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Re: David Torn EDP manual



Yo Mark,

Mark Sottilaro wrote:

> Also, I think it's unfair to compare the EDP, or any piece of gear, to 
>an instrument,
> unless you're talking about bagpipes!  My guitar has an incredibly 
>simple interface!
> Put your finger in a position on the neck and a particular note will 
>play.  The end.  Of
> course learning about what combination of notes work to sound like you 
>want them to, is
> another story, and that's music theory.  

A fine point - which illustrates why thinking of the EDP as an
instrument makes more sense to me!

If you want to engage any particular function on the EDP, it's a
question of hitting a button or two.  Multiply?  Hit the "multiply"
button.  Unrounded Multiply?  Hit Multiply and end with Record.  That's
no more complex than putting the finger on the fret and striking the
note, to me.  

The physical interface is very straightforward, I think.  And again,
just about all of the functions in the EDP - including the vast
DirectMIDI implementation in LoopIV - essentially originate from
something which can be executed using one or two front-panel button 
presses.

But as you say, the theory behind the interface is another story
altogether, and the "theoretical" angle of the EDP is a big part of what
makes it so powerful.  Just like you need to learn what sorts of notes
work against what sorts of chords, so too does trying different
combinations of functions and parameters produce different sorts of 
results.

But finding out how to communicate all of this stuff is not easy - the
sort of examples and features that would be used for learning Matthias'
incredibly smooth, fluid, graceful "ambient folk" style would be totally
different from how I would teach the glitch technique, the turntablist
technique, etc.  

So writing a tutorial begs the question: what style of playing are you
trying to tutor a person in, anyway?  If someone wants to play ambient
soundscapes, should they have to sit through a lesson in my skipping CD
player routine?  If somebody wants to lay down chords and then solo over
them for five days with different NextLoop and AutoRecord strategies,
will a lesson in Matthias' style go over their heads?

This is stuff I've been wrestling with (and continue to wrestle with) as
I've thought about the Santa Cruz clinic, and now as I gear up for some
"serious" videos.  I could easily imagine spending several hours talking
about different things I do with the EDP, and that would only cover the
areas of the unit I use myself - which is by no means the full depth and
breadth of the unit.

Oh well...

--Andre LaFosse
http://www.altruistmusic.com