I am the DJ, I am what I play.

[Mark Sottilaro <sine@zerocrossing.net>]

I too played an "art event" (Burningman fund raiser... it's still going 
on as I write this)... but with no "live looping." That's right.  NONE. 
  Our group's slot (Waterboy/Buckethead) only had 12 minutes to perform 
our little sketch and they asked me if I could provide some music for 
Maria, our vocalist, to have as backing.  With not much setup or 
breakdown time I decided to forego the looped guitar deal and bring my 
Roland MC-307, AirSynth and AirEffects (in that order).  It was a 
blast!  I noticed not a difference at all in audience appreciation of 
what I was doing.  No one gave shit if I was "live looping" or even 
playing an instrument.  All they cared about was was the music good and 
the visuals were interesting.  (the audience seemed to like it.)

Anyway, my point?  I think we speculate a lot about how the audience 
"understands" what we're doing.  I think it's mostly wishful thinking.  
"Do they know I'm looping?"  I ask: Do they care?  My guess is, no.

Now, don't get me wrong, I loop guitar and synth for myself and I'm not 
about to stop.  But it does make me think differently about 
performances.  I kind of felt a stigma about just being a button 
pusher.  The MC-307's lack of velocity sensitivity in it's note pads 
was a bit frustrating, but since it's up on ebay right now, I guess I 
won't have to deal with it again.  Hmmmm.... do I smell a E-mu XL-7 in 
my future?  Maybe...

Mark Sottilaro