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From: ee163ahj@sdcc13.UUCP (PAUL VAN DE GRAAF)
Newsgroups: net.music,net.music.synth
Subject: Re: Drum Machines & Samplers - Flame
Message-ID: <252@sdcc13.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-May-85 17:51:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcc13.252
Posted: Fri May 24 17:51:20 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 29-May-85 23:37:14 EDT
References: <317@mhuxr.UUCP> <979@pyuxd.UUCP> <10758@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Reply-To: ee163ahj@sdcc13.UUCP (PAUL VAN DE GRAAF)
Organization: U.C. San Diego, Academic Computer Center
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Xref: watmath net.music:7692 net.music.synth:289

While I really don't mind drum machines, something that does bother me is 
the current emphasis on simulating instruments rather than creating new
sounds. A lot of traffic in this group lately has been of the nature of
"how good of a piano preset does synth X have ?", nonsense about keyboard
feel etc.  I'm not a piano player (I have trouble just typing), and I'm 
getting tired people calling themselves electronic musicians when all they
do is play presets or use samplers.  If you want to use a synthesizer in
this manner call it an organ, because that's all it amounts to.  Just listen
to "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and hear Stevie Wonder use a $20,000
Kursweil (sp?) as a souped-up Hammond Organ.

I have nothing against composers using drum-synths & samplers as an aid.
I've done this a number of times with composing software on a C64.  I
also don't mind people using simulators (nee synthesizers) for effect.
A lot of dance music now-a-days uses them for the ultimate in "tight"
rhythm sections, accurate within fractions of milliseconds.

I'm not too familiar with the new samplers, but from what I've heard most
people use them as recording machines.  Do they have any programmability
besides speed of playback?  Can you do any signal processing like filtering
phase-shifting etc. ?  If so, I'd call them synthesizers, otherwise they're
organs.  Sorry I'm so ignorant on this subject, but I do most of my stuff
on custom computer controlled analog synths, and haven't bothered to read
keyboard magazines (other than this newsgroup) in the past couple of years.

Donning my glass-wool suit (asbestos is cancer-causing and bad for the lungs)
and waiting for the flames

Paul van de Graaf 	sdcsvax!sdcc13!ee163ahj		U. C. San Diego