The digital revolution in music-making has already come a very long way. Is it done yet? I don't believe so. There is yet another quite radical step waiting to take its place in this revolution. But I'm not seeing this prospect with undiluted optimism and joy. This next step and its possible consequences have engendered much doubt, inner conflict and concern in me with regard to the future of real orchestras and orchestral musicians.
This next step I'm talking about is the option of using Orchestral Intonation (OI) in any and all digital virtual instruments in DAWs, including orchestral sample libraries and other digital technologies that emulate orchestral instruments. OI doesn't involve any technological breakthroughs - indeed technologically it's pretty tame stuff.
But here's the revolutionary bit. Innovation alters what is taken intuitively as "normality". Once an innovation has become naturalised, a different normality exists for those affected by the innovation. OI in DAWs would affect untold numbers of music makers who use purely digital means. Those who listen to DAW-produced music that includes OI would also be affected, perhaps even to the point where it's very difficult if not impossible for them to know whether the music has been produced by purely digital emulation or is a recording of real musicians playing real instruments. And so enters my concern for orchestral musicians.
I've long been puzzled about the continued absence of OI in DAWs. (Hermode Tuning is not OI - it's a hybrid of ET and OI.) Knowing that the technological implementation of OI is far from rocket science, I've come to regard the continued absence of OI in DAWs as a potential avalanche or a tectonic plate shift, primed but still waiting to happen - there will come a time when it can't be held back.
What might have been holding back OI as the next step in DAWs for so long? Could it be the exclusive vested interest that all orchestras have, i.e. that today only a real orchestra can render a piece of music in OI? Zimmer and others seem to have succesfully convinced orchestral musicians that they can and should contribute to the making of digital sample libraries without trepidation, since media composers who use such libraries are in many cases actually generating more work for real orchestras.
Film makers know that audiences appreciate scores recorded by real orchestras, and hence they're usually prepared to stump up the hefty fees asociated with recording a real orchestra. Would that change if DAWs had OI? Would orchestral musicians become very short of work - perhaps to the point where their profession would shrink drastically? I'd much prefer to think not. I am and will remain an ardent appreciater of the fine work that orchestral musicians do and I don't want to contemplate a world without real orchestras. But since I don't have a crystal ball, the question remains a worry and ever-present source of concern for me, as one who is in a position to trigger this next step.
Why then don't I just shut up and forget about OI for DAWs? The answer is I can't stand hearing the ever-downward trend in the musical quality of works produced only on DAWs. Far too many who call themselves composers nowadays clearly are far from fluent in the language of orchestral music - their works speak in a kind of pidgin. It's grotesque and depressing to see one of our great cultural treasures being debased like this. I know others feel the same way. And yet once OI in DAWs is a widespread reality, could that not bring about the eventual demise of real orchestras?
If someone could convince me I'm being far too pessimistic about this whole thing, I'd be grateful.
