[snip]> I am working on an interactive jazz arranging book/DVD -
whatever it's
going to turn out to be - for Gary Garritan. I am convinced that this
technology provides a useful sketch tool for composer arrangers who
don't have musicians available, but it only serves as a severely limited
interim sketch tool.
I wish I were better equipped to describe the differences between midi
instrument playback (at the mundane level of notation software playback)
and living musicians. It might be a useful descriptive skill to include
in the book.
Chuck
[snip]
These comparative remarks assume that the midi playback will always be
through the same midi device, whether soft-synth or hardware module:
1) midi instrument playback will always be the same, always predictable,
always have hits exactly the same volume in exactly the same spots. Live
musicians will vary their performance with each new performance of the song.
2) midi instrument playback will not interact with the live performer at
all, so that if a human musician gets some new rhythmic groove going it
won't matter one bit to the midi instrument playback, there will be no
variation. Live musicians will follow and build on such a lead, so that
a real dialog will get going.
3) midi instrument playback will always demonstrate the same "envelope"
around the sound, same attack, same release, same vibrato at the same
rate and same depth every single time the song is played. Live
musicians will alter all aspects of the sound, sometimes consciously
just for variety's sake, sometimes unconsciously as their bodies change
from day to day.
4) midi instrument playback will always have the same tone with no
atmospheric or personality variations from day to day or season to
season. Human musicians can't demonstrate quite the same consistency,
since certain physical attributes of their instruments vary as weather
varies (humid/dry, cold/hot).
5) midi instrument playback, by definition, involves listening through
and amplifier and speakers. These never replicate the acoustic
properties of hearing human musicians playing acoustic instruments.
When the humans are playing only electronic instruments such as
electronic drums, electric piano, electric guitar, this difference
becomes much less noticeable, but when humans are playing on acoustic
instruments, the physics of sound are quite different and the listening
sensation is very different than hearing even the same sounds through
speakers.
6) human aspects such as personality, good-day/bad-day, happy, angry,
moody, sad, and other psychological factors will never become part of
midi instrument playback, yet they have an enormous effect on the sound
of human playback.
How's that for starters, Chuck?
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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