The degradation of mojo

02/01/2012

4 Comments

 
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Ensoniq ASR-10.
_During the last weeks I've been rediscovering some old and forgotten equipment lying around in my studio, and... I'm starting to have doubts. Doubts of the so-called excellence of modern sound. Maybe I'm entering the age when all new becomes bad and all old gets the shimmer of coolness and all, but I don't really think so.

I won't go so far to say that all those people who have been raving about the enormous benefits of analog summing and the ultimate power of analog equipment are the true prophets - but I am starting to understand that they might have a point.

_Picture this. After a hellish battle in the basement I finally succeeded to find an old CD-ROM for the Ensoniq ASR that I've been searching for for some time (for those who are interested, the library is called The Art of Transwaves).

My reaction went from WTF? to WTF!! in less than one minute.

How is it possible that ancient technology can cause such a reaction? I can think of the following reasons:

  1. Nostalgia. Since many of us started off in music with old Akais and EPS:es - there is a risk of confusing good with the cozy feeling of "coming home".

  2. Hype. There are many people who - for years - have been looking down on modern technology, saying it all sounds rubbish.

  3. Drugs. The creators of old equipment put some sort of ecstasy inside the audio that fools us that what we hear is good.

  4. Mojo. The instrument has its own soul and attitude.

Apart from point 3 - I would guess the answer is a mix between 1, 2 and 4. But when I look at the virtual instruments created today I think the last point is what this is all about.

I believe we've become too obsessed about technology that we've lost track of its original purpose.

Take this whole thing with Apple iPhones and iPads for example. The applications are from a technical perspective extremely cool, but I still haven't found anything that make me actually create something with it. There is simply no connection. It's just toys I play with a few minutes, but it never becomes anything more than that.

But it's not just so easy to say 'Avoid all new. Buy old analog equipment and all will be fine'.

There were lots of crap released in the 80s and 90s.

I got a similar reaction when I again tried to incorporate my uber-old Windows PC with its Creamware DSP cards into my workflow. After playing around with John Bowens synthesizers for less than one minute - I was totally sold. I am not joking. Totally sold.

There is much to be said about Creamware/Sonic Core and I won't go into that whole sad story. But you want to get incredible sounds? Get a Sonic Core DSP/Creamware DSP card, get Minimax, Solaris, Quantum Wave and Flexor. Again - I am not joking. It's so damn good I started to wonder why I'm spending my time with all my plugins.

Naturally, I won't be switching over to the ASR and bid myself crazy on a second hand Atari (but the thought have occurred to me). But come on? Considering the technical advances that have been made during the last 20 years - wouldn't we be living in sound-fucking-paradise by now?

This is how I think it is.
  • A good instrument has mojo.

  • Mojo is not something determined by processing power or advanced technology. It can be made by dsp-circuits, tubes or rubber bands.

  • Mojo is the space between the lines. The silence between the words. It's about good taste and a deeper understanding of what's working and not.
When people are ranting about UAD and their expensive DSP-cards - I feel they are missing the point. Yes, they are hellishly expensive. Yes, there are alternatives. But that doesn't make UAD bad in any way.

Good instrument designers such as Bob Moog, John Bowen and Roger Linn all share this sense of what's working. I also think that when economics become too involved it cripples the creative process and muddles the perspectives. Creating a good instrument is not about reaching out to the largest possible group of buyers. I mean... everybody knows about the E-mu Emulator. But who the f**k cares about their rack sound modules?

A good instrument is a good instrument even if it's based on inferior technology.

The same can be said for the music itself as well.

I'm such a clever guy.
 


Comments

what what
02/01/2012 21:17

everyone has to realize that modern cell phones and computers and digital audio was all invented in the 80's and has only seen improvements in getting things smaller and cooler. so all the digital hype in 2012 is just 20 year old technology.

the magic of when something is new is what inspires people to do remarkable things with it, so how can we get excited about anything anymore when nothing actually, radically new has been invented in 20 years since? it's all just been tweeked a bit thats all.

1)cd's in the 80's are now mp3's, they are essentially the same thing
2)big clunky cell phones in the 80's are now just smaller and more annoying
3)digital music today is still made using MIDI which really was the turning point for music in the early 80's when it came about
4)internet has only expended to a more wireless protocol, thanks to the explosion of cel towers (not like that's a good thing : / ). but it's still the same damn internetz as it wuz when al gore invented it in the 80's lol

maybe humans have passed all of the great creative musical eras in our time on this earth. maybe we are now in a state of decline where everything remarkable has been done and the collective homogenizing of culture is forcing us to look to other forms of spending our time

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ronnie link
02/02/2012 00:58

Kind of depends on what type of sound or experience you are after.
It's not what you use, it's how you use it, right?

Yesterday I watched Diego Stocco do a performance on a dinner plate. Love that. You know what else I love? Listening to tracks on old cassette tapes, when in quiet parts you can hear whatever is on the flip play in reverse in the background. I'm still planning to record some of my work to old tapes to create some of that feel. However much I like some of that vintage gear, I quit buying it (or try anyway). Every time I get suckered into buying something I end up not finding the time to set it up properly, create sounds, and actually use it for making music. I don't even have space in my bedroom studio for more than a few controllers so working inside the box is what I do and I try to make the most of it. It's convenient enough for me to accept the lack of some of that mojo...

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Greg link
02/08/2012 12:29

"Mojo is the space between the lines. The silence between the words. It's about good taste and a deeper understanding of what's working and not."

Beautifully put, really beautifully put. This was a great post. I regularly weave back and forward between "right that's it, I'm going all software, it's just me and the laptop from now on" and "ooh no, all this gear is great, listen to just how much nicer that analog synth is than any soft-synth, listen to how much better those samples are played out of the Emu E6400Ultra than the EXS24" Ultimately what you're saying about the mojo is the main thing, if an instrument has that "something", the between the lines magic then it's worth holding onto. It's the fact that it's the between the lines invisible magic that makes it good that is the difficulty though. At least with software-only the advantages are clear and tangible, holding onto old hardware just because of "something, just something" is harder to justify. Thanks for the post, nicely written and very thought-provoking.

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how to get rid of genital warts link
10/22/2012 01:18

Technology has taken over everything, its hard to turn back. Get used to it or forget it.

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