[tb303]

The issue is not that controllerism & live manipulation of machines is a new phase of musical performance, it is that the technology available to electronic musicians has matured to where the advantages of CPUs, GBs of sample storage, live DSP, etc. now have physical controller counterparts. This is nothing new, it is a cycle we have seen repeat through instrument design (actually all production, e.g., printing presses required fixed type, whereas freehand allowed expression) for centuries. With each technological advancement, improvisation and flexibility narrows to meet the constraints of the technology, then expands to meet the needs of those using it. Repeat.