# Acoustic Instruments



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Does anyone else just have a preference for the sound of an acoustic instrument? I think they are just more organic and beautiful to my ears.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I think electronic instruments have two limitations:

1) those that attempt to duplicate the sound of acoustic instruments have too "perfect" a sound -- you can't imitate the variety of attacks possible with a human manipulated one, nor all the imperfections that even the best instrumentalists bring to attack/intonation/decay/etc. that make you know there's a human being behind it.

2) People who just want to play with all the new sounds possible electronically wind up sounding as if they are more striving to create novel sounds than actually using them to enhance what they are trying to say.

The exceptions are probably electric guitars, which have been around long enough to have developed their own suite of accepted techniques that are suited to the music they play – but I find way too loud to enjoy.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

MarkW said:


> I think electronic instruments have two limitations:
> 
> 1) those that attempt to duplicate the sound of acoustic instruments have too "perfect" a sound -- you can't imitate the variety of attacks possible with a human manipulated one, nor all the imperfections that even the best instrumentalists bring to attack/intonation/decay/etc. that make you know there's a human being behind it.
> 
> ...


Well put, I agree! Bravo.


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

I definitely prefer acoustic instruments for classical music. They seem to have the widest variety of possible sounds/tones/timbres. They also interact with each other by resonating together, creating an even broader range of sounds. I prefer concerts to be unamplified as well, so all you hear is the real sound of the instruments. Classical music might be the only thing I prefer to be acoustic. Anything else I usually prefer to be completely electric/electronic.


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## Guest (Aug 24, 2018)

Acoustic instruments are great, same as electronic instruments. It takes an enormous amount of understanding to compose well for any any instrument. I would argue that it's even an _affection_ for the instrument, an understanding of its strengths and weaknesses, the timbre, overtones, what its like to physically produce sounds. An affection for all those things will enable a compose to write for an instrument in an idiomatic way. Electronic instruments are no different, however, I do feel that electronic instruments in classical music have not always explored the instruments in an idiomatic way. Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint comes to mind, as do pieces of orchestral music that feature a synthesiser (used in the most limited way I've ever seen).

Electroacoustic music is probably another matter, especially ones created from field recordings and stuff like that.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Can I have both, please. New instruments offer composers new possibilities as we have seen again and again through the history of music.


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