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Looper's Delight
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This kinda better-late-than-never post on the topic will address some of the others' posts on the topic, as well as my own experiences on that path (as a guy who still has his big hardware setup, but has been using laptops for live gigs exclusively since early 2006). [nb: if for short I write "software" or "hardware", it's meant to mean "a means of processing audio which runs on a typcial computer system like a laptop" or "a means of audio processing which does not run on a computer like a laptop"). There were a lot of topics discussed in this context, which I'll talk about specifically after I do my introduction... I had been using hardware for a long time (see above for how long), then switched to a laptop-based setup. The reason? I got an invitation to headline a festival in California (guess which one), and I had somehow to go there without quite literally breaking the bank (not counting in the back). Back at that time (and this hasn't changed since), my hardware setup consisted of, among other things, two five-octave synths (Wavestation and Q), a MC505 groovebox, an 8HU angled rack filled to the brim (and also holding a 24-6-4-2 mixer), DL4, Kaoss Pad, Micromodular, V-Bass, FCB1010 and tons of expression pedals and footswitches, and a big six-string bass guitar. I didn't even own proper (read: airline luggage handling ready) cases for most of it. To cut a long story short: I made a setup in a computer, took along an interface, a faderbox and the dreaded FCB and borrowed a guitar and a keyboard locally. Problem solved. (I wrote a lot about my experiences also here: http://www.moinlabs.de/i_glt.htm) To do a quick summary: I believe that Per's thesis that "outside" players (in the meaning of "far away") play laptop setups more often because of transport logistics is spot-on. Unless your setup is quite simple equipment-wise (say, RC-50 and a tube screamer), the laptop is always smaller - plus, you don't have the hassle with power converters. Krispen's theory that people doing experimental music have more fun with laptops (and/or are willing to have it) may or may not be true - actually, I believe to really enjoy some of the benefits a computer setup offers (like the bigger degree of flexibility, as offered by solutions as MAX/MSP, PD or Reaktor) you need to be an experimental person, and experimental persons more often than others tend to play experimental music. There really aren't any "out of the box" solutions for computer users like, say, a Boss RC-50, where you basically connect the guitar on one end, the amp on the other and, switch on and start having fun. The entry barrier is much bigger with computers (at least effort-wise). Now about Rick's assumption there would be more laptop users at the festival because the list is dominated by them: that loop survey I did about one year ago (on this list) showed that about 80% prefer hardware (meaning: no computer). So there was that theory that laptop users only have more problems to discuss, so...frankly, I'm too lazy to do a proper statistic, so I'm just picking a random month from this year and count messages for the first week by categories "hardware setup", "computer setup", "other gear" and "non-gear related" - and the result is 32 to 1 to 13 to 58. (Meaning basically that less than 50% is about gear, and less than 1% (!) is about computer-based stuff). Of course, Rick, I assume that if I had picked another month or another week the result would have been different (I just did that without doing the proper math, with a slightly less radical but still qualitatively similar result), but it seems to me that there are still lots of hardware geeks on the list discussion hardware issues. So, for some finishing thoughts about my personal take on this: a) Do I look back to my change to computer with regret? No, definitely not. If that was the case, I'd just start playing the hardware stuff again (still have all of it, and sometimes I still do). b) If equipment cost and transport logistics didn't play a role, would I switch to a hardware setup? Not entirely - most probably, I'd use a combination of both realms. c) The aspect about hardware or software in comparison which affected my musical productivity the most? The fact that the computer setup has a high-quality recorder built in and I got the recording already in the computer afterwards. Rainer > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- > Von: Rick Walker [mailto:looppool@cruzio.com] > Gesendet: Sonntag, 2. November 2008 23:42 > An: LOOPERS DELIGHT (posting) > Betreff: Y2K8: Software Loopers and Hardware Loopers > > Coming out of my post loopfestival coma that I always seem to go > into each year, I noticed a really surprising thing at the > loopfestival this year: > > From being on this list I just assumed that the festival would be > increasingly dominated by laptop live loopers but by a cursory count > (and this is very cursory) I think I only saw three or four people > using laptops in their sets. Everybody else (35-40 artists) were > using hardware. > > I was shocked by this. > > Maybe the hardware people on the list just aren't as vociferous or as > prolific as posters as the software people. > > What do you'all think? > >