sneakthief
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Posts posted by sneakthief
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Hi sneakthief,
I must say that I really liked your performance in Leipzig. I've just started downloading your new set and I'm looking forward to listening to it... although it'll still take some time....with my .... 56k modem... ::)
As I'm very new to this kind of music I'd like to ask you some questions. First of all: What are you doing on stage? It doesn't really loke like you're playing everything "live". At least I can see no keyboard or anything like that. And, how are you preparing such gigs? And last but not least, do you plan every single thing you do on stage or do you have a special kind of communication so that both your part and the part of your friend fits together?
Yeah, I know it sounds a bit noobish,.. but I am a noob concerning such music. And I'm really interested in new kinds of music. I just don't want to keep floating around in the "MTV-Pop-Rock-Mainstream", but discovering new stuff.
regards,
matthias
Hi Matthias - there are so many ways of performing live, each with varying levels of improvisation and automation.
1. What am I doing on stage?
First lets start in the studio: I produce my material using a Yamaha RS7000 sequencer sampler (and before that an RM1x). Both of these are full-fledged midi sequencers that use a "pattern sequencer" approach. So each song can have up to 16 sections, and each section has up to 16 different tracks.
- So for me, "performing live" consists of working with these various patterns. My set is not preplanned - in fact, I never know how I'm going to start a gig or end it. Think of it like DJ'ing, where I'm mixing various pieces together to take people on a musical journey, except that my musical building blocks aren't entire songs, but rather small fragments, controllable right down to the midi note.
I can change the structure of a song on the fly, mix in the bassline (or any other element) from a different track, transpose melodies, add fx to individual sounds, etc. And yes, the RS7000 has a two-octave keyboard on it so I can manually play arps, melodies and trigger samples. In other words, if people are really getting into what I'm playing, I can extend a track much longer in a non-linear fashion and improvise to my heart's content! But if people don't seem to respond, I can instantly change the musical direction.
Note: If I just hit play and didn't touch anything, my sequencers would play the same 4 bars over and over again.
I also do live vocals, some of them which are vocoded through one of the Nord's.
2. Equipment
On-stage I use my RS7000, my DIY-sequencer sequencing a tiny live-pc running Kontakt, two Nord Micromodulars, Roland M-10DX digital mixer, a Redsound C-Loops II, a TC Fireworx and sometimes my Rozzbox.
It's been a 10-year journey to get to this point. Back in the 90's I used to bring out a lot more!
(Latronic Notron, Yamaha A3000, AN1x, RM1x, FS1r, Juno 106, TC Fireworx, RNC Compressor, 24 channel mixer, JL Cooper MSB+ midi patchbay)
3. On-Stage Communication
I perform either alone, or with my wife Lindsay-J (vocalist and wind-synth player) or with Gitano (vocalist). In order to coordinate with what I'm playing at any moment, I use hand-signals to tell them when I'm going to bring in a particular section of a song.
Also, Lindsay-J improvises with her wind-synth and Gitano messes around with fx on various tracks.
4. Custom MIDIbox Software Description
Over the last decade, I've written all sorts of material (over 100 different songs, some completely finished, some very raw) on my rm1x and rs7000's in pattern-mode.
As I mentioned previously, pattern-mode consists of up to 16 sections, each having 16 tracks. This is the basic sequencing paradigm that I wanted to use.
For my live performances, I need control over groups of tracks and not each individual track on this machine. Look at the following typical example on my rs7000:
Track Instrument
----- -----------
1 kick
2 snare
3 hihat
4 claps
5 rides
6 other percussion
7 vocal samples
8
9 bass
10 melody 1
11 melody 2
12 pad
13 sfx 1
14 sfx 2
15 sfx 3
16
Since it's more efficient to control instrument groups, I spent a month recording *all* of my studio synths and samplers and broke down songs into various 1-16 measure loops, so now the typical track looks like this:
Track Instrument
----- -----------
1 kick
2 all other drums
3 bass
4 melodies 1+2, pads
5 vocals
6 sfx 1-3
So, this gives me the ability to improvise with song structure, as well as being able mix & match parts of various songs in order to create a spontaneous live performance, albeit with bigger building blocks than your traditional midi sequencer.
However since I also use my RS7000 live, I still have very fine control over midi notes and such with one half of my setup.
The other huge benefit of all the sampling is that I don't have to bring as much gear when I perform, and yet Kontakt's scripting language is very powerful and allows me to retain the expressiveness over how the samples are played back.
The most important aspect is being able to respond to the dancefloor, and this setup accomplishes that nicely. The hardest part is finding a balance between automation and ability to control.
If you want to know more about performing live, please visit http://livepa.org
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hi tobsen - thanks for the nice comments! what city do you live in?
here's a totally different set with no disco this time - but still very old-school:
Sneak-Thief - BoogieBreakin (Live) 88mb / 192kbps
http://sneak-thief.com/Sneak-Thief_-_BoogieBreakin_(Live).mp3
- electro, breaks & boogie - no disco
...
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I just posted about this in one of his threads on the electro-music forum:
http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=135705#135705
He is also selling MFOS synths which may also be in violation of Ray Wilson's agreement: "Everything on Music From Outer Space is freely available for non-commercial use"
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I'll work on this in the next week and post questions if I run into problems.
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so unless you don't release a stand-alone harmonizer, I don't have no problems with some decent code-ripping (I love being credited, arrrr ;D)
Ah, now it's my turn to misunderstand - I interpreted "release a stand-alone harmonizer" as meaning either commercial and/or my concept of a CV Quantizer. Sorry!
But if I'm honest, I am not keen on repeating this with the ACSensorizer.OK I've re-read this and it makes sense to me now. My initial (incorrect) impression is that you were hesitant to let me re-use some of your code (eg. you didn't want to fork it, the code was too hard to rip, etc.)
I'm glad that we're "on the same page" now :)
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AC - first and foremost, since you have reservations then I don't want to use your code.
I'm not interested in "forking" your code or in making anything commercial - my main goal is to uphold rules and values of the MIDIbox community.
I'm just going to use the scale tables that stryd_one entered by hand and figure out something on my own.
Cheers,
michel
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AC - if you look at the pictures of the modules that I posted in your AC Sensorizer thread, you'll see that they're all called "Quantizers", which means they take incoming voltages and force them to a note scale using the 1V/Oct standard :)
Is that still too hard to adapt to the AC Sensorizer, or should I continue with ripping the juicy bits from the AC Sensorizer and insert them into the Analog Toolbox?
:)
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As I mentioned in the AC Sensorizer thread, I'm going to proceed with trying to integrate the scaler into the Analog Toolbox.
Quantization is an interesting idea that I hadn't thought of! At least one of the inputs would then need to be used as a gate.
Also, it occured to me that this would also make a great CV-Midi converter - that would pretty much be a freebie as part of the scaler code.
Will muddle on with this....
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AC - thanks for the reply :)
The MIDIbox CV converts midi to cv, but it's written in ASM.
I suppose that the best solution would be to import your scaler & harmonizer code into the Analog Toolbox.
I'll give it a shot!
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OK - for the basic CV out functionality, stryd_one and I discussed these updates to main.c:
#include "aout.h"
#if SENSORIZER_INTERFACE_SYNC ACSYNC_Init(); // Init Syncronizer ACSYNC_BPMSet(120); #endif #if SENSORIZER_AOUT AOUT_Init(); // New: Init AOUT Board(s) #endif
void Timer(void) __wparam { #if SENSORIZER_INTERFACE_SYNC ACSYNC_Timer(); #endif /* SENSORIZER_INTERFACE_SYNC */ #if SENSORIZER_AOUT AOUT_Update(); // New: Update AOUT Voltages #endif...and in ACSensorizerDefines.h:#define SENSORIZER_AOUT 1 // if AOUT conncected
Any thoughts on this?
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OK, I'd like to move ahead with this.
Option 1:
Modify the AC Sensorizer to have CV Outputs using an AOUT module
(see my post here: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=8401.msg70779#msg70779 )
Option 2:
Modify the Analog Toolbox by adding the scale quantizer code from the AC Sensorizer project.
Any thoughts on this? As I mentioned in the other thread, there's an increasing demand for CV quantizers what with the resurgence of modular synth manufacturers!
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Crazy question: what about using the AC sensorizer as a CV quantizer?
This would of course involve connecting it to an AOUT module.
Here's what I propose:
1. Standard 10V p-p CV signals would be halved on input (see this thread)
2. Internally calculated midi-notes would then be converted to voltages using the AOUT module.
3. Output voltages would conform to the 1V/Octave standard (see MIDIbox CV output table)
Options:
4. Inputs from one channel could transpose (offset) inputs from others
(imagine an LFO CV on one input, then a keyboard CV from a second one: instant arpeggiator!)
5. CV input from a channel could select from the various scales
6. Harmonies could be simultaneously output to multiple CV outputs
Is there anything I can do to help you implement this?
Background:
As modular synthesis enjoys an amazing renaissance, there's a high demand for CV quantizers. This would put all of them to shame!
Here are some of the current ones - you can see how simple they are and how much room for improvement there is:
(120 euro)
($435 US)
($260 US)
($570 US) -
WTF! I can't believe there's a LIDL smiley. That's just plain wrong *lol*
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solved!!!
R1 had a dry solder joint :)
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My MIDIbox CV suddenly started only putting out 1/2 the voltage that it should.
So in the calibration page, when I select 1v, my multimeter reads .5v, and when I select 4v, I get 2v.
Any ideas?
I tried replacing the shunt but that didn't work.
Any ideas?
(note: my psu is correctly putting out +/-12v)
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that looks beautiful! nice work :)
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hey no worries! i didn't take "retro" as a negative comment :)
what i did want to do is have some fun and challenge ideas about what's old and what's new.
for example, "minimal techno" is quite popular in europe with many people believing that it's a hot new thing. nevertheless, minimal techno started over 15 years ago with producers such as robert hood, joey beltram, jeff mills, etc.
as for me, i think there were some beautiful musical paths that were started in the late 70's and early 80's and were cut short when the 90's came along. my goal is to carry these ideas further into the future (instead of simply dwelling on the past).
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Pretty retro sounding... ;)
...everything that's new is old - and everything that's old is new 8)
for argument's sake, you never hear the word "retro" when describing jazz or blues - so why with dance music? heheh.
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hey TK - this one goes out to you:
Sneak-Thief live in Leipzig, June 16 2007
http://sneak-thief.com/Sneak-Thief_live_in_leipzig.mp3
(67mb, 160kpbs)
...and here's the sequencer without anymore of those nasty faulty pled's (i went through 4 of them, 2 of which arrived DOA):
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why do you need 8 gates on the board when the core can provide 8 gate outs?
unless of course you want to use J5 for something else.
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TK: you're correct - and no extra parts are needed :)
I successfully midified the keys of a Jen SX 1000. Its keyboard scanner has a matrix of 3 octaves x 12 notes. I simply connected pin 4 to the one of the three octave wires and pin 6 to one of the twelve note wires and it worked!
So pin 5 need not be connected in this configuration.
The response is fast too! I had some fast note-sequences playing without any noticeable lag or squishiness.
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ok i got them and they work great!
the picture makes it look like they're surface mount but they're actually regular 8-pin DIP's - however the legs have been bent then cut off. heh.
anyhow this is a great alternative to reed switches although they obviously require more space and time to solder.
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TK - thanks for the correction! I don't know what the heck I was looking at when I wrote down 50mA. heheh.
Anyhow, I've ordered 40 of them and will be trying them out in a couple of days (midifying a Jen SX1000).
Do you think 220 Ohm resistors will be appropriate for the connection between the DOUT and this relay?
cheers,
michel
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I was wondering if these MOS photo relays would work with a DOUT?
http://www.pollin.de/shop/detail.php?pg=NQ==&a=NzI3OTU2OTk=
Datasheet: http://www.pollin.de/shop/downloads/D340272D.PDF
I don't see why this shouldn't work seeing as the DOUT would be interfacing with a 3V 50mA LED inside of the photo relay. This would be a lot cheaper than buying a few dozen reed switches (0,15 euro each when ordering > 10). And the 1.5ms average on-time is pretty snappy.
Any thoughts?
(I moved this post from Midification because it's a more general question)
[live] sneak-thief in leipzig
in Songs & Sounds
Posted
Cool - Ich muss mal noch in Frankfurt spielen! heheh. Ich gebe dir Bescheid, ob ich da 'nen Auftritt sichere :)
Feed the player, feed it! heheh.
Thanks TK - couldn't have done better it without your tools.