Bill Pirkle wrote:

>What does the list think of MIDI technology? Two of the 127 MIDI voices are
>choir oohs and choir aahs.  This means that who could hear a Bach two part
>invention without injury to the choir.  But beyond that, most classical
>music is now available in MIDI format at websites on the Internet.  This
>means one can get a classical music collection for free.  It is at least
>worth hearing if for no other reason than to see what is wrong with it.
>We learn from the bad as well as from the good.

One may be tempted to make a comparison to the various player and
reproducing piano techniques that have reached such a stage of refinement
(many of you know about the Rachmaninoff CD (sorry, no details) that has
caused comment).  I do not think it the same thing.  In the Rachy case,
the nuances were placed there in the performance and it's thanks to the
technology that we can hear the Rach in hi-fi.  I was impressed.  With MIDI
you have the capability to get an electronic approximation (some are very
good) of various grand pianos, plus a high degree of performance tweaking
by means of tempo and attack control.  But it is seldom a live performance.
I've heard some pretty good MIDI piano pieces on the web and some pretty
wretched.  I suspect the good ones were pretty much put down in real time
by competent pianists.  Anybody know for sure?

Part of any musical performance is its spontaneity and electricity.  While
in theory you can fake that (after all that is what a recording does) in
reality it can't be done, especially through tweaking various parameters.

As far as emulating the sound of a symphony orchestra, even the best I've
heard (done on the Synclavier) falls far short of the real thing.  That's
not to say it's not impressive.

Chris Bonds