projectriceco

it CAN be an instrument, but for the most part a computer could be anything, really.

Janszoon

It can't be a pineapple.

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cozypowell

Its not what we think of , when the musical instrument comes into your mind..
I mean there's no orchestra of computers, or bands of computers..
to me personally its not

Kaimon

You've obviously never heard of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra.

Personally, I consider a computer as an instrument. And a very innovative one at that.

Freebase Dali

While super convenient, simply relying on connotation to define everything is pretty narrow if you ask me...

Dirty

I see what you're saying but I don't think we need to analyze and get technical about everything. It's like in the 'Is Meat Murder' thread. Technically people are animals... but when i hear the word 'animal' I don't think of people. I think of dogs or cows or whatever. And when I think of a computer, the word 'instrument' never really enters my mind and vice versa. But if I would hear 'trombone' or 'guitar' then I'd think of 'instrument' almost immediately if it's a word-association thing

Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra

Hmmm... I remember reading something about how Aphex Twin won a talent show as a child by glitching a television to make music with some sort of computer.

Also, theoretically, you could use the processer beeps to make music.

Freebase Dali

Well obviously... but you wouldn't get anywhere in this discussion, or any that requires any kind of critical reasoning at all, without thinking beyond a generic association. I meant my comment in context with that, and I wouldn't have posted it if we were playing a word-association game.

ThePhanastasio

I don't see why a computer can't be considered an instrument. People are able to use software and such on it in order to make music, so that seems to classify it as an instrument to me.

I'm sure that when people came out with instruments like the synthesizer and the theremin, purists probably found them to be somehow "lesser" than other instruments and didn't consider them as such because they were electronic.

Just how I see it.

Dirty

Well that's how the mind works. You hear words and you associate them with other things. Technically a computer is an instrument by definition, because it produces sound. But if someone came up to me and ask "Hey, you think a computer is an instrument" my reaction would be to say No.