"Influencers" and the destruction of the Art.....
While the following deals most specifically with the performer Rachel K Collier and the Roland MC-707 instrument, it will here be noted that both are spoken toward as a mere symptom of a greater issue
Art comes from the creative truth of the soul
Market Product is a mere emergence of a drive to privately and selfishly profit; any relevance it holds to the creative truth of the soul is of mere happenstance.
"To Better Serve You Ads" may be translated as "To Better Manipulate and Control Your Behavior"
The following is an examination into modern practices "To Better Serve You Ads" fused to Market Product under the public pretense of acting toward Art.
To begin, Rachel K Collier and The Roland MC-707
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqG7O32HIHY
*video alternately viewable via https://www.yewtu.be/watch?v=WqG7O32HIHY *
The attached video features both a song performance and "technical" lesson on the Roland MC-707 while the written focus here is on technical issues of the instrument related to features highlighted by Rachel K and actions taken by Rachel and/or her team in response to public commentary on said issues.
While the Roland MC-707 certainly has it's strengths, there's things to it that are (to present) pretty sloppily/poorly implemented that don't function as one might commonly think. Two such areas of 707 functionality are specifically highlighted in the video with failure to mention "this really doesn't work quite as being shown or as one might expect".
In this particular case, it's how the 707's arpeggiator functions and how it handles MIDI Program Change calls.
ISSUE DETAILS:
1. The Arpeggiator
While the MC-707 arpeggiator is capable to syncing to a MIDI master clock Tempo, unlike most clock syncable arp systems, it is otherwise left independtly free-running of a clock and sequencer. While one may consider such free-running to be of a "it's not a bug, IT'S A FEATURE!" nature, it is none the less an uncommon instrument behavior that can lead to one easily having note placements land in non-intended spaces. Even more an oddity, if not outright bug, is the fact that the arp is completely useless if not being played from the 707's native pads. This renders the arp system completely useless if one intends to use a MIDI keyboard controller or any other control means non-native to the 707 hardware itself.
- "Clip"/"Patch" Effect Bug When Using Program Change Calls When using Program Change calls as highlighted in the video there is an existing bug that can lead to the MC-707 incorrectly assigning effects and subsequently the incorrect sound of things being emitted IF the MIDI Program Change is done without the 707's sequencer being in active play. More specifically, individual "timbre"/"sound" (otherwise known as "patch") assignments on the MC-707 are held by what are called "clips". Say the first "clip" carries no effect assignment and the next "clip" on the same channel/track carries a Saturator distortion effect.... one begins playing things and everything with the first clip sounds fine, they proceed to use a MIDI Program Change call to progress to the next "scene" which has a "clip" on the same channel with the Saturator effect, and finally they result in that next "clip" not playing with it's assigned Saturator effect but instead maintaining the no effect assignment of the previous "clip". Similarly, if the Saturator effect "clip" were played first and the "scene" proceeded to evoke the clip with no effect next, the subsequent clip that should have no effect will have the Saturator effect. ALL OTHER PATCH SETTINGS WILL BE CORRECT (this only relates to the "MFX"/effects assignments). I can confirm that Roland themselves are both aware of and have confirmed the existence of this bug as I dealt with them personally on it, with final confirmation of the bug existing coming from Roland.
In the first case, this video would happen to be thus far the first and only video covering the Roland MC-707 arp system I've personally encountered that has neglected to mention the existence of the arp issues despite specifically highlighting the 707 arp system in a technical way. Every other mention I've seen has sensibly been sure to bring the issues to attention.
Regarding the second case, perhaps she simply hasn't ran into the issue as she does seem to allude to having just discovered that the clip/scene MIDI Program Change feature even exist (though it's not at all a new feature) and there's nothing wrong with that. The only thing that struck me as a bit odd was if this is a feature she's now using frequently and with depth, how it was that she hadn't stumbled upon the issue and subsequently neglected to give a mention to the limitations inherent with the bug.
Being a long time lover of synthesizers myself and having come to utilize Youtube and other internet media as a means of getting a better informed view of what is to instruments I may not otherwise have immediate access to inspecting personally, I took it upon myself to simply leave a comment on the video explaining the existence and natures of both issues for others that may be interested in the MC-707. An hours later inspection of the video comments section would reveal that the comment had curiously disappeared. Will note that the comment dealt specifically with the said issues and spoke neither towards the music featured or on Rachel's person.
Presuming the disappearance may have somehow been a fault of my own edits to help ensure the comment spoke as cleanly and directly to the issues as possible for any that might be interested in the MC-707, I placed it once more, only this time beginning with a simple "Nice Track" compliment to the music and performance itself followed by a clean and direct "there's a couple issues regarding the features and approaches explained on the MC-707 "1: Arp functionality" and "2: Clip/Scene change MFX bug", both followed with specific details on nature of issues. Couple hours later and once again, the comment explanation proved to have vanished.
This brings to the greater points on (some) "Influencers" in relation to the Arts...
First, this isn't the first time I've noticed specifically Rachel K Collier dealing with and offering public technical working lessons on an instrument I own myself and feel safe to say hold a well above average understanding on the workings of. It wasn't just the current lack of explanation to instrument working and functionality I found odd, but a succession of instances where she's specifically highlighted something and then neglected to mention surrounding issues to said feature she highlighted.
For example, if one were to watch another video where she highlights the "looper" function of the MC-707, they might walk off thinking the 707 abilities of live looping greater than they are and to be something akin to the Roland RC-505.... something where one simply assigns a line input to a channel of the device and then off to the races one is taking and seamlessly making multiple live loops that are ready to be reversed, pitched, sent to effects, AND easy to "stack".
(see "Create Incredible Tracks/Loops Using ONLY The Roland MC-707 ft. Rachel K Collier" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aebP-94O2A8 )
The reality is more so that there's a really short amount of time one has for "looper" tracks (which she doesn't mention) and that overdubbing IS NOT possible (which she doesn't mention) even though she demonstrates "easily" taking live vocal loops and then immediately mentions "stacking" melodies from live input actions via the "looper". Listening to what she says and highlights in demonstration one may end up shocked to find that the MC-707 really (arguably) isn't remotely at all that efficient a device for recording live "loops" AND "stacking" looper things, most notably given that there's only a mere 60 seconds of time possible for any and all combined things put to things "looper", is far from anything efficiently possible in actual practice.
Similar just happens to apply to her treatment of Arp functionality and again similar comes up regarding using Program Changes sent from external devices.
As using Program Changes sent from external things and the arp are things she chose to highlight in the current vid, presumption was given that she'd have experience in the areas and subsequently likely have ran into the known and established still existing bug and/or oddities and would at least give a quick mention to them.
It's the succession of her highlights with no mention of limitations and/or surrounding bugs that brings me to
"curious..... this is beginning to look like a pattern."
There seems to be forces acting foremost towards curating in interest "to better serve you ads" aka "to better manipulate behavior actions", market product, AND NOT not at all primarily serving toward art, honesty, education, or in the greater public well being.
Also worth noting how the permitted and allowed comments read like idealized ad curation; offering little for one to learn anything technical from in spite of the technical natures presented in the video.
Further, the channel shows Rachel promoting herself as a commercial "teacher" of sorts for modern music.....
Which only serves to underline the oddity of a purposeful elimination of technical truths surrounding technical featured highlights and lessons.
Such use of comment curated "Influencers" as a COUNTER-means to an honestly informed public base may be more prevalent than most might think.
The actions speaking more as a symptom of a greater modern CONsumErrors establishment than to anything about a specific person or anyone's music.
The modern use of "Influencers" and the destruction of the art.
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