Do you feel sorry for today's kids?

I just don't understand why drummers as a group are so resistant to drum machines and the like. The same skill that one develops as a drummer can be translated into programming drum machines.

I really think a lot of drummers are just incredibly closed-minded when it comes to drum machines.

It also ignores the obvious opportunity. Hip hop and electronica may use drum machines for their beats, but drum machines can't improv and don't have feel.

Look at drummers like Jojo Mayer and Chris Dave, two drummers who have deconstructed drum machine beats from electronica and hip hop respectively and turned it into an entire new genre of drumming. One where you can improv, jam, and change it up on the fly in ways no drum machine ever could.

This is why I think kids today have an awesome opportunity. While us old farts complain about how machines have taken over our craft, these kids are out there one-upping the machines and adding in something that those same machines simply cannot do. That's a positive!
 
I guess it depends in what your listening to. If it's the" popular" music on the those certain radio stations, then I would agree with you. But lately, I have been getting more into the indie and alternative scene, and I would say that I don't feel sorry for myself or others in my generation (those born in the early 90s). Take a look elsewhere and you will see that music is still good and unadulterated by autotune.
 
I would only say the latter, that's a matter of preference - not issue.

I just don't understand why drummers as a group are so resistant to drum machines and the like. The same skill that one develops as a drummer can be translated into programming drum machines.

I look at computers and drum machines as tools. They can be used badly or they can be used well. Just as there are good drummers and poor drummers, there are good programmers and bad programmers. It takes skill to program a drum machine effectively and creatively.

I really think a lot of drummers are just incredibly closed-minded when it comes to drum machines.

I agree completely. a drum machine does a thing that a human cannot necessarily do. Humans do things that a drum machine cannot necessarily do. Why pit the two against each other? I think it's really cool to hear music that features both human and computer elements. The internal tension that a live drummer can create against a drum machine is an extremely interesting element. Radiohead has done some very interesting things in that regard.

Also, many pop/hip hop groups that use drum machines in the studio have live drummers that tour with them.

Even so, shouldn't it be the artists choice weather they have a drummer or not? Why force every artist to use the same tool set?
 
I would only say the latter, that's a matter of preference - not issue.

I just don't understand why drummers as a group are so resistant to drum machines and the like. The same skill that one develops as a drummer can be translated into programming drum machines.

I look at computers and drum machines as tools. They can be used badly or they can be used well. Just as there are good drummers and poor drummers, there are good programmers and bad programmers. It takes skill to program a drum machine effectively and creatively.

I really think a lot of drummers are just incredibly closed-minded when it comes to drum machines.

I have no argument with computers or drum machines, each to there own. By the time I had programmed a drum machine to play what I wanted, or thought I wanted, I could have played it myself, on a kit, a number of times and enjoyed it, physically and creatively. And... got a performance from a moment in time, never to be repeated.
 
I have no argument with computers or drum machines, each to there own. By the time I had programmed a drum machine to play what I wanted, or thought I wanted, I could have played it myself, on a kit, a number of times and enjoyed it, physically and creatively. And... got a performance from a moment in time, never to be repeated.

And that's fine - but the sound and compositional possibilities are different.

Different tools for different applications. Just as drum machines are not the solution to everything, neither are live drummers.

Take this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-9UvrLyj3k (Skip to 1.12 for the track).

I've seen it played on a kit (with some adaptation) but it's just something that you wouldn't think to even attempt writing on a kit. This was written in 1997 and the technology has come along a long way since then.
 
And that's fine - but the sound and compositional possibilities are different.

Different tools for different applications. Just as drum machines are not the solution to everything, neither are live drummers.

Take this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-9UvrLyj3k (Skip to 1.12 for the track).

I've seen it played on a kit (with some adaptation) but it's just something that you wouldn't think to even attempt writing on a kit. This was written in 1997 and the technology has come along a long way since then.

Oh but they are, that's why I'm a drummer. You just don't know the right drummers.
 
The environment has never been cleaner. I recently read a story from the 70s about pollution from the mills in Tennessee. People had to change their shirts during the day because they became stained from air pollution. Lakes caught fire from pollution. That's all in the past.

It is patently false to say "the environment has never been cleaner", unless by "never" you mean during the past century in developed nations.

It is true that the air and water in many US cities in the 1960s was worse than it is today. It is because it got so bad that we created the EPA. Of course, we now hear voices (strangely called "conservative") that we need to get rid of the EPA because it creates regulations that are "burdensome" to businesses. Yes, it used to be much less of a bother when you could pour PCBs directly into a nearby river. Needing to treat these as the toxins they are is truly a burden and cuts in on the profits. /sarcasm. And do I need to point out that we have more radioactive waste sitting around than ever and we're still burning coal like there's no tomorrow?

Of course, we now have to concern ourselves with global climate change and its consequences (rising sea levels, increased storm frequency and severity, disruption of habitat), plus fun new challenges such as invasive species and antibiotic resistance. And then we get to couple this with a sizable group of people in the USA who are in denial about this and basic science (evolution, for example) because they don't like the consequences, it conflicts with their existing superstitions, or it runs counter to their tribal political identity. It will be a fitting testament to our monumental recalcitrance and stultifying arrogance when Glacier National Park becomes devoid of glaciers (predicted to occur some time in the next few decades).

In contrast, with music, toady's kids have access to all the same music we had plus new material, and some fun new technology that we didn't.

So no, I don't think today's kids have much to feel sorry about when it comes to music. Other stuff, not so much.
 
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