (often implied) that we all take to capture
our music.

The music is the end.  To be drawn into arguement as
to the means used - traditional (keyboard, guitar,
percussion, brass, violin, etc) or non-traditional
(drum machines, sequencers, samplers, etc.) or both -
is pointless.  To denigrate an artist\ufffds choice as to
the media used to achieve his art is a long string of
bad words we can all fill in for ourselves and does
nothing to change the outcome or initial opinion.  

Whether a \ufffdsong\ufffd is produced by banging on oil cans
and brake drums (as originated those beautiful
Trinidad steel drums), a combination of strings in a
wooden frame whose production is itself a piece of
art, or mouse clicks in software to drive electrical
circuits is immaterial.  What comes out stands on its
own merits as Music, appealing to each of us in
varying degree.

For the record I \ufffduse\ufffd keyboards, but I\ufffdm not a
keyboard player.  This lack of skill with keyboards
influences both my technical ability to produce and
the type of music I attempt when I do compose.  As
does my complete inability to \ufffdplay\ufffd guitar or
traditional drums \ufffd surprise \ufffd which is why you find
neither of these instruments in my compositions.  This
does not mean I don\ufffdt enjoy music using these
instruments nor that I couldn\ufffdt employ them in my own
work.  But not \ufffdknowing\ufffd them or having a way to
produce them equivalently in a composition with the
nuance of a human player means that I don\ufffdt attempt to
use them as a human player would or pursue those
styles of musical expression where such techniques
contribute.  This thereby reduces the potential for
the \ufffdkind\ufffd of music I create \ufffd which is under no
circumstance to be confused with the \ufffdquality\ufffd of
musical expression as Music.

I find the keyboard, regardless of skill to deliver
the end result, an easy and intuitive tool to
investigate patterns and sounds of potential.  That\ufffds
me, I don\ufffdt expect that to be everybody.  But I am
equally prone to start from my sequencer and drive my
sound modules that way to find a start that evokes a
vision.  There is no logic to an approach I\ufffdve been
able to identify for myself, although I\ufffdve found that
my compositions that have more of a melodic nature in
the end are usually those whose musical theme was
begun from the kernel of a keyboard experiment and
those where rhythm and beat dominate are those from a
sequencer (most particularly my MD).  This does not
mean that I don\ufffdt use melody with rhythm and vice
versa, I do/can/might/not, just that the starting
inspiration and dominate theme for me seems to follow
this influence.

I would go insane without music.  I think that
everyone that is on this list falls into that grouping
of humans for whom Music \ufffddoes it\ufffd \ufffd the way painting
or mathematics is sometimes for others.  I think that
each of us have varying levels of skill with
instrumental technique and composition that influence
our ability to create; I know I do.  Thinking as I
write this I would have to say that primary among
those handful of reasons why I love electronic music
(any kind) is that it opens wider avenues and
techniques to me with which I can participate in my
passion for music by creating, where before I\ufffdd felt
my physical skill with an instrument limited just how
far and what tonal themes I could attempt myself \ufffd
regardless of what I heard in my head.  I could care
less what you call the end result or how it\ufffds done; my
MD along with my computer, and keyboards, hardware and
software modules, processors, samplers, sequencers\ufffd
all combine to give me the exquisite pleasure of
creating what I could not do with my corporate self. 
And when I\ufffdm done I\ufffdm equally as likely to CD some
wicked blues and listen to that guitar scream.


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