Too Plugged In?

Most of us have cell phones. If you are reading this you have a computer and a connection to the Internet. You may have a GPS in your car. Many of us have FaceBook (or FB) accounts, MySpace accounts, Twitter Accounts...you get the idea. Smartphones, small PCs, really.They are everywhere. Are we too plugged in?
Yes, I think so...sometimes.

Musicians, do you record to a computer? There are people with no amps, nor effects to speak of and yet they have at their command all the toys that the rest of us pay a dear price to buy. Referred to as 'modeling' it is the practice of simulating virtually any sound; be it a particular amp or an effect. Get the right package and you can play through Jimi's amp and pedals without the use of floor space or depleting your bank account.

There are several interfaces between your instrument and your PC. GuitarPort, is one. It has gotten to the point that I saw a show last year in which not one amp was visible. They sounded great. But to me, something was missing. Those glowing blue or red pilot lights or the flutter of an EQ in a corner.
There are also a school of purists, who will insist nothing but analog one inch tape will do.

I find myself in the middle in that I will use technology, but at a decidedly slower pace. I record to a sixteen track recorder. Although it is not tape, it is digital. But it is intuitive as any reel to reel user can see.

I use the PC mainly to help with composition. I also use it for a final mixdown. But I don't use Jimi's amp and pedal collection.
I still like microphones, and boom stands and cables snaked back and forth. There is something very organic about it. The smell of a tube amp that has been well played for a few hours.
And pages in between my fingers. I still have a sizable collection of vinyl records. I am not ready to give up the analog experience, yet.

We are approaching a time when everything will go digital. No more books, or CDs - everything delivered over your Internet connection...instantly. I'm sure someone will squirrel a nice assortment away in a mountain retreat. A library of Alexandria for the Analogs.


But while technology has made many things better and easier, I am very sad at the prospect of this consolidation coming to pass.