Pete Townshend uses sequencer stuff, but it never bothered me. Love his work & would gladly pay to watch him play with it.
Using a sequencer a la townsend is one thing, he can also play guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and I think a few wind instruments. He proved he was an accomplished musician before the sequencer was invented. Nothing all that wrong with playing it yourself then making a loop of it, you already proved you can actually play it...
What I hear on contemporary recordings is an altogether different animal, the ability to create a song entirely by way of programming a sequencer does NOT make you a musician. Lots of commercial "music" is out there that was recorded by people who wouldn't know what to do with a piano if you threw it at them. (how many rappers can actually play anything at all???) People who have never bothered to take the time and expend the effort to PRACTICE for years to learn an instrument, then pretend to be musicians, and even get angry if you say they aren't, even though it's true, don't impress me at all.
I never listen to radio, I got sick of the same 30 songs over and over and over years ago, the only time I hear much other than my CD/album collections is juke boxes when I play live. I heard one I think by Cher a couple of nights ago, I'm pretty sure heard a vocal rise in pitch that was electronically generated, I don't think a human can change to a different pitch and back that fast. I thought of it as cheating. Just like the guy in grade school who tried to bully me into letting him copy my test answers, by slamming me against a wall and telling me he and his two buddies would kick my butt, I didn't like it. When he and his 2 buddies met me as I got off the bus the next morning, I chased him around the school with a baseball bat, that's what I think of people who cheat. I wasn't going to let 3 guys, all bigger than me, beat me up because he was too lazy to STUDY like I did. I told them go ahead and jump me, I'd catch them one at a time. I meant it...and I made sure he was first...And I made a point of hiding my test answers, and grinning at him every time I put the extra sheet of paper in his way so he couldn't see. I also told the school principal he could go ahead and take my bat away, I'd just bring another one. No way I was going to let 3 bullies force me to cheat. Or beat me up because I didn't. He took my bat, I brought another one but didn't have to use it. I think he got their attention...the ring leader never even looked like he wanted to jump me again, his buddies never made another attempt either. And I got a lot of respect around school for being the only one who had ever stood up to him and his moron cronies.
I have the same basic opinion of people who can't play a note on an instrument and record using the computer and sequencer then try to call themselves musicians. If you can play a half dozen instruments, as Townsend does, I don't have a problem with using a sequencer as well, as a tool to expand the possibilities, but if the sequencer is all you know how to create music with, don't try to call yourself a musician. I practiced for many years to be a musician, I play several instruments, sing lead and harmony vocals, repair my own guitars and saxes, and am learning to repair tube amps. I also doa little songwriting, but I'm not proficient at it. I've EARNED the right to call myself a musician, I've worked for it. If you haven't worked your butt off to learn the instrument(s) you haven't earned that right. Townsend did, McCartney did, Gilmour/Pink Floyd did, Ian Anderson did, I did...they can all play multiple instruments, Gilmour is the one who actually played most of the bass parts that won Roger Waters' awards. He's also a very good keyboard player. That tells me it's not an unreachable goal.
Electronic recording tools are a good thing, but should not be used to entirely create something you call music. Music starts with a musicians fingers, not a bunch of ones and zeros inside a hard drive.
Yeah I'm old fashioned, yeah I'm a purist and proud of it, but nobody who came in the club Friday night can or will even try to say I'm not a musician. The club owner was the first one to comefind me, shake my hand and tell me he hadn't heard a better guitar player in a long time. (I'm not really THAT good, so that's a reflection of the talent in this area, or lack of it...and I made minor mistakes several times, but fortunately none that made me mad at myself, nothing that really bombed...) I'm always embarrased by that kind of compliments, I don't think I'm anywhere near the best guitar player in town, I'm just the only one sober enough to impress anyone...And I've used the electronics too, I've played in two club acts that used drum machines, due to shortages of real drummers and the inability of those who were available to keep decent time and stay sober enough to do it. But if I could split myself like an amoeba I could also play the drums myself...or my "other" self anyway...
Use a sequencer if you want to, use the software, but if you haven't done the work, practice and self criticism I have put myself through for 45 years, don't call yourself a musician.
[End Rant]
