Klarinet Archive - Posting 000531.txt from 2003/03

From: b1rite@-----. Rite)
Subj: Re: [kl] Sampled Clarinet
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 22:07:48 -0500

<><> John Varineau wrote:
they've managed to sample all the typical flaws in the clarinet sound
that make us sound oh so good. The whole prospect bodes ill for studio
work, touring Broadway shows, film scores etc.

This reminds me of an Isaac Asimov story (science fiction) in which a
mathematician of the future rediscovers how to do arithmetic without a
calculator. Over the millenia, technology has advanced to the point
where there is truly no value to knowing the multiplication tables, etc
etc. For example, when the mathematician rediscovers that you can do
math by adding numbers one column at a time and carrying to the next
column, etc, no one fully believes him even after he demonstrates that
it can be done. And why on earth (or on any other planet) would we
want to simulate true mathematics by trickery with a pencil and a piece
of paper?

Could we end up in a similar situation, many centuries from now, wherein
the ability to play an instrument is truly valueless because a fantastic
inventory of recorded sounds exist, such that only a 'fruit cake' would
attempt to reproduce any of them by some kind of inefficient gadget
requiring extreme dexterity?

After all, Stadler **did** play K.622 with only.... what was it, six?
eight? .... holes. Should we condemn modern-day panty waists who need
more than twice as many holes to play the same music?

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