🚀 go-pugleaf

Tim Pozar writes:
 > Hmmm, this brings up a point. (and possibliy this may not
 > be the best forum.)  What is a 'musical instrument'?  Is
 > an oscillator a 'musical instrument'?  Is an oscillator
 > and a computer, that runs the generator, a 'musical
 > instrument'?  Is an oscillator, a computer, and software
 > to run the computer, considered a 'musical instrument'?
 > Where does it stop?

Indeed.  The line between general purpose computers and dedicated
musical hardware is blurring.  More and more synthesizers and samplers
sport operating systems that can be loaded and upgraded via disks,
instead of replacing ROMs.  The Roland S-50 sampler can be converted in
a sequencer (a MIDI recorder) by popping sequencer software into its
disk drive.

And on the other side, you have computers like the Amiga that can
synthesize, smaple and play music in stereo.  Even dinosaurs like the
Apple II could generate interesting sounds if you grokked 6502 assmebler
and were willing to battle with that clickbox speaker the thing had.  I
experimented with granular synthesis on an Apple II back when I didn't
have anything else to work with.  I suppose if Apple Corps had gotten
wind of this they would have filed suit a lot sooner, eh?  1/2 :-)