GuitarHero/RockBand fans... side project anyone?

[H. S. Teoh]

On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 10:47:36PM +0100, Joseph Rushton Wakeling wrote:
> On 12/12/13 22:13, H. S. Teoh wrote:
> >Ahh, so *that's* why they do that!! I've always been wondering why
> >the orchestra always seems to be out-of-beat with the conductor, and
> >why the conductor's beats don't seem to line up with the actual
> >sound.
> 
> There's quite a nice blog post describing some of the reasons behind
> this here, if you're interested:
> http://blog.davidhthomas.net/2006/12/but-im-with-the-conductor/

Interesting! Makes total sense, though. You're dealing with 100+ human
players, and keeping them all in sync is quite challenging. It's totally
different if you're playing a computer-conducted orchestra, where
everything is mechanically kept in top-notch sync. :P  For some reason,
that doesn't sound as good as a live orchestra.

(I read somewhere that it is due to our brains automatically filtering
out repetitive stimuli.  The precise timing of computer-generated music
produces an exact, mechanical rhythm, which causes the brain to tune
out, resulting the perception of dullness or tiredness. Human players,
OTOH, are always ever so slightly off beat, and the slight variations
keep the brain interested and not tune out. Same thing applies to the
precise attack velocities of computer-generated notes -- after a while
it feels tiring because it's exactly the same velocity over and over.
Human players produce quite a wide variety of attack velocities, even
when playing the same notes over and over, which makes it far more
interesting to listen to. Inexactness isn't always a bad thing!)


T

-- 
Study gravitation, it's a field with a lot of potential.