<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
I figured that I would chime in at this point.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Thanks, it's a great pleasure to have you here.</div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br>
Every single note you hear, is being played, as in one at a time, as a horn<br>
player does, into a looper which I use to layer everything very quickly into<br>
an arrangement then deconstruct and reconstruct on a musically relevant<br>
trajectory. There was nothing pre recorded or preconceived. Simply a<br>
controller, a database of synthesizers and a looper with effects. I am<br>
playing every single solitary note. If that sounds like it is hard to do,<br>
you're right.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I'm sure about it and I can imagine the training you needed to undertake, possibly in the same way other complex gestural control require.</div><div>But, that's not a constrain, right?</div>
<div>Things don't need to be difficult to be relevant (?)</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br>
I would like an elaboration on how the system is "clunky" if you don't mind.<br>
First off, I feel that it is pretty streamlined for a first prototype made<br>
of cardboard that is only 3 months old. Two wireless hand units and a mouth<br>
unit. If you have suggestions as to how I might improve it at this stage,<br>
before my next stage or dev, I would love to hear it. </blockquote><div><br></div><div>Sure. First, I think the video and its text on TED are misleading. </div><div>I understood that the work was a finished one and you were demonstrating it.</div>
<div>It's important to know it's only three months prototype.</div><div><br></div><div>About the clunkyness.</div><div>I'm also designing a wearable biosensor so I'm happy to share my vision (strictly subjective though).</div>
<div><br></div><div>Imho, the box connected to the mouthpiece which presently is hanging from the front side, could be placed on your belt.</div><div>Increase the lenght of the cable, put the cable under your shirt and you're done.</div>
<div><br></div><div>As for the phone as headup display.</div><div>Something that works very good is haptic feedback.</div><div>You can have the Pd system send small pulses to a tiny speaker stuck to your skin.</div><div>These could represent key points in a timeline, pattern changes, instrument changes, behaviour of your sensor, or even the bpm.</div>
<div>Pulses can also have different lenghts so that you can have an array of signals.</div><div><br></div><div>That would be invisible, and reliable.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
@marco, how would you<br>
make this concept more "beautiful" or "efficient"? I am always a willing<br>
student in these regards. </blockquote><div><br></div><div>see what I meant above.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Do you have any examples of said efficiency? Being<br>
an instructor, I would have expected that you would have seen the blog link<br>
on the Ted profile and researched your position before simply asserting that<br>
my concept has no value.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Oh wait, nobody said your work had no value :)</div><div>No time to fire it up.</div><div><br></div><div>I expressed my respect for your work since the first post, and I kept doing it in later posts too.</div>
<div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>I only said that I couldn't agree with the bold claims "we make the future" and making the music of the future.</div><div>Now, of course, you have to promote yourself, but I felt that was not coherent.</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>I argue about the innovative character of the work (please note, I refer to the whole work not to the system only).</div><div>And I also do not mean that it is not innovative at all. </div><div>It's a great system, but it lacks of directness, as Andy pointed out in a beautiful way.</div>
<div>And I believe that, if you are interested in this topic, your performance would greatly benefit of a more direct performative outcome. </div><div><br></div><div>The audience will clap their hands anyway after your show. </div>
<div>However, if they don't need to ask themselves "what the heck he's doing?" because your interaction with the system is transparent, their overall perception of your work would be ten times greater. </div>
<div>A successful performance is something to be achieved in two: performer and audience.</div><div><div><br></div><div>A performer alone (or isolated in his own world) is only rehearsing.</div></div><div><br></div><div>As someone said already, a violin player do not need to demonstrate transparency because instrumental musical performance is something intrinsic in our culture.</div>
<div>We, as creators of new instruments or systems, still struggle to prove that we can control machines in a creative way.</div><div>Perhaps, this happen because the technological knowledge of the majority of people is still very basic.</div>
<div>Although children today play with iPhones, they have no idea how that thing works. And most of them will never know it. They just assume it does work, somehow.</div><div>This is the capitalistic approach to tech culture.</div>
<div>A general consumer do not need to know too much, otherwise she/he can start producing.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
One thing that I and other alternative controller artists are realizing is<br>
that we must be in the audience. Otherwise people can not see that you are<br>
actually playing. That is why when I play clubs I play from the dance floor<br>
and currently monitor with the club sound system which is hard but allows a<br>
flow of ideas that doesn't come from separating ones self from the audience.<br>
And from there people can see your fingers and gestures carve the sound.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I have to disagree. </div><div>I would suggest to consider that a gestural controller in a dance party has a very different scope than one in an experimental performance.</div>
<div>Secondly, there are many other ways to make the people understand that you're playing.</div><div>We come back to the directness of a system.</div><div>We could see in your video all the buttons you were pushing, but half of people who wrote was not aware of what you were doing anyway.</div>
<div>Specially because the wider gesture of your body (like "dancing", keeping the rhythm as a dj does) were not affecting the music directly.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br>
This form of performance blends my desire to connect with my space my music<br>
and my movements as intimately but, it should be noted as well, this is a 3<br>
month old prototype so that people are discussing it and I have even moved<br>
from beta stage yet, is encouraging.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Indeed, such discussion prove that your work is very interesting.</div><div>That's why I'm arguing so much about it :)</div></div><div><br>
</div><div><div>And as Andy said, please, I would love to know in detail how your system works as I'm working on a similar, yet very different, gestural control system based on biophysical sensors. </div><div>If you still don't hate me :P, I would love to write you in pv and share our experience.</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>cheers,</div><br>-- <br>Marco Donnarumma<br>Independent New Media and Sonic Arts Professional, Performer, Instructor<br>ACE, Sound Design MSc by Research (ongoing)<br>The University of Edinburgh, UK<br>
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