Re: LOOPERS and VISUAL ARTISTS

[bruce tovsky <bruce@skeletonhome.com>]

On Dec 6, 2004, at 1:19 PM, ArsOcarina@aol.com wrote:
>  I am saddled with so much music gear already that seems 
>  bug ridden or gremlin prone (or opperator-error prone) that 
>  I am practically performance paranoid as it is. Do I really want 
>  to add another layer of technological goo and anxiety on top of 
>  that paralyzing cocktail? 

i've been using max/msp/jitter to build visual/sound instruments
(mostly for specific pieces and hence somewhat specialized)
that allow the use of a single interface to manipulate both
visuals and sound. the great thing about max is that you can
tailor your instrument to do just what you need and no more,
saving your cpu resources for more important things.
one of my favorite setups is a "visual looper" - essentially just
like an overdubbing loop device for visuals. it can work with
movie clips or live camera inputs. radiohead used the same
kind of setup for their last us tour.

>  My hat's off and more power to ya if you can do it -- pull it off 
>  successfully (a la Laurie Anderson) as a one person audio/video 
>  band and still enjoy the basic music-making experience. I guess
>  the further away from the joy of simple music-making I get the 
>  more like work it seems. At heart I just wanna be a simple guitar 
>  player. 

laurie has a team of brilliant people - like perry hoberman - who
work with her on the visuals, and have been for years. 

bruce tovsky
www.skeletonhome.com