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Looper's Delight
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Hi Per, Thanks for the comments... it makes me think of something I've noticed with regards to the whole "learning curve" technology angle: What I tend to see is this: the more gear is involved in a performance, the more the musical experience of looping seems to be about creating this big, massive "thing" that is set into motion, and then sort of spins around of its own accord, almost independently of the player. There's a funny parallel between musical gear and motor vehicles in that way: the music that tends to be made by artists with loads of equipment in their rigs often strikes me as being like a giant 18-wheeler semi truck: it takes a long time to get started, it takes a long time to slow down, and you have to plan your turns half a block in advance on account of the massive size involved. But it certainly can sound impressive when it's up and running... I can't help but think that a lot of this has to do with the "mental fatigue" angle you and Andreas brought up... it seems like the more stuff is involved in the actual rig, the more mentally demanding it tends to be to steer it in a particular direction, with a particular sense of speed. And the easier it can be to change the rig around, swap components in and out, and alter signal paths... which in many ways forces a person to start all over again with the whole curve of using their "instrument" in an agile and intuitive manner. The main impetus for having the big rigs tends to be a desire for lots of different sounds, and wanting to be able to access a wide variety of different textures. But isn't it interesting how some people will spend decades playing "just" a piano, or a tabla, or their own voice, and find ongoing inspiration and freedom within the confines of "one sound"? Isn't it funny how often it's harder to make a decision about what to play with dozens of options availble, instead of just one or two? And isn't it strange (and scary) how easy it is to constantly want to modify, or change, or upgrade, or trade up, a piece of electronic music gear, when we find ourselves frustrated with the music we make with it? Wired magazine had a really good article on this subject: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.05/laptop_pr.html It's ostensibly geared (no pun intended) towards the laptop music realm, but the ideas it addresses apply to pretty much any performing musician who's ever tried to use "external gear" as an instrument... I'm not trying to knock anybody here - there are plenty of folks with huge rigs and huge sounds who I really enjoy listening to. I'm just thinking out loud about things that have crossed my mind many a time. (And trying to see how many more innuendos I can squeeze into a subject line...) --Andre LaFosse The Echoplex Analysis Pages: http://www.altruistmusic.com/EDP