Max Decloaks (was: ORGANIC programming and looping)

["loop.pool" <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Hey Max,

Welcome back to the list.   We've missed your presence.
This is a cool technique you are describing.  Would you indulge us by 
posting
an example in mp3 form to the Loopers Delight file site?
Glad to have you back and can't wait to hear this cool technique.  I love 
how
low tech and creative it is.

yours, Rick



Max had decloaked by writing:

"Ok gang (o' mine)...I am back from semi-lurker mode (it's beena busy and
hectic summer; I have been reading the posts but have not had the time nor
energy to chime in....until now..)

Of late there have been some VERY interesting threads on a number of
subjects (methinks Rick may have stumbled into a sort of philosophical
epiphany for which he is eager for all of us to indulge in/with)...and this
latest thread on organic looping is most interestinga nd inspiring.

I try to keep all my looping as organic as I can; that is the main concept
in my performance.  All the sounds I make are generated by the bass guitar
and I use very little (in fact just a touch of reverb, if any) processing
and electronic augmentation to achieve this.  I have found ways to use the
bass and my hands to create effects similar to the electronic effects of
flanging,phasing, chorus-ing even ring modulating...I guess that keeps
things pretty organic (creating delay effects are tricky, but not all that
difficult using loops and playing to them in "alterered rhythms").

I also try to keep the loopage and the playing interactive.  That is to 
say,
i try to smear the lines of distinctioin between what is being played and
what is being looped. This helps to avoid the pitfall of create a 
mindlessly
static repetitious event while maintaining a level of repetition and , in
fact, generating a level of "play" within that repetition.  This achieved
thru various levels of undo, replace, mute and fades (in and out) of the
looped material (BTW: I am still using only me trusty ol' JamMan with
upgraded OS chip by Bob Sellon, which allows for a number of new functions
to this old beast).

One trick I have been playing with quite is bit is a method of manual
randomization.  For instance, in the course of a perfromed piece, either
"composed" or improvised, I might play a motif, and eventually loop all or
part of it and in real time begin playing a harmony line to it.  Rather 
than
simply "overdub" this new material to the loop, I will tap the record 
button
(I am using two Digitech FS300 footswitches rather than any MIDI control 
the
JamBoy) multiiple times in a rhythmic cadence to the looped material. This,
in essence, turns the record/overdub function on and off rapidly in time
with the music, and produces a somewhat randomized "print" of the melody I
have been playing.  If the melody is fast, I might tap  in half time, on
downbeats or off beats; if the melody is slow I might tap in double time or
in a triplet rhythm (often varying the "engage/disengage" beat of the tap 
so
the triplets "roll" in a more randomized fashion). Thanks to Rick's
influence, I have lately been using this techique by tapping the
record/pause fuction in a cascara rhythm and varying styles of
claves....often mixing these rhythmic taps in the course of creating an
"overdub".  And, quite often when doing this, I ignore the loop start/end
and let this "randomizing" bleed over mulitple layers of the loop. And
often, in pre-meditation of using this technique, I will conceptualize the
overdubed melody to be two or three times longer than the original 
loop...or
some times 2.5 times longer.

The idea here is not to just to toss in sounds pell mell and make an audio
"splatter", but rather to have some concept(and control) of how to
quasi-randomly extract various notes from a played melody, as it is being
played, to create a new melodic motif, harmonic focus, and rhythmic concept
to a looped performance.

I originally began doing this with the JamMan in an effort to create some 
of
the organized glitchines which Andre LaFosse so excels at, but found this
technique works very well in injecting some abstraction into a more
"ordered" compostion (and doing this in multi-layers of overdub sometimes
reaveals the most beautiful "accidental" melodies and sounds.)

Ok, so there's no special software pgms, no high-dollar extaneous out-board
electronic mojo....just a rather simple technique using practical knowledge
of looping, rhythm, and musical composition in a most organic way....
Max"