Went to a session recently where someone had a MIDI melodeon - at the flick of a switch he could sound like a piano, brass section, harpsichord, etc etc. Yes fair enough it's a clever novelty and haha, what fun, it does't sound like a melodeon! But that doesn't mean it sounds any good! It just doesn't work in a session - harpsichord is especially tasteless. Absolutely awful things. Just about the worst idea for a musical instrument ever thought of, after the melodeon itself of course.... Anyone else experienced this truly truly disgusting instrument?
Enormous midi piano accordians are popular in the west of Ireland with those one-man-band types who play their C&W in carpeted modern pubs. We should never loose sight of the fact that this is the real traditional music of Ireland.
Would, if he was still alive, Carolan have a MIDI on his harp?
Yes, I have had the experience of hearing one of these things. I had, almost, forgotten about it, thanks...
"Never seen one of these but I seem to remember an electronic chanter a few years back. It never, aparently, caught on....."
On the contrary...
although the idea may sound awful to many, I think you'll find there are some pipers who can still play tunes because of this invention - so it's been a saving grace (or should that be amazing grace...) for some.
Yes!
I'm sure if Carolan could have had a MIDI harp, he certainly would have.
Composers, arrangers and creative musicians of any period are fascinated by new instruments and thier possibilities. The clarinet was a new fangled thing in the 18th century and Mozart wrote a concerto for it, Beethoven embraced trombones, Ravel used the newish saxophone, Varese and Shostakovich wrote for thrermin, and a majority music of the last 50 odd years has been written on, for or incorporated amplified instruments (esp synths and the six string devil!), Stockhausen used tape recorders and tennis balls! Even Irish Trad has absorbed new ideas (at the time) like banjo and squeezeboxes et cetera.
New instruments are the life blood of new music, so the MIDI melodean is an exciting and welcome addition to the stack of instruments available!
And if Carolan had had a MIDI harp, he could have posted all his tunes to this site and there would be no confusion/ debate as to what he did and didn't compose and how it went!
Sorry to correct you Michael but those things are present all over Ireland. Sad, sad, sad b astards. You're right, of course, about this being the real trad. Never mind, I always prided myself in listening to the unheard (i.e. good) stuff. There is some great music coming out of scotland these days, nobody hears or buys it, as you would expect.
Bad Zip is of a mind of the pestilence school with midi's sytnhs, wah-wah, fuzztone, effects boxes.
Good Zip can rationalize this sort of electronic clap trap that it is all part of the great, unending movement forward in the development of music. If the cavemen had bag pipes would their transition from being hunters and gatherers to farmers been slowed because of the game would have been more visible as it ran out of hiding.
I think the midi melodian is best used where it's aesthetic is best appreciated...on those theme cruise ships that frequent Jamaica where people with an average BMI of 46 eat endlessly, ride scooters to the on-board casinos, and drink themselves into oblivion each night in front of a sad looking singer/songwriter/comedian who needed a regular gig....
Accordions with electronics fitted have been around a long long time. I first heard an electronic accordion in the early sixties. At first it was only possible to fit electronics to a piano or a continental box but the suck/blow method of the diatonic box ruled them out of the equation. However, as technology advanced the suck/blow problem was sorted and now we have such a thing as a melodion fitted with a midi. It's the old story, one man's meat etc etc, but to say that people who play electronic boxes are 'sad bastards'' is disingenuous to say the least. Some of the players that I've come across who use electronic instruments where first class musicians. Most were trying to earn a crust and you can't do that by sitting in the corner of a pub swapping tunes. Why pay a backing group when you can supply it all yourself. I'm old enough to remember the time when many traditional musicians wouldn't play a modern tune. We're not playing 'that auld jazz' use to be the cry, but life has moved on since those days. I often wonder why some traditional musicians show a certain intolerance of musical sounds and styles that are different......Is it something that comes with the music?
A MIDI controller is not an instrument. It is an input device. General MIDI was never meant to sound good, it's simply a convenience for composers who want to hear how a piece of music will sound without having to assemble a large group of musicians.
A MIDI melodeon or concertina allows you to do things like plug into your computer and have it automatically transcribe your playing to sheet music. They can be useful tools. They aren't going to sound good without being plugged into a real proper synthesizer, which would be a ridiculous exercise for folk music.
There's nothing wrong with these devices, as long as they are left at home where they belong. They obviously don't belong at sessions.
Free Reed, I should have made myself clearer, it's not the electronic boxes, it's the type of b astardised eejitry an wobbly that they play on them that's the problem. Fine musicians some of them may have been but all credibility is lost when playing that tosh. Still, as a very wise man once said, there's no money in the real thing and that is, I guess, very sad.
nationalgeographic - The melodeon comment was just a joke, I don't mind them that much at all (don't like 'wet-tuned' boxes though); in fact my partner is a melodeon player. Thankyou Marklar for explaining why MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) isn't meant to sound good - It's not meant to replace real instruments! Plus, as this one was plugged into an amp, it dominated everything! I don't mind a keyboard so much in a session, but most keyboardists have the sense and good taste to just use a piano sound, rather than pipe organ, trumpet, synth strings and so on. "There's nothing wrong with these devices, as long as they are left at home where they belong. They obviously don't belong at sessions." (I apologise for the cramped layout of this message; my enter key is broken.)
There's a lady with one of those HUGE electronic bass PA's comes along to a local session sometimes. One reason that she has it is because it weighs a lot less than her real one (and she's not a big person at all)
and guess what... she also uses it 'cos she can dial it to QUIET when we're a small select group!
Not only that, there was the "Poor Man's Streb" - a programme that let's you play your computer keyboard like a melodeon. I've tried it and it don't sound bad! Needless to say, for practical reasons this cannot be used on a laptop. Let's see them bring A DESKTOP to a Session!
My friend has a weird-MIDI-clarinet-magic-doodah which he plays in sessions, it doesn't sound too bad - he usually uses weird non-real instrument type sounds that generally work, the synthesiser is not too bad and his range of about 10 octaves does come in handy...
I hope i never come across the melodeon equivalent though
MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Went to a session recently where someone had a MIDI melodeon - at the flick of a switch he could sound like a piano, brass section, harpsichord, etc etc. Yes fair enough it's a clever novelty and haha, what fun, it does't sound like a melodeon! But that doesn't mean it sounds any good! It just doesn't work in a session - harpsichord is especially tasteless. Absolutely awful things. Just about the worst idea for a musical instrument ever thought of, after the melodeon itself of course.... Anyone else experienced this truly truly disgusting instrument?
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by fynnjamin
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Sir Thomas Beecham's definition of the sound of a harpsichord - skeletons copulating on a tin roof.
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by lazyhound
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Enormous midi piano accordians are popular in the west of Ireland with those one-man-band types who play their C&W in carpeted modern pubs. We should never loose sight of the fact that this is the real traditional music of Ireland.
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by llig leahcim
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Would, if he was still alive, Carolan have a MIDI on his harp?
Yes, I have had the experience of hearing one of these things. I had, almost, forgotten about it, thanks...
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by john knoss
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Never seen one of these but I seem to remember an electronic chanter a few years back. It never, aparently, caught on.....
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by shanty
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
"Never seen one of these but I seem to remember an electronic chanter a few years back. It never, aparently, caught on....."
On the contrary...
although the idea may sound awful to many, I think you'll find there are some pipers who can still play tunes because of this invention - so it's been a saving grace (or should that be amazing grace...) for some.
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by Ron P
Hooray for the MIDI Melodean!
Yes!
I'm sure if Carolan could have had a MIDI harp, he certainly would have.
Composers, arrangers and creative musicians of any period are fascinated by new instruments and thier possibilities. The clarinet was a new fangled thing in the 18th century and Mozart wrote a concerto for it, Beethoven embraced trombones, Ravel used the newish saxophone, Varese and Shostakovich wrote for thrermin, and a majority music of the last 50 odd years has been written on, for or incorporated amplified instruments (esp synths and the six string devil!), Stockhausen used tape recorders and tennis balls! Even Irish Trad has absorbed new ideas (at the time) like banjo and squeezeboxes et cetera.
New instruments are the life blood of new music, so the MIDI melodean is an exciting and welcome addition to the stack of instruments available!
And if Carolan had had a MIDI harp, he could have posted all his tunes to this site and there would be no confusion/ debate as to what he did and didn't compose and how it went!
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by yhaalhouse
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
I think in some situations they work fine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soy0FzNdApc&feature=channel_page
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by davydd
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
These MIDI accordions are a pestilence - a loud, obnoxious, tuneless pestilence - that only he truly tone deaf can enjoy.
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by Seosamh Ui Sinan
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Sorry to correct you Michael but those things are present all over Ireland. Sad, sad, sad b astards. You're right, of course, about this being the real trad. Never mind, I always prided myself in listening to the unheard (i.e. good) stuff. There is some great music coming out of scotland these days, nobody hears or buys it, as you would expect.
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by strayaway
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Bad Zip is of a mind of the pestilence school with midi's sytnhs, wah-wah, fuzztone, effects boxes.
Good Zip can rationalize this sort of electronic clap trap that it is all part of the great, unending movement forward in the development of music. If the cavemen had bag pipes would their transition from being hunters and gatherers to farmers been slowed because of the game would have been more visible as it ran out of hiding.
I think the midi melodian is best used where it's aesthetic is best appreciated...on those theme cruise ships that frequent Jamaica where people with an average BMI of 46 eat endlessly, ride scooters to the on-board casinos, and drink themselves into oblivion each night in front of a sad looking singer/songwriter/comedian who needed a regular gig....
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by zippydw
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Accordions with electronics fitted have been around a long long time. I first heard an electronic accordion in the early sixties. At first it was only possible to fit electronics to a piano or a continental box but the suck/blow method of the diatonic box ruled them out of the equation. However, as technology advanced the suck/blow problem was sorted and now we have such a thing as a melodion fitted with a midi. It's the old story, one man's meat etc etc, but to say that people who play electronic boxes are 'sad bastards'' is disingenuous to say the least. Some of the players that I've come across who use electronic instruments where first class musicians. Most were trying to earn a crust and you can't do that by sitting in the corner of a pub swapping tunes. Why pay a backing group when you can supply it all yourself. I'm old enough to remember the time when many traditional musicians wouldn't play a modern tune. We're not playing 'that auld jazz' use to be the cry, but life has moved on since those days. I often wonder why some traditional musicians show a certain intolerance of musical sounds and styles that are different......Is it something that comes with the music?
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by Free Reed
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
A MIDI controller is not an instrument. It is an input device. General MIDI was never meant to sound good, it's simply a convenience for composers who want to hear how a piece of music will sound without having to assemble a large group of musicians.
A MIDI melodeon or concertina allows you to do things like plug into your computer and have it automatically transcribe your playing to sheet music. They can be useful tools. They aren't going to sound good without being plugged into a real proper synthesizer, which would be a ridiculous exercise for folk music.
There's nothing wrong with these devices, as long as they are left at home where they belong. They obviously don't belong at sessions.
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by Marklar
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Free Reed, I should have made myself clearer, it's not the electronic boxes, it's the type of b astardised eejitry an wobbly that they play on them that's the problem. Fine musicians some of them may have been but all credibility is lost when playing that tosh. Still, as a very wise man once said, there's no money in the real thing and that is, I guess, very sad.
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by strayaway
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
nationalgeographic - The melodeon comment was just a joke, I don't mind them that much at all (don't like 'wet-tuned' boxes though); in fact my partner is a melodeon player. Thankyou Marklar for explaining why MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) isn't meant to sound good - It's not meant to replace real instruments! Plus, as this one was plugged into an amp, it dominated everything! I don't mind a keyboard so much in a session, but most keyboardists have the sense and good taste to just use a piano sound, rather than pipe organ, trumpet, synth strings and so on. "There's nothing wrong with these devices, as long as they are left at home where they belong. They obviously don't belong at sessions." (I apologise for the cramped layout of this message; my enter key is broken.)
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by fynnjamin
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
There's a lady with one of those HUGE electronic bass PA's comes along to a local session sometimes. One reason that she has it is because it weighs a lot less than her real one (and she's not a big person at all)
and guess what... she also uses it 'cos she can dial it to QUIET when we're a small select group!
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by spindizzy
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
I didn't say eejitry an wobbly in my previous post, I said country an wobbly with the O deliberately left out of country, censorship, eh!
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by strayaway
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
There has been an interesting thread about the Streb MIDI melodeon over on melodeon.net recently:
http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,1895.0.html
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by upmine3
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Not only that, there was the "Poor Man's Streb" - a programme that let's you play your computer keyboard like a melodeon. I've tried it and it don't sound bad! Needless to say, for practical reasons this cannot be used on a laptop. Let's see them bring A DESKTOP to a Session!
# Posted on August 20th 2009 by Ebor_fiddler
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
My friend has a weird-MIDI-clarinet-magic-doodah which he plays in sessions, it doesn't sound too bad - he usually uses weird non-real instrument type sounds that generally work, the synthesiser is not too bad and his range of about 10 octaves does come in handy...
I hope i never come across the melodeon equivalent though
# Posted on August 22nd 2009 by Maestro McAllister
Re: MIDI Melodeon - WHAT THE ????
Available on Melodeon.net.
# Posted on August 23rd 2009 by Ebor_fiddler