VIRTUAL Vs LIVE INSTRUMENTS

I was drinking in a Chinese pub in Kuala Lumpur back in 2008 when I first learnt about a Karaoke and how it works. This was a bit strange to some of my Malaysian friends but that was the truth; I was witnessing a Karaoke display for the first time. Yes, the first time. Though it sounded strange to them back then and might be so to some people now, this was the reality for someone who had grown up being used to Live Bands. While it is common today for people to create different musical notes from the keyboards of their computers, this was not the case 25 years ago. One had to witness a musical concert to actually see someone putting their voice live into any musical note, a feat which wasn’t easy the way Karaoke makes it look nowadays. I clearly remember the glory days of Makossa when stars of the time in the likes of Salle John, Nkotti Francois, Toto Guillaume etc, travelled from Douala to play all over the country. They travelled with members of their band, all specialists in different instruments. You had the pianists, the guitarists, the drummer, the choristers etc. They were all specialists in their domains and thrilled the crowd with their different individual displays.

So when you grow up with such an image about music, it is difficult to imagine live music without a live band, talk less of composing a song without a band. Fast forward to 2020, and this is the norm in the musical industry. It is very common to see award winning musicians today who don’t know how to play any instrument at all. Even some sound engineers have been so engulfed with the use of virtual instruments such that they finally cant play any real musical instrument. With the rapid development in technology in this area, many people are of the opinion that real instruments might become obsolete in years to come. If this is going to happen or not is a story for another day. What remains clear is the fact that virtual instruments are dominating the industry at the detriment of real instruments. Though lovers of quality music still believe in live music, it is becoming rare everyday to have real instruments in songs. As opinions differ on this matter, the truth remains that the quality of many artists is seriously affected by this trend.

Share your opinion with us.

By Louis Ayukegba for Wave Media