Hi Guys,
Interesting thread. Is VSL orchestration a new art form? Not entirely. I think of past writers of, say, fiction, writing with pen and ink, then the typewriter, and now the computer. I suspect the writer-by-hand did a lot more editing in his head than today's writer on a computer. The process has changed, the work less so. The marvel is looking backwards--so much early artists did without modern contrivances.
I'd like to ad a few points to your discussion, starting with a brief description of how I got to VSL. For the most part I play bass--have for the past thirty years--mostly meat and potato gigs, with the occasional plum, like playing Carnegie Hall with Tammy Wynette and Merle Haggard. I have no musical training, other than showing up at a gig, establishing what key a piece is in, and listening like crazy. Eventually, I became reasonably adept at many styles of music.
Beyond all that, I've always had a passion for orchestral sound, especially strings. I gobbled up the Korg M4 when it first came out--would get back from my gigs, put the headphones on, and play those early string patches till the wee hours. A Fostex eight track followed, then the Korg Trident and Trinity rack mounts. When my girlfriend died, I wrote an album for her, using those Korg patches with names like "Arctic Sunset," "Silver Steel," etc.
It all worked, but it was light years away from what's now possible. VSL samples allow me to realize a lifelong dream, a simple one-- get the music out of my head to where it can be listened to by others, and do it convincingly, without bringing in a gaggle of buddy musicians to get it right.
This is where the VSL magic is. Music that would have never been written or heard by others is being composed and recorded world-wide by like minded composers of all levels of expertise, who find themselves dazzled by what's now possible. What a fertile field for new music! Last week, out of nowhere, I wrote a piece that might have been on a Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass album circa 1962. Where did that come from? I never really listened to those guys, other than the "Lonely Bull" type stuff that made the radio when I was a kid. It came from transferring a cello part to trumpet, sensing the piece had a Spanish vibe, and going from the there to make it happen.
If all I had to work with, was something like Korg's "Arctic Sunset" patch, I don't think I would have seen the possibilities, and that, for me, is the point. Samples open up horizons not just on a technical level, but an inspirational one as well. I can't wait to go back and re-record some of my old pieces, which for the most part sit on dusty cassettes. Equally satisfying is the notion that with VSL I'll be coming up with new music I never would have otherwise.
Samples will never really take the place of live instruments, but is that an issue? The fact that sample recording allows composers of all stripes to flesh out and develop their material on their own seems reason enough to welcome this new musical method onto the stage.