modular etc etc

[steevio]

@ oblioblioblio and steevio: do you ever think that it seems like no one is using these tools to make music because the people making music with them are sitting in theirs studios doing just that instead of wasting time on internet forums and posting youtube videos?

a few people that i can effortlessly think of who are well known for making techno and using modulars: plastikman, lucy, drumcell, villalobos

i wont take that as a personal insult, mainly because i spend between 5 and 8 hours everyday in my studio making / recording and releasing music, whereas i have spent only about 20 minutes in three years bothering to switch on a camcorder to capture a couple of jams ive done.
likewise ive probably only posted on this forum about 10 times this year.

there's no doubt plenty of producers are using modulars in their music, and have done for some time, but it's also true that there's not many videos of musicians playing live on modular rigs, personally i would be really happy to see more videos... watching musicians play live rather than hiding away in studios.
whats wrong with that ?
I'd travel to another country anyday to see Ricardo play live on a modular !

the truth is there are very few people playing live techno gigs purely on a modular synthesizer, and i think that is down to the fact that we've all become a bit lazy since the advent of laptops, its just so easy to gig with your entire kit in the overhead locker, that taking your big precious modular out gigging is a total ball-ache, risking damage in transit, taking hours to set-up and take down etc..

and as for the lack of studio videos, who knows what anyone is actually doing with their rigs in the confines of their studio ?, who knows how much of what they do is modular ? is it 100% modular ?, what do they use their modulars for ?
i'd say we need more people wasting their time putting up youtube videos. its interesting to me, so i'm sure there are others who also find it interesting.

[skept]

i wont take that as a personal insult, mainly because i spend between 5 and 8 hours everyday in my studio making / recording and releasing music, whereas i have spent only about 20 minutes in three years bothering to switch on a camcorder to capture a couple of jams ive done.
likewise ive probably only posted on this forum about 10 times this year.

i would certainly hope not considering i have no intention of insulting anyone. it really requires no explanation on your part either since you have records out and videos of actual music being made. my point is simply to let gowans know that there are actually people out there who use these tools to make tracks and not just bland noodling videos like the bulk of the internet scene crap we normally see. the difference is that you see this output in records not on youtube noodling videos.

edit: not trying to insult anyone really. if making boring noodle videos instead of tracks and being an audio scientist instead of an artist is your thing so be it. there is nothing wrong with that its just not my thing. however, the overnerdyness of the people whose thing it is sometimes confuses new users and it can be really off putting. this part is a problem for the modular industry and its acceptability to artists and musicians i would guess.

[steevio]

i wont take that as a personal insult, mainly because i spend between 5 and 8 hours everyday in my studio making / recording and releasing music, whereas i have spent only about 20 minutes in three years bothering to switch on a camcorder to capture a couple of jams ive done.
likewise ive probably only posted on this forum about 10 times this year.

i would certainly hope not considering i have no intention of insulting anyone. it really requires no explanation on your part either since you have records out and videos of actual music being made. my point is simply to let gowans know that there are actually people out there who use these tools to make tracks and not just bland noodling videos like the bulk of the internet scene crap we normally see. the difference is that you see this output in records not on youtube noodling videos.

thats why i didnt take it that way bro, but you could have worded it better haha !

i take your point about the recorded output, but if there is no visual record of what's being done, there's no way of knowing how much modular is part of those tunes, or what kit is being used for what sounds.

[skept]

thats why i didnt take it that way bro, but you could have worded it better haha !

sorry about that. my candor usually comes of wrong. but i don't realize until afterwards.

[tone-def]

The thing is though, most of the videos of fixed architure synths are noodles too.

[John Clees]

also doing a live show for some promoter, isn't worth the chance of destroying, or ruining, some of your most prized possessions, just to do some show... sure it's "different" but in the end, when it's your gear at risk of being ruined, it's a different perception..

to be honest, I'd never bring all my gear on the road.. the benefit with using ableton, is you can layer 3 or 4 individual tracks together on top of one another creating a seamless link for all your tracks flowing in/out vs. having ll your gear tweaking one track at a time, on analog gear..

its the sound experience in the end. I'm a gear head, and was anti computer for the 1st 8 years my producing journey/years, but in the end the risk vs. cost .... and to me... will never equals the chance..

perhaps in your home city, for an extremely intimate party would be a complete exception..

[steevio]

i think there is a big difference between playing live improvised music and using a platform like Ableton.
its two entirely different different things, one you are playing music both you and the audience are hearing for the first time, the other you construct a framework in advance which you know will work. Seeing and hearing a musician create music in front of your eyes is a very valuable experience, and if you think about it, thats what everyone did till the advent of the computer, there was no choice, you had to play an instrument in real time. That is the norm, pre-designing your music on a computer is the anomaly.
i do both, but i dont get as much satisfaction from gigging with Ableton, ok its nice to deliver a succinct, well constructed set to some happy people on a dancefloor, and i generally come away from it on a high, but nothing replaces the adrenalin and deep satisfaction of creating music in real time for me. If it goes wrong, thats another story.

while i agree that the sound experience is all important, personally i value true live performance above all, the question is, is it worth the risk not only to your gear but also to your perfromance.

Its very easy to screw up jamming on a modular synth, if you're losing the dancefloor because you went off at a tangent, it can be very hard to get it back, and most of the time the audience are oblivious as to what you are really doing. Maybe only the nerds at the front watching your every move will have any sort of clue as to how you are creating the music.
more than once someone has come up to me after a show and made a comment about my 'DJ'ing'

i think the answer is to pick and choose your gigs carefully. Now if i'm asked to do a gig the first things i ask are 'is there a good safe space to set up, out of the reach of the audience, is there a lockable room back stage, do i have plenty of time to set-up and get a sound check etc.?

we need artists to take a chance and keep improvised electronic music alive, some of my favourite performances this year have been live improvised sets, Magic Mountain High, Karenn etc.

heres an interview with Magic Mountain High thats interesting;
http://www.junodownload.com/plus/2012/0 ... tain-high/

[oblioblioblio]

can't say anything better than how steevio said it.

For me personally I can't see any alternative to doing it that way.... why would I not sweat, fail, risk everything for that moment? Is it not special enough to come to it with some lesser version of what it could be? I can hear the difference. I'll take all the failed gigs, long journeys, wasted opportunities for the sake of actually coming face to face with the creation of music itself... created in that moment and then lost.

Flowery prose and all that but if I couldn't do it this way I wouldn't bother.