# Greetings from Oregon



## snowleopard (Nov 30, 2008)

What took me so long to find this site? 

My name is Phil and I live in Oregon. I studied music composition 25 years ago in school, and abandoned all that out of a love for synthesizers, which was marginalized and looked down upon at the time. But much of what I learned stuck, all these years later. 

I own a Kurzweil K2600, and can't abandon it, as I love the sound it produces. All machines, acoustic, electronic, computers, MIDI, loops, etc. it's all fair game to me though. It's the carpenter not the tools. Though I have to say I'm not too fond of pure mock orchestration that dominates our world these days, though I understand it's often requested, and how some people pay their bills. 

I work in local TV and various aspects of film and video production. My music doesn't get used too much, but some. When not doing that I teach. Sometimes music (including a little on film scoring) but mostly video production.


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## Scott Cairns (Nov 30, 2008)

Hi Phil, welcome to VI. Oregon is on my 'list of places to visit' 

Forgive my ignorance of Kurweil synths - but did they do a 2600? ive only heard of the 2500.

I can understand your misgivings in terms of 'mock orchestration' but as you say, many of us pay the bills this way. And in fact, when having to write convincing orchestral score to a deadline, you come to realise how much you need to know about true orchestral form. The samples only do so much, and not much at that. 

On the positive side, I think sampled orchestral music helps keep the genre alive and ticking, Ive loved orchestral music since I could walk, but composing it for a living (with sample libraries) has managed to reivent itself for me again.


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## snowleopard (Nov 30, 2008)

Hi Scott. Australia is near the top of my places to visit! 

I should clarify about the mock orchestra. It's most a taste thing, really, and those who can pull it off well I tip my hat to. Everything has value in the right hands, to the right ears. I just spent a lot of time listening to real instruments, real orchestration, and not that I can spot any "fake", I just grew up and into appreciating the nuances of actual live performance. What I find most is that in our attempts to create accurate sounding orchestration, I find many compositions and performances devoid of passion, emotion and creative love (if you will). It's like we spend so much time getting it to sound real, we forget about making it sound _good_. But again, who determines just why that isn't "good"? Judging by the industry, and users, I'm definitely in the minority regarding the acceptance of mock orchestration. 

As a corollary to this though I must say, I also hear many orchestrations that have the same problem of being emphasized on technique instead of emotional meaning, but are actual live orchestras! Proving the problem isn't exclusive to mocking. One could say the same about any type of music though, really. 

But you are right in that it does help keep the genre alive. In a similar sense, I used to be against all looping programs, or canned anything. From Acid to Garage Band to Soundtrack to Sonicfire, etc. Until on a lark I started playing with them and realized none of them are going to replace an actual composer, and were simply more tools to be used in their own way. And in a way, this type of music creation has brought great life to the genre of synthesized music. 

Finally, yes Kurzweil made the K2000, then the K2500, then K2600, and now a K2661 that is mostly the same guts as the K2600. The 2700 was rumored to be on the drawing board, but I imagine the stalled economy (and awesome VI's in recent years) have put that on hold.


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## Pzy-Clone (Nov 30, 2008)

hey.
oh man i used to get sore neck from editing that damned k2000 rack for hours and hours.
Its great machine, love the K2600 as well..but i tell you those diplays were made by the devil himself.

oh, yeah and welcome.


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## Scott Cairns (Nov 30, 2008)

Hi SNow, thanks for the detailed reply. I agree with you that live performance is still way ahead; the nuances as you say...


Cheers,

Scott.


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## TheoKrueger (Dec 1, 2008)

Welcome aboard SnowLeopard! I remember hearing a demo of the K2600 by Jordan Rudess many years ago when i had a JV-1080 and it sounded profound to my ears in comparison. Never bought it afterall since it was out of my budget at the time. Enjoy your stay...

Theo


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