Live Dubstep drums & bass- using triggers & apc - new video

[John Arkell]

Just made another video with a set up i mentioned on here before.. (minus the alesis - selling that if anyone is interested)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0srTrSWQkZc



any thoughts/questions or feeback welcome

John

[BlackMath]

Dig the track but i wouldnt necessarily call that Live...

[HeadrickProductions]

I like the style. I do the same type of thing but don't use triggers. Ya need to hook up with a nasty synth player and a bassists and you'd be making some solid music


Need more folks like these

[John Arkell]

@Blackmath - what do you mean? the acappella is triggered at the start of the song... I'm with you on that...

but the rises, start/stopping of synth samples & automation I am controlling on the apc. The 2 separate kit parts are looped so I am free to do this, would having another person triggering these things, whilst I played the same kit part be more live?

In my view having 1 or 2 musicians in charge of more than just a single instrument is just as live as having a player for every detail of a track, there is surely more performance involved in this than perhaps your typical dj set no?

@headrick - I may have misunderstood, but I am playing the synth in this particular track, and we do have a bassist, he's the other guy... with the bass.

software like ableton allows us to be as lazy as we choose... it's up to you how much you should or shouldn't be doing... I like that most music lovers these days are savvy as to what is going on when you see a band or 'live' act... but i think it's important to know what's going on before you decide how live something is for your particular taste. ... maybe there should be a 'live quota' ha ha... e.g. 75% of any sound heard must have originated from a human action...

sorry i've really got carried away here... thanks for watching anyway.

[agent314]

I'm guessing he meant it wasn't 'live' in that there wasn't an audience in the room with ya

[cramos241]

stoked to see some live instruments in the mix always. curious what your bassist's set up was. is he doing a bass-midi kinda thing?

[aizo]

I would love to hear the actual kit doing some kind of polyrhythm on top of those loops. But I dig the song yo!

[John Arkell]

@cramos241 - Chris insists on keeping the ocscilators and anything that creates his 'source sound' coming from the bass and anolougue moog + line 6 M9 pedals. then in this demo i am using midi cut-o-matic and auto filter lfo's, plus lucifer vst to effect the signals/patches he sends.

we are considering some sort of midi converter to completly change the bass into a midi synth, but i think it's important to keep the best of both worlds (i hear they are very expensive and perhaps not neccesary)... i have some new ideas about automating the bass signal using more complex automation... will keep you posted on that one... Like in this one I can play any midi synth parts perhaps.

@aizo - agreed, next video is gonna finally be with some acoustic drums... i'm gonna try and keep the triggered stuff for loops only, then really let rip with cymbals and acoustic drums & perhaps percussion. all in good time. finding time to rehearse and try out ideas practically is a pain.

thanks again for listening, really appreciate it, makes me feel like less of a dweeb for trying all this.

laters.

John

[Observer-A]

@Blackmath - what do you mean? the acappella is triggered at the start of the song... I'm with you on that...

but the rises, start/stopping of synth samples & automation I am controlling on the apc. The 2 separate kit parts are looped so I am free to do this, would having another person triggering these things, whilst I played the same kit part be more live?

In my view having 1 or 2 musicians in charge of more than just a single instrument is just as live as having a player for every detail of a track, there is surely more performance involved in this than perhaps your typical dj set no?

@headrick - I may have misunderstood, but I am playing the synth in this particular track, and we do have a bassist, he's the other guy... with the bass.

software like ableton allows us to be as lazy as we choose... it's up to you how much you should or shouldn't be doing... I like that most music lovers these days are savvy as to what is going on when you see a band or 'live' act... but i think it's important to know what's going on before you decide how live something is for your particular taste. ... maybe there should be a 'live quota' ha ha... e.g. 75% of any sound heard must have originated from a human action...

sorry i've really got carried away here... thanks for watching anyway.

Great stuff as always Mr. Arkell!
I'm with you on the "live" thing. I have a friend who used to insist that everything had to be triggered a certain way or it wasn't live lol.
I don't understand how a DJ can trigger loops all night and that is live but throw in a drum kit and now there are special rules.
But anyhow, I am digging what you guys are doing and I love that the gap between electronic and traditional music is fading.
Keep up the good work buddy!

[BlackMath]

No i meant in the sense that the video is edited and its seems to me that it wasnt one captured performance.....more like a music video
But it doesnt matter anyway and i dont want to rag on you for semantics
I dig what u guys are doing so dont listen to my silly remarks

[John Arkell]

[Observer-A]

@John Arkell sorry man, I'm not sure if my post came across wrong but I was agreeing with you.

I love what you guys are doing and I was simply stating how I thought it was silly how some people don't consider performances to be live if they don't meet certain criteria.

I am a drum-jockey as well so I know how much effort goes in to playing and controlling Ableton simultaneously.

Once again, didn't mean for it to sound like I was arguing with you because that is definitely not the case.

Cheers.

[Palmer Eldritch]

Very cool,

Saw the Vids 1 to 3 as well.

Really nice work

[jimdrake]

really interested in the details of the setup, especially the drum setup.