back to article Give it up for Live 8-bit: Muso devs raise dosh for Bletchley Park kids

Synthesizer-loving programmers have released their very own electronica album to raise cash for kids' classes at Bletchley Park. Software developers Jason Gorman, Chris Whitworth, Brian Hogan, Lance Walton, Yuriy O'Donnell and Peter Camfield formed a band with the snappy name Music By Programmers and released their debut on 29 …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    gotta love electronica and this for a good cause too, win-win.

    Last time I went to the computer museum at BP they had electronic music playing in the home computer section.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Beep Beep whirl woo woo

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "hey! what's this? it's got a good beat!!"

      - The Mary Whitehouse Experience

      1. andy k O'Croydon
        Happy

        I preferred the work of Synthesiser Patel

  3. Elmer Phud

    Minimoog, Yamaha CS-80

    Got both of them as free VSTs

    The Minimoog is wonderful

  4. Nanners
    Terminator

    soooo...

    "anyone with a laptop can"...Where's the talent?

    1. ChrisM

      Re: soooo...

      Anyopne with a laptop can program...

      Whats your point?

      1. Nanners
        Trollface

        Re: soooo...

        That's kind of my point exactly. If any child can pick up a laptop and hit play, there is no talent in it. Why not devote yourself to teaching kids music theory instead? Why not expose them to talented musicians instead? I don't have a problem with electronic music or programmed beats, but you have to give me SOMETHING to appreciate. Mix in a live instrument or two...or maybe you don't know how to play an instrument, but like to pretend you do?

        1. ForthIsNotDead
          Stop

          Re: soooo...

          The argument doesn't really apply, IMHO. Yes, you can now do this on a laptop, but you still need an appreciation of what sounds good, and a basic musical ability (for example, knowing what major, minor, 7th, major 7th etc. chords are, knowint the I IV V and VI of a particular key, etc).

          I mean think about it: The guys who built their own synths in the early 70's with analogue components and wire-wrapped boards were probably watching Ultravox and The Human League in 1983 with their Emulator MK 1's and DX7's etc and going "Meh... These kids... Where's the talent?"

          The guys that put Kraftwerk together were probably watching Vince Clark with his Emulator II and going "Meh... back in my day we did this with a soldering iron..."

          Vince Clark would have watch Guy Fletcher or Alan Clark or Peter Gabriel or Michael Jackson with their 1 million dollar (and more) Synclaviers and gone "Meh... Samplers... Where's the talent?"

          It's nonsense. It still needs *talent* to make anything sound good. It's just a lot more accessible these days, that's all.

          1. Nanners
            Childcatcher

            Re: soooo...

            But that's the problem, kids DON"T know 3rd's fifths, ninths etc. They hit the play button and the machine makes the music, not the person. If they do know what it means they get lost in the details, it's not physical, not natural. The music is sterile, even non existent. computers have rendered the music useless. It's lost all credibility at this point. You can't deny that the decade of the 2000's was the most boring musically since man kind picked up sticks and beat on rocks. Making things sound good is called production and mastering. It's not musicianship. They are two different things. I agree softsynths have gotten very good. I had a collection of rare, expensive analog kit that I sold off and went "in the box". It makes sense now, but kids still don't know how to play them.

            1. hungee
              Thumb Down

              Re: soooo...

              Hi,

              I am what some would call a young man. I know my 5ths 9ths and plenty more. I also know how to make tearing digital sounds, analog sounds, tape sounds, tube sounds and more. They are all artistic timbres that have value and can be a lot of fun.

              The problem you have mate, is you are stuck in the past. Mainstream electronic music is not where the best electronic music lives. It is pop music. The best music is underground and niche. That is the era we live in.

              There are plenty of amazing electronic music's out there that are truly forward thinking and while it may not fit your definition of musicianship... just because you can play a keyboard or talk in jazz harmony... Doesn't mean you are any good.

              Many of these kids can transport you musically into a realm of pure imagination and experimentation and that is because of the power of the laptop/desktop.

              Kids will run rings around you... And u won't even know what happened.

              1. Anonymous Blowhard

                Re: soooo...

                Well said; I'm a middle-aged geezer who can't play a note with a teenage son who's an excellent musician (electronic keyboard and saxophone). The last concert evening I attended at his school showed that there are far more children playing instruments today than during my time at school in the 70s and 80s; my 80+ father-in-law (himself an accomplished pianist) agreed.

                Thumbs up for the young man and thumbs down for the old curmudgeon!

              2. Nanners
                Meh

                Re: soooo...

                I can hold a microphone to my ass and make fart noises too, is it talented? I say again, where's the talent?

  5. Matthew 17

    Why are softsynths news?

    Making a record for charity is great, but decent emulations of classic synths have been around for several years now, as computers get faster these emulations are becoming much more accurate.

  6. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Meh

    Why bother?

    Without in any way denigrating these guys' efforts and the music they've produced, it seems a rather backward thing to do. Would anyone want to re-create the performance of a 1950's tape recorder?

    Modern soft synths can do far more than the old analogue ones, and most are fully polyphonic and multi-timbral. A single synth can sound like an entire orchestra, jazz band or just make delicious discrete but complementary electronic sounds. Why do you want to copy the exact effect of a not very stable unpredictable sound generator.

    1. Oninoshiko

      Re: Why bother?

      because some people like the sound of a not vary stable unpredictable sound generator?

    2. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      If only I still had

      the 1950s tape recorder my father used to make the soud-tracks to his films.. I loved the sound, I loved the smell (yes), and in particular, being a visual rather than music person, I loved the glowing blue-green tube that served as a level indicator. Virtual's just not the same.

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