[PD] elitism, software and academia (was GEM FTGL Sadness)

[jared]

Hey Andy.
 
I personally don't believe there is any sort of line that separates
composer from programmer, or sound designer, except that at the two 
extremes of the spectrum some programmers can be obsessive about
technical methodology and never explore aesthetics, and some composers
can be nonchalent and dismissive about technical rigor and chase
aesthetic results at the expense of understanding and repeatability.
 
Well said.  Same goes with analogue purists who have not yet embraced
the software world.
 
The force of industry is continually to divide programmers from
practicioners, to demark roles like "creative sound designer" from
"audio programmer" and create neat conservative little pidgeonholes for
HR people to fit CVs into. Of course this is nonsense. Any good sound
designer 
or musician is greatly enriched by a knowledge of programming, DSP, 
physics etc, and at the same time any programmer is greatly enabled 
by understanding the aesthetics and big picture of a product they work
on.
 
I completely agree.  I think that a balance between technical and
aesthetic disciplines would be a god-send. 
 
As for "elitism" I either honestly don't see much or unconsciously
choose
to rise above it.
 
Yes, as far as forums and lists, 'rising above' is definitely the best
policy.  My main frustration with elitism (that I've raised in this
thread) was rooted in the fact that this elitism has polarized the
academic landscape; and that I can't find a curriculum that fits my
needs.  Higher education is so expensive....I can't justify paying for
something that I'm not passionate about....But, don't cry for me
Argentina :-)
 
The greater danger imho is the opposite problem, a dumbing down of
technology to black boxes, proprietry tools, entrenched conservative
thinking, "not invented here" syndrome. This makes any
composer/designer/creative a slave to tools and methods they don't
understand. It also hurts industries, like film and games, that
become entrenched in very conservative production methodologies
and softwares like Protools. This saps all the real creativity
from the job and acts as an anti-progressive inhibitor of
new ideas.
 
Amen!
 
But to attact the kind of
people that would go with Max or Reaktor we could do with more
people building, sharing and documenting high quality synths
and plugins. 
 
That's a great point too.  I think that the PD community, as a whole,
would greatly benefit if 'pure composers' (for a lack of a better term)
were using it as much as 'patchers' were using it.
 
By the way, I really love what you're doing with PD.  Very useful,
indeed.  Thanks.  What happened to your VST's?  I can't seem to find
them on your site.
 
Take care,
 
Jared
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.puredata.info/pipermail/pd-list/attachments/20070607/f8f73941/attachment.htm>