GPO- The new 'GM' Orchestral Standard??

[Hardy Heern]

I have just realised that this is a very likely consequence of what Gary Garritan has done. He has produced a piece of software at a price which almost everyone can afford.... complete with player. The ramifications of this are potentially quite enormous.

The fact that he\'s clearly unindated images/icons/smile.gif points to the fact that GPO is already selling in large numbers. I can foresee a GPO club type atmosphere developing and perhaps a dedicated forum.

I mentioned in a post recently that the achilles heel of MIDI files is that you have to tweak them if you change instruments, change the AHDSR or even change to a different sample. This was the idea behind General MIDI, but even the instrumental variations included in the modules made by different manufacturers ensured that this didn\'t work perfectly.

A huge advantage of everyone working with GPO (and who isn’t going to have it) would be that I could post a MIDI file, for example, and someone else would hear the piece EXACTLY the same as me if the programme was set to its default settings. OK, you will actually need a Kompakt player file to retain ambience/ filter settings etc. To me this is like the Holy Girl!! images/icons/smile.gif for orchestral music. It might assist with collaborative projects and education. I mean, put your file up to Northern Sounds and let others tweak it and return their file. Listen to the difference…go to the key editors and see what has changed…etc…etc This was never going to happen with the ‘Grand’ ($1000 plus) libraries.

This promises to be very valuable and a great step forward. That\'s why Gary has been able to promise (I think, unprecedentedly) MIDI files on his website. Someone has clearly put a lot of thought into the planning of the whole venture and where it is likely to lead.

Really, GPO can be seen as the new Orchestral General MIDI. A \'Word\' of a word processor. Being the first, and being a very competent effort, makes GPO likely to become the VHS rather than the betamax…. from the point of view of having a standard.

I foresee great things….and a lot of pleasure and fun too.

Frank

[Scott Cairns]

Actually, having the classics presented as midi files that can be loaded into GPO would be a great way to learn orchestration too. images/icons/wink.gif

Imagine being able to solo one section or instrument to hear how it interacts with the composition!

Sounds good to me.

[Ouch that hurts]

except that the other major orchestral sample manufacturers have already come out with competing products at similar price points, and it remains to be seen which will be most popular.

Also, part of the point of the General MIDI standard is that it isn\'t owned by any one company or private interest. Its an agreed, objective standard for all companies to adhere to. \"Standards\" created by one company\'s market dominance are not quite the same thing. And as can be seen with the recent anti-trust action against Microsoft, they are often held to be a bad thing.

I agree that standards are useful, but don\'t go jumping the gun trying to decide the future before it happens.

[GeorgeDaae]

Yes, calling it a standard is a bit exagerrated, but something along these lines would surely be useful for students (and Mr. Garritan mentioned this in the \"features\" section).
I like the idea of a club or a forum dedicated for swapping GPO MIDIs. Very useful for studying orchestration and sequencing techniques.

And as for the competing products, so far there\'s only Silver, and it doesn\'t have the amount of detail in the orchestration/notation department (multiple solo instruments).
Disclaimer: To prevent being jumped on (which will probably happen anyway) let me say that Silver IS a good sample library. It\'s simply different from GPO. I feel sorry for people who still weren\'t able to figure this out.

[Hardy Heern]

I think standards are the best thing and the worst thing...unfortunately.

The best thing about Word being an international standard (as Wormpurfect was before!! nothing lasts forever...watch out Microsoft!) is that it IS a standard and everyone can use it and everyone can exchange files. The weakness is that often, with some types of software, you have to be at the same revision for interchange as they are not forward compatible.

The worst thing about Word being a standard is that they have become a monopoly and charge what they like. (A hobby horse of mine is that the competing office suites haven\'t the benefit of Microsoft\'s market and economies of scale, yet their products are a fraction of the price...that makes me sick and they\'ve got the audacity to moan about piracy. Heh but that\'s another story.)

On balance, although it tends to hold back the pace of technological advances, standards are certainly a good thing. Some would argue that it is also a good thing that the pace of technical advances ARE held back. We don\'t want standards anarchy now, do we?

Closer to home, Akai was the first sampling standard, then Giga next Kontakt??

The VHS vs betamax was an oft-quoted case where the technically inferior product (the VHS) won the war because it was the first and it was cheap and it did the job. The Sony betamax and later the Philips 2000 system were technically superior but the video rental shops didn’t carry them for long as they had to concentrate on one standard. As soon as people can see which way it’s going they join the throng and create a fait accompli. BLah! Blah! (Backsheep have you any wool?)

I’m not convinced that the competition’s offerings were as carefully planned with this big picture in mind. Is there any mention of MIDI files on the other sites? I mean, I shall probably buy Yi-Ho Silver (one for the older guys!) myself but the interchange of files will likely be between GPO. We can only guess but it’s looking that way to me.

As soon as you introduce other non-GPO sounds you’re knackered unless your collaborator also has them and then you’re in a big mess with settings etc. This lack of a standard has been a damned nuisance with MIDI in general and, as Scott points out yet another advantage, the possibilities are as big as your imagination. I can see it now \'The Scott Cairns GPO MIDI classics\' I bet Gary\'s at it now...you better hurry! images/icons/smile.gif

Even if GPO does do what I think it will it won’t be forever as there will always be a new upstart around the corner (just as Gary was!) It\'ll probably see me away though! images/icons/shocked.gif images/icons/shocked.gif

Frank

[Joanne Babunovic]

Hi Frank,

Good topic. Despite some past fringe discussions on the subject, we’ve yet to completely realize, articulate, and document what not only GPO has done, but what all the “affordable” samples have or will do to the creation and marketing of music. The fact that anybody can produce high quality productions - (we assume basic music and technical skills) changes absolutely everything.
Then add the internet to the picture. There are a few new websites springing up that market your music to producers who simply don\'t have the need for the megabuck known composers anymore. Music buyers will do a search on type/genre of music they need for their project - listen to the sample MP3 and bingo - No name Randy Riff Raff from Owensboro kentucky just sold his music.

P.S. No offense to Owensboro, I use to live there and it was very nice.

[88fingers]

Here, here. Joanne.
You hit it on the nose.

The more the market floods with workers, the less a position is in desperate need to be filled. Hence, lower wages. Look at what happened with the college boom. At one time, a college education was a guarantee to a higher salary. Now your lucky to find a job in your major, or make descent money at it.

>What does a physicist with a degree say?

>\"Would you like fries with that?\"

Don\'t laugh to hard. A physicist friend of mine told me that joke, and was serious. He moved from Germany, just to get a job.

Almost all markets are very competitive.


I am still going to buy and support GPO.
I can\'t complain about a great product.

The sample world is changing. For the better. images/icons/grin.gif

[Hardy Heern]

Very Good joke \'88\'. Frighteningly near the truth too!

Joanne, From what you say about living there, it would seem as if Owensboro is a \'must visit\' the next time I go to the USA?

Frank

[88fingers]

But, I am still going to buy and support GPO.
I can\'t complain about a great product.

The sample world is changing. For the better. images/icons/grin.gif

[Joanne Babunovic]

Dear Mr. Nut, images/icons/smile.gif

I was searching for an analogy to sweeping transformations we are about to encounter - college education is a good one.

[Alan Lastufka]

I think this is a great thing for us students... I have drooled over VSL and EWQL\'s $3,000 libraries, but could never picture myself spending that kind of money on a hobby (well, okay I would if I could but I can barely put gas in my car to make it out to school so...)

GPO and Silver and maybe Opus 1 for those that have more money than I, are wonderful gifts. Will the Matrix 4\'s score be rendered in GPO/Silver/Gold? Hell no, but it allows me to hear my own comps played by a real enough orchestra to satisfy my hobby.

A dedicated club/forum sounds like a wonderful idea, for each of the products. What would be even better would be some standard agreed upon between Garritan and EWQL so that my MIDI file of the GPO demo I posted could be opened and rendered in Silver without any tweaking required, that would be ideal, but I don\'t see it happening.

The future looks good, and these tools are making internet co-operation between composers extremely easy (I have a co-composing partner out in Cali, we are working on an opera together and have only heard our comps thru SoundBlaster\'s GM until GPO came around!)

Interesting thread... I\'d like to hear other\'s opinions on all of this, and if there is a club formed, sign me up as member #0000001 images/icons/smile.gif

AL

[Joanne Babunovic]

Hi Frank,

I\'ve traveled/lived on long term projects in just about every city in the u.s. Every place has its charms and challenges. Owensboro has great BBQ, but like every city is growing away from its charm, I think.

[Aaron Levitz]

Originally posted by Hardy Heern:
The VHS vs betamax was an oft-quoted case where the technically inferior product (the VHS) won the war because it was the first and it was cheap and it did the job. The Sony betamax and later the Philips 2000 system were technically superior but the video rental shops didn’t carry them for long as they had to concentrate on one standard.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Point well taken, but I think you\'ve got some of your details backwards.

Betamax preceded VHS, but Sony refused to license their technology to other companies. So those manufacturers went with VHS, creating healthy competition on this second platform. Prices, meanwhile, did not change much on Sony\'s monopoly.

VHS tapes did suffer a loss of picture quality as compared to Beta, but you could fit more stuff on a tape. I preferred Betamax, but it\'s hard to label one superior over the other given this trade-off.

If there\'s an equivilant here, it\'s NFX vs VST, with Nemesys insisting that latency is everything, and consumers just wanting the depth and variety of a standard supported by third-party developers. (Giga 3.0 stands to change all that, of course)

---


Originally posted by Ouch that hurts:
except that the other major orchestral sample manufacturers have already come out with competing products at similar price points, and it remains to be seen which will be most popular.

...

I agree that standards are useful, but don\'t go jumping the gun trying to decide the future before it happens.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">It remains to be seen which will be most popular <u>here</u>.

We\'re all snobs, and we like to pretend our opinion matters. images/icons/rolleyes.gif

What the other sample manufacturers have not already done is get in with the schools. And that\'s a level it\'s going to be hard to compete on without packaging a notation program and sequencer with the library.

As more schools adopt whatever\'s easiest to teach and learn on, something close to the standard described here will emerge. I don\'t think anyone\'s jumping the gun on that prediction, and this will happen independant of any library\'s popularity.

---


Originally posted by Hardy Heern:
To me this is like the Holy Girl!!<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">I could use one of those myself.

---


Originally posted by Ouch that hurts:
Also, part of the point of the General MIDI standard is that it isn\'t owned by any one company or private interest. Its an agreed, objective standard for all companies to adhere to. \"Standards\" created by one company\'s market dominance are not quite the same thing. And as can be seen with the recent anti-trust action against Microsoft, they are often held to be a bad thing.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Agreed.

A \"new GM\" would require setting in stone what articulations every developer is to include, and how those articulations are to be programmed. Modern sample libraries are so innovative because developers abandoned such standards.

Perhaps someday, when lifelike realism has been achieved with no effort and very little cost; when QLEWSO Platinum comes embedded on the latest $30 SoundBlaster card, innovation will be less important. At that time, we can focus on building a standard, so pieces created with one orchestra can move seamlessly to another, reducing all this labor down to like 20 gig presets.

Until then, an interchange will be nice. And if each library forms it\'s own \"club\" for this purpose? So much the better.

[Hardy Heern]

88,

Is \'The Nut\' nickname based on your engineering or safebreaking prowess or is it perhaps due to your psychiatric condition? images/icons/smile.gif Sounds a bit like a mob nickname....We better watch our backs!! images/icons/shocked.gif

[Hardy Heern]

Thanks Aaron, I stand corrected and more importantly...... informed.

I try to keep my posts shallow and innaccurate so I\'m afraid they don\'t stand up to too much screwtinny.

Frank

[Joanne Babunovic]

and a question 88. Is this good news or bad news for those who wish to make a living at music? A business today competes three ways:

1. Price (you are cheaper than anyone else)
2. Speed from order to ship (you are faster)
3. Product innovation (you offer content/product no one else has)

So if music composition is like any other business, you will effectively compete by being the best in all three. Price is what worries me. Thanks to these wonderful samples, people (randy riff raff et al) are now able to excel in number 2 and 3 and offer goods for free - cause it\'s ART man, and they LOVE doing it. This is all good for the industry, but not so good for composers with families to feed?

[KingIdiot]

Aaron, great points made.

I think one might be jumping the gun and possibly offering up an option that would be hindering development when one forces a \"generic\" standard accross the varied development options available.

Imagine all of the VSL options that wouldn\'t exist with a \"standard\" (or would be very looked down upon because they\'d be considered extremely difficult to use compared to the generic standard)

I\'m very fond of generic standards, but only VERY generic ones. Things like controller mapping and such. Gary himself mangled GM naming/mapping standards with mapping expression to the mod wheen and using the sustain pedal for legato. There\'s also Giga screwed us with not giving us full ADSR control, and not letting us map to all different controllers.

There also have been many innovations in the realm of development. I fully prefer VSL\'s legato tool technique over the GOS sustain pedal technique, even WITHOUT the legato intervals being sampled. Its based on a timing structure and is very intuitive.

Then there\'s also the innovations in the sample playback tools. GS3 will have some options that could make for some very interesting developments in library development if some people take advatage of it. Now think of this, if a sampler has playback options that ALL people and developers can take advantage of and program for, is that better than using someone elses standard that possibly not everyone else will like, or will find limiting?

All this being said, with GPO becomming a major student library, I see it becomming what people base their opinions of other libraries from. This is VERY BAD THING IMO, mostly because schools dont teach Midi-mockup technique, only orchestrating and compositional skills. There needs to be much more education about sample libraries and mockup techniques as well when teaching about working with computers and music.

[Jake Johnson]

Bleak picture you\'re painting, Joanne. After a long autumn with temperatures in the 70\'s here for the past three weeks, the leaves are finally off the trees and it\'s turned chilly. I\'m not sure I want to think about the McDonalds world of composition that you\'re imagining.

I fear you may be right. On the other hand, won\'t composers also have more opportunities, since compositions can be put together more quickly? And, yes, bad products may be sometimes more successful than good one, but even when faced with enormous quanitities of bad music, people will still seek out good music. Anyone can create music, but creating good music still requires education and ability and the thing that can\'t be named.

I agree that bad music will prosper--it always has--but I hope GPO and other instrument sets will give us creative tools that let us make good music more readily available. After all, one of the advantages bad music has always had in the marketplace is that it\'s easier to create. I know your speaking of scores, but by way of analogy, you can throw together some beats and horns and loops really fast in Acid these days, and it will sound as good or better than much of what is on many ClearChannel stations. Won\'t GPO make it more straightforward to create good music using similar methods? We can be fast and good.

But I do think there\'s reason to worry--I\'m afraid that the result you fear will come more gradually. As kids, and us, discover what can be done with GPO and other sample sets, I\'m afraid that fewer and fewer people will learn to play instruments. As in pick up a real guitar or violin and spend the years it takes to learn to play. To me, much of what makes music good comes from the physical experience of playing it--grabbing your violin or Gibson SG and hitting those chords as hard as you can at 16 while standing in your parents\' basement is a very different experience from sitting at a desk pressing a weighted controller key, or attaching a sound to a midi file. (I don\'t feel this way about sampled pianos, where both playing experiences are similar.) I\'m afraid, in other words, that music may suffer as it becomes less of a physical activity and more like playing video game. (But maybe we\'ve already seen this in the 70\'s with all the synth players?)

Am I rambling? This is a topic that we could go for days about. And it\'s cold here, all the leaves are gone, and I\'ve been reading Andre Dubus.

[Joanne Babunovic]

There\'s always opportunity in adversity Jake. Besides, what\'s more important. That we are able to make a living at music, or that we are now assured, for the rest of time, that anyone and everyone will have the tools to realize their compositions. Never have composers been given this gift - and it all happened so fast. Absolutely incredible, and reason to celebrate, and stand in awe of what the technolgy gods, human ingenuity have bestowed on us composers. The money thing (or soon lack thereof) is really a non-issue, isn\'t it?

Your weather and leafless landscape sound beautiful.

[donimon]

Just for a little less bleak spin on Joanne\'s theory....

If you look at it from the people who are buying your music - producers, directors, music supervisors, etc. (I\'m talking primarily film/TV here, I can see your theory playing out more in the web or even ad world) - I don\'t think they really care what tools a \'composer\' uses or what technology (i.e. GPO) is available to us. They just want it to sound good - they have a million other things to worry about, rather than sit and preview clips from the web to save a few bucks. And let\'s face it, there\'s no shortage of library music available to them already yet composers still get hired day in and day out. There\'s always a budget for music (some better than others) and I can\'t see that going away. I think there are many benefiits to hiring a composer as opposed to buying a bunch of cheap needledrops from some web database. While there may be some amazing single pieces, there are two things that they don\'t get - an original score and a cohesive sound to all of the pieces. This I feel can only come from hiring a composer and is why I\'m not worried that the sky is falling just yet.....

Maybe I\'m totally wrong... but I\'m excited about GPO and all of the other amazing low-cost options available to us. And I\'m not about to concede that the sky is falling just yet for composers. Technology has always made things cheaper and faster across many industries - the good people always find a way to adapt and prosper....

Just my 2 cents -
Jeff

[Joanne Babunovic]

whoops. Not my intention to discourage or be a downer. People can have anything they want. If you wish to make a living as a composer, you will.

It\'s nice though, that for those of us who don\'t have what it takes (talent, perseverance, desire, ability to change with the times) that thanks to these samples, everyone still gets access to the goodies. images/icons/smile.gif

[Hardy Heern]

A lot of good points are being made.

I don\'t think that this will affect composers won iota! The picture you\'re painting reminds me of when desktop publishing programmes and affordable printers reached a standard where we all thought we could make a few shillings by publishing newsletters or WHY. The trouble was that everyone else had that ability as well and in any case the market was already served and didn\'t expand due to the technology. In reality it\'s hardly made any impact whatsoever.

Jake--- But I do think there\'s reason to worry--I\'m afraid that the result you fear will come more gradually. As kids, and us, discover what can be done with GPO and other sample sets, I\'m afraid that fewer and fewer people will learn to play instruments. As in pick up a real guitar or violin and spend the years it takes to learn to play.---

I guess there is a danger that kids won\'t pick up a guitar etc just as kids tend not to indulge in hobbies which require dedication and perseverance. The immediate gratification of video games is seductive so why bother with a learing curve. On second thoughts I don\'t think kids will change. The tiny proportion of them who love music or phancy being rock stars, will still give a real instrument a try. Synthesizers didn\'t affect the uptake of real instruments did they!

I think people are confusing the symphonic tool like GPO with something like Band in the Box (which also has its place but has limited use). GPO is only another tool which will have limited appeal and it isn\'t that easy to use either if you think about it. It takes real dedication to achieve good results with these orchestral libraries. It certainly isn\'t going to appeal to Joe public.

I\'m just hoping that GPO has enough breadth and covers the base thouroughly enough to satisfy us for a few years and become an exchange medium in its basic, unexpanded form. It\'s hopeless as King says to start messing with addons and variation in its basic form.

Anyway, Alan Lastufka is fast off the blocks and is already in action putting feelers out with respect to setting up a GPO club on the Garritan forum! This is what I hoped would happen. The straight GPO is the key communication level. Adding better instruments is always possible but that would be at the second level only; communicable by MP3.

Frank
----------------------------
\'GHEITE SINGT FOIE FJKJLY\'

[Markus S]

...well yes, Joanne, it\'s a bit frightening. But on the other hand I agree with Jake: With all the sample stuff you still have to be able to compose good music. As you stated on another thread, the better samples get the better you have to compose for them. And I can\'t believe that everyone who spends 300 $$ for GPO or Silver wants to become a professional composer.The job is very risky. It\'s not enough to have these libraries. And if you are not a professional composer, will you have the time to compose with a full time job in your life? I doubt it. And don\'t forget about the 3000 $$ libraries, these surly will make the difference.
So I\'m not so sure that GPO or Silver will be destructive for the market. I know many music students who would greatly enjoy such a product, but rather for fun or studies.

[88fingers]

Hardy,
All of the above. If it is any indication, my full last name is Castiglione. That would be the Castiglione family of Sicily.
Coincidently, I do enjoy making home made wine. Must be in my blood.

Joanne,

I think ultimately what effects all of us composers looking for work, is that the worlds population keeps growing, producing more and more people with musical talent. With today\'s modern technology it is increasingly easier to come up with musical ideas and obtain musical knowledge.

To put into perspective.
How many people were on this earth when Mozart was born? He was truly part of an elite group for talent.
Elite, in that, to be musically educated was a privilege. Many people with the talent never developed it or even knew they had it. They just didn\'t have the money or the privilege to find out.
His competition was not huge. The world of music for that time was very small. It consisted of Europe.

We have today a great advantage.

I myself, have heard more music, in 31 years, then Mozart, Bach, Brahms and Beethoven had heard in their whole lives.
I hear music every day, every where I go. They didn\'t.
We have countless styles to write in. This gives way to even more composers having a place to fit in.
Compared to those early times, our acceptance of music quality is incredibly low. Just pick any crap band that, for some reason, has thousands of followers.

So what is this all due to? Modern technology.
We can\'t fight it.
It has lowered wages every where and yet created new paying jobs.
We, as individuals, need to learn how to survive within the new. The world will not stop and give us composers a safe place where nothing changes.

GPO is just a drop in a very large bucket of what is to come. It will be very interesting to see what is spawned from today\'s music world.
When will the people get sick of it? Think of what a huge turn music took in the 60\'s. Beethoven would have fallen down dead if he where to hear an electric guitar and drums.... \"What is that hideous noise?\" hands over ears, kneeling to the ground in pain and disbelief, \"Stop. Mr. Hendricks, Stop!\"
Could you imagine Mozart hearing the group 6 Feet under? Heck my dad can\'t even handle it.

This kind of music is accepted today, allowing these guys to have successful music carriers. With out this genre they may have ended up playing the piano nicely and working in some nowhere job till they died.

What is to follow and are we a part of it, or will we be replaced in our dated thinking?

Ok so I don\'t know if I made any kind of point at all.
I didn\'t graduate from college, I barely graduated high school and I have trouble putting my thoughts to text.
It was past time for my medication before I even started this letter.
I need to curl up, fetal position, in the corner until my wife gets home to take care of me.

( Hope I was of entertainment value at least. This took me and hour to write.)

88 Fingers.
Molto pazzo noce.

[Joanne Babunovic]

Hi Markus,

Not so much worried about the cost of the libaries. Cost of even the most expensive libraries is not prohibitive to the serious hobbiest who has a good day job. But here\'s the reason, regardles of the barriers, that people may may owe it to themselves to make a career of this: You will never reach your potential as a musician, composer if you do not dedicate every sense of your being to it, fulltime. And unless you are financially independent, this means a career in music. Which is pretty much your point.

[Hardy Heern]

Now you\'ve really got me worried, Nuts! images/icons/smile.gif Molto pazzo noce. You don\'t scare me!! What does it mean? images/icons/confused.gif

For an uneducated mobster that was a severely deep piece of thinking and well expressed. Well worth the hours work!! Entertaining too.

That fetal position is fun, is it not??

Frank (No Fingers!)

[Markus S]

88 fingers (cool nick, btw sounds like something from a western)
If there are more people on earth, this will not only increase the number of talented composers but as well the number of talented film makers who will need a composer! images/icons/wink.gif ....and generally the number of products needing music etc. etc.

[88fingers]

AAAAACKKKK ! Don\'t make me type any more! graemlins/tounge_images/icons/smile.gif

Yes Markus, I agree with you. More creates more.

88 fingers actually comes from the flintstones.
He was a piano theif.


(Is that you honey? Are you home with my meds?)


88fingers, the 142nd fastest gun.... in the west.
Every one is faster than me, except for 143.

Molto pazzo noce.
Very Cray nut. In Italiano.

[Hardy Heern]

Go ahead Nuts. Waste your day! TYPE!

(based on that famous line by Clint Eastwood)

Frank

[Aaron Levitz]

Originally posted by Hardy Heern:
I try to keep my posts shallow and innaccurate<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">images/icons/grin.gif

You\'ve failed miserably on the shallow part. This is a great post, and it\'s got a lot of people thinking.

---


Originally posted by Joanne Babunovic:
1. Price (you are cheaper than anyone else)
2. Speed from order to ship (you are faster)
3. Product innovation (you offer content/product no one else has)<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">4. The producer had a positive experience working with you in the past.

If they know you deliver, you\'ve got an edge over the new guy, no matter how fast cheap or innovative he is.

Consistancy and Professionalism carry a lot of weight when there\'s money on the line...

[Hardy Heern]

Thank you kindly Aaron. Good job this isn\'t in colour otherwise you\'d see me blushing! images/icons/smile.gif

[Houston Haynes]

I think that GPO could quite possibly set a new \"gestural\" standard, but MIDI might be simply ancilliary to that development. With VST automation and some of the other plug-in technologies coming up with close-to-zero latency control mechanisms, I would think that constraining this \"standard\" to MIDI could be limiting.

If you look at the perspective of *how* an instrument is driven by controller data, Garritan has set up some musically convincing gound rules. However - I think that is based on the deft programming \"behind the scenes\" and not everyone can (or perhaps should) do it the same way with equal realism.

We shouldn\'t jump the gun and \"make\" a standard when market forces will establish a new common practice as users gravitate to products that innovate in ways they can use. Besides, Gary may not be done with optomising his way of providing performance control. People still need to grow accustomed to building sections based on solo players. This goes far beyond MIDI, although MIDI is an integral part of realising this mode of creation.

Does anyone see my point?

[Joanne Babunovic]

Hi Aaron,

Not sure about number four. Music will become a commodity. Who\'s got coffee beans roasted at just this temperature, with this flavor? Website marketers who have the people skills, the contract templates, the \"easy to work with facade\" - those are the guys that will be the customer facing people. Composers simply supply content to the databases. Maybe some custom tweaks here and there, at the most. Do you think?

And another thought. Nobody has the time to call
my favorite composer guy \"ed\" to see if he give me what I need. There will be plenty of content all ready there, that using proprietary developed search engines, can locate exactly what you need in seconds. Even though Ed is a wonderful guy. He will not be able to compete with this.