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RE: Everyone and their dog has a live looping video now!
> I find it amazing that some players are incredibly secretive about
> the technology and techniques involved in their performances, as
> though that's where the magic is... Clearly, that's total balls, as
> anyone who's witnessed one of the half a million 'weekend warrior'
> bands around the globe with the most incredible equipment thanks to
> well paid day jobs still not being able to play a decent version of
> Mustang Sally, let alone generate much of substance in terms of
> original music.
I have mixed feelings on this topic, but ultimately I think the question
it broils down to is 'who is your audience?' For my own work, I receive a
steady stream of criticism for not doing enough to showcase the
technology, and 'that's where the magic is' is a statement I've heard on
more than on occasion. This kind of comment however comes from technology
oriented people, who only make up a small part of my audience. As I'd
like to think of myself as a musician, rather than a 'Laptop DJ' (and
there are way too many of those around), the approach I take is simply
play my music and let the technology demonstrate itself. Technology
oriented people can and will take an interest and figure out for
themselves what makes it tick - other people proably arn't that intetested
to start with and will just listen to the music.
Technology to me has a more important role to play - my requirements are
for a system which is highly portable, easy to setup and very reliable.
My setup time is now down to about 2 minutes, down from 1/2 hour in my
early days, I just chuck the rig on the floor, plug the power in and go.
I'm well aware that and hiccups from the technology will have a negative
impact on my concentration and ability to perform - technology needs to
just work and not get in the way, and lets even leave aside
band/stage/sound engineering politics from the equation
My set now has a number of phases with the tecnology involvment from
'none' to 'insane', I think this helps to satisfy the tecnology, musical,
and general beer drinking oriented segments of my audience:
Insane - live looping with foot control, vast variety of instrument
control from one guitar, including octave shift (bass), MIDI triggering
(rhythm and synthersizer control). No backing tracks - all live
Midway - sequenced backing track, generally with drums and bass, maybe a
splash of extra keyboard parts. Looping controlled from sequencer, as are
patch changes for my guitar processing. Lets me play a respectable cover
of 'Nothing Else Matters' always goes down well
None - put all technology aside, pick up guitar and play classical - makes
a great interlude
Jacob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEY_m1WMMZg
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/guitarworkstation
http://www.keystoneframework.org/