Hey all,
I've been thinking for a long time about how to accomplish the above and it looks like time to figure it out.
The idea is a vox+guitar setup using a looper for beats (rather than chords or whole arrangements). The loops would be glitched up to provide fills/variation/dynamics using something like Effectrix or Stutter Edit since there doesn't seem to be a hardware option for this.
This would then be expanded to include a cheap hardware synth like a Microbrute to perform bass duties - run off of a MIDI file in an ipad app or laptop.
The thinking behind this is to have a raw, live feel (because prerecorded beats + drum machines sound like karaoke to me), with dynamism provided by the glitching and not being stuck with two-part looping a la Boss/Boomerang etc. I'm sure most of you are all too aware of the fine balances and compromises involved in trying to liveloop actual songs while keeping it "real" or at least "unreal" in an exciting way!
So my questions are:
1) Is this both feasible and as cool as I think it will be? Will the marriage between MIDI clock, on the fly beats and a MIDI-driven analog monosynth produce sweet harmony or fall apart in bitter recrimination? Will the static timing of a MIDI file work alongside the fresh live-loops or stick out like a sore thumb?
2) Any ideas as to how to go about it? I've messed about with my ipad trying to set up Loopy with Effectrix and it shows some promise, but it seems a bit clunky for live use and I'd need another app to be responsible for the bass midi track. Things could get really complicated with multiple songs in a set.
So there's Ableton I guess? My health suffers when using computers so that's a last resort for me.
Or hardware. Few loopers have rock solid MIDI sync (the Rang?), and then it would need to be attached to a computer/ipad anyway for teh glitches.....
Any thoughts or insight much appreciated - as you can tell the options and obstacles get rather confusing. It would be nice to get started with a subset of the setup and then build up from there.
Thanks,
Ak
