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RE: Reflections on right brain/left brain approaches to gear



Thanks for opening my mind up, i just learnt something huge about myself.
cam

S V G <vsyevolod@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>     After just posting that last bit on the FCB1010 MIDI pedal, I 
>started ruminating a bit on the
>process that I go through as a musician in developing a relationship to 
>my gear.  Someone on
>another list recently made an excellent observation comparing physical 
>patchcords (like with the
>old style modular synthesizers) to LCD menu screens.  He said that the 
>patchcords are more "right
>brain", you can see at a glance what is going on and take actions from an 
>intuitive part of
>yourself in the patching process.  What Brian Eno refers to as "rapport" 
>with ones chosen gear. 
>LCD screens are more "left brain" and require you to enter a different 
>way of thinking in order to
>alter a patch.  Perhaps this way of thinking doesn't come easy for some 
>people (like myself).
>
>     I don't know if the "left brain/right brain" analogy is accurate, 
>though his words spoke
>volumes to me.  The FCB1010 is a difficult beast for me to wrap my brain 
>around and it isn't
>getting any easier for me as the years roll on.  There's not even an LCD 
>screen...  Also for me,
>MIDI (the way it is currently applied), is non-intuitive, non-"right 
>brain" if you will.  One of
>the greatest things to come out in the last ten years of gear is the 
>entire Electrix line.  Or at
>least for those of us who relate well to this style of gear interaction. 
> Though I have never
>tried using the EDP, the discussions that ensue here on this list push me 
>further away from it as
>they seem to speak of a way to approach the pedal that runs counter to 
>what feels good to me.  I
>wish this wasn't so, as the EDP seems so powerful.  Perhaps someday I 
>will come across one of
>these little hummers and my thoughts about it will be proved incorrect. 
> I have to limit the
>amount of gear that I buy based on how accessable it is to me to 
>understand and utilize.  So much
>of what has been produced over the last 20 years seems "unfriendly" to me 
>and my way of working.
>
>     I don't want to start any flame wars here, rather the FCB1010 and 
>its awkward programming
>style led me to ruminate a bit.  I put it in the "left brain" camp.  I 
>would imagine that for some
>"left brain" oriented people, the LCD screen actually works more fluidly 
>in their music making
>process.  To those who easily understand computer software and 
>programming, certain pathways have
>been etched into their brain and the way they relate to these things.  Or 
>so it seems to me.  Once
>the FCB1010 is well programmed, it may move itself over to the "right 
>brain" camp.  Maybe.  Same
>goes for the EDP.  It may serve as an unusually intuitive tool for me, if 
>I am ever able to get
>past the user interface.  Once my feet start dancing on the pedals, who 
>knows how easy it will be?
> My sense is that Andre and others on this list already have this 
>relationship to the EDP, perhaps
>even the FCB1010...
>
>     Another analogy comes to mind with the generic stomp box vs. the 
>Line 6 stomp box modeler.  I
>have owned all 4 of their effect modelers and have felt myself not able 
>to relate to them
>intuitively (programming them that is).  The resultant effects don't seem 
>to do what they are
>supposed to do.  Other stomp boxes seem so intuitive on the other hand, 
>even the complex ones.  I
>suppose it all has to do with how the boxes are set up internally, how 
>their logic is constructed.
> On the plus side, in the process of owning these effect modelers, I have 
>come across other gear
>that does the job much more simply and directly, not to mention sounding 
>better to boot.  So I
>have a debt of gratitude for those humble Line 6 boxes.  They taught me 
>that there are ways to
>achieve what I want, in ways that work for me, and with some patience I 
>will find that way for
>myself.  (anyone interested in a used FM-4 or MM-4?)
>
>     I am still struggling with my Roland GR-33 and my Axon AX100-SB 
>guitar synths.  The Axon is
>far more powerful and far more difficult for me to work with.  The Roland 
>is more of a Plug'n'Play
>module, with crappier tracking and sounds, yet the footboard controls 
>make parts of it more
>accessable.  They both rely on small LCD screens and way too many menus 
>to scroll through, not to
>mention Owner's Manuals that were written by aliens...  The bottom line 
>may turn out that they are
>not worth the trouble for me.  The jury is not out yet.
>
>     And with all that Electrix has gone through in the last few years, 
>the bugs and
>inconsistencies and ultimate demise that is their legacy, ya still gotta 
>love 'em.  I have all 6
>of the Electrix modules, (indeed it seems like a modular synthesizer from 
>the old days), and I
>wouldn't trade them for anything.  One quick look at the rack and I know 
>intimately what is
>happening to my sound.
>
>     In none of this discussion do I mean to imply that either right or 
>left brain approaches are
>superior to one another, or that one way of working is mo bettah than 
>another way.  I'm interested
>in hearing from people what works for them.
>
>     Cheers,
>
>          SVG
>
>
>__________________________________________________
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>

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