This OSX, .mac, ipod/itunes phenomenon has got me wanting to bring my musical life up to the 21st century as well. I just keep thinking about having a more powerful computer rig at home and what it could do - what I could try and do with it. I've been wanting to get a better integration of my tech and musical lives for some time - at least 5 years. After I came back from Spain in late '99, I took an HTML/Web Design class at the New School and bought what was then pretty much the latest and greatest - a G3. The possibilities then were intriguing. I'm now reading about these G5's and the possibilities seem limitless.

But I have admired the evolution (revolution) of our (collective) technology from a relative distance, while concentrating more on the playing side of things. There's something about playing an actual instrument and not a midi mock-up on a synth (regardless of the latest sampled bit-rate, et al) that really appeals to me.

Think of the difference of a great pianist filling up a hall with the touch and feel and sound of a 9' Steinway (or even my modest Yamaha U-1 with the damper pedal down) vs. someone plunking something out with a stale, thin keyboard sound. Or the ringing of a G 6/9 chord on a nylon string guitar. No simulation can touch that (that said, I will pick this thread up later because I just turned on the Korg 01/W synth for the first time in a LONG time and was pretty impressed with it's sonic capabilities).

For me there needs to be that harmonic spectrum - that basis of acoustic, vibrating, ringing overtones. It is a lush, green field. It is the crunch of golden brown leaves under foot in autumn. It is the sizzling, silver light given off by a lightning strike. It is Wynton Kelly. It just works. And it does have that Jacob's ladder effect. Straight up.

It's all governed by laws, true, but there's a "lock" that occurs in certain harmonic systems. This is not in the realm of the subjective. This is not interpretation. This is audible Truth. Alternately, the choices made with these potentially powerful tools, and how these sounds are used is completely subjective.

I'm also realizing that there are what might be called harmonic worm-holes which will get you to other planes - related and close or remote and far, depending on the guide.

I'll pick this up later...