What do we want from Music Technology?
As you may have noticed, I have posted quite a bit recently about Logic 10 (or Logic X), or perhaps that should be the lack of Logic. I kind of thought we would have had an announcement at WWDC on the 10th of the June, but there was none, and this is fuelling the fire that it has off Apple's radar. In July, it will have been 4 years and that is an incredible amount time in terms waiting for an update of any piece of software. So this got me thinking, what is that we actually want from music technology? I mean Logic 9 does more than anyone in the 60's/70's/80's could ever of dreamed of! The Beatles worked on a 4-track, Logic gives in an infinite number of tracks and the ability to move, quantise, correct, adjust by samples, add any effect you could imagine, add an orchestra, all from the comfort of my Laptop. But have I produced the next Sargent pepper? Nope!!We have access to amp modellers (I posted recently about this) which can create every single amp, effect, pickup configuration known to man, and this is an amazing feat for music technology. But, in this respect, why are we trying to model and recreate the past? Would it not be more fortuitous to try and develop something new? Or is it down to the musicians/creatives who continually try to push the boundaries of the technology we have. They aren't bothered that the their Line 6 model of a Fender tweed isn't an 'exact' replica, but it is a sound, which they can shape into something new! They aren't worried that they don't have every plug-in under the sun at their disposal, but take the tools they have an put move focus into the act of creation.Now, as I started this article about Logic X and how I am waiting for it, this makes me sound a bit like a hypocrite. So this is what caused me to start to wonder.....what is it that I want from music tech?In a sense, I think I have answered my question by wanting less perhaps. Maybe running 4 tracks on Garageband on an iPad, because that is all it can handle, will stop me thinking of what could be and make me actually work within those constraints. Maybe I just need one amp sound and make it my own, perhaps I should not spend a day going through 999 presets, but make one which is my own (okay I do do that!), but these aren't failings of music technology, they are failings of me and my inability to go with what I have. But then again, do you remember the days when a synth was a whole collection of knobs, limited to a couple of LFO's, Oscillators and the like? You could spend all day just tweaking, it was a very tactile experience, not looking at a screen with an million options, you would learn each feature inside out and yes you then thought of somethings you would also like, but on the whole you would create art. Now we have every option under the sun pretty much, and a million that we never thought of, I think this gives us what I call 'creative option overload' or COO for short and maybe it is time to fight back.....but what could music technology do to help us? Less perhaps?Okay, going back to me being a hypocrite, there are somethings I'd love in Logic.... in particular....better audio editing ...I mean it is 2013 now! But in hindsight, there isn't much, and I am perhaps caught up in upgrade envy. I am not sure....I mean if I am doing a sound project, I'll work in Digital Performer, as it has fantastic audio editing tools, it is just that it totally doesn't suit my way of working when it comes to composing (that is just me!).Do we need more options? Do we need simplicity? Do we need something 'new' without constant references to the past?What do you want from music technology??My parting thought is as follows....Make the most of what you have, push the boundaries, be experimental, drop off the internet and all the opinions that it brings. Believe in you, believe in your art, that makes it personal, that makes it unique.PeaceNeil