liveset with just a drummachine
wow im loving the track in the third video from the top, the one outdoors with everyone dancing, is that one of yours wesen?
second track : http://soundcloud.com/spurn/goldenhehe no that one is super nice isn't it? it's my friend dwig from weimar, http://clone.nl/item15615.html (don't remember the track name exactly)
superb sound, superb liveset, i'd love to be able to reach that, working on it. also i think the move to ableton or the computer will happen pretty soon, in combo with the machines.
superb sound, superb liveset, i'd love to be able to reach that, working on it. also i think the move to ableton or the computer will happen pretty soon, in combo with the machines.
let me know how that goes. i've been moving the opposite way -- from pure ableton to an ableton+elektrons hybrid. Haven't been able to establish a good workflow, but admittedly I've been more focused on production than live pa.wesen wrote: superb sound, superb liveset, i'd love to be able to reach that, working on it. also i think the move to ableton or the computer will happen pretty soon, in combo with the machines.
i made that move from software to hardware too, and to be honest it was the *key* point in getting to where i am now. now i kind of think i've pretty much reached what i wanted to reach in terms of flow and sound on the hardware. It's not a matter of getting more out of the machine anymore, but rather acknowledging the fact that hardware just is more limited in terms of sound and flow and possibilities.
My plan is to ride the current setup a bit more, maybe try to delve into a bit more crazier ideas, but ultimately I think it's more valuable to incorporate the computer and its idiosyncracies (crashes, latency and sync problems all over when you use external gear, controllers that don't have the pure bliss like the elektrons) to get to that next level. also software and computers got better, there is all this max 4 live stuff, there is maschine.
the main thing that bothers me with the machines is
a) bad sound quality. don't get me wrong, they sound fantastic, they sound much better than most of the stuff i hear out of computers. moving to hardware did wonders for my ears. but for example, the machinedrum reverb is well, the machinedrum reverb. and i can't change it. on a pc, i can load a bazillion different reverbs. same thing for every sound produced by my machines. it's that one, i don't want to haul 40 different synths around, but a computer can do them all and more (again a bit bluntly put). if i use for example maschine or ableton, i can not only load all those synths, but i can also load all the samples i want. on the MD, I have just 2 MB of samples.
b) structure. my set is now basically 2 bar loops mixed together. i have no way to escape 2 bar loopism except by knobbing in longer sequences, which is hard and also you have only 2 hands. on a computer, if you want to let a 64 bar sample run, no pb, there it is, and you can concentrate on other stuff.
c) the ability to step back. the more i perform and get "better", the more i start to acknowledge that it all boils down to state of mind. in the studio, with friends, just chatting, not caring, sets sound just fantastic, everything flows, if i miss out, i can go back into the flow immediately. in the club, stress is so high, if i miss out, i'm gonna think the world just died. i think it's 5 minutes of pure sonic chaos driving everybody away, when in reality it's 20 seconds of a loop that's highpassed a bit too high and nobody realized. that's really something i am starting to give a lot of care. recordings of your liveset really help, cause else you'll be stuck with that "that was utter sh!t" syndrom, when in fact everybody enjoyed it every much. and even you won't be able to notice you made a mistake. with a computer, when you realize you are losing it, you can quickly start a halfway selfrunning track, smoke a cig, breathe deeply, and catch yourself. when playing on hardware, you need to be constantly fumbling and doing stuff, or rather you feel you need to.
the dangers i see is to find a way to incorporate the computer that is as immediate and playable as the elektrons, and i think i can do it, but i 'm not sure. the monome interfaces look really nice, and also i'm confident enough in my 2 bar loopism impro skills to not fall back on scene clicking. also the technical setup scares me quite a bit, computers are finicky. on the other hand, i'm so "routined" now at playing on a single machinedrum that i can finish a set where everything crashes (monomachine, midi controllers, monitoring) without missing a beat by using just that one drumcomputer. i think that may me the most important "live" skill i have acquired this year. being able to fake it on just one wheel.
that was long and rambling, but i'm working on a more edited document that will put together all the stuff i "learnt" or "discovered". it was a long journey, and i feel i'm arriving at the first rest-stop along the way, and that from there on the journey will be much different.
My plan is to ride the current setup a bit more, maybe try to delve into a bit more crazier ideas, but ultimately I think it's more valuable to incorporate the computer and its idiosyncracies (crashes, latency and sync problems all over when you use external gear, controllers that don't have the pure bliss like the elektrons) to get to that next level. also software and computers got better, there is all this max 4 live stuff, there is maschine.
the main thing that bothers me with the machines is
a) bad sound quality. don't get me wrong, they sound fantastic, they sound much better than most of the stuff i hear out of computers. moving to hardware did wonders for my ears. but for example, the machinedrum reverb is well, the machinedrum reverb. and i can't change it. on a pc, i can load a bazillion different reverbs. same thing for every sound produced by my machines. it's that one, i don't want to haul 40 different synths around, but a computer can do them all and more (again a bit bluntly put). if i use for example maschine or ableton, i can not only load all those synths, but i can also load all the samples i want. on the MD, I have just 2 MB of samples.
b) structure. my set is now basically 2 bar loops mixed together. i have no way to escape 2 bar loopism except by knobbing in longer sequences, which is hard and also you have only 2 hands. on a computer, if you want to let a 64 bar sample run, no pb, there it is, and you can concentrate on other stuff.
c) the ability to step back. the more i perform and get "better", the more i start to acknowledge that it all boils down to state of mind. in the studio, with friends, just chatting, not caring, sets sound just fantastic, everything flows, if i miss out, i can go back into the flow immediately. in the club, stress is so high, if i miss out, i'm gonna think the world just died. i think it's 5 minutes of pure sonic chaos driving everybody away, when in reality it's 20 seconds of a loop that's highpassed a bit too high and nobody realized. that's really something i am starting to give a lot of care. recordings of your liveset really help, cause else you'll be stuck with that "that was utter sh!t" syndrom, when in fact everybody enjoyed it every much. and even you won't be able to notice you made a mistake. with a computer, when you realize you are losing it, you can quickly start a halfway selfrunning track, smoke a cig, breathe deeply, and catch yourself. when playing on hardware, you need to be constantly fumbling and doing stuff, or rather you feel you need to.
the dangers i see is to find a way to incorporate the computer that is as immediate and playable as the elektrons, and i think i can do it, but i 'm not sure. the monome interfaces look really nice, and also i'm confident enough in my 2 bar loopism impro skills to not fall back on scene clicking. also the technical setup scares me quite a bit, computers are finicky. on the other hand, i'm so "routined" now at playing on a single machinedrum that i can finish a set where everything crashes (monomachine, midi controllers, monitoring) without missing a beat by using just that one drumcomputer. i think that may me the most important "live" skill i have acquired this year. being able to fake it on just one wheel.
that was long and rambling, but i'm working on a more edited document that will put together all the stuff i "learnt" or "discovered". it was a long journey, and i feel i'm arriving at the first rest-stop along the way, and that from there on the journey will be much different.
a few recordings (starting from 4th from top) of what it was like in the club, with haye's amazing visuals. very very small venue, we had a stellar soundsystem from kellerkinders, super super cool night.
sadly camera sound is subterranean.
http://haye.heerten.net/index.php?/2010/
sadly camera sound is subterranean.
http://haye.heerten.net/index.php?/2010/
oh man i'm really digging these tracks thanks for this!!!wesen wrote:hehe no that one is super nice isn't it? it's my friend dwig from weimar, http://clone.nl/item15615.html (don't remember the track name exactly)
second track : http://soundcloud.com/spurn/goldenI bought a Monomachine after reading this thread, about a year ago (owned a Machinedrum, traded up to the Machinedrum UW). Got used to the workflow and all, but I've kind of set them aside in favor of Ableton and Logic.wesen wrote:i made that move from software to hardware too, and to be honest it was the *key* point in getting to where i am now. now i kind of think i've pretty much reached what i wanted to reach in terms of flow and sound on the hardware. It's not a matter of getting more out of the machine anymore, but rather acknowledging the fact that hardware just is more limited in terms of sound and flow and possibilities.
the main thing that bothers me with the machines is
a) bad sound quality. (snip)
b) structure. (snip)
c) the ability to step back. (snip)
that was long and rambling, but i'm working on a more edited document that will put together all the stuff i "learnt" or "discovered". it was a long journey, and i feel i'm arriving at the first rest-stop along the way, and that from there on the journey will be much different.
Lots of reasons I suppose -- I guess mainly cuz the Live PA scene in SoCal (especially where I live; Orange County) is nowhere near that of Europe. Rock, pop, and hip-hop dominate, and the electronic heads here are more into Trance and Electro than anything else, so to play House or Techno, you have to be really, really good (aka good structure, good sound quality) to even make some sort of impression.
I still haven't hit my software ceiling yet, but I can start to tell that implementing something hardware, be it live instruments, or hardware synth/sequencers, might benefit me when that ceiling comes.
I did take some good lessons from the MD/MnM jams; a sort of "immediacy" that just musically flows out -- something that I strive for, and sorta get with Logic now (good templates, learning all the key commands).
Anyway I'm rambling too. I bumped into Shaggie at the Stone Sour Ale Festival this past summer -- heard you were there too? It was so freakin' hot that day, wish I could've stayed longer but my friends were already in the car.