I know people who compose electronic (and other) music with dedicated hardware sequencers. I also know people who record to tape.
For some, computers are hard to use. They don’t have an aptitude for it, they recognize that they’d need to spend hundreds of hours learning first the basics and then the more advanced concepts, and I get it… I really do. If you don’t need an unlimited collection of everything, with almost unlimited editing capability, you can do just fine with just hardware.
But if I may be blunt, it’s a lot like riding a donkey instead of driving a car. Yes, it’s simpler, but the drawbacks are too numerous to name.
Limitations can lead to great art, though. What happens when you have every keyboard and drum sound? Either you are paralyzed, or you come up with a plan. I’m working on a 80s Pop Synth album right now (I love retro) and I have more keyboard sounds than any sane person would ever need… so I’ve gone to the sounds that were used on most of my fave recordings from back in the day: MiniMoog bass, Yamaha CP80 electric piano, Hammond organ, Moog Taurus pedals, Linn Drum Machine, etc. I’ve given myself some limitations. I had to… otherwise I’d spend all my time picking synth patches.
The temptation to mock the anti-computer users is pretty big – you’re turning your nose up at the most powerful recording environment in history. We’re mostly talking about older people, here. There’s stuff that I feel like I can’t learn – gardening, for one. I have a brown thumb. But the upside is beyond insane.
That said, I can’t get behind the new generation of Ableton composers. I run Ableton Live (Lite) for my live gigs, because there’s no better DAW for a live situation IMHO. But I don’t think in terms of loops and blocks. I do understand how it could be easier and more powerful to “live mix,” though. But I’m old fashioned – I still prefer a timeline approach.
Maybe the computer haters should try Ableton? Maybe they’d find it easier?
