MOTM

Has anyone read Jeff Rona's article in this month's "Keyboard (sic)
Magazine" yet? About how he is happily replacing all of the hardware in his
studio with virtual plug-ins, virtual synths, virtual everything? I couldn't
even finish reading it. I'll bet their advertisers are happy.

I hope this list is not getting Anti-everything but Modular.   : )   I find a
mixture of Virtuals, old time jobs, modular, and yes..... software, make me a
unique artist that I am. Diversity.  If youve ever heard Dave Fultons solo CD
you know what can be done with a good mixture of gear.  And to be honest, I
havent seen and "Switched on Bach" type albums out on the market of late.
My 2 pence, Cheers
Jim

Tkacs, Ken wrote:

> Has anyone read Jeff Rona's article in this month's "Keyboard (sic)
> Magazine" yet? About how he is happily replacing all of the hardware in his
> studio with virtual plug-ins, virtual synths, virtual everything? I couldn't
> even finish reading it. I'll bet their advertisers are happy.
>

Exactly. The right tool for the right job. I'm focusing on building a
hardware modular right now, but I have every other kind of synthesis
represented in some small way as well---FM, wavetable, samplers, etc. And
I'm a big fan of disk-based recording. I *love* my SAW software!! Wouldn't
want to live without it. So I'm not anti-PC (it's my profession after all),
and not anti-anti-modular. But I just loathe this juggernaut trend of
virtual EVERYTHING. The fact that MOTM exists, for me, is a sign of a sort
of backlash against this.

But this article is basically saying, "The time is here! Sell your gear!
Virtual is everything! I'm sold on it!"

It's crazy.

Believe me I have a little of everything in my studio. No matter how many
MOTM modules I add, it will still be a small percentage of what I use.
(Well, it may take up some decent floor space...). But I'm getting
increasingly irritated when I pick up every new issue of Keyboard or EM and
all I see is page after page of software synths. "Gee, looks like a Prophet
5, don't it?" Big deal! It's supposed to be a musical instrument! That
should _mean_ something. It is the physical interface between you and your
music. It should have character; it should have personality, feel like an
old friend. It should be cold on cold mornings and feel warm when... well,
when you've soldered that chip in backwards. ;)

Will we one day see guitarists throwing out their axes in favor of virtual
guitars? "Gee, sure looks like a stratocaster, don't it?" Sheesh!

I've been in "virtual" (read: email) contact with so many people who are
being reared on software modulars and think that they have the whole
'modular experience' down pat. No way! I keep telling them, "You haven't
lived until you've tried it the "old fashioned" way. Pick up that patchcord!

 -----Original Message-----


I hope this list is not getting Anti-everything but Modular.   : )   I find
a
mixture of Virtuals, old time jobs, modular, and yes..... software, make me
a
unique artist that I am. Diversity

I have to agree with you about a mixture of equipment to create that
unique sound.  I look at the MOTM as a "module" in my combination of
analog, digital, samples, modular, va, software, and real
instruments(quitars, piano, etc).  I think where the article was going
with a complete virtual studio would be limiting in the shear
creativness the mixtures of gear provides.

Dave

weld@... wrote:

> 
> I hope this list is not getting Anti-everything but Modular.   : )   I find a
> mixture of Virtuals, old time jobs, modular, and yes..... software, make me a
> unique artist that I am. Diversity.  If youve ever heard Dave Fultons solo CD
> you know what can be done with a good mixture of gear.  And to be honest, I
> havent seen and "Switched on Bach" type albums out on the market of late.
> My 2 pence, Cheers
> Jim

In a message dated 11/21/00 6:37:23 AM, ken.tkacs@... writes:

<< "Gee, looks like a Prophet 5, don't it?" >>

I don't understand that trend at all.  Yes, I have a Waldorf Pulse, which is 
virtual (don't believe anything anyone says about it being analog; ask the 
Waldorf guys from Germany at NAMM and they'll set you straight.  Or just open 
it up and see!).  But I don't use it to make "Minimoog" sounds.

Its kind of like the Honda or Yamaha Harley-clones; if you want a Harley, 
then BUY a Harley!  It seems like music technology has become battle of the 
poseurs.  I own obscure gear because I like the challenges, specifically 
because I DON'T want to be like everyone else in terms of gear.  Whether it 
is the MOTM, or JoMox, or SidStation, or some vintage piece of crap drum 
machine that is sitting in my basement, I like to dig up sounds that don't 
sound like every dance hit out there.  PLEASE lets not get back to the days 
when I used to listen to the radio and say "oh, that's a DX7, patch number 
36."

Ok, flame off.... back to your normally scheduled programming.

Ivan

Brian Eno used to keep a few pieces of gear in the studio (I think he had a
small Synthi machine that he particularly loved) that were BROKEN. He didn't
even want to fix them; he said that gave them personality.

Maybe that's a little extreme for some, but the point is important. Here's
another example that you may cringe at, but makes the same point.

I used to have a PAIA 1550 Strings & Thingz in my destitute youth. It was my
first poly synth (I would pretend it was a Mellotron and my Korg MS10 a
Minimoog...I had a good imagination...). I would write a lot of songs, and
after a while I noticed a lot of them tended to be in the key of D minor. I
figured my hands must just like D Minor.

One day I was tweaking the chorus unit trimmers, and after that I realized
that my songs didn't sound as good. And yet things in A-Flat Major sounded
pretty sweet!

The chorus unit was so nasty and off-balance (due either to design, limits
of the SAD-1024 chips, or my own craftsmanship) that the two delay lines
tended to couple and it flanged in such a way as to make the comb filter
effect emphasize certain keys/scales! But the fact is that I just adapted my
playing to it, and it had real character. 

When I got my first sampler, I thought it would be neat to sample the flat
tone of the 1550 so that I would have that sound available, but that was a
complete failure. The nasty choruser was the soul of that unit, such as it
was.

Now, someday, maybe virtual synths will be designed to "break down" and act
more natural. In fact, maybe that will become a design feature to sell
aftermarket repair jobs (wouldn't surprise me in a world where copy
protection is king, where the end credits of every TV show are crammed with
4 simultaneous advertisements, and DVDs have commercials at the beginning
that you are locked out of skipping even though you own them).

With modulars, we don't have to worry about the "patch 36" syndrome! We give
the machines personality whenever we patch them (and whenever we solder in a
part backwards).

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	ivancu@... [mailto:ivancu@...] 
Sent:	Tuesday, 21 November, 2000 10:44 AM
To:	motm@egroups.com
Subject:	Re: [motm] Virtual Everything


Its kind of like the Honda or Yamaha Harley-clones; if you want a Harley, 
then BUY a Harley!  It seems like music technology has become battle of the 
poseurs.  I own obscure gear because I like the challenges, specifically 
because I DON'T want to be like everyone else in terms of gear.  Whether it 
is the MOTM, or JoMox, or SidStation, or some vintage piece of crap drum 
machine that is sitting in my basement, I like to dig up sounds that don't 
sound like every dance hit out there.  PLEASE lets not get back to the days 
when I used to listen to the radio and say "oh, that's a DX7, patch number 
36."

While I personally would not want (or rather, do not currently want) a
purely virtual studio, anyone who's lived in a dorm room or similar space
would love the idea.  I've got most of a smallish room in my flat for my
studio (the rest is storage), but I can easily see needing more room, if I
were to get many more pieces of equipment (Waldorf MWXTII, Andromeda,
drool.... and what about FX boxes?).  About the only direction my MOTM can
grow is up.

Now, if I had to stick a bed and dresser into that same ammount of space,
I'd bee pretty darn excited about having a virtual studio.

Also, remember that limiting one's resources tends to make one more fully
explore those resources, resulting in breakthroughs.

--PBr

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Dave Hylander [SMTP:david@...]
> Sent:	Tuesday, November 21, 2000 7:06 AM
> To:	motm@egroups.com
> Subject:	Re: [motm] Virtual Everything
> 
> I have to agree with you about a mixture of equipment to create that
> unique sound.  I look at the MOTM as a "module" in my combination of
> analog, digital, samples, modular, va, software, and real
> instruments(quitars, piano, etc).  I think where the article was going
> with a complete virtual studio would be limiting in the shear
> creativness the mixtures of gear provides.
>

>From: "Tkacs, Ken" <ken.tkacs@...>
>Reply-To: motm@egroups.com
>To: "'motm@egroups.com'" <motm@egroups.com>
>Subject: [motm] Virtual Everything
>Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 08:36:29 -0500
>
>
>Has anyone read Jeff Rona's article in this month's "Keyboard (sic)
>Magazine" yet? About how he is happily replacing all of the hardware in his
>studio with virtual plug-ins, virtual synths, virtual everything? I 
>couldn't
>even finish reading it. I'll bet their advertisers are happy.
>
>I have a computer loaded with just about everything you could think of ( 
>Cakewalk, Soundforge, Acid, Cubase, and more plug-ins than I can think of 
>right now). I recorded a cd on it and after loosing six months of work due 
>to a crash that happened for no apparent reason, I'm going back to 
>recording on my four track that will always work right when I turn it on!
Even without lag soft synths do not even come close to being the same as 
using hardware. Sure you can put your whole studio in a laptop , but so 
what. I can load my whole studio in a van in four trips by myself, and I 
don't have to worry about some stray bump ruining my hard drive.
I've tried every plug-in that's supposed to replace the warmth of tape and I 
still can't make my guitar sound right.
So I've decided all multitracking will be to tape. Ill still use the 
computer for mastering, but at least when it crashes again I will not have 
to start over from scratch.(When the MOTM sequencer comes out I might even 
stop using Cakewalk for midi!)
This doesn't even touch on how the sft synths sound , but I think anyone who 
has heard soft played next to real analog would always choose analog!

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In a message dated 11/21/2000 7:36:42 AM, ken.tkacs@... writes:

>But this article is basically saying, "The time is here! Sell your gear!
>Virtual is everything! I'm sold on it!"

And you've been quite for so long now Ken!

In reply to these ideas I always wonder if one would prefer virtual sex or 
virtual food (or virtual money for that matter). 

If Jeff Rona likes virtual plug ins, that's fine. I like using modular analog 
EM instruments (like MOTM) for my own reasons, and I'm too old to learn 
anything else. But then again, isn't analog kinda virtual anyway.

JB

Hello.
MOTM lurker here.
For the studio musician plugins and virtual synths are great.  They are not the
same thing as the real deal though.  Visibly the sound waves are noticably
different even in the most accurate virtual recreations.   Also lugging out a
computer to a live performance isn't all that cool, lugging a modular out on
the other hand raises some eyebrows.

As far as live shows with modulars go, the most noteable of late was Radiohead
on Saturday Night Live only a few weeks ago performing live with a Roland
100m.  How cool would it have been if he were clicking a mouse on a laptop
instead of pulling patch cables and re-plugging them on the fly?
Regards,
Don

>
> But this article is basically saying, "The time is here! Sell your gear!
> Virtual is everything! I'm sold on it!"

OK, this is a nit pick but the modular synth that Radiohead used on SNL was an
Analogue Systems RS Integrator.  It uses the same housing as Doepfer and Analogue
Solutions.  You can find them at: http://www.analoguesystems.co.uk/

Eric

> As far as live shows with modulars go, the most noteable of late was Radiohead
> on Saturday Night Live only a few weeks ago performing live with a Roland
> 100m.  How cool would it have been if he were clicking a mouse on a laptop
> instead of pulling patch cables and re-plugging them on the fly?
> Regards,
> Don

Note: This is a test.  The following word should be e-x-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n-i-s-t,
expressionist, but I'm thinking that some funky filter on this list is changing
every instance of expressionist to statementist.  Maybe I'm halucinating...


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