Re: My Revised MAX/MSP Looping/Effects Rig

["Krispen Hartung" <khartung@cableone.net>]

Heck, I may even get myself a wireless guitar system and go totally free. 
:) 
It will be like the good old days of progressive metal in the 80s, but 
I'll 
be playing avant-garde and improvisational music. /k

p.s. I can't resist sharing my festival set with Brian McFadin (sax) and 
Jared Hallock (percussion).
http://www.box.net/shared/13edevpws4 (this is with my new mini jazz 
archtop).

I also did a nice set with Robert Sterling, and also with Emily Hay, 
Motoko 
Honda, and Lucio Menegon.  I really loved my set with Emily (flute/voice) 
and Motoko (a grand piano in the venue with her electronics hooked up to 
it), and me on nylon string acoustic. Wow. Totally fun and exciting. I'm 
still mastering the recordings and working on getting artist permissions 
to 
share everything...totally amazing event this year in terms of performers.



----- Original Message ----- 

> Well, I finally did it.  In my quest to selfishly spend more time with 
>my 
> instrument (guitar), more time actually playing, and less time fiddling 
> with and staring at the damn computer while playing (which looks 
> absolutely ridiculous in my opinion), I figured out how to have my cake 
> and eat it too. I just finished my revised max/msp looping/effects 
>system. 
> I was very inspired by the Boise Experimental Music Festival, after 
> playing a set before Jeff Kaiser and Andrew Pask (of Cycling 74) the 
>first 
> night, and a workshop that Jeff did on the many approaches to using the 
> computer for live performance.  Andrew is actually using a totally 
>random 
> based max/msp system so he just plays his sax and let's the computer do 
> everything for him.
>
> Long story short, my rig is totally automated now, using a series of 
> random algorithms to control both my max/msp Kaiser Looper and functions 
> (everything from my scripts to basic functions like reverse halfspeed, 
> doublespeed, random speed, random buffer, random pan, etc), and all my 
> max/msp effect patches and parameters (including Reaktor as a VST), I 
>now 
> turn my computer on and play. No MIDI footpedals. No expression pedals. 
>I 
> just plug into my Fireface 400, activate my system, and let the 
>wonderful 
> world of randomness take over. So liberating! I don't even need to have 
>my 
> computer screen open.  It's like playing with another person whose job 
>is 
> to process my sound (like what Evan Parker has done with others), 
>because 
> I have no idea what sort of looping, effects, or parameters changes are 
> going to occur. I'm really liking this.  The interesting thing is that I 
> wasn't satisfied with the standard random object in max/msp, so I found 
> and used some max/msp abstractions written by Karlheinz Essl, which 
> simulate Brownian movement in micro-biological systems. Very 
>fascinating. 
> And of course, I can deactivate the random function at anytime, so that 
> while I'm playing, if I hear the computer do something really 
>interesting 
> that I like with the looper or effects, I turn the random functions off, 
> and it will sort of freeze in the last state or frame of looping and 
> effect parameters.
>
> More later...gotta pack for vacation now.
>
> Kris