Electronic instruments, plugins and VST

The first thing I want to say is that I am very happy to belong to this excellent website where I have learned a lot by adapting to many styles within what I like is mainly jazz and funk ... always with some ideas that come to mind and I classify within world or unplugged. 😎

Yesterday I was talking with my wife, who is a graphic illustrator and comes from a family of artists, what was her opinion about a work done by hand or made with programs that help a lot to create the designs.
She believes that a good drawing made with a paper and a pencil or other techniques can never be the same as something created for example with a graphics tablet and a program such as Corel Draw.

I asked him about that topic because the same thing happens with music. I play the guitar a bit, but I'm in the network, thousands of plugins and instruments in which simply pressing a key can sound an amazing arpeggiating piano sound and we also have the effects of delay, reverb, octavars, etc.

What do you think about this matter? In reality what is important is the harmonic sound environment that is achieved with these aids or the technique with which you get to create a track?

A hug for everyone and thanks for sharing your ideas. Andri

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Edited by Andri on June 13 2019 09:25

Hi, Andri,

First of all, I have to tell you that I'm glad you're part of wikiloops now. I think the rest of the community shares my opinion about your creativity and your views on music.
I had the pleasure of working on your jam and it was great and inspiring fun for me.

I recently faced a similar dilemma. My bass guitar has completely lost its sound. So much so that I completely gave up playing it. I switched to synthesizers in LOGIC. in fact, it's much easier to achieve the sound we're interested in. however, thanks to that I improved my skills in the subject of mix and general keyboard playing.

As for the thread...
I started my adventure with music years ago, when the wave of hip-hop started to be felt more and more strongly in Poland. VHS tapes with "YO MTV RAPS" recordings, rode through all the players in the neighborhood. After all, everyone wanted to do their own thing. There was no constant access to the Internet, a whole lot of possibilities and hours of tutorials on YT. Most of the kids would save months to buy a TECHNICS 1200, a MPC sampler. Our grandparents would be proud that we were digging through entire basements with vinyl records in search of samples. By the way, a lot of old and forgotten songs got a second life.

Twenty years have passed and the world has changed beyond recognition.
The development of technology has gained such a pace that we must really keep our finger on the pulse so that the fast current of this river does not throw us to the shore.

On the one hand, craftsmanship has ceased to be a mainstream of consumption, but on the other hand, it has become an avant-garde. The truth is, however, that even crafts are rarely made with the use of prehistoric tools. Every older generation has always been bothered by the fact that it is much easier for younger people to achieve their goals. It is natural. But if we want our minds to be open, we can't close ourselves off to new opportunities for progress.

But it all depends on us to be honest with ourselves. For example, AUTOTUNE can be used in 100 creative ways, but it can also be used to hide the fact that you can't sing.

To sum up:
I think there is nothing wrong with using technology in the creative process. It is important to remember that technology is a tool to achieve a goal, not a goal for us.

BTW
Here, too, sometimes you can see that someone spent hours putting together something. Although it doesn't always sound professional, I always respect the work and heart put into it. Then you'll find studio-sounding songs that everyone is delighted with. After some time it turns out that you find particular elements of this song in LOOP "S in your DAWie. For me it's also a big simplification, which in the wrong hands, allows itself to take credit for its achievements.

remember:
"you must live intelligently... if only for yourself..."

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

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My friend i use a few vst and plugins and i record now for wiki using them its a quick and semi pro way to inspired others to jam over your and i always open to help any body to make better recordings or use them for making you tube videos i did this a few days ago with track #160918 and app on my phone https://youtu.be/rk3HysIdW4U

[youtube]rk3HysIdW4U[/youtube]

In my humble opinion, making art can be compared to cooking food very precisely. Wrong pan or unsuitable oven can ruin the best meal being made by outstanding chef, but _when the meal is done_, people who eat the food you made, will never ask "What saucepan did you use? Was it cooked an electrical crockpot, microwave oven or furnace on firewood?". They simply do not care, AS LONG AS THEY LIKE THE MEAL.

Some digital instruments just don't have the capability to produce the same results as analogue ones, and the notion of "never would be the same" comes from some chefs trying to cheat or run shortcuts using not very suitable tools to mimic the results of a greater artist. Same applies for photography, art, music, etc...
Try drawing info-graphics by hand, for example. Or light the stage with candles instead of multi-colored beam lights... It will be authentic, but these are simply different tools for different purposes.

In my experience though, the best results come from marriage of analogue and digital in one track.

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