Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: May 29 2003, 14:18 |
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It depends if you want something to 'replace' a drummer, or something to produce good electronic rhythms. If you want realistic drums, the Zoom Rhythmtrax machines actually seem quite good. Alesis have a good reputation for their drum machines - you could have a look at one of those.
For electronic sounds, the Electribe-R seems great. The new Electribe MX looks fun too.
I have used computers on stage, and can see both the advantages and disadvantages of it. With the kinds of MIDI controllers that are available now, the computer becomes a bit more useful, as all the paramaters are there under your fingers, where before you might have needed to have clicked on all sorts of things, which isn't really so good on stage when you need something immediate. The problem I see with using one running software synthesisers instead of a bank of hardware synths, is that if the computer goes down, the lot go down, whereas if one hardware synth stops working, all the rest are still usable (though of course not if the power goes on one and all the rest are connected via MIDI Thru - that then demands a bit of speed rewiring ) and you can still play music even if it doesn't sound quite as it should.
I think that the 'human aspect' involved in programming a rhythm is something very different from that of playing an instrument. It's a much more technical, calculating way of thinking. It is of course possible to program 'feel' into a computer, but we do have to ask, as Man In The Rain did: why? Sometimes there is a reason, but sometimes I think it has to be questioned why things are being done - it usually takes me a lot less time to play a part in off an instrument than it does to program the equivalent. What I really meant about losing the human aspect, is that it's a shame when we lose sight of why music is being made, that instead of recording a rock song because a few musicians want to get together and have fun making great music, it's all done by someone who's essentially a programmer, because there's money or fame to be made in it.
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