Reshaping Live Electronica

Danecdote Dec 20, 2010 7 Comments

Calling all computer-music fans! Dig this! 3 Reaktor ensembles running simultaneously through Live6. The main keyboard (with cleverly placed stickers) houses a dominant ‘effect’ range (left 8 white keys) and a dominant ‘loop’ range (right 8 white keys). The other two midi boards are used for volume, some delay effects, reverb (and it’s decay), and misc. VST’s. I created the loops in Live6 prior to loading them into this set to record. Enjoy!

PS: I apologize for the sound getting a bit nasty in there. it was recorded from an iPhone, hanging on a ceiling fan.

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7 Comments

brautigan

about 14 years ago 

good show, ol' chap. thoroughly enthralled throughout. we should meet up over some phat beats some time.

pbroman

about 14 years ago 

Cool. There are two unfortunate downsides to 'live' electronica. 

1. it's not entertaining to watch unless you are an iphone on a ceiling fan. If you were playing a show somewhere, everyone would just see a dude moving around tweaking knobs and shaking his ass. Performers could just as well be faking it. I think live instrument controllers that are tactile and large enough to be observed by an audience will be really popular one day. For now, we're stuck with knobs, keys, and buttons.

2. It's not really 'live' music. It's a live mash-up. Somewhere between a live performance and a DJ performance. It's pre-recorded loops being triggered, and effects applied. There's something still a bit 'karaoke-ish' about this when watching an electronic musician. For a few years, I used to perform 'improvisational electronica' using a variety of software and controllers. The show would start by opening an empty file, then creating and layering music on the fly with nothing premade. Not even premade beats were used. Mostly this worked for ambient style music, and mostly the listeners didn't give a shit and would ask me to play 80s music or something instead.

Awesome to see someone local doing stuff like this. It sometimes seems as if the electronic scene here hasn't yet arrived and dudes like you (and the few others in Duluth) are a bit ahead of their time around here.

One day, I think there will be devices (not just keytars) that close the gap between performance and electronic loops. Until then, keep up the good work!

Timk

about 14 years ago 

What Paul said.

vicarious

about 14 years ago 

I loved the composition (song). And I appreciate the artistry it requires to pull it off in the moment. I actually find it interesting to watch the tweaking/turning/twisting. I enjoyed your layering and transitions.

I can imagine "live" electronica as a viable performance scenario; more interesting, perhaps, than simple DJ'ing.

Thanks for posting.

ruby2sd4y

about 14 years ago 

"Awesome to see someone local doing stuff like this. It sometimes seems as if the electronic scene here hasn't yet arrived and dudes like you (and the few others in Duluth) are a bit ahead of their time around here."

And about 10+ years behind everywhere else.

Carl Miller

about 14 years ago 

Favorite Live Electronic Music:

EOTO, Zilla, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Praang, Pretty Lights, Bass Nectar, Pnuma Trio, etc.- All can be searched online @ www.archive.org 

Sets on this website vary in sound quality but many have direct patches to the soundboard (i.e. SBD).

Here is a taste of EOTO: Usually a two man operation (sometimes accompanied by various musicians).  In this case Steve Molitz From Particle.

http://www.archive.org/download/eoto2008-02-05.sbd.flac16/eoto2008-02-05.sbd.blue.d2t07_vbr.mp3

or for the full set: 

http://www.archive.org/details/eoto2008-02-05.sbd.flac16

in.dog.neato

about 14 years ago 

I've seen Sector 9 on a few occasions...very impressive stuff there. i imagine the LSD helped out on that a little bit, but the soundboards i picked up from a friend afterward didn't diminish in ear candy quality.

Particle came close, really close, but kinda dropped the ball. it's nice to know that sector nine's still holding it down.

I've been into Stars of the Lid and Biosphere pretty heavily the last month or so. kind of a throwback to my psychedelic experimentation. soundscapes though have always had a place in my heart.

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