I just went to an mp3 downwload site and listened to 30 seconds of "Tempted". Thanks for the spark. The record is brighter 1k to 8k, roughly; but that groove is simpler than mine! And there are strings, too! [an octave higher than the ones I triad and discarded..note to self] If it were a stand-alone listening instrumental, I'd get a 335 and do a Larry Carlton treatment. But the thing is meant for vox support and voice-over.
Everytime I hear somebody say MIDI is not with it, I think about Leo Fender and Les Paul with their abominatious e-lectric guitars. At least half of what you hear on pop radio , TV, movies, radio, etc, is midi construction. Albeit gigabyte samples, supercomputers and dreamworks-soundcards... and more expertise than I have. And, honestly, when I listen to Dave Garabaldi, eg, it's as tight as any midi groove.....with artful flex and superior imagination. The flex/imagination is the tough thing...but there are programmers who can get it. I'll get there, or die trying. [Dave, et al, are metronomic...and usually play to one on the records they do]
I can't afford to go spend a few grand on a kit, mics and all that jazz. And that's just drums. Add a good piano. CRAZY!!! And who can afford, at this level, to pay players to do your tracks?
One recordist I know personally got a few gold records hangin' on his basemant wall. All midi...except for the voices. Another bud is pullin' tens of thousands on garage rock creations. All direct-in and midi. He's a drummer, and he uses pads. You have heard him on TV.
I'm not making radio play wonders. Just workin' music. Using what I have, and trying to get the best out of it. 98% of the humans not recording in their basements [and probably half of the guys on this forum...including me] can't tell the diff. [I can't tell a Bud light from a Heinekin..] And, just like electric guitars and pianos, I believe midi is just another vehicle in an artist's hands. It's OK that it sounds like what it is, sometimes, I think.
I mean, RAMI said he listens to hits on the ride and variations on the snare to figure out if he's listening to the real thing.....before he even allows the music to get past the filter, seemingly....as if all ideas and constructions not using real cans are automatically bereft of merit, whatsoever! [my take from context...reserve the right to err]
I hear some 'real' drum tracks on posted tunes about which the 'real deal' clan rave. Occasionally, they really suck. Sound awful, and unlike anything I ever heard on a professionally recorded tune. I think you guys get stuck sometimes. But that's just my opinion. I still love yoos. And appreciate the advice n' stuff.
Now, there's nothing I love more than hearing a real upright, well-tuned cans with a big rivet ride, and a Steinway....with some smokin' jazzers playing them...live, or on a good record [Les McCann at the Bohemian Caverns comes to mind.] But there's music in other things, and vehicles of expression. Malmsteen just wouldn't sound the same on nylon. He should be using gut, anyway... :^)
2c. [I have less than $5,000 invested in my 'studio'. I think I'm doin' OK!]
ps...all the guitars and bass guitar are real.