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Musicality, gear traps, and mud
What a long thread. Can't read it all. Some comments off the top of
my head (until I get back to the looping Nord Modular and sampler
that are playing on my studio monitors).
I ofttimes think the biggest trap in the gear business is the
temptation to spring for a new piece of gear instead of working
better with what you have. This hits hard for me, as I juggle two
demanding artforms (music and video), a demanding, (albeit
interesting) day gig, and the rest of my life. However, context
matters -- to my own (admittedly biased) ears, my music took a
quantum leap for the better after purchasing a Nord Mod last year.
I can't tell if Evan's complaints about knob twiddling are complaints
about the lack of more 'direct' physical activity, or complaints
about the lack (to his ears, anyway) of musicality in the results. A
lot of the music I've been making lately involves setting up a
complex evolving system (usually each of 4 slots of the Nord looping
independently and sometimes passed into echo devices), and tweaking
gently.
I can relate to Evan's comments about mud when six loopers were
improvising collectively. Even with non-looping instruments, six free
improvisers often turn to mud unless they come with very big ears.
Indeed, when I do duet jams in my studio, I can see how easy it is
for two free improvisers to create mud when looping electronics are
involved. (Oftimes, one is sufficient(-;)
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