------------------------------ Content-Type: text/plain Loopers-Delight-d Digest Volume 96 : Issue 7 Today's Topics: Performances Past, Present and Futur [ The Man Himself ] New Joni [ andre ] Re: Performances Past, Present and F [ improv@peak.org (Dave Trenkel) ] TR, kind-of-interactive [ Michael Peters <100041.247@CompuSer ] Javanese music [ The Man Himself To: loopers-delight@annihilist.com Subject: Performances Past, Present and Future Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII First, many thanks to Ted for his very kind words on my recital. I only wish that my enthusiasm for the performance was comparable to his! NOW... ABOUT THIS LOOPISTS GET-TOGETHER: I *know* there are more of you out there than those who have already responded! I won't attempt to "out" anyone here ;-}, but given that the web page lists nearly a dozen loop users based on the West Coast (and that many of them seem to have a slant towards live performance), it really seems feasible that some sort of summit concert could and should be arranged. I've got a couple of ideas in terms of places around LA that would be likely candidates for the thing to happen; Mr. Killian recommended Nels Cline, who runs a weekly new music night at the Alligator Lounge in Santa Monica and who is himself a loopist -- I actually caught a solo show of his a few weeks ago that leaned heavilly on an old Memory Man footpedal. If there's a center for "fringe" music in LA, Nels Cline and the Alligator are probably it, and there's a guaranteed core constituency there. (I do think it would be great to try and present this to an audience outside of ourselves.) HOWEVER, before I (or anyone else) starts looking into this, I think it would be a good idea to find out just how many people are interested, so as to better determine just what we're trying to organize in the first place. As there seems to be a vast array of musical directions and applications situated within a relatively small geographic location, I sincerely hope we can work together to make something happen. Let's try to pool our respective schedules and locales. --Andre (non-Jersey edition) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 17:36:44 -0800 From: Joe Cavaleri To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: BRACE YOURSELVES!!! Message-Id: <2.2.32.19961102013644.006838dc@svars1.simi-valley.ate.slb.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Andre and fellow looppeople This sounds like a great idea - count me in.. joe P.S. Thanks for sharing your music with us the other night. t 02:56 PM 10/31/96 -0800, you wrote: >Peeples -- > >I've been thinking about this since I started compiling submissions for >the profile list, and now I want to see what y'all think about it. > >The idea is this: To try and stage some sort of live gathering of loop >artists. Once again, I'm taking a cue from the Stick community, who >organized a "Stick Night" at the Iguana here in LA a couple of years ago. >Seeing as there are so many loopists based in California, it seems to me >that it would be feasible to try and arrange some sort of multi-artist >gathering/performance thing. The results could even be recorded and >distributed for posterity. > >So what do you people think? Is there sufficient interest and ability >among those of us on the West Coast to try to arrange a regional meeting >and performance? Who would be into it? Where would be the best location, >both in terms of travel logistics and in terms of finding an appropriate >venue? For that matter, what sort of venue should we consider? > >(And beyond that, is there a concentration of loopists in some other part >of the country where a different regional performance could be staged?) > >OK, your turn. Tell me what you all think about this. My feeling is, >there are enough of us concentrated in a relatively local orientation >that something like this really should be tried. > >'Till next time, > >--Andre (West Coast edition) > > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 17:39:51 -0800 From: Joe Cavaleri To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: Loopers CD Message-Id: <2.2.32.19961102013951.0068a118@svars1.simi-valley.ate.slb.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi all I would like to add my name to the CD list... joe At 11:33 AM 10/31/96 -0500, you wrote: >>>Adding the people who specifically reacted to the CD proposal, my count looks >>>like this (quite possible that I missed someone - please raise your hand!) >>> >>>Andre LaFosse >>>Dave Trenkel >>>David Kirkdorffer >>>David Orton >>>Doug Michael >>>Jon Morris >>>Louis Collier Hyams >>>Matthias Grob >>>Michael Hughes >>>Michael Peters >>>Patrick Smith >>>Ray Peck >>>Ted R. Killian >>>Todd Madson >> > >I am interested as well. Of course I will be listening for additional info....... > > >Steve Murrell > > > > > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 18:04:40 -0800 From: Sean Echevarria To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: BRACE YOURSELVES!!! Message-Id: <2.2.32.19961102020440.00b760f8@pureatria.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Another vote for a Bay area performance. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 01:19:12 -0300 From: matthias@bahianet.com.br (Matthias Grob) To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: MIDI Loops Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hey Ted! >I thought I'd inquire if there were any midi looposts out there that are >familiar with an older program called JamFactory by the now defunct (I >believe) Intelligent Music company. This program seams to be very similar to what I had dremt of for a audio Mac aplication. Whatever you can find out or share about it will be highly welcome! Like the firms adress or the help file or... Thanks Matthias ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 01:24:33 -0300 From: matthias@bahianet.com.br (Matthias Grob) To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: Aloha! Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi Teed > I would love to see a list devoted to just the echoplex, if there were >such a thing. No elitism implied here, I just don't have the time to read about >all those other cool machines. Anybody else interested? We do not write about machines any more. We use them. :-) No serious, I guess about 80% is on non technical subjects and most of the 20% was about old machines or not yet existing ones. I agree that it could be interesting to concentrate only on features and tricks of a certain machine without bothering... ahmmm... > I would also like to receive the digest for awhile (with full instructions on >how to unsubscribe, if that becomes necessary, which it probably will). My >brother told me that some servers have a "find" command that would make it >possible for me to scan a digest and only find echoplex comments. If I can make >that work, I can probably keep receiving the digest, otherwise not. Yep, I do that on other lists. Another idea would be to separate better even by subjects. We could put a letter in front of the subject, indicating kinds like Philosophy history Echoplex JamMan Vortex Organization ... So a smart mail soft could probably even separate what you are interested in. And its simpler and more flexible than having various lists. Stay and play Matthias ------------------------------ Date: 02 Nov 96 04:20:13 EST From: Michael Peters <100041.247@CompuServe.COM> To: Subject: Re: MIDI Loops Message-ID: <961102092013_100041.247_JHB78-1@CompuServe.COM> >I thought I'd inquire if there were any midi looposts out there that are >familiar with an older program called JamFactory by the now defunct (I >believe) Intelligent Music company. >It's an algorhythmic composition tool that allows you to record up to four >different musical parts, patterns or motifs (via midi) of variable and >indepentent length (according to RAM amount). And then play about with them >as they repeat, causing them to evolve and change into something new and >different in deliberate or random ways over the course of time. haven't heard of it but it sounds *very* interesting. It's probably for the Mac, right? Is there a program like Max or JamFactory for the PC at all, or would one have to buy a Mac to do fancy Midi stuff? A friend of mine saw Steve Hillage in concert recently. He used a notebook or Powerbook but my friend didn't see what he did. What kind of things can you do with a Powerbook in concerts? Could one do similar things with a Notebook running Windows? -Michael P ------------------------------ Date: 02 Nov 96 04:50:21 EST From: Michael Peters <100041.247@CompuServe.COM> To: Subject: interesting thoughts... Message-ID: <961102095021_100041.247_JHB75-3@CompuServe.COM> > it would STILL be interesting to see if a "non-artist" or "non-musician" > audience could indeed "compose" something of merit using this method. > i guess (as I think Matthias does too) that it would be more cacophony than > anything........... this is more likely than anything else, but who knows ... depends on the audience, and on the software. An intelligently constructed software should be able to take care of that somehow, filter cacophony, or subtly lead the audience to some more consonance. I doubt that I will live to see this, but I'd bet any sum that the music of the future (50 or 100 years from now) will be *completely* different from what it is now, and that its level of technical sophistication will also possibly allow for some kind of audience participation. At least the software will be intelligent enough for really interesting computer generated music, and generative music based on genetic algorithms. Brian Eno sees the beginning of this in the Koan software which he began to use last year, with interesting results. I heard that Todd Rundgren used some kind of device in his 'No World Order' tour which enabled the audience to influence the music ... don't know how it worked though. Did anyone see this? -Michael P ------------------------------ Date: 02 Nov 96 04:50:18 EST From: Michael Peters <100041.247@CompuServe.COM> To: Subject: Acoustic sound and looping Message-ID: <961102095018_100041.247_JHB75-2@CompuServe.COM> Dave Stagner writes, > are there any fans of Balinese music here? yes, here's one! I love Javanese Gamelan almost more though. Balinese music is very dynamic and powerful, with many sudden changes, an extraordinary kind of music. Javanese music is more steady-state, minimalist stuff, and reminds me more of Jon Hassell's early 4th world music. I saw both when I was in Indonesia a few years ago, and loved it. Have you ever seen Balinese Jegog bamboo ensembles? They use scales with only 4 notes in them. Incredible stuff, and very hypnotic and powerful when seen live. I wish I could learn to play Gamelan but there are no ensembles here in Cologne/Germany... -Michael P ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 12:37:09 -0500 (EST) From: andre To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: TR, kind-of-interactive Message-Id: <199611021737.MAA22798@shell.monmouth.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" as regards Micheal Peters question about Rundgren's interactive tour - it was a great idea, but was more unique from the perspective of the "stage" - a 'pod' with todd inside, this way people could view from 360 degrees, as it was in the middle of the floor (at least where I saw it) i'm a big TR fan, but it wasn't that interactive other than some goofy stuffed toys & balloons that people could hit, and in "bang the drum' he gave out drumstix so a few folk could come up and jam - i heard at some shows audience members came up and pressed keys & switches on selected 'devices'. His 2 subsequent tours featured an occasion or two per night where he waould hand a random audience member a little compouter numeric keypad - altered to trigger predetermined notes/chords. This was pretty interactive i guess. Finally - his 2 latest CDs are of course Mac/Pc ready enhanced cd's and you can mess around with the mixes, tempos, track sequence, etc( he's about to tour the US west & south again soon, he's doing solo shows in Japan right now, see www.roadkill.com for more info... BTW here's a guy who, if you're not into, bears checking out - in terms of early use of cool synth, effects, looping and programming stuff in the early to mid 70s. Using computers, synths and even the theremin are some of the things on Todd's plate.... ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 12:43:49 -0500 (EST) From: andre To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: New Joni Message-Id: <199611021743.MAA23539@shell.monmouth.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Any Joni Mitchell fans out there???? wait - she'll really cool - check out the cool loop on "Empty- Try Another" on Dog eat Dog - it's a sample of the sound an empty cigarette machine makes... but here's my question - does anybody know anything else about her upcomnig new album with a VG-8 heavily featured???!!! This much i know: she has one, she loves it, and being an alternate tuning pioneer, she's waited years for something like this... I hear it will have some scary noises on it too, coutesy of virtual modeling... any info?? i'm gonna check some sites, of course....LOOPS AWAY !!! andre, east coast model ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 11:06:54 -0800 From: improv@peak.org (Dave Trenkel) To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: Performances Past, Present and Future Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >NOW... ABOUT THIS LOOPISTS GET-TOGETHER: > >I *know* there are more of you out there than those who have already >responded! I won't attempt to "out" anyone here ;-}, but given that the >web page lists nearly a dozen loop users based on the West Coast (and that >many of them seem to have a slant towards live performance), it really >seems feasible that some sort of summit concert could and should be >arranged. I've got a couple of ideas in terms of places around LA that >would be likely candidates for the thing to happen; Mr. Killian >recommended Nels Cline, who runs a weekly new music night at the Alligator >Lounge in Santa Monica and who is himself a loopist -- I actually caught a >solo show of his a few weeks ago that leaned heavilly on an old Memory Man >footpedal. If there's a center for "fringe" music in LA, Nels Cline and >the Alligator are probably it, and there's a guaranteed core constituency >there. (I do think it would be great to try and present this to an >audience outside of ourselves.) > I'm interested, though Oregon's a LOOOONG ways from LA, with enough advance I may be able to make it. Cline is pretty inspiring. My band opened for his trio in June, we were pretty seriously blown away. ________________________________________________________ Dave Trenkel, NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: improv@peak.org self promotional web-site: http://www.peak.org/~improv/ "A squid eating dough in a polyethelene bag is fast and bulbous, got me?" -Captain Beefheart ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: 02 Nov 96 14:37:36 EST From: Michael Peters <100041.247@CompuServe.COM> To: Subject: TR, kind-of-interactive Message-ID: <961102193736_100041.247_JHB129-1@CompuServe.COM> > BTW here's a guy who, if you're not into, bears checking out definitely. Thanks Andre for your detailed description. I'm a big Todd Rundgren fan too. The one time he came here to Germany I missed him - I've never seen him live. I remember 1979 (when I was very young, ) and on my first trip to the US, I actually went to Bearsville NY just to visit him. Of course he wasn't home (or so I was told) but a very nice man from the studio gave me a Todd Rundgren songbook for free. The MIDI discussion here really excited me because it made me aware that I should get a MIDI interface (preferably, an AXON I think) and try to find a software that would enable me to interact with a improvising computer. Again everyone, who knows if interesting software exists *for a Windows PC* which could do this? -Michael P ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 13:08:18 -0800 (PST) From: The Man Himself To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Javanese music Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On 2 Nov 1996, Michael Peters wrote: > Dave Stagner writes, > > > are there any fans of Balinese music here? > > yes, here's one! I love Javanese Gamelan almost more though. Balinese music > is very dynamic and powerful, with many sudden changes, an extraordinary > kind of music. Javanese music is more steady-state, minimalist stuff I played in a Javanese gamelan ensemble last spring here at school. (Apparently the new gamelan which was obtained for the Javanese ensemble at the beginning of last year is the finest one in North America!) There are some definite connections between that sort of music and looping, I'd say, particularly since most of the Javanese music I played consisted of what could be described in Western terms as one or two (occasionally more) eight or sixteen-bar cycles repeated for a looooong time. Fifteen to twenty minutes was the average length of time for a lot of the pieces we played. It's one thing to hear an electronic loop spinning that long, but it's another thing to actually have to manually play it over and over while sitting cross-legged on the floor. (Ouch). Very beautiful music, though, no doubt about that. I would frequently have the sensation after several minutes of suddenly hearing new textures emerging out of the overall sonic pattern. There was even one section that always seemed to morph into what sounded for all the world like a wind instrument. (It was actually a series of metals being struck with mallets.) --Andre ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 13:18:54 -0800 (PST) From: The Man Himself To: loopers-delight@annihilist.com Subject: Seven Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII That's the number of people I've counted thus far (not including myself, which I s'pose makes it eight, huh?) interested in doing a West Coast looping gig: Dave Trenkel (current holder of the long-distance award) Sean Echevarria Joe Cavaleri Matt McCabe Chris Chovit Ted Killian Tom Attix Andre LaFosse Now then, a number of people have asked for a Bay Area performance. This I personally could do, if it's held an an appropriate time (i.e. minimal academic conflicts). What do the other SoCal loopists say? My feeling is that we need to now think about how best to present the program, and where to do it. I don't know about the Bay Area, so recommendations for locations will have to be made by someone else. Should we do two (or more) consecutive nights in a row, or try to stage the whole thing in a single marathon day? Is this going to be in a more "austere" sort of environment (college campus, art museum) or something more down to earth (bar or club)? Indoor or outdoor? One important consideration would be procuring a house PA. I suspect that at least some people would benefit greatly from having a full-range system through which to run some gear, particularly of the non-guitaristic variety. (For instance, I personally don't have any synth-specific amplification for the MIDI portion of my rig.) Also important to consider are possibilities for recording the thing, both sonically and perhaps visually as well. So let's see what other people have to say, and keep thing going! Thanks for all the good responses thus far. And anyone else into this idea, please add your names to the list. --Andre ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 20:37:26 -0300 From: matthias@bahianet.com.br (Matthias Grob) To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: tunings Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >I now only play in RF's new standard tuning for guitar. I am ashamed to ask in this club. I almost participated on a course, but I cannot learn such way. So please, tell me the RF tuning. Thanks. >I also make extensive use of various pitch devices so >I can access both very high and very low tones. Yes, me too. Sad that not even the PCM80 is clean when it comes to shift a frequency mix (several notes, chords). My PARADIS has two frets more on the E string, so I have low D constantly without any change in fingering (exept to remember to press E) These days I thought about tuning (Not an issue for me so far) and wished deeply a tuning with equal distance between strings so any fingering can be applied anywere. I tuned B and high E string a half tone up. It is marvelous somehow, much easier for the brain. But then again some chords become nightmares. Maybe its not me to develop such stuff. I always remember Rainer Franzmann. He was an architect, in love with guitar. He thought about the instrument in a free way I never saw elswhere. He visited me in Biel in '91 with a crazy big proposual to create the perfect guitar with polyphonic stuff and lots of controlers all over the instrument - a lot of genious ideas and a lot of far off dreams about electronics. He showed a prototype of a guitar with a "tremolo" that detuned harmonically and was operated from the neck. Incredibly intuitive to use! Ljubo built such in his guitar, the idea lives. It also had an elbow controller, a very intuitive expression way - and 8 strings. He said that he does not like 6 string tuning because fingering is to hard and unequal. This seamed very logic to me. He called his tuning "symetric" and it was E G# c e G# c1 e1 g#1. I met him again in Frankfurt with a bunch of guitar creaters (Rolf, Ljubo) and he used to spread an incredible creative, alive energy. I was busy with projects I thought were a little closer to what clients could understand and I did not understand why he was in a hurry so much, until I heard that he had died, about a year after. Then I remembered the dark shades under his eyes. Death must be harder when the projects are on paper only, everbody calling it genious, but nobody executing it. I do not know where his prototypes went, and all the nice drawings (architect!). If anyone heard about this or has a way to find something - he lived in Freiburg. I have a 13 pages project of his in hands. Should I publish it? Am I alowed to do so? Well, anyway, its in german and I have no scanner, so it would be hard work... Matthias ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 20:37:39 -0300 From: matthias@bahianet.com.br (Matthias Grob) To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: MIDI Loops Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Jim about looping problems in his sequencer: >It's not the sort of thing the designers intended, so each sequencer >will act differently. The looping features in MOTU are best suited >for drum or pattern programming. What I wanted was multiple loops >with different lengths, and I'm not sure where it was happening, but >I kept loosing notes here and there. Since you seem to understand programming: How far away from a handy looping set are the comercial sequencers? Which comes closest? Should we try to convince one to include our trip? Its a composition tool, after all... Jim again, full of valuable experience: >One can do feedback using Max, but the "code" to do that >has to manually remove notes when their volume (midi velocity) reaches >zero, otherwise the delay line can end up with a large number of >notes that are not played, ultimately slowing down the system. Understandable. So you created that code? For the rest of us? >I did a >good bit of Max programming last winter and found that the flexibility >is remarkable, but more advanced patches can be time consuming to >build. On the other hand, it is relatively easy to set up muliple >lines (w/ feedback) and have envelope generators control their levels >independently, transpose them on the fly, etc. >Doing midi-based looping is very different than audio looping, midi is >not as expressive as having a real instrument to play, but is very >flexible and interesting in other ways. Max comes with a couple of >large patches that are interactive composition engines. Would it be possible to create a MaxLooper this winter ? (summer here!) I have no idea how many musicians use Max and whether there would be a comercial way... ERIC? (must be lurking...) Did you ever program a Max patch? You certainly cared to know how that works... Yes my friends, if we do not go for it with curage, we will not retire in happy loopland. There are different ways and they probably meet in the end... Matthias ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 20:37:49 -0300 From: matthias@bahianet.com.br (Matthias Grob) To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com Subject: Re: MIDI Loops Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >> Paolo helps: >> >I used an Opcode Max patch that had eight delay lines, each of which >> >pitch-shifted to a different interval and each of which had it's own >> >"seed" number to multiply with the input MIDI velocity value to produce >> >a delay time. >> >> So you choose any time into which delay you want to load and can change its >> "seed" number and Feedback while playing and stay synced between all delay >> lines, if you want. Yes? > >With my particular patch, no, but Max would let you add whatever "objects" >you need to do the job. For example, a fader object to adjust the >"seed" for each delay line could be connected. Yes, I see. And then another object measures time between two Controller comands and feeds "seed" so you can control it by taping, right? >If you fail to find a Max >object in the included object library supplied with Max to do a particular >job, you can write up your own in C. Me? No. Did you? Does it require additional compiling soft or licence? >Last I heard, there was a substantial >repository of Max objects programmed by Max enthusiasts, but I forgot the >ftp location. Maybe there is a secret loopist! >What I gather from the community of interactive computer music folks is >that Max is a great tool for prototyping interactive music systems. Some of >them then go and program their systems in a faster language like Forth, >after using Max to quickly build a prototype. > >The Powerbook is nice for its portability, which is a big plus for live >performance. Last I heard, all five members of the computer music band >The Hub had switched to Powerbooks as the computer of choice for live >computer music because of the portability and the ability to run Max. Is this an exeption or a market (soon)? Certainly Max is great for prototyping but will non engineer musicians use it commonly in the future? >> ** I think it would be great to use similar tools and codes in audio- and >> MIDI loops so we can play together, transfer, synchronize easily. ** > >My professor is not interested in using his trombone to trigger synthesizers >directly via MIDI. Rather, he is interested in using the computer as >an improvisational partner which analyzes his playing and formulates >a response instead of attempting to reproduce his phrases exactly (actually >his program is also capable of initiating its own improvisations without >any input from its human partner). So while audio looping technology has the >advantage of greater sonic expression, MIDI-based interactive technology >is currently more capable of real-time analysis of an incoming stream of >notes from a human musician. When the two can come together it will be >an exciting time indeed. Very well said. Work for another decade. Thanks Matthias --------------------------------