Ableton Forum

Trainwrecks, for those using laptops for performing, are not common occurrences. I think we need to come up with some terms for digital versions of the trainwreck.


One could be when something is pitched wrong and sounds horrible - perhaps that could be called a pitchfuck? What other mistakes do laptop musicians make? One-shot samples that loop excessively? Clips without warp markers that sound like crap? People playing a Paul Oakenfold cd and pretending to use their laptop?

i trigger everything manually and unquantized, so i still manage to get good old-fashioned trainwrecks occasionally.
my quick fix is just manually retriggering both offending phrases at the same time.

yeah, and sometimes things really sound out of pitch. the one thing that has really stuck with me from music school is that any off-key note can become an on-key note if you simply move it up or down half a step.

another soft of trainwrecky thing i get occasionally is when i mix out a sound and the mix suddenly sounds really "naked". the quick fix for this is to always keep a reverb send handy (God bless reverb), and to use a hell of a lot of compression on the master out. with the compression, the loudness of the mix never really changes.

rs

i fucked up a few times the other night. lets see if we can name them:

i use the clip parameters quite a bit to fuck up beats while they're playing (my kingdom to assign midi control to these!) and i forgot to reset them after i practiced before the gig. so when the time came for me to drop the beat, it was playing at half speed and sounded wimpy. i just waited four measures and then switched it back. i've no idea what it would be called, or even if it's a big enough deal to warrant a name.

i "pitchfucked" in my set too. i'll change the pitch knob to tweak out a sound and during my gig i tried it on this one melody loop for the first time and it really sounded lame.

how about when you bring something in a measure too late or early so everyone loses the groove? if you missed the mark then maybe you "fucked the fold". (gross but funny)

i dunno...maybe not.


k

I was trying to think of a term for bringing in something late - or early. Or what if you had the quantization at a bar and you brought something in 1 bar early - that could sound like ass.

If we start using terms like 'Fucked the Fold,' then we'll have to come up with names for the performer's face when he fucks up. Maybe it'll go like this: Yo - did you hear that? That sounded like shit. He definitely fucked up - check out his fuckface.

How about "Sea Quest"? That was LIKE a trainwreck.

evey term should have the word "fuck" in it.

k

I second that.

what about "lapdance"

That was the name of a laptop evening in NYC last summer, which was cool except it was Mac only and was tied in with a Mac conference.

I'd say fuckstorm, but that's this guy[/url]

maybe 'stormfuck' then?

"fucked the fold". (gross but funny)

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Excerpt from last night's practice session:

Dammit - I fucked the fold again. I'm never gonna be able to play out if I keep fucking the fold like dat.

hmmm

hmmm