RE: Scratch/DJ's/gestural control

[Richard Zvonar <zvonar@zvonar.com>]

At 12:57 PM -0500 3/6/02, Dylan DeAnda wrote:
>Alright, I am going to cut this boring diatribe short now.

Not boring in the least!

It's really interesting to hear a clear explanation of the 
technology, techniques, and musical rationale for this performance 
practice. I for one have been marginally aware of this work (I've 
even been involved in some events through my connection with Naut 
Humon and Sound Traffic Control) but haven't really been a habitué of 
the scene (my club days were 1965-73). Therefore it's only recently 
that I've taken a look at what people are doing.

Although the social contexts and specific musical forms of 
DJ/turntablism vs. artsy sound collage and sound mangling are 
substantial, there are many commonalities that can be explored to 
mutual advantage.

At 12:25 PM -0800 3/6/02, Andre LaFosse wrote:
>I gotta say that seeing what you were doing definitely increased my
>appreciation of your set at the gig.

I'm wondering if there's anything in turntable tools that I might be 
able to use within my own thing to justify the expense, or if I 
should just get back into laptop mode now that its possible to do 
real time audio inside a Powerbook. One obvious advantage is the 
reduction of schleppage. For Loopstock I carted a six-space rack 
chock full of Eventides, plus another 40 lbs of assorted cabling, CD 
players and media. It would be so much handier to have a TBook or 
iBook with an audio interface and a set of compact controllers.

The main problem with laptopism is that it's so fucking boring to 
watch! The performance interface needs to be more like a traditional 
musical instrument, requiring effort and expressive gesture. As one 
of my great heroes Michel Wiasvisz points out:

One has to suffer a bit while playing. Consequently, when we design 
the physical interface of a computer music instrument, we need to 
carefully match transducers with the musical...taking the feedback 
requirements of dynamical expression into account...As for the 
audience, it perceives the physical effort as the cause and 
manifestation of the musical tension of the piece...Even if pushing a 
button does not need a complex movement, like hitting a key on the 
piano it can be done in an expressive way.
-- 

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Richard Zvonar, PhD
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