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I say BIAB is now a musical instrument and as with all instruments you need to learn how to play it.



Concur completely. I have been saying for years that I regard BIAB and other programs, notably Propellerhead Reason, as musical instruments. I have thought, but have hesitated to state the logical next step, that one who skilfully uses an instrument to create music--any instrument--is a musician. I suppose resolution lies in how you define "instrument," "music," and "musician."

When people who don't know me discover that I am a musician, they inevitably ask, "What instrument do you play?" Because the physical instruments are only a part of my musical creations, I have trained myself to answer, "My primary musical instrument is the personal computer. I also play guitar, bass, and keyboards." I could not create the music I do without a PC and musical software.

Look at it historically. Does anyone argue that the Paul Lansky's work at the Princeton Music Laboratory or that of Jon Appleton and Don Cherry in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, which took weeks or months to program, process, and hear, is music? Not any more. So we are left to discuss whether the creators of same are "musicians" and if what they used to create it is an "instrument." I don't see how you can argue otherwise. Different skillset and technology, but the result is undeniably music.

I primarily use BIAB and Reason to create 'beds' for my original creations, but there are one or two pieces that are 100% electronic. The output is a combination of notes, timing, and timbres which didn't exist before. In my mind they are "music," of which I am the "composer," and that I am a "musician" for having created them, other musical skills and abilities notwithstanding.

I'll go all the way out on the limb and say that they pass the Turing test. Users of these programs would probably be able to distinguish them from other creations to which I add instruments which I happen to finger in real time, but the average listener couldn't.

Instrument. Music. Musician. Just stirrin' the puddin', folks.

"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."