[Thor Joachim Haga]

I have to disagree with that.

Yes, if you want to replicate – exactly – an original orchestral recording from yesteryear (like some fans weirdly crave), I can see that it’s tricky. But orchestral music is written down on score sheets, and it’s up to the musicians to interpret that the way they want. And in my opinion, no interpretation is “wrong”. Everything goes. Well, within reason, but you get my point.

Electronic music, vice versa, rarely has the music written down on score sheets. It’s all a product of a singular moment in time — with whatever equipment was being used, and whichever way the musician performed it (electronic music is more organic than you give it credit for). So even if a later person uses the exact same equipment, it will have a hard time replicating the original sound. Great examples are the various Vangelis re-recordings (like BLADE RUNNER or THE BOUNTY), which sound nothing like the original Vangelis. Even if they use the exact same equipment – like the rare Yamaha CS-80 – you can clearly hear it’s not performed by the Greek composer’s intuitive, broad way of playing.

The best way is to go completely different, like – say – THE SYMPHONIC JEAN MICHEL JARRE album that Nic Raine did.

But Ed Starink, who produced most of the SYNTHESIZER’S GREATEST HITS albums in the late 80s and early 90s, managed admirably. Maybe because he produced those albums right around the time the original scores were being produced themselves, which lent itself to easier approximation. Moreso than later samplers can do. But they’re not exact replicas. He added his own twist on things, sometimes even surpassing the original. I still think his version of Vangelis’ “Dervish D” from SPIRAL is better than the original (because it adds a backbeat that the original desperately craved).

So yeah, orchestral re-recordings are dynamic in a whole other way than electronic re-recordings are.