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On the subject of drum machines in looping performances



Since we've drifted onto the subject of drum machines:

I saw one of Max Valentino's first looping performances at on of the first
Santa Cruz Looping Festivals over a year ago.   On that particular night,
every artist (there were three) who played used an Alesis SR 16 drum 
machine
to augment their tracks.  To give Max credit, he was the only one who
radically processed his tracks
to get away from that generic "we thought up and recorded these samples 
back
at the end of the 1980's"
Alesis sound (great composing machine............whyyyyyyyyyyyy don't they
put some hip new sounds into that puppy and yet they continue to sell  
brand
new.........you tell me).  With three artists using the same machine, it
was, frankly, a little stultefying.

Anyway, afterwards, I suggested to Max in an e-mail that he try to exploit
his basses for ALL of the sounds
that he would use for his 'drum' sounds, knowing, personally, that I would
find that more interesting.
Well, at this last show,  I was blown away to see him take it to heart and 
I
thought the results were very, very cool.   If anyone happened to be at 
both
of those performances it would be interesting to see if they had the same
feedback.

Another interesting thing that I have stumbled upon in drum machine
programming for looping gigs:

I think most musicians feel that the drum machine, lacking any intrinsic
'energy' of it's own should therefore
be augmented by the use of more elaborate programming.    I have found the
complete opposite to be the case.   I have found that the more minimimalist
the drum groove, the more that it hints at the 'funk' or 'soul' of the
piece.   In a way, it's like using more open ended guitar or keyboard 
chords
so that the soloist has a lot more options for soloing,

Consequently, I have discovered that as long as 'kick' sounds or 
substitutes
and 'snare' sounds or substitutes and 'hi hat' sounds or substitutes are
used, that the simpler the groove is(as long as it gets across the
syncopative or non-synocpative rhythm intended) the more effective, the
'drums' are in the piece.
If we just basically need low end , midrange (whitenoisey) and treble
percussive sounds (a basic drumset)
it becomes pretty simple to exploit our instruments for ersatz drum sounds.
I once saw a very creative show where the drummer used one large industrial
water bottle as a kind of conga. It only produces a bass sound and a snare
sound (figuratively speaking, of course) and I never got bored with it
during the whole show.

Any body have some creative ideas they want to share about their faked drum
sounds or percussion noises?

One last little aside (if you still are reading):    A great source for 
drum
machine sounds are the really cheap
and old fashioned analogue pre-programmed drum machine rhythms in old
keyboards (casios, yamahas, wurlitzers, hammonds, roland, etc.)    Take one
of these rhythms (many of which are sampled at the drum computer website:

http://www.drummachine.com/newpages/sounds.html

and process it with flanger, harmonizers, filters, wah wah pedals,
distortions, bad microphones, etc. and you can come up with some very
creative percussion ideas that don't sound hackneyed.   I have a large
collection (25 or so) of these old drum machines and, with the exception of
my Roland TR-808 (which I paid $400 for back in the day) I never have paid
more than $60 apiece for any single one.  Many I have found for $5 or $10 
at
the local flea market.     I love them, but they are all sampled already at
the aforementioned site (dowloadable for free).

Happy drumming, non-drummers!!     Rick (loop.pool)