At 09:54 AM 7/17/02 -0400, you wrote: >On 16 Jul 2002, at 15:54, Harold Steinhardt wrote: > >> However, the best of midi playback still does not give you an honest >> representation of what real human beings, playing a real acoustic >> instruments will sound like. > >That is as true of playback from your fancy-schmancy professional >sequencer as it is of lowly Finale.
Mark Snow's "X-Files". Jerry Gerber's "Moon Festival". Frank Zappa's re-releases of "Uncle Meat" and others. Three quick examples of music whose synth origins you'd never guess. Complete synthed ensembles are everywhere on film and TV in the hands of masters who can put live performers to shame. And short of Hollywood bands, who can play as well and as sensitively? Pul-eeze don't talk about human representation. As a composer, I am, as they say, "up to here" with human MIS-representation. The performers who can't count well enough to play the notes, much less be musical; the conductor who thinks my tempo and dynamic markings are optional and open to "interpretation"; and even the immensely talented pianist who decided that my pulse-minimalist "Rough Edges" was a bloody romantic tone poem! Monumentally effective and very human, but incredibly wrong. Sure, live concerts are great for the tension of the imminent mistake (composer Daron Hagen believes it's only the possibility of calamity that keeps people going to opera and NASCAR races), the idiosyncratic interpretations and bizarre behavior, and the yummy food & schmoozing. And we composers pretty much all love the applause. But in 95% -- make that 99% -- of examples, I'd prefer a well-crafted Midi version to represent my work than anyone except perhaps one of the great Hollywood bands. And aside from avoiding simple errors and incompetence and performer hubris, softsynth versions are so far advanced that they can be made to imitate the foibles of human players to satisfy those for whom error is synonymous with interpretation. Barlow's "Autobusk" software takes an input file, and by means of on-screen sliders, adds any rhythmic and pitch and myriad other compromises you'd like, based on existing models of composition & interpretation. Cage in the style of Mozart, if you like. Josquin à la Webern. Shostakovich with Liberace candles. Maybe your idea of Midi is so rudimentary precisely *because* Finale's is so limited? We're a long way from the mini-Casio-land of Finale's options. Dennis _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
