[NewMusic] acoustic vs. electronic

[kristin miltner]

It's a matter of tactile, immediate, human interface, and there's also
convenient interface. The book is convenient to hold and carry around, more
convenient than a laptop with virtual pages on it. A flute is more portable
than a laptop, and has a human-to-object interface that is very expressive
and convenient.
not saying that they don't make some amazing simulations now, with all kinds
of  adjustable instrument noise and breath noise to add in, but if an
electronic emulation of a flute and an actual flute sound equally as good,
but the flute is lighter, has less things to plug in, and hard drives to
source, and AC or batteries, and amplification,, and on and on, i think
people are choosing the real flute for a while.

k



On 1/9/07, Matt Davignon <mattdavignon at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 1/9/07, Barry Threw <bthrew at gmail.com> was like:
> >
> > Not a useful analogy.  These are useful for completely different
> purposes.
> >
> > I did not say that no instruments with acoustical or mechanical
> > functions will ever be produced after a certain point.  What I did say
> > is that all the instruments that we use now will be obsolete.  There
> > will come a time when it will be hard to find a widely used instrument
> > with no electronic components.  This is not to say that older
> > instruments will not function, and be used, but they will be a niche
> > fetish item...just like paper printed books are becoming a fetish item
> > today.
> >
>
> Just to make sure we're on the same page, what day is today?
>
> I don't see paper books becoming obsolete falling out favor for at least
> 10
> years (if ever). That'll either be the result of someone finally inventing
> a
> screen that doesn't give you a headache after a few hours, or the human
> population getting too dumb to read, take your pick.
>
> Sure, electronic guitars have electronics in them to a degree, but
> acoustic
> guitars aren't going away anytime soon. Pianos to a degree have been
> replaced by more portable electric pianos, but most of those folks would
> much rather play a real piano.
>
> Earlier today, someone described the difference between electronic and
> acoustic instruments as being a matter of how they interface with the
> humans
> playing them. I thought that was pretty insightful. Many electronic
> instruments are still like playing an acoustic instrument with a 3 foot
> stick, or a remote control. They specialize in all sorts of modulation,
> sampling and layering that acoustic instruments don't have, but acoustic
> instruments will always have the lead in immediacy. If you want to change
> an
> aspect of the sound, you simply hold the instrument differently or change
> your attack, whereas with electronics you usually have to assign a knob or
> button to control that parameter.
>
> I'll never give up on my small collection of acoustic instruments. I'm
> just
> bashful about being seen in public with them because I'm pretty pathetic
> at
> playing them.
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