Excerpts of David Torn interview in the book "The Art of Digital Music"

["Bernhard Wagner LD" <loopdelightml@nosuch.biz>]

Posting this because some aspects of recent discussions are touched.
Bernhard


>From the book "The Art of Digital Music", David Battino, Kelli Richards;
Backbeat Books, 2005 (http://www.artofdigitalmusic.com/), p. 106, 107


David Torn
www.splattercell.com

Q: You said recently that you really wished "more attention would be paid 
to
live looping - by musicians, consumers, and manufacturers alike." What are
they missing?

A: When there is live input, looping is a phenomenally capable musical
instrument in its own right. That feeling of instant recording, that
feedback loop, is so wonderful for almost any performer,
[...]
I'm about to get involved with a new secret piece of software that's meant
to be a live-performance looping device; it's not unlike [Cycling '74]
RadiaL, but with a different set of conceptual paradigms.

[...]

Q: When you move to the computer, are you forced to work differently?

A: [...] the user interface for looping on the computer requires a 
different
mindset. The general paradigm is, "Okay, let me drop in this loop from this
sample disc," [...]
I believe that the laptop computer could indeed become the next level of
live-performance looping device. But the biggest problem, and the thing 
that
I wish I could convince somebody to do, is to develop a semiconfigurable
physical interface for a looping device. That to me is the nut of why live
looping hasn't really caught the fancy of a manufacturer and, therefore, 
the
public.
When there is a physical interface that is more visceral, then the audience
can tell that what's happening is happening because the performer is doing
it. [...]