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During a performance, I think the crucial element
-- regardless of a person performing with a computer laptop or fender telecaster
-- is being able to respond to a musical situation in real-time. And
that comes from developing at least two capabilities: 1) being sensitive
"musical moments" and 2) being able to adapt from "plan" to respond
accordingly.
As to a failed hard-drive, I agree. But an
amplifier blowing a fuse is similar.
David
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 6:09
PM
Subject: Re: Hardware Loopers--Tools or
Collector's items?
I was talking the other night with a friend
about the issue of instruments vs. the unlimited capabilities of software, and
we both agreed that a lot of times it’s the limitations of what you’re working
with that forces you to do something different and find your own voice. I
think there’s a lot to be said for pushing on strings (or whatever the
physicality of your instrument is), stepping on pedals, and twisting
knobs.
I love electronic music and I’ve heard great music come off of
laptops at live shows, but it’s great in a different kind of way than music
where the actual sounds are being physically created. There’s an
element missing which I think comes down to the intensity of communing with
your instrument/rig and physically/mentally/spiritually willing and seducing
it to speak for you. I’m sure a lot of people out there feel like I do that
their hardware loopers are really part of their instrument—that you play the
whole setup, not just the piece of it that’s in your hands.
Plus, as
anyone can attest to who’s ever been watching a performance where someone’s
hard drive crashes and the music just vanishes, the bummer potential of
relying on a computer is huge.
Dan
--
http://www.envelopeproductions.com
http://www.cdbaby.com/ghost7
Ity
on 3/12/04 3:01 AM, Travis
Hartnett at tiktok@sprintmail.com wrote:
On Mar 11, 2004, at 11:01 PM,
Loopers-Delight-d-request@loopers-delight.com wrote:
>>
I've been thinking about this a lot, and I still think
>> hardware
loopers may be on the way out.
Nah. Like guitars are on
the way out, replaced by synthesizers? Or
like synthesizers are on
the way out, replaced by samplers? Or
samplers are on the way out,
replaced by virtual analog synthesizers?
Purpose built tools, those
things stick around forever, if they're even
halfway useful.
Software tools get abandoned and systems dependent
upon them
become difficult to maintain. I knew a guy who was really
dependent on a Powerbook 140 running, I believe, Mastertrax. It
was
this great sequencing program that did everything he wanted it to
and
very little of anything else, and he had his two-man band doing
wacky
covers with all the other parts being handled by the computer.
His
program wouldn't run on any version of the OS made after
'95 or so,
the OS wouldn't run on any computer made after about '97, and
now he's
got hundreds of files on floppy in Mastertrax song format.
Sure you
can find parts for ancient powerbooks on eBay cheap, but
who the hell
wants to bother with piecing together vintage computers?
Or following
some never-ending upgrade path in both hardware and
software? We're
talking hundreds of songs that have to be
converted and doublechecked
everytime you switch to some new freeware
sequencing program. And
we're talking about technology that's only
a decade or so old.
Other people have brought up the point that
you're more likely to
develop a deep relationship with a tool that has a
fixed feature set,
rather than some software-based thing that can be
reconfigured and
extended and changed in a thousand different ways.
But it's worth
noting again: the ability to easily add features
may be more of a
detriment than an advantage. When it's difficult
or expensive to
change something, you spend a lot more time considering
how important
the feature really
is.
TravisH
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