Perfect is rarely musical

When MIDI and sampling appeared on the musical scene (separately, of course), there was great interest and there was great concern.

The people (and some musicians) thought, "Neat! That's wonderful!" Others thought, "NO ONE WILL EVER TAKE THE PLACE OF LIVE MUSICIANS!"

The truth is that sampling and MIDI are neat and wonderful. And there will never be a true replacement for the human touch in music. Our inability to be precise makes music warm and analog.

Yet still, we strive for perfection when we play or record music.

Most of my best recordings (and those of other artists) were captured in early takes, with as little editing and smoothing as possible.

Still, playing sampled drum sets (for example) may not compare to someone like Phil Collins with a huge acoustic drum set, zillion-dollar mics, and his fabulous skill - but still, it can be musical and fun - when a human plays the piece via the electronics.

Ramble off.

TTFN