As a recovering trombonist, I've played in orchestras, I've played in Big Bands, I've played in marching bands, I've played in rock bands. (Dug the Chicago/Blood Sweat & Tears era - at the risk of dating myself.) These experiences help me every day as a composer. And I think that those who have ONLY used synths and samplers are at something of a disadvantage.

Since I put down the horn, nothing thrills me more than bringing in great players - who ALWAYS elevate my ideas beyond what I could accomplish with samplers. But, economic realities don't always allow. And in many cases, it's not a case of the sampler putting a musician out of a gig. It's a matter of the client being able to afford original music or not. The gig wouldn't be there for the musician in either case.

Fred Story

Well, I don't know, guys. There was a time when you'd graduate from school as a decent player, and if you had any chops and smarts, you could go find a gigging situation where you made quite a bit of cash for basically doing what you did in school, plus money minus homework.

But in any business field, "cush" jobs tend to evaporate as the budgetary axe begins to chop away at fluffy expenses. No one else has it any easier than we do. If you want the cush-factor in your job, you always have to be somewhere on the leading edge, able to provide a lot more for a lot less...and when the market catches up to what you're doing you have to know "when to fold 'em" as they say, and go on to the next thing.

I agree completely with that, Bruce.

I also think that the live shows where bands or orchestras were put out of work have simply shifted to another instrument - the sampler. A computer didn't create that music - a musician did.

And anyway the main use of samplers is not in shows, but in recordings. Because of this the question is NOT replacing a violin with a sampled violin. It is replacing a RECORDED violin with a sampled violin. I do not see a great dehumanizing tragedy there. It is simply a more abstract level of recording done one note at a time.

William, I have a hard time believing you're 100% sincere. We all know that it takes years of study, starting from early childhood, to get good enough at an instrument to play in a professional orchestra. You don't just toss that away like smelly garbage because you see the market changing.

I'm 28.5% sincere.

I toss many things away as smelly garbage.

Most comments I make are about 18.6% sincere. Sometimes a little more though.


Dave Connor

I'm never sincere, but when I accidently find myself being sincere, it makes me want to hurl. [:O]ops:

I'm sincere 89.2% of the time. The problem is that I'm 100% insincere when I'm not being sincere, and you only have a 50% chance of being right when you think you know when that is.

What's more, this post is 100% smelly garbage. And I say that sincerely.

As Orson Welles said at the beginning of "F for Fake" - everything I say is true.

I'm a liar.

I agree that hearing one's piece played perfectly on VSL or some samples is infinitely more rewarding than hearing your music massacred by a local group. Community groups are great er, okay with the classics. But once you get into compound meters and modernist playing techniques, oyyyy, that's where things get dicey. Hell, I heard a horrible performance of something as straight ahead as Dvorak's 9th Symphony. The string section's intonation was so awful I thought I was listening to a cHarles Ive's piece with quarter tones abounding everywhere!

Obviously all of us would love to hear our stuff played by the London Symphony Orchestra, but that's just not real world thinking. The VSO to my ears is the best approximation out there, bar none.

Now if I could just rob a small bank, I could get it!

@herb said:

Midifile link:

http://www.vsl.co.at/upload/forum/Jeux_de_vagues_MIDI-FILE.mid

Is this MIDI file still around somewhere? I missed this thread when it was originally posted and would like to view the file.