How do you percieve the future of techno?

[danielmarshall]

i disagree completely - at least, i hope that you're wrong. The emphasis on technology and engineering in techno will just contribute further to the stagnant scene. Music is about feeling, not about how to route plugin A to bus C being modulated by oscillator 2... write stuff with genuine substance to it and the rest will come with it... concentrating on the technology is a backwards way of thinking - the technology should just be a tool you use, it should never drive or be the emphasis or you'll end up with clinical, emotionless shit that means nothing to anybody....

machina

great post.

ps @mark ;)

Isnt it funny that people who know how to use the technology say it isnt the technology that is a major part of the sound. playing it down.

its not a dig at you machina as its clear that although you only give a brief nod towards the force of technology in that post, you also recognise that 'it is what it is' i.e. a tool.

I like what soctt said, the fresh is only from the freshest of sources.

/rant

I agree to some extent - but what is 'fresh'. I agree that 'fresh' sounds can be created by new or different technology (shit sounds can be created this way too ;) ). But 'fresh' music is so much more than that - it is the some of the parts, the arrangement, the production, everything... there are plenty of bands that have made fresh and brilliant music using 'traditional' instruments (well, maybe not plenty, but certainly some.) so i would re-interpret the quote "the fresh is only from the freshest of sources" as "the fresh is only from the freshest of minds/ideas/musicians heads" - that is the true source ;)

machina

Yeah, this is very true.

Just listening to a track off Cocoon - Compilation F now hearing all these wierd IDM like edits, spectral delays and bizaar comb filter sweeps, and it occured to me that there'd be no way you'd hear anything like this 10 years ago simply because there was no hardware or software that you could pull it off with no matter how talented you were. Sure there was the kick, hat and clap we've been accustomed to over the last 20 or so years, but essentially the technology confined the music to a far smaller subspace of possible sounds then.

Technology has and will always keep music in flux and this is a good thing. If we become reluctant to move forward and try new tools we'll find ourselves in a rut eventually because we can't find meaningful ways of doing something new with what we have to use. That's not to say that everything that can be done on vintage gear has been done, just that it becomes harder and harder to break new ground which is half the thrill of writing music to me.

I love this quote:

"The universe if full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Eden Phillpotts