Is a Computer an Instrument?

**Janszoon** · 03-26-2010, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xEMGx

If it is it's the easiest instrument out there.

Easiest in terms of what?

Freebase Dali · 03-26-2010, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

When I track music in good old fasttracker 2, I play the keyboard like a piano and it makes real time sound even if that's not how I record it. If I play a piano tune on my computer keyboard, is my computer not an instrument? If not, could a synthesizer be regarded as an instrument?

Sorta makes your computer keyboard the "strings on the instrument" if you want to look at it that way, but in either context, the keyboard doesn't encompass the whole computer and all you're utilizing is keystroke functionality binded to MIDI notes that are sending input impulses to your synth, which is in turn generating the sound.
But you're basically correct... because everything that makes up a computer is still in effect and necessary for the operation of the virtual instrument.... except for your massive library of pr0n.

Guybrush · 03-26-2010, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Sorta makes your computer keyboard the "strings on the instrument" if you want to look at it that way, but in either context, the keyboard doesn't encompass the whole computer and all you're utilizing is keystroke functionality binded to MIDI notes that are sending input impulses to your synth, which is in turn generating the sound.
But you're basically correct... because everything that makes up a computer is still in effect and necessary for the operation of the virtual instrument.... except for your massive library of pr0n.

Come on, man .. Massive libraries of porn is so 2004.

*deletes browser history*

Insane Guest · 03-26-2010, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Easiest in terms of what?

I was speaking a little to general there. I mean easy in terms of more people could use it. Like for music editing, being a DJ, playing a virtual keyboard vs. Playing guitar or drums.

Freebase Dali · 03-26-2010, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

Come on, man .. Massive libraries of porn is so 2004.

*deletes browser history*

Aw come on... you gotta stash them favorites. They don't stay online forever.

Insane Guest · 03-26-2010, 05:08 PM

One example of what I mean the Mac's Garageband program. An instrument makes music, a computer makes music. It's easier to pick a pre made guitar riff and drum beat than to actually play it.

**Janszoon** · 03-26-2010, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xEMGx

One example of what I mean the Mac's Garageband program. An instrument makes music, a computer makes music. It's easier to pick a pre made guitar riff and drum beat than to actually play it.

That's a pretty extreme example though I think. People seriously making music via computer are most likely not just sitting around selecting pre-made riffs, they are generally composing their own stuff. Even in terms of people who make sample-based music, it's not like they typically grab ready-made loops from the Garageband library. They make their own loops, which is not as easy as a lot of people think.

Another thing with making music on a computer is it kind of ups the ante on what's expected of you as a musician. Whereas if you're a guitarist in a rock band your one and only job is to come up with the guitar parts, if you are an electronic musician you are responsible for coming up with the beat, the bass line, the melody, the whole nine yards.

GuitarBizarre · 03-26-2010, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daktari

QUOTE:

"To us a computer, even a basic one, is just a tool".

That is exactly the point I've been trying to get across. It is indeed a tool that can help a musician make music but without being an actual musical instrument.

I think we need to stand back a little here and maybe look at this in a common sense way.

Something like a saxophone or a guitar or a piano is an object which is designed first and foremost for a musician to use to make music. Ok, a saxophone could be placed in a gallery as a piece of metal tube sculpture, a piano can be used as a piece of furniture and quite often is but their main purpose is to play music.

An oil drum is also an object but this time designed first and foremost for the storage or transportation of oil. Of course, it can be hit by a musician and used as a musical instrument but it is still an oil drum. A piece of grass can be made to squeak and I guess that is a very basic reed instrument.

The difference here as I mentioned about ten posts ago, there are objects that are musical instruments and there are objects that have the potential to be used as musical instruments but are really not.

A computer, (just in my opinion), is something that can be used to produce music just like an oil drum or watering can or a piece of grass but is not a musical instrument in the same sense as a sax or guitar or even banjo...

Gordon.

*sigh*

You're completely missing the point. There is NO set definition of what a thing IS. It can be used AS something, or it can MEAN something given the correct framework, but its not set in stone what that thing means. There CAN be generally agreed upon meanings to an item, but the capability is always there for us to decide 'actually no, thats not what it is at all, its [x]'

Meaning is contextual. I suggest you read up on semiotics. At the moment all I'm doing is repeating myself because you clearly aren't understanding my point.

lucifer_sam · 03-26-2010, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuitarBizarre

*sigh*

You're completely missing the point. There is NO set definition of what a thing IS. It can be used AS something, or it can MEAN something given the correct framework, but its not set in stone what that thing means. There CAN be generally agreed upon meanings to an item, but the capability is always there for us to decide 'actually no, thats not what it is at all, its [x]'

Meaning is contextual. I suggest you read up on semiotics. At the moment all I'm doing is repeating myself because you clearly aren't understanding my point.

You're really dipping into existentialism here though, it's not like these are abstract ideas that need qualifying with some sort of philosophical justification.

Marcel Duchamp's material has little relevance to your argument; he was challenging the pre-existing traditional definition of "art", not of some simple concrete object like a musical instrument.

GuitarBizarre · 03-26-2010, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucifer_sam

You're really dipping into existentialism here though, it's not like these are abstract ideas that need qualifying with some sort of philosophical justification.

Marcel Duchamp's material has little relevance to your argument; he was challenging the pre-existing traditional definition of "art", not of some simple concrete object like a musical instrument.

The way he did it has a lot of parallels to semiotics - How do we know something means what it means?

If I say 'Tree' to you, you think of a large leafy object. Or do you? If I say it with an irish inflection the same word means 'three'

There is a lot more to determining the meaning of an object or a word than simply the object itself. Much like modernism failed because it sought to elevate art outside of the world, attempting to nail down a definition or meaning to an object without an understanding of whats happening AROUND that object is pointless. Nothing happens without being affected by everything else that happens. The renaissance held ideals about grand narratives and so on, that simply don't apply to a post-industrial society. Without that understanding though, the renaissance period in music makes a considerable deal less SENSE. We don't understand why composers thought the way they did about their music without that context of what was popular thinking at the time.

03-26-2010, 05:08 PM	#36 (permalink)
Insane Guest Music Addict Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: CA Posts: 1,322	One example of what I mean the Mac's Garageband program. An instrument makes music, a computer makes music. It's easier to pick a pre made guitar riff and drum beat than to actually play it.