thread of older musicians' enthusiasm over newer music technology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ucsMvVRzJ0

"So I get myself this new age stuff called a Korg, ok, it's a piano it's got like 99 presets, different things, everything from, uhh, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to, umm, slap bass." - Steven Tyler, 1989

"This Prophet keyboard is an incredible machine; it has what I’ve always needed to make the music come off. I have forty-four different programs, including a string sound that you will not know isn’t a symphony orchestra. It hasn’t changed the way I write music, it just means there’s no limitation." - Joe Zawinul, 1978

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI-4HNQg1JI

Beethoven closely followed tech trends in piano design and manufacture, and several manufacturers sent him free instruments, hoping for his endorsement. In 1818 he wrote to Broadwood: "I have never felt a greater pleasure than that given me by the anticipation of the arrival of this piano, with which you are honouring me as a present. I shall regard it as an altar on which I shall place my spirit’s most beautiful offerings to the divine Apollo." Broadwood's instruments were built to be louder than competing models, but this gift wasn't loud enough for Beethoven's diminished hearing, and it was soon almost wrecked from the violence of his playing. Late in life he complained, "The piano is and remains an inadequate instrument."

Neil has entered the chat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tJpm6IfISk

“As a composer, I think Ableton Live has to be the software that has given me the most immediate way to write new things on a computer, rather than tape. At the same time it allows several additional levels of creativity, including [this notion] of mine that 'finding' great sounds and loops can inspire new tracks." — Pete Townshend, 2007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAzLAYGZCGg

strongly relate to these older musicians loving all that new tech

Was this gary numan itw posted in another thread recently/?

For me, virtual instruments are the backbone of an album and I thought Spectrasonics’ Atmosphere was groundbreaking.

“It had amazing sounds and it was incredibly easy to manipulate them and adapt them to what you wanted. It completely swung me over to software.

“I had Atmosphere maybe two decades ago, then Omnisphere came along and that was just another huge leap forward. Then Omnisphere 2 came out and, honest to God, you could buy that and not need anything else. It’s a career in a box - it’s that good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibUbIyska9k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehqEwNbOiTs

'I told the salesman I've been dealing with for years at Sweetwater that I should be
recognized as the oldest composer to be using Abelton Live. He asked, "How old are
you?" "76." "Boy, that's old. But just keep doing it." Thanks, kid.' - Robert Ashley, 2006

thread needs a clip of Zappa talking about the Synclavier

There's a couple of Youtube clips where Jean-Michel Jarre extols the virtues of Massive and Reakt - although it's unclear whether that is genuine enthusiasm or just because they're advertisements for Native Instruments.

There must be a bunch of Herbie Hancocks for this thread

Does Oscar Peterson have a bunch of full on synth records? That's quite a collection, not only the Synclavier, ARP 2500, a ton of System 100M +++

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6QsusDS_8A this is my fave herbie hype hit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xfj5n1kYXY

Stevie Wonder discovers the Harpejji

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwzeLg1wf3c

p cool, not gonna lie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQtEElCV2lY

Stevie's enthusiasm about the Harpejji is like a whole thread in itself

Todd Rundgren talking about the CD-i is a goldmine in this genre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc_usPV8cV8

That Herbie video...making beats using a stylus on a touchscreen in '84 is blowing my mind.

Here's Herbie demonstrating some new technology to David Letterman (around 4:50):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29mx2bYvrJk

Herbie video reminds me of this - Keith Emerson demonstrating the Fairlight in 1983

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt_iZLgo2f8

Emerson seems amused by it but you can tell he's really trying to talk himself into it..."sounds real, doesn't it? ehhh..."

Gabriel was just in his early 30s at the time of that video, wasn't he?

Allan Holdsworth in his early 40s, explaining how the Synthaxe was what he'd been waiting for all his life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GtbBmNEEWg

Nels Cline's pedalboard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP9EbOrPi0Q

I used to see Stevie walking around the NAMM and AES conventions every year

Synthaxe vs Omnichord FITE

that's some world class pointless noodling by holdsworth in that clip

There's an interview with Joni Mitchell in a magazine from 1985 which is mostly her describing her enthusiasm for the Fairlight (although, according to Thomas Dolby, she couldn't understand the difficulty of mixing multiple layers of samples and synths in a recording).

Wondering if Marshall Allen's proto-EWI thing counts or doesn't count because he hasn't upgraded to an EWI.

i love this thread, was definitely an interesting phenomenon, all the big boomer icons could have been scared off by new wave, synthpop etc but they all seemed to be ready for new stuff

Yes! I really love the Oscar Peterson and the Herbie/Quincy clips in particular.

Here's Bowie providing the counterpoint to Steven Tyler and Joe Zawinul:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yadcdunOd7U

Igor Stravinsky was enthused in 1921 by the invention of the player piano:

“In order to prevent the distortion of my compositions by future interpreters, I had always been anxious to find a means of imposing some restriction on the notorious liberty… which prevents the public from obtaining a correct idea of the author’s intentions. This possibility was now afforded by the rolls of the mechanical piano, and a little later, by gramophone records.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI93SZwfL5M

Section starts @ 7:24. I believe that is Tony Wilson doing the interview with Pat Metheny discussing the synclavier 'something that looks like it's out of a bank'.

New-ish musicians enthusing about newer music technology that resembles a weird version of older technology:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWmY4qpX7vs