From time to time we see on Facebook recurring questions, something like:
Question: How did musicians survive years ago with basic PA amp and a bit of echo and good musical skills!? Now it’s all what!?
Answer: Sigh… Exactly the same way they survived before there was a basic PA amp, a bit of echo and good musical skills… i.e. with good musical skills.
It is like asking how did writers survive before there were typewriters and then before there were word processors. Or how did physicists survive before slide-rules, then before calculators, then before computers.
In all cases, tools help increase the productivity of the user and to leverage their skills to do even more. The tools do not replace skills.
In my past “IT Career”, I ran into this attitude over and over: “The TOOL will solve all our problems.” The TOOL will save us from confusion and complexity. The Tool will “calm the chaos.” No, the tool is just a tool. You have to fully understand your DOMAIN with all its problems/challenges, and program all of your processes and procedures INTO THE TOOL for it to provide any value. The Tool is not a shortcut for developing skills and learning your craft.
I feel it’s much the same (for me) with GP and this virtual keyboardist land we all enjoy. I cannot imagine even being able to comprehend the complexity of GP without having first used the toolsets we had long before we did it all in software (keyboards, mixers, outboard effects, B3’s, Rhodes, CP-80’s, String Machines, Clavinets, Melotrons, and later synths of all flavors). However, I do suspect that my “legacy mindset” when using GP might limit me in terms of creativity (and I’ve seen racks on this very forum that prove my point for me). I strive for “fully functional” and “ease of use”, and uniformity between all my racks, but I’m sure the younger crowd who grows up on this software is going to create things I cannot even imagine!
But no doubt about it, the TOOL is never a replacement for the skills. They come first in any endeavor.
I love this question. I got my first synth when in 1978. I was 13. I’ve been performing live on stage with hardware keyboards ever since. I am now considering moving my hardware rig to software as I plan to continue performing into my retirement. As a woman of a certain age I am not looking forward to the tech terminology. I dabbled in MIDI with an Atari 1040ST and Cakewalk 3.
I tried to make Steinberg’s VST-Live work with my Novation Launchkey 3 but gave up. I am hoping the documentation and community here are more robust.
To answer the topic: When you don’t know what else there is, you make do with what you know.
