Computer Controlled wrote:Some of this has swerved rather OT. This isn't about did dance music start with techno. It obviously didn't. You guys are looking too far back.
KBD_TRACKER seems to state that synths were just a flavor in dance music until the artists he lists, including the first techno artists. Mine was a response to that. If that portrayal of his statement isn't accurate, I rescind my statements in regard to it!
In addition to that, I would like to add that there was a lot of electronic dance music made entirely of synths (including Moroder, whom he mentions... weirdly)... which was actually disco. One could make a very strong point to suggest that electronic dance music arose from disco. And, it bears striking similarities in structure.
Computer Controlled wrote:You guys are looking too far back.
I might suggest that KBD isn't looking quite far enough back.
Dance beats and wholly electronic recordings occurred throughout the earlier history of synths. These beats, etc. weren't used quite in the same context, but the music is there.
Computer Controlled wrote:This is about did "modern" EDM kick start the analogue revival of sorts and help with bringing them back into the public eye. I'd say yes, without a doubt. Would there be all these new analogue and VAs w/o the interest from EDM? Probably not. I don't see the audience for these being large enough outside of EDM.
I'd be inclined to agree that various forms of electronic dance music from the eighties and nineties has had a big market impact, and that much current technology is a reflection of that. If that's all this thread was saying, it would be certainly hard to contradict!
I would slightly extract the analog thing, though... and here's why:
The analog revival, as I know it, didn't happen in dance music at all. It happened in quirky "alternative" bands. The first recordings I heard of analog synths for the sake of analog synths was Moog Cookbook, followed by The Rentals.
At the time I heard these recordings, I was making electronic dance music. I was amazed by the sound of these synths, but I had no inclination to try to cram them into dance music... we were all too into samples at that point.
Some artists were still using Minimoogs, etc. throughout the 80s, too.
As such, I don't think the analog market specifically owes its existence to dance music, although artists, genres and hype have definitely helped sell analog to the dance market.
Computer Controlled wrote:Without Acid House, there would have been no interest in the 303 or 808 or 909. Or any of the Roland x0x boxes. Same with techno. It just happen to end up that these boxes were cheap at the time being dumped for all the latest digital whiz bangs. They didn't care that they were analogue (for the most part, though some did actually). They cared that they were cheap and affordable. If you look at the rise in popularity of analogues, the manufacturing of new analogues and VAs... you'll see a parallel with the rise in popularity of EDM.
Amusingly, I bought an EPS-16+ in 1991. As I was going through its presets, I found one that was samples of the TR-808. Was my response "HEY, COOL... now I can do Detroit Techno!" Ha ha, sadly, no... it was "HEY, now I have that drum machine with the cool sounds that so many rap artists use!" I can tell you right now that in 1991, the popularity of the TR-808 was squarely in the Rap market. (and because there was no internet to speak of... if you weren't attending raves in the non-major cities of the US, you probably had no exposure AT ALL to techno)
Also, there is nothing about any of the x0x products which actually screams "ANALOG." The 909 has samples in it. Does anyone really use those devices because they think they have some analog appeal? I'd be surprised if that was the case.
Computer Controlled wrote:So what would we have all these great new toys to play with if the EDM/Rave scene hadn't kicked off the way it did? Uhhh... probably not. I'm sure we'd have some, but probably the amount that there is now.
There is a lot of music technology which plainly owes its existence to these genres... that can't be denied!
But saying that modern synths in general wouldn't exist, or wouldn't have survived if not for these genres is taking it a bit far.