[PD] Pd performance at TED

[martin brinkmann]

On 06/20/2011 01:43 PM, Marco Donnarumma wrote:
> Ingo,
> thanks for your explanation, I think to understand how he's playing.

i do not think i do (completely), though i have only watched it twice
so far. it seems that everything is based heavily on live-looping. at
first i thought he was using some kind of midi/parameter-looping, like
recording the chords first, and the filter/fx/whatever parameters in a
second pass, but after watching it the second time, i noticed, that the
chords (including sound parameters) repeat exactly while he was doing
something else, like it would be the case with audio-looping.
i can not tell if the chords/melodie are presets triggered with
the buttons (thats probably what i would do) or played in a
completely open way, maybe using a preset scale or something similar.
and i wonder how he managed to sync the drumloop (if it is one, and not
something recorded using the buttons/wind controller) to the chord loops
recorded earlier. (in-ear) monitor and some kind of metro/click track
would of course explain this.

i think this uncertainty of what is going on 'on stage' is a
general problem with electronic music, which was (obviously) not solved
with this performance either, since even people who know about
this stuff have only vague ideas of what is happening.
for an audience with a background in electronic/computer/whatever
music, a authentic and satisfying performance might be
less challenging though. an obvious example is live coding, where it
is totally clear to the audience what is happening. but even
a 'laptop gig' becomes less boring, when you can see what is
happening on the screen (of course only if there is something
happening), for example in a mirror behind the performer. (works
very well in very small venues as far as i have experienced)

> This might be a very personal take, but if movement is secondary in
gestural
> control, why one uses gestural control at all?

it is probably not secondary all the time, but only when he is
doing something else (with the wind controller for example), and
the previously recorded loop plays on. and even if it is only
'secondary', movement/dancing is certainly very helpful to
stay in sync.

bis denn!
	martin