Expressiveness (was Software vs. Hardware)

[Jay Vaughan]

> Jay Vaughan wrote:
>> Choice 1: Watch some fool work their DAW.
>> Choice 2: Watch some dork hack code.
>> Choice 3: Watch a hotty make the synth do big things.
>
> Choice 4: *Listen* to some music.
>

Choice 4a: Listen to someone really play.


> Some people like to watch someone play an instrument with great skill,
> some don't care a bit about the performance.
>

You are flattening things in order to not confront the anthill.  The  
fact is, music that is performed often has a lot of 'something' (I'd  
say soul but that'd be an opening for one of the technorati autocrats  
on the list to cry 'religion') that cut/edited/pasted music does not.   
Mistakes, slight timing differences, not-so-tighty-whitey'ness, etc.

> Some people like to learn to play an instrument with great skill, some
> like to focus on composing music.
>

It'd be fair if there was actual composition going on, but you cannot  
say that the average DAW user is composing.  Composers put music  
together for others to perform.  Editors put it together to just be  
played back without any further performance.

> Some people like to listen to music played by a virtuoso, some people
> like to listen to music played by an anti-virtuoso.
> For *me* music is about the emotion you create regardless of how  
> skilled
> you are at playing an instrument.


.. and for a lot of people, unless there is a performance, the  
emotions are flat and valueless.  That is what this discussion is  
about: how the interface and methods impact the final delivery of  
emotion.

Consider this: a cheesy lick being played tight by a computer, or by a  
grinning pal of yours on stage...

;
--
Jay Vaughan