Does it matter where your expression comes from.?

[bubinga5]

i will always be a bass player, its what make me tick, but the Piano seems to be overtaking me somewhat.. I've seen this software from Trillion, that gives you superb bass sounds from a controller keyboard.i answer my own question really but i was wondering what you girls/guy's thought. would you give up the feel of the wood in your hands for some software that you can play else ware. this is presuming you can play the piano. here is what im waffling on about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce_nHCMkerM

[steve-bbb]

[url="http://youtu.be/l1toLihZkDs"]http://youtu.be/l1toLihZkDs[/url]

[Dad3353]

MIDI/Computer skills can substitute, too. Not (quite...) as spontaneous, but an excellent result can be obtained without any instrument at all. Patience is needed, especially when starting out. Not better, nor worse; definitely different. My db skills are zero (I don't have one...), I don't play keys (we have a couple here, but I'm 'one-fingered' with them...), so it's with a PC keyboard and mouse (well, trackball, actually...) that I get around my limitations. I stumble across others, though..!

[bubinga5]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1388072902' post='2318290']
[media]http://youtu.be/l1toLihZkDs[/media]
[/quote]seen that Steve. good call. george is a genius. Marcus would be pissed,. (as the Americans would say)

Edited December 26, 2013 by bubinga5

[flyfisher]

Didn't Beethoven write a lot of his later music using just pen and paper on account of being deaf? He seemed to be able to express himself fairly well.

I'd say people should use whatever tools and methods that give them the end result they're seeking.

[RhysP]

No software could ever replace the feeling of my wood in my hand.....

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1388074587' post='2318311']
Didn't Beethoven write a lot of his later music using just pen and paper on account of being deaf? He seemed to be able to express himself fairly well.

I'd say people should use whatever tools and methods that give them the end result they're seeking.
[/quote]

Indeed.


[size=3]Dum-dum-dum-[i]dim[/i]? Dum-dum-[i]dim[/i]-dum?[/size]

[size=3].[/size]

Edited December 26, 2013 by skankdelvar

[seashell]

My expression is usually a mixture of fear and confusion.

[Beer of the Bass]

I think Charles Mingus's comments about the electric bass are pertinent here. This being a bass players' forum I think most of us will agree that a good player can be supremely expressive on electric bass, but Mingus thought otherwise;

[quote]"You can't bow electric bass. The acoustic kind with a pickup is another story, but you can't bend it because once you put in that amplifier you can't bend your notes. A real bass player will tell you. They had amplifiers way back in the 40's. Joe Comfort with Nat Cole had one; in fact I think he invented it. Oh, you can hear it better, but on one level, one volume. There's no dee-ah, dee-ah; it's all ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I don't know if it will ever be able to happen. I'm not an electrician, man. Once a microphone touches that wood, the wood is no longer wood. It's something beyond human control. The wood and the strings make it happen. Get rid of the steel strings if you want to hear straight music, good music. You must go back to gut. Ask that little kid who was with Ornette Coleman, what's his name? Bass players are not particular anymore. They know that nobody really listens so they go out and bullshit."[/quote]

I'd say that if musicians raised on electro-mechanical instruments (i.e. us) have doubts about whether digital instruments can be truly expressive, we're just going through this same thought process and will probably be proved about as wrong as Mingus was. Of course, this is all IMO as there are still jazzers who agree with him on this point.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Beer of the Bass

[SteveK]

If I wasn't a bass player and needed bass for my recordings I'd possibly invest in trilian.
I'm no great shakes as a guitarist, consequently I use this for my acoustics: [url="http://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=6"]http://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=6[/url]
I'm no drummer, so use this: [url="http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=56"]http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=56[/url]
Samples and vst plugins have come a long way in recent years. With a little judicious programming they can sound quite authentic.

[ambient]

It's all music, doesn't matter what you play it on, the instrument is just a tool.

I write and record a lot using just a midi controller keyboard into logic x, what comes out is just kind of just a rough shape which then I'll spend ages tidying up and messing with it until it resembles what I envisaged in my mind.