Not Frippertronics
Musician Robert Fripp is probably today’s über-geek composer. One of my favorites, he works with electric guitars and tape loops to create lush soundscapes. His music is anything but raw — architectural, intellectual, spare… but not emotional.  Imagine my delight to learn that Fripp is the composer of the new sound schemes on Windows Vista! Long Zheng has written a very cool blog entry, including a media file comparing XP and Vista sounds.
I’m disappointed, though.
The new sounds, while very nice, are not Frippertronics. Their pedigree is simply not evident. Unbelievably, Microsoft has taken a very cool indie composer, and made his artistry into pablum.
November 10th, 2006 at 1:53 am
[...] Alec Saunders notes that there’s not much of Robert Fripp inside the audio in Windows Vista. I was there while he was recording this, and I TOTALLY agree. You should have heard the raw sounds while they were being recorded. He did THOUSANDS of iterations. [...]
November 10th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Not unbelievable at all. When it comes to marketing, Microsoft is all about the pablum. Even when it attempts to do edgy marketing, it’s safe-but-edgy.
This is still the same company that passed on the opportunity to put a version of the original Doom on the Windows 95 disc as a way of showcasing that OS’s new gaming capabilities because it was worried the game was too violent.
November 10th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
[...] Not Frippertronics, on Alec Saunders .LOG: The new sounds, while very nice, are not Frippertronics. Their pedigree is simply not evident. Unbelievably, Microsoft has taken a very cool indie composer, and made his artistry into pablum. [...]