live playing | xltronic messageboard
 
You are not logged in!

F.A.Q
Log in

Register
  
 
  
 
Now online (2)
big
recycle
...and 306 guests

Last 5 registered
Oplandisks
nothingstar
N_loop
yipe
foxtrotromeo

Browse members...
  
 
Members 8025
Messages 2614123
Today 2
Topics 127542
  
 
Messageboard index
live playing
 

offline sadist from the dark side of the moon on 2006-06-05 11:14 [#01913691]
Points: 8670 Status: Lurker



does it matter for you on a live gig HOW the act is
playing? if he's using analog stuff, laptops, other gear?

personally - i have always been and probably always will be
a laptop artist. but besides many other similar laptop-users
i always try to do something new to make my livesets more
"live". so i started to use for example my midi keyboard to
make melodies on the fly or to trigger some beats. or my
last set - sounded quite "akufen'ish" because i played some
minimal-click-techno and sampled small bits of old vinyls on
the fly. that was quite a cool idea but as i didn't have any
preview of the vinyls nor control over what track or sample
i actually sampled, the effect reached from genious to
complete shit.

later i realised - what the fuck? i mean i try to make my
livesets more interesting from gig to gig but actually the
crowd wasn't really interested in what i do. in fact - they
were more pissed when i played a melody wrong or sampled
something false.

that made me think. i mean can laptop gigs be considered as
live gigs?

or does the gear/way of playing affect you when going to a
gig?


 

offline Ezkerraldean from the lowest common denominator (United Kingdom) on 2006-06-05 11:16 [#01913695]
Points: 5733 Status: Addict



if i ever played live, it would mainly be a laptop job.
maybe with one or two seperate instruments, probably just a
sampler and drum machine. because most of my shit is based
on samples, i couldnt really do it with synths.


 

offline vlari from beyond the valley of the LOLs on 2006-06-05 11:18 [#01913699]
Points: 13915 Status: Regular



get some dancers on stage


 

offline r40f from qrters tea party on 2006-06-05 11:23 [#01913702]
Points: 14210 Status: Regular



from my experience, watching someone play a laptop is
incredibly boring. but if they're making great music, it
doesn't matter.

Lethal Firetrap was half laptop when i saw them and their
music was sublime. i just sat there and closed my eyes...
it was fantastic.

on the other hand, if you're doing a live noise set (i won't
name any names), you've got to do better than a laptop
running FL at top bpm with lots of distortion.

so, just worry about making good music is my opinion... not
what you play it on.


 

offline sadist from the dark side of the moon on 2006-06-05 11:29 [#01913710]
Points: 8670 Status: Lurker



i'm impressed everytime i see a movie of tim exile - who
imho created a completely new style of live playing on
laptops.

LAZY_exile

other artists that have great ideas for playing live:

kid beyond (can we actually call him a laptop artist ?
LAZY_beyond

or daedelus with his new monome gear LAZY_daedelus


 

online recycle from Where is Phobiazero (Lincoln) (United States) on 2006-06-05 11:30 [#01913712]
Points: 40066 Status: Lurker



People who dress up in Rhubears and dance on-stage
are the top of the list.


 

offline r40f from qrters tea party on 2006-06-05 11:31 [#01913713]
Points: 14210 Status: Regular



tim exile is the steve vai of crappy laptop idm.

and no, that is in no way a compliment.


 

offline aneurySm from Ypsilanti (United States) on 2006-06-05 11:32 [#01913715]
Points: 1701 Status: Lurker



my cd turntables finally took a real shit after 5 years
i bought a laptop
still getting the hang of it
i dj my tracks in traktor
and i trigger sounds with keys in ableton
and i process live vocals with buzz except in a live setting
i can't get it to quit feeding back...

but yeah

people just want music


 

offline vlari from beyond the valley of the LOLs on 2006-06-05 11:32 [#01913717]
Points: 13915 Status: Regular | Followup to r40f: #01913713



haha, so true


 

offline sadist from the dark side of the moon on 2006-06-05 11:36 [#01913720]
Points: 8670 Status: Lurker | Followup to recycle: #01913712



like this?


 

offline sadist from the dark side of the moon on 2006-06-05 11:38 [#01913723]
Points: 8670 Status: Lurker | Followup to r40f: #01913713



his release is in fat complete shit - but his live sets rawk


 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2006-06-05 11:39 [#01913724]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Show recordbag



if I ever were to play live, I'd get as many people as I
could together and bring then with me on stage and have them
play stuff they could play and bang on shit when there was
other shit. I'd play as much as I could of the melodies on
synth and probably have a computer running stuff like
microbeats and other things that can't be played live.. I'd
probably even spend time arranging the music for live
musicians too.. like with basslines where it isn't important
to me if it's a synth sound, I'd just arrange it for a real
bass and have a friend play it...

I've been playing around with the idea that a male choir and
me on some electronics would be quite funny... I'd have to
arrange stuff in a barbershopesque way and then I'd sing
along and play stuff on synth...


 

offline Dannn_ from United Kingdom on 2006-06-05 11:41 [#01913727]
Points: 7877 Status: Lurker



Tim Exile is good live... What do you mean by the Steve Vai
thing?

Anyway generally I find laptop live sets can be a bit boring
and Id prefer people to DJ, but I suspect a lot of people
dont put enough preparation into their live sets to allow
them to manipulate them properly


 

offline grinningcat from london (United Kingdom) on 2006-06-05 11:42 [#01913729]
Points: 1073 Status: Lurker



it comes down to this:

id rather watch someone standing in front of their laptops
not doing much but the beats are great than someone jumping
all over the place pressing buttons and the beats are shit



 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2006-06-05 11:51 [#01913742]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Show recordbag



my cousin has a good one.. he doesn't use laptop, but rather
a cassette deck and then he comes in and presses play and
sings and plays a few instruments.. he doesn't even care to
pretend he's doing anything with a computer besides just
press play, so he figured he could just as well use an ipod,
but he also thought an ipod wouldn't come across as good
with the audience as a cassette deck. he always plays an
instrument per song in addition, though.


 

offline DirtyPriest from Copenhagen (Denmark) on 2006-06-05 12:01 [#01913750]
Points: 5499 Status: Lurker



Its an interesting subject i think. I gave it some thought
myself. I want to be able to play live more. I did one live
set some time ago, but that was only a laptop and a vocoder,
wich was ok. But i genereally think, the more stuff you got
going, the better. I do fairly energetic pop music, so
vocals and presence and stuff like that is important i
think.

Drunken mastah, sign me up for that barbershop quartet!!! I
love that idea!


 

offline i_x_ten from arsemuncher on 2006-06-05 12:15 [#01913779]
Points: 10031 Status: Regular | Followup to sadist: #01913691



i think the best bet for any laptop artist is to get a
decent midi controller. make sure your set is set up and
prepared. learn how to play the keyboard. make sure you have
a reasonable understanding of music theory, or a good ear
for music. if you're attempting to create beats/samples on
the fly, then make sure you can preview it first. Dj's dont
just hit the crossfader when they mix now, do they? or at
least if you're going to mime put on a good light show or
something, like jean michael jarre, just to keep people
interested.


 

offline cygnus from nowhere and everyplace on 2006-06-05 12:18 [#01913787]
Points: 11920 Status: Regular



i do a competition every month called laptop deathmatch, href="http://www.laptopdeathmatch.com">

one of the categories you get judged on is stage performance
(since audiences get bored just looking hunched down in
front of his laptop), it makes for a more fun show, and you
see some guys do some pretty interesting stuff. andrew
foster who's a guy who does it every month once remixed
katamari damacy tracks, and dressed up like the king of all
cosmos, it was funky

i think that it should be all about the music. but, in the
case of an actual music competition (where you only gor for
3 minutes at a time), it's very important that theres
something to look at, or else youll get bored. the sets are
way too short.

AE are a good example. they used just 2 pieces of machinery
and didn't really move or anything, just nodded heads. but
the music was devastating. the 2001 tour, they had laptops
and didn't move anywhere, but the music was devastating.

and going out on a laptop really isnt all that, i dunno,
BAD. yeah you look like a moron using your trackpad mouse to
adjust parameters, and going all wacky, but it's better than
just standing there and looking at your shit (in the case of
a really short set.) in longer set like what sadist was
talking about... for the sets i do in laptop deathmatch i
usually go into conniption fits, headbanging and etc. and
it's not just for stage performance, it's cause my music
sounds more charged to me on a powerful system than on my
studio monitors. its more energetic and you see that when i
am freaking out onstage acting like an epileptic child.


Attached picture

 

offline cygnus from nowhere and everyplace on 2006-06-05 12:21 [#01913794]
Points: 11920 Status: Regular



oops that link didnt work at all, here

and 1 more pic


Attached picture

 

offline sadist from the dark side of the moon on 2006-06-05 12:25 [#01913802]
Points: 8670 Status: Lurker | Followup to cygnus: #01913794



that's a fantastic idea!

i would love to organise something like this in a bigger
format!

i hope you won't be mad? or is that idea copyrighted? :D but
i'm really serious about it. we could even in vite some of
you to it.


 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2006-06-05 12:26 [#01913805]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Followup to DirtyPriest: #01913750 | Show recordbag



haha word! I'll let you know if I ever get around to it!


 

offline cygnus from nowhere and everyplace on 2006-06-05 12:30 [#01913813]
Points: 11920 Status: Regular | Followup to sadist: #01913802



its not copyrighted at all. theres a chapter in seattle,
california, and austin now... dallas just started last year.
ive won first place in 2 alongside wild bull . the next one
we're having here i get to be a judge!!

the main one is based in seattle though link , it
was the first


 

offline evolume from seattle (United States) on 2006-06-05 13:04 [#01913849]
Points: 10965 Status: Regular



i battled in seattle's laptop battle last year. it was
live, in that i did a live remix of one of my tracks, but i
didn't really compose anything live. i did not have a midi
controller with me, just hotkeys and my mouse and Ableton
live. i have a video of it on my zebox page. not really
that exciting to watch. i mostly used it as an opportunity
to mash up Janet Jackson in front of a crowd.


 

offline evolume from seattle (United States) on 2006-06-05 13:05 [#01913850]
Points: 10965 Status: Regular | Followup to cygnus: #01913813



it started in seattle actually.

www.laptopbattle.org



 

offline evolume from seattle (United States) on 2006-06-05 13:06 [#01913851]
Points: 10965 Status: Regular | Followup to evolume: #01913850



oh haha, you already said that.


 

offline DirtyPriest from Copenhagen (Denmark) on 2006-06-05 13:07 [#01913852]
Points: 5499 Status: Lurker | Followup to Drunken Mastah: #01913805



I can sing a little, and i actually love barbershop! Could
be interesting to make some with an electronic edge!


 

offline unabomber from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) on 2006-06-06 00:08 [#01914079]
Points: 3756 Status: Regular



Use Visuals?


Attached picture

 

offline unabomber from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) on 2006-06-06 00:09 [#01914080]
Points: 3756 Status: Regular



like this?


Attached picture

 

offline unabomber from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) on 2006-06-06 00:25 [#01914086]
Points: 3756 Status: Regular



Also:

Never trust your band mates if they ask you to dress in a
certain way.
Once we were supposed to play dressed like bitches.
Guess who was the only one looking like a 40 year old junkie
prostitute on vodka overdose...
Fuckers.


 

offline Taxidermist from Black Grass on 2006-06-06 00:29 [#01914087]
Points: 9958 Status: Lurker



Would you think of running in audio from say, a turntable,
tapedeck, and radio, through multiple ins and use reaktor to
gate them to a beat? That might be a way to make it
interesting, because you can do all of those things live,
and more than one at a time.


 

offline sadist from the dark side of the moon on 2006-06-06 02:48 [#01914145]
Points: 8670 Status: Lurker | Followup to Taxidermist: #01914087



i doubt it would work - to high latency


 

offline sadist from the dark side of the moon on 2006-06-06 02:49 [#01914146]
Points: 8670 Status: Lurker | Followup to unabomber: #01914079



live visuals suck - they just make people confused between
visual and soudn


 

offline Taxidermist from Black Grass on 2006-06-06 03:19 [#01914153]
Points: 9958 Status: Lurker | Followup to sadist: #01914145



Hmmm. I doubt it... you don't even need to know what you are
doing with the other soundbytes. But if you have latency
problems, maybe you should invest in a half decent soundcard
with a couple extra ins...


 

offline unabomber from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) on 2006-06-06 03:50 [#01914169]
Points: 3756 Status: Regular | Followup to sadist: #01914146



Well, that's your opinion...


 

offline sadist from the dark side of the moon on 2006-06-06 04:44 [#01914184]
Points: 8670 Status: Lurker



taxi: i still think it wouldn't work well even with a good
interface! but it's worth a look i think

unabomber: yeah of course. imho it depends on the type of
the visuals. i was once at a elektro-clash gig of my friend
where his visuals were crossfaded hardcore pornos... it was
quite disturbing because a group of guys just stood in the
middle of the dancefloor and stared on the screen.


 

offline sadist from the dark side of the moon on 2006-06-06 04:57 [#01914192]
Points: 8670 Status: Lurker | Followup to Taxidermist: #01914153



taxi: actually - if it would work out with the latency then
the plugin "beat repeat" from ableton with the option "gate"
would be ideal.


 

offline B123 from The wicked underbelly (Australia) on 2006-06-06 06:00 [#01914216]
Points: 1361 Status: Lurker



i walk out on stage with a bottle of absinthe and a
microphone. i gaze into the crowd with an all too knowing
stare and let the tension build, then i look down at the
stage floor. I lower the mic by the cord to about 10cm from
the floor and take a final swig from the near empty bottle,
before violently smashing it on the ground. Then without
acknowledging my bottle smashing i walk off silently back to
my KORG microKORG where i lightly touch a key to engage my
sampled bottle smash. i hit the key over and over and over
until a beat becomes apparent at which stage a drop a
nosebleed bass line and my bottle smash sample becomes a
filterhouse melody.

man i'd pay to see that...



 

offline obara from Utrecht on 2006-06-06 06:39 [#01914233]
Points: 19377 Status: Regular | Followup to sadist: #01914184



it surely depends on who and how uses them. plaid live
visuals are really impressive.


 

offline unabomber from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) on 2006-06-07 00:25 [#01914754]
Points: 3756 Status: Regular



Who would want to look at such a bunch of freaks like us?
Pics posted belong to "CtrlAltSupr", and the visuals are
quite dark...

In my other band, "NeoTokyo", visuals play a more important
role. Part of the crew is there just for that. Manga and
japanese stuff and shit... We even played sometimes in the
back of the screens...

Wanna see?

Robots 2001

Metal 2004


 

offline unabomber from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) on 2006-06-07 00:30 [#01914755]
Points: 3756 Status: Regular



Yes, in the back of huge robots!


Attached picture

 


Messageboard index