Several years back I was hoping to do some live shows, but I didn't have a car. So I ended up going to teach in South Korea and sold all my gear. Bought some gear again, but don't think I'll be doing any live shows soon, as I don't feel the creative pulse I once had, at the moment.
planetaryplayer
I've contributed probably 100 of those views. i like dis
Woony
This article is actually from 2013. It's funny though, I have a friend who's really into hardware and playing live and he's always complaining that nobobdy is actually playing 'live'. Even acts like Octave One with two trucks full of hardware, there's very little actual improvisation going on. Even something as simple as drum programming is something most acts won't really improvise on. You can probably count the number of acts that are actually fully improvising on two hands.
lonne
I saw Karenn about two months ago. As far as I'm concerned they're probably one of the most interesting live acts ( In terms of techno ) out there. I'm quite certain they always play ''live''. I would highly recommend seeing them.
AlphaStarred
quote:
Originally posted by Woony
This article is actually from 2013. It's funny though, I have a friend who's really into hardware and playing live and he's always complaining that nobobdy is actually playing 'live'. Even acts like Octave One with two trucks full of hardware, there's very little actual improvisation going on. Even something as simple as drum programming is something most acts won't really improvise on. You can probably count the number of acts that are actually fully improvising on two hands.
The drum machines are almost always pre-programmed, but you're still changing the different patterns "live," not to mention playing and tweaking synths live, etc. It's extremely inconvenient to improvise/program a drum machine on the fly because by the time you've programmed a pattern, you should already be switching to a new pattern, etc. It works well for production purposes, but as for a live PA, it's ludicrous. So just because they have pre-programmed patterns, doesn't mean they are still not improvising and, of course, playing live.
It's actually why I ultimately moved on from producing EM to playing the piano. You can only improvise so much with EM, especially techno.
AlphaStarred
Going to self-promote a bit here...
I did this live Acid "demo" set in 2010, with hopes of giving copies out to local places and securing a live PA somewhere. It was shortly before I left for Korea, however, so that never happened. I did end up releasing about half of the tracks, though, which was pretty sweet.
Chimney
I'm just going to pop into this thread and ask: How exactly do these machines work? As I understood it, people use field-recordings, together with samplers (bought or otherwise) which are then loaded up in these machines and modulated. Am I in the ballpark here?
AlphaStarred
quote:
Originally posted by Chimney
I'm just going to pop into this thread and ask: How exactly do these machines work? As I understood it, people use field-recordings, together with samplers (bought or otherwise) which are then loaded up in these machines and modulated. Am I in the ballpark here?
Yep, but it depends on the machine. Samplers are for samples, whereas the other machines like the classic Rolands already have the (analog or digitally sampled) sounds built-in, which you then simply program, sync up with the other machines and play. If you can't sync them for some reason, you can just play them live and improvise, which is what I did in some of my tracks.
Chimney
quote:
Originally posted by AlphaStarred
Yep, but it depends on the machine. Samplers are for samples, whereas the other machines like the classic Rolands already have the (analog or digitally sampled) sounds built-in, which you then simply program, sync up with the other machines and play. If you can't sync them for some reason, you can just play them live and improvise, which is what I did in some of my tracks.
What about those machines that lack USB input? How do you manage to transfer a pattern/song onto a PC/laptop?
AlphaStarred
quote:
Originally posted by Chimney
What about those machines that lack USB input? How do you manage to transfer a pattern/song onto a PC/laptop?
Most modern machines have USB, but with those that don't, you can use MIDI, I believe, to sync up with a PC. It depends on the DAW you're using as well, I guess.
Chimney
What does programing an already existent sound entail?
AlphaStarred
quote:
Originally posted by Chimney
What does programing an already existent sound entail?
Depends on what you mean. If it's a sampled sound that you want to transfer from your computer to your sampler, such as a Korg ES-1, you can do so via USB and then tweak it in the machine/sampler, if you want it to modify it or/and add effects to it.
If it's a machine (analog or digital) with existing samples/sounds, you can either record the sound(s) - such as the percussion on a drum machine, or notes on a synthesizer - or play them manually. Various machines also have either step or real-time recording, where you can let a pattern play for 16 beats, for example, and input the particular sound in whatever steps you choose, which would be "step" recording. In "real-time" recording, you'd press the particular sound and it would record automatically into the bar (a "full" bar is 16 beats, but you can make it less, if you want to - for example, programming a 303 into only 3 notes, rather than the full 16, and syncing it with a drum machine, where the bar/patterns are each 16 beats).
In short, many machines (especially drum machines) have built-in sequencers, so you just press the play or record button and start pushing buttons that correspond to their particular sounds in order to program it.
