(idm) Re: idm V1 #1308 (fwd)

From Simon Walley
Sent Mon, Oct 20th 1997, 15:07

>From: "Giles Ward" <xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xx.xx>
>Subject: Re: (idm) Cichlisuite (Come To Daddy)
>
>erm.. surely it'd be three-to-the-floor in 3/4 time?  more to the point,
>why do the rhythmic elements in supposedly innovative tracks have to use
>the equivalent of kick drum, snare, hi-hats etc. ?  

I like breaks but what I love is synthesised, single-hit percussion. And
dedicated drum machines. I like it when artists like Bochum Welt say use
electro sounds (clicks, booms and thuds) and use standard percussion as a
reference point and then screw it up. I tend to find that a lot of IDM at
the moment kind of goes to other extreme - using white noise and
uber-distortion to kind of knock out the reference to more 'traditional'
use of percussion and therefore I was disappointed by say stuff like _0161_
and the V/Vm comp. 

And you *can* be innovative using traditional sounds. I like crazy drum
machine programming - I often like to program standard drum machine loops
and then muck around with them, switch the hi-hat with the snare or pitch
it all down or whatever. There are ways of being innovative without having
to experiment for the sake of it just so you can pat yourself on the back
for being marked as 'innovative'.

Also, its not purely the rhythms that should mark a track as innovative -
there are other elements too.

>Given a sampler, why do
>99% of artists restrict themselves to imitating real world forms of
>percussive instrumentation?  It's like getting one of those expensive new
>modelling synths and wanting a piano sound out of it.

It all depends on how you use that piano sound within the track though
doesn't it? 

I can't wait for the day when someone writes some astounding IDM using a
cheap GM module.

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