Real instruments

[bigcat1969]

I'd forgotten people played songs on acoustic instruments, I thought they just sampled them.

[Mattias Westlund]

(01-14-2019, 04:31 PM)bigcat1969 Wrote: I'd forgotten people played songs on acoustic instruments, I thought they just sampled them.

I know you're joking, but I've actually sampled all my small percussion instruments so I can use them whenever I want without having to go through the hassle of micing etc. OTOH they just go bonk, pling and rattle at different dynamics so there's not a whole lot of musical expression involved. If you're a violin player you're hopefully better at playing the actual instrument than faking it on a keyboard.

BTW, if I ever (and for some unfathomable reason) get to found a law firm, we are so going to be called Bonk, Pling and Rattle.

[Michael Willis]

(01-17-2019, 11:53 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: BTW, if I ever (and for some unfathomable reason) get to found a law firm, we are so going to be called Bonk, Pling and Rattle.

I think Big Cat should be Bonk, Sam should be Pling, and Mattias should be Rattle.

[Paul Battersby]

I wonder if we'll get to a point where it will be the live instruments that sound odd because we mostly hear sampled versions of the instruments.

(01-17-2019, 11:53 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: I know you're joking, but I've actually sampled all my small percussion instruments so I can use them whenever I want without having to go through the hassle of micing etc.

I'm thinking of sampling some sounds from my physical synths so I can use the sounds without needing to record them live. I find MIDI to be so powerful that I don't want to record actual audio anymore. Instead of practicing a phrase until I can play it without a mistake, I can even butcher a MIDI recording pretty badly and then just edit it. It means less practice but also degrades performance skills. I'm conflicted.

[Samulis]

(01-18-2019, 01:02 AM)Paul Battersby Wrote: I wonder if we'll get to a point where it will be the live instruments that sound odd because we mostly hear sampled versions of the instruments.

Honestly I think we're already there... consider how many film and game scores have 'chugga chugga cellos' and large passages of purely staccato phrasing when most music before the invention of the sampler made heavy use of mixed articulation, using staccato only on certain notes within a phrase or perhaps a few bars at most rather than entire pieces. Also consider how "massive" hyped orchestral sounds have become much more normal, while the smaller sound of a standard orchestra or chamber orchestra, historically much more common both in recordings and concerts, sounds weak and quaint.

[Mattias Westlund]

To be fair, John Williams was doing chugga-chugga long before samples and midi became a thing... Imperial March, anyone?

[Samulis]

(01-18-2019, 03:38 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: To be fair, John Williams was doing chugga-chugga long before samples and midi became a thing... Imperial March, anyone?

Though-

1. The Imperial March uses more than just straight eighth notes, unlike many 'cinematic' pieces today.
   
2. When played correctly (i.e. as notated and intended), there's actually a phrasing arc to the lines.
   

(not that I'm really all that much of a John Williams fan, but...)

Aaaanyway, not to get too off topic... any other instrumentalists want to put down their instrument before we hit Page 12?

[Nayrb]

I play guitar but I've never been too confident in playing other people's music

Paul made a point about liking MIDI over like recording. I don't think I'd be anywhere as a musician or composer without a DAW. Not just for completing a tune, but for learning about how music works. I was never good at notation or playing along with it. My guitar playing is a bit more "wild" and probably sloppy than stuff I do on a computer. Maybe one day I'll post something...

[Paul Battersby]

(01-18-2019, 06:41 PM)Nayrb Wrote: Paul made a point about liking MIDI over like recording.

I remember the days when recording on 4 track tape, trying to get a 3 minute recording without any mistakes because there was no editing - just playing the whole thing over and over again until I could get it right. Now, I just need to get at least close. MIDI to the rescue.

(01-18-2019, 04:06 PM)Samulis Wrote: ... any other instrumentalists want to put down their instrument before we hit Page 12?

In high school, I was a percussionist so that means, drums, timpani, xylophone. I later taught myself piano and then guitar.