The Meek Shall Inherit the MPC
Philosophically, I think I am close to tackling this gear question and what it means to have enough vs. too much.
Returning to Three Mile an Hour God by Kosuke Koyama, he has a chapter that talks about human spirit versus materialism versus owning a pile of stuff. And whether you’re religious or spiritual or anything besides, this applies to you too.
He says, “When limitation is devalued, civilization tends to become idolatrous.”
And this is the gear problem.
The gear has been elevated to the thing, and that’s the problem. No matter where you are, what day it is, what you’re watching, or who you’re listening to, at all points, it all kind of points to the gear being almighty.
And I think that’s why I’m enjoying my new MPC Touch that comes in under $300. It is meek. And hugely capable. And could any of us really reach the limits of its capabilities?
No.
It’s more than enough. And for all practical purposes, it can do the same thing that ones costing multiple, multiple times more can do for me.
And all the people telling you what you need are given these things for free anyway. It’s a really horrible situation.
So I may have actually found the two meekest MPCs that run current software. Proudly, I may say.
But I also have two of them, which is unmeek. Problem #2? Proudly pride.
So there are still problems here.
But I would postulate that, and I think we all should sit with this, and I certainly am going to: if you don’t have limitations, you are devaluing and debilitating your ability to actually make music.
So when you open up your computer, you have the whole world.
And maybe that’s why an acoustic guitar always works the best. Because it is only what it is. And it can’t offer you anymore.
But it’s also an orchestra, to which there’s no possible way you can reach its limitations.