@Another User said:
You might as well ask why humans, after thousands of years of civilization and tool making still don't have one single eating implement that simultaneously fulfills the function of knife, fork and spoon. I am open to someone or some company coming up with a solution that elegantly integrates scoring and performance, but it hasn't happened yet. Personally, at its present level of development, I would no more want to use Sibelius or Finale to perform music than I'd want to eat soup with a fork..
Well, as previously stated, my big concern is that, with the amount of time it may take to eat the soup with your spoon, the meal may become cold. [[;)]]
Possibly this is one of the reasons one can comb the web and not come up with a well done symphonic emulation of an extended classical work from the literature, hence the myth of virtual orchestration at this point in time. Whereas I agree that real time input directly solves some very important problems associated with using the current configuration of notation programs, it may also simultaneously create other problems.
If I am understanding your post correctly, to attain true realism, most phrases would be played into a sequencer in realtime to allow an interactive relationship with the other parts. One of the major features of the massive new libraries, however, is of course the inclusion of a myriad of both the many individual articulations required, as well as the necessary phrases also needed to yield truly realistic results. To allow the use of these features in realtime would therefore require the necessary keyswitches and controller options for each instrument (this may be coming with VSL, but to what extent?), but also, and importantly, the ability to effectively incorporate them while playing complex phrases to yield convincing results.
Now, one can easily imagine playing a particular passage demanding starting notes (e.g. detache), slurred notes, repeated notes, interval skips, crescendos, decrescendos, possibly an appoggiatura or grace note here and there, maybe a gliss, not to mention all the necessary pre-recorded phrases of runs and scales, some double stops, sforandos, in addition to the actual articulation changes themselves (e.g. sautille changing to sul tasto, etc.). The skills and dexterity required to incorporate these realtime programming elements (assuming VSL provides controller programming for them all), while simultaneously producing the subtle expressive nuances desired in phrasing and timing, may prove to be considerable indeed.
One also has to purchase and becomes proficient with multiple pieces of music software (some that many feel look more like the instrument panel of an automobile than a professional composition environment) and be willing to spend major amounts of time tweaking and editing layered takes which appears to be essentially more like multi-track tape recording. (Again, assuming I am not misinterpreting things). If its going to take me six months to sequence my first symphony (just an unfounded fantasy, I assure you), I would be better off to use the time working the day job and using the income to hire an real orchestra.
Alternatively, we could finally start to use computers for what they often do best, perform redundant tasks such as the assignment of articulations based on the musical phrase itself (e.g. interval notes, marcatos, grace notes, etc. where appropriate), as well as providing various timing algorithms to apply to supporting parts, etc.. One would of course play in major espressivo lines, but a plugin would be used to provide a "first pass" of user defined articulations to supporting phrases, and hence most articulations are automatically programmed awaiting review, and then possible fine-tuning by the user. In other words, sophisticate the best professional software to meet the needs of the new reality of mega-articulation libraries and finally stop "programming programs".
I may be wrong, but the thought of doing a virtual orchestration of the Brahms Second Symphony by playing it in realtime is somewhat daunting. I believe the only true eventual solution is to concentrate on enhancing the capabilities of professional notation programs to assist in the many mundane, but necessary, programming tasks involved, as well as allowing more flexible realtime recording, and therefore "eliminating the middleman" (sequencers). Software designed to recognize the new mega-libraries will provide the consolidation, not isolation, of the tools required for both composition and its immediate realistic performance, and thus acknowledge the enormous cost of the true currency of the modern age, our time.
Cheers, Gungnir
[:)]
