quoted 4 lines this may be a dumb question, but does it really matter what kind of gear>this may be a dumb question, but does it really matter what kind of gear
>people use?
>i mean,. isn;t it kind of pretentious to assume that someones gear has
>some relevance to the quality of their music?
I don't think it's pretentious at all. I'll use an obvious example- Autechre.
Why is it that ever since they've incorperated Max/MSP, that their music sounds sooo Max/MSP? Clickety clackety, without much low end, pretty much devoid of melody/harmony, and very much backing off of the bass lines.
More importantly, why is it that every other artist who I encounter who uses Max/MSP sounds quite similar to the later Ae releases? Compare the first EOG 12" (the grey one called Master or just s/t) which was heavy on the 909 (analog) to their second 12", Pt. 3, which was made obviously with Max/MSP. Why should it be so obvious? Why does it need to sound like that? Can it not sound like anything else?
I saw some other guy at the Infinite Complexity show a couple months ago in LA (called Zehn or something like that) who also used Max/MSP and again the sound was quite distinctive. The same clickety clackety cutty drum patterns and pretty much no melody.
Not that I have anything against Max/MSP because there are other examples. A freind mentioned to me that some of the live Not Breathing stuff sounded a lot like the live Aphex Twin stuff. I thought, 'Hmmm. They both do their own circuit bending home-made synths, and even though they are worlds apart, they sound similar.' Not only in the sounds of the synths, but in the style of the music. Why should that be?
I hear it also, though not as much, between people who use Reaktor. Now that I'm starting into Reason myself, I hear similarities in those users as well- check out the Exillon 12" on Zod and the Cyrusrex album (which is really really great by the way).
Food for thought. Topic for discussion.
now on- Not Breathing mp3s