peterkirn

By the way, please READ the posts carefully. Tom said he thought the Maven "must have cost" as much as a 2-hour gig, not that it did. ;) I remember hearing the number $12,000, but I try to avoid printing things like that without a reference in front of me, because sometimes I'm visited by mysterious mystical talking beasts or creatures in dreams and accidentally take it as fact. So no one knows what this is, or how much it costs, or even if it is really Midibox-derived -- though I'm guessing from what you've heard in this thread that you're right, it is. Anyway, I think if you don't like said celebrity's music, there's one fail-proof way to respond: make gear and music that's better.

Okay, now I have to jump in -- The reason no one knows anything about Sasha's controller is that none of us can find out what the thing is, because none of us can get any info on it. I was scheduled for an interview that got indefinitely postponed; I'm hoping I can get back on his slate because this is a question I'd love to ask. And I agree that Midibox.org should get LOTS of credit for this thing if it is based on Midibox! Will it be commercialized? I have no idea. My quote was taken out of context; I only implied that there's a trend toward laptop + Live + controller. Sasha himself supposedly used to use a UC-33e like many of us; now people are looking for better alternatives. And building one is a great way to go. I'm not here to comment on how good/bad I think Sasha is. I think it's great what a broad range of people are using controllers and laptops, and I think the more this trend is popularized, the broader the range of music we'll hear made with it -- including by some very fine musicians who may not yet be turned onto MIDI tech. I write about Sasha because I know people know who he is -- I also write about people and technologies I know no one has ever heard of. The folks at Ableton never expected DJs would be using Live -- nor did the expect a lot of the other musical expressions that came out of their product. That said, of course I always prefer to get to the bottom of the story and find out what stuff really is and how it works. And frankly, you guys are the trend as much as Sasha is. The DIY thing is getting really huge, and I know it's of particular interest both to me and Tom Whitwell (UK, MusicThing -- also in your Google searches). So I think we'll make sure you get the credit you deserve. 8) Peter Editor, www.createdigitalmusic.com Freelance Writer