Tophat665

The problem with that is Electric Guitars, Bass Guitars, and Theremins take every bit the skill to play as any other instrument, so that's a disingenuous argument. Distortion and effects, even midi effects, do not change the fact that one still needs to play an instrument to generate a signal for them to generate, so that's a disingenuous argument. Some synthesizers are really just keyboards, and the best of those mimic the action of a piano to a great degree, requiring the same skills to play, and still others mimic and require the same skills ans other instruments, and one, the Synth-Axe Drumitar the "drummer" for the Flecktones uses, even requires a totally novel set of musical skills, on the other hand, some synthesizers and most drum machines are not musical instruments; they are computers with a sound output, and the skill involved in making music with them is a programming skill. That's fine, but it shouldn't be confused with music any more than a photoshop on Fark or Something Awful should be confused with Art. So, I guess what I am getting at is that synthesizers and drum machines are every bit as problematic as Sampling.

Understand that I am not saying that Synthesizers and Drum Machines and Samples cannot be part of worthwhile music, or something used in addition to things that require musical talent, just that the programmers thereof are more like the lighting guys or the producers or folks who run the soundboard than they are like the musicians. They're technicians, not musicians. My beef with Dance and Techno is that a large part of it seems to me to rely entirely on these programmed devices, to the exclusion of any display of musical talent. That and I find it boring, repetitive, and unpleasant to listen to, so even if you disagree with my intellectual argument for disliking it, you cannot justly disagree that it is very much not to my taste.

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