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Lol.. ok not quite.. but its amazing how far music technology has come in the last few years...

 

I always hope with these things that as well as being just a bit of fun for people like us who actually know how to play the real things, that this sort of software is a gateway to get kids and people in general more interested in music and encourage them to pickup up the real thing.

 

And while the guitar and bass sounds are a bit digital.. I think the drums actually sound pretty good for what it is.

 

 

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I've been working with a lot of digital stuff for awhile now, and the one thought that keeps recurring to me is that I can compose and record piano pieces that I do not have the physical ability to actually play on a real piano . . .

Yeah.... check this one out

 

Its that usability that makes it so good.. If you needed to be able to play properly then youd just learn a real instrument. This sort of software enables you to compose with a minimum of knowledge.

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I played around a little with garageband several years back. Pretty amazing you can piece together a little composition multitracking these little snippets of instruments....

 

I've been working with a lot of digital stuff for awhile now, and the one thought that keeps recurring to me is that I can compose and record piano pieces that I do not have the physical ability to actually play on a real piano . . .

 

I use the digital technology to alter the tone of the 'piano' keyboard, and to do some cutting and pasting on bigger multitrack projects, but I do record 'live', typically on keys, like this one: single track, single take...

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Sound emulation technology is evolving faster than we can assimilate it.

People get caught up in the "tricks" it can do and substitute that for music.

 

I played a Martin OM-28E Retro in the music store today.

 

It was a bit of a jeckyl and hyde guitar.

It was a beautiful copy of a guitar from 40 years ago and then it had a built-in pickup that can be set to emulate your choice of 3 very expensive professional recording microphones.

 

 

These fancy electronic guitars are dependant on 9v batteries... Gibson tuners need one, I believe. and the fancy acoustic pickups have one. This is particularly problematic when the battery goes in the sound hole of the guitar. To change it every 30 hours of playing, you need to loosen off or remove all the strings. Not a problem if you are a professional who changes their strings every week. But what about the average joe that uses a set of strings for a month or more.

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I don't think we need be either-or on this.

 

The nice lady playing on the vid below uses a computer for what she's written for piano - and there's at times a bit of added computer coming through at times. The computer screen scrolls the "sheet music" to her compositions or variations on known tunes whether Bach or Jerry Lee Lewis. You'd never really know how it's integrated into a performance.

 

She's classically trained - Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow - and prefers that on board.

 

Nina plays regular piano as well as an electronic one, but it's the music, not the instrument per se, although obviously she sticks with pro quality whether acoustic or electronic.

 

Personally I can see a lot of advantage to a number of types of performance with a laptop or pad adding everything from expanded songlists to lyrics to variations on stomp boxes programmed into the machine.

 

But I think we're barely scratching the surface of a potential to make our performances better for both "us" and for our audiences.

 

I'd not myself do the recorded backup band, and I've decided to ignore harmony boxes and such since it's pretty doggone obvious that there's only me and a guitar on stage. But... it's a lot less dead in appearance to have stuff not showing other than something like the back of a laptop at one side.

 

Again, I don't think air guitar or faked piano is the way to go; I think we should know our craft. But at one time decent steel strings for stringed instruments to replace gut was a technological revolution too, as have been various sorts of "sound reinforcement" for guitar and other instruments - and voice. Why not let US do the controlling via the aid of a computer?

 

m

 

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I like the new technology. I play guitar pretty well. I don't play keys and I'm bad at drums. I have Toontracks EZ drummer and EZ keys and viola, I can record a whole song using my chords but by someone who knows how to play the chords that I programmed in the style that I want or a real (sounding) drummer. I think it is too ferking cool. That plus a powerful DAW and one can make a very professional sounding recording. Helping people like me realize the dream.

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