RE: was - Re: Ableton Live a sEriOuS contender!

["bob[noxious]" <audiolink@gmx.net>]

>> this is what scares me.....composition seems to become more dependent
on
>> the depth of my programs (almost "chance" composition) than on my own

>> ability to work with notes, sounds, the building blocks of
music.....how
>> often do i compose a 6/8 waltz as compared to a 4/4 groove?

Well, I like to play syncopated rhythms and non-conventional time
signatures quite a bit on guitar.  This is why looping and especially
organic type looping is perfect for my style.  Back to your point - "my
own ability to work with notes, sounds, the building blocks of music,"
What happens when you don't have the luxury of working with a drummer,
let alone one that can play outside of pop/rock 4/4?  This is where a
program like Ableton Live is pure magic.  Take that 4/4 Big Fish Audio
loop and lock it to your tempo and morph the loop to your time signature
- all in under 10 seconds flat.  I can't think of a better way to remain
purist in terms of allowing yourself to focus on what matters most which
is coaxing out your musical creation -repeatable event or otherwise,
composition for lack of a better term.  Actually, if you don't plan to
record at all, or never perform a musical work more than once, you would
simply not save the file.  I believe hardware loopers like my EDP and
the Repeater already have this feature built in for you, well I guess
Repeater has a cheesy way of saving to external media and reimporting
later.


>> I never got what running through mazes on a
>> screen did for anyone. I love tweaking things while I play and
getting
>> rid of a creak or footstep just isn't worth the loss of communication

>> for me.

This is where Ableton Live excels, no scrolling and a monkey could run
the thing without reading a manual.  If you do email, you are way past
the learning curve.  The computer is really no diffenert from a hardware
looper, aside from software features.  I mean they both have a hardware
interface, OS layer, application layer, etc.  One has a nice big screen
that is very familiar from things like email and word processing, and
one does not.


There appears to be a recurring theme of favoring a single tool, not
necessarily the most intuitive or best for creating non linear music.
If we took this notion one step further it would be easy to argue that
loop technology never really got better than sitting in a drum circle -
no mazes, no menus, simply music in its purist form - linear
nonrepeatable improvision.  There is a school that believes music should
be heard in one's head and any tool, intrument or otherwise impedes the
essence of pure thought and imagination.  I for one agree that all tools
tend to impede the creative process to some degree. The invention of the
screw driver was just brilliant - it's difficult to argue otherwise.
Even more brilliant was the invention of the electric screw driver, but
I bet you didn't felt hindered by this leap in technology and never
thought a manual was necessary.

I mean, I love my EDP, but this Ableton thing is really a leap in the
right direction for loop technology.  Don't give up the EDP, but don't
give up your passion for looping either.  There was a day when people
plugged right into an amp without anything but a cord in the chain.
bob[noxious]