Decolonizing Electronic Music Starts with Its Software (opens in new tab)

(pitchfork.com)

7 pointsRoccan5y ago6 comments

6 comments

I hate how these stories are framed. „Decolonizing“? „Biased“? „Hegemony“?

Screw that! If you don't like „Western“ software, written by „Westerners“, go write your own! They made the effort to design and code that software, to scratch their own itch. There's nothing stopping you! Your imaginary antagonists even created the tools for you to do so. Are you going to start complaining that Open Source doesn't understand your culture because the ReadMe isn't in your native language?

I'm all for celebrating other tuning and composition systems, but stop griping that things aren't done your way. Do it yourself!

tobobo5y ago

This is a somewhat strange comment for an article that is about someone who didn’t like the music software available to him and wrote his own, just as you described.

fractallyte5y ago

OK, yes, you're right. I'm just intensely irritated by the language of the article - and this, despite the tools being already available (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26339038)! Sentences like: „...a remnant of a colonial, supremacist paradigm. The music is colonized in some way“

To me, that's the wrong itch to scratch. Instead of creating composition tools that celebrate their own culture, and push music in new directions, they're trying to hit back against a perceived injustice.

1 more reply

MikeUt5y ago

Is writing software that has, as its default, the musical system you're familiar with, really "colonization"?

fractallyte5y ago

Reaper (https://www.reaper.fm/) can handle microtuning: https://en.xen.wiki/w/DAWs

A basic internet search would have resolved their issues. But why let the facts get in the way of the story, right?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

6 comments

fractallyte5y ago

I hate how these stories are framed. „Decolonizing“? „Biased“? „Hegemony“?

I'm all for celebrating other tuning and composition systems, but stop griping that things aren't done your way. Do it yourself!

tobobo5y ago

This is a somewhat strange comment for an article that is about someone who didn’t like the music software available to him and wrote his own, just as you described.

fractallyte5y ago

1 more reply

MikeUt5y ago

Is writing software that has, as its default, the musical system you're familiar with, really "colonization"?

fractallyte5y ago

Reaper (https://www.reaper.fm/) can handle microtuning: https://en.xen.wiki/w/DAWs

A basic internet search would have resolved their issues. But why let the facts get in the way of the story, right?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse