Well, lets put this in its most obvious and basic fact. Personal style and preference aside on who you may think is you favorite member, Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, J Schmoelling, P Baumann, P Haslinger, etc. All are very capable composers. Its indisputable.
They each have a catalog of solo reference material to prove this. They each have written entire songs, not just rhythm parts, or sequences, or pads or baselines or melodies and leads, but every aspect.
There have been discussion sighting, Edgar played leads, Franke did the rythem part and Schmoelling played the chords exclusively. That is simply false.
Anyone who has watched the Poland concert or any other video footage from that era can clearly see Schmoelling and Franke playing melodies and leads as well.
I cant remember were I read or heard Froese or the band stating something to the effect “that each member did anything for any given piece of music”. This seems highly factually for a few reasons:
1. They all are capable of it.
2. It provided the ability for each band member to bring full or partial compositions to the table.
3. It provided the ability for each member to work independently and in a group setting at various times.
4. It offered a means for the band members to work on various things simultaneously.
5. Any composer who creates music with synthesizers wouldn’t want or agree to be limited to just a specific area of the song arrangement -especially when they all are capable of much more.
All I’m saying, it would be foolhardy to say Chris Franke didnt or couldn’t (should that actually happen) do this or that when clearly he can and has composed every aspect of songs - and not just berlin style, his soundtrack work goes well into symphonic, contemporary and world territories also.
You would have a hard time convincing anyone that while in TD he just putsed around or didn’t do much and suddenly when he left, he became this world class composer with such on-demand stylistic diversity to compose soundtrack work.
Sure, maybe there were some agreements that changed course or questionable things that happened that left hard feelings-fair enough, but I dont believe anything good can come from discrediting anyone at this point should that actually occur. It would open pandoras box that wouldnt be beneficial or my give the impression of bitterness and spite rather than "truth".
Should it happen though, I'll be ringside to watch the firework show!
Its the same thing that happens in any business. Someone works with or for a company for 20 years. Theres a rift and a split and all of a sudden the person who leaves is a good for nothing bum. Wost unproductive person they ever work with, right? You've heard this story a million times.
But yet, somehow they were there for 20 years?
In all fairness, Edgar never claimed or implied C Franke's involvement or any other past member was less than anyone elses creatively or compositionally.
The rift most certainly has to do with ideological divisions, a difference in directions on where to take things or falling outs on the business aspect.
