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Are computers playing digitized notes good musicians compared with professional musician people?

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While I think there may be a core question here which is on-topic, this one is very subjective - you are asking for opinions - and this doesn't fit in the Stack Exchange environment – Dr Mayhem♦ Dec 22 '12 at 23:07
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The question is overly broad--we could be talking about anything from improvisation to technique to AI and neuroscience. – NReilingh♦ Dec 23 '12 at 3:03

closed as not a real question by Wheat Williams, Dr Mayhem♦, NReilingh♦ Dec 23 '12 at 2:56

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

2 Answers

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Is a CD-player a good musician? I think there's no difference here since a computer just plays back what's been programmed in.

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I ask about a computer playing NOTES not arbitrary data. – porton Dec 22 '12 at 13:01
As in, you enter the score of the piece into the computer and ask it to interpret it? – nonpop Dec 22 '12 at 13:06
I am not a musician and don't understand what is "score of the piece" – porton Dec 22 '12 at 13:07
The written notes, the sheet music. – nonpop Dec 22 '12 at 13:11
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This is my personal opinion. Naïve computer programs (that is, all or almost all programs) that play MIDI or MIDI-like score do it with mechanical perfection, which may sound nice at first, but is rather boring, at least to me. Since my definition of being a good musician includes not only being able to play notes correctly, but to be able do it in a pleasant and/or interesting way, computer programs I have listened to are (by my definition) not good musicians. – Mischa Arefiev Dec 22 '12 at 13:13
up vote 1 down vote

I've been writing music software for 15+ years and this is a topic I love.

People play music at a MUCH more sophisticated level than computers. Anything that a computer can play, a band of people can adjust and play better. Since there's no "perfect" way to play music - the measure of music is the emotion it makes you feel - computers will never be great at it.

That said, computers don't have the limitations that a human does with number of fingers, playing things quickly, etc. And computers can REALLY help a musician out as s/he practices and composes.

But people can get around those limitations by adding more people. And when it comes to playing a song, computer generated music is never as flexible as what a human can do. Computers work from strict rules or randomness. People feel. And those feelings are very difficult to "put rules around".

So completely computer music is good.

But not as good as uncompletely computer music.

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I believe he is referring to music such as Dubstep and Techno. I think they are on the same level of skill depending on the musician. A lot of theory go into these songs, despite what people think - Yes, you don't know to know anything about theory to make dubstep, but you don't need to know anything about guitar to pick it up and work out a song. The more developed the musician is, the more developed the music is. – ekaj Dec 23 '12 at 4:16

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