Does it really make any difference how much effort it took to make a patch/sound/setting?
this links to an issue ive been thinking about quite a lot. not so much about implications of this kind of thing for judgement of an artist, but of art. i was going to start a whole thread about it but never got round to it. a few vague thoughts (which need tidying but which might sprout discussion) on a binary...
it seems that there are many who believe, and would argue, that only art developed with clear intention and vision is worthy of merit... they see it as vital that the musician has considered exactly what he wants to create, and executed it accordingly. it is 'theirs'; music is to be composed, and entirely the product of ones imagination. this links to the idea that use of samples (or presets) will generally undermine ones artistry, and therefore the art itself. as you say Blackdown it is very much looking at music from the producer/composer/performer outwards/down, rather than from the music itself.
also, from what i see it is generally (although of course not necessarily) people with this kind of perspective who will value high technical standards and musical complexity most highly
the polar view would i guess be something like... music should not be judged on the intention or process by which it came to be... a rejection of the idea of musician with a masterplan... it can be fluid, dynamic, learn, borrow, steal from elsewhere, so long as the end result is what is desired, it doesnt matter. that someone sits at a computer and hits a few buttons rather than 'composing' is not of importance - the result has something, a feeling, which connects to people, and that makes it as valid as art as anything else.
bringing it back to the initial thread, i guess im no longer asking whether skream is a genius, but rather whether 2D is a masterpiece, and more specifically,
whether the latter requires the former.