[A6] Laptop musicians (was Re: What I do with my A6)

[Will Yardley]

On Thu, 13 Mar 2003, Chad Gould wrote:

> > > Well, personally, I'd keep it if you are thinking of playing live
> > > soon or even later. Let's face it, when playing out, seeing
> > > someone noodle on a laptop is about as boring as watching paint
> > > dry.

> > What am i supposed to face? :)  I'd rather hear a good laptop
> > musician than a bad band with a stage full of gear!

> Sure, so would I. But would you rather watch a *good* laptop musician
> versus a *good* band with a stage full of gear? Or, at least, a good
> laptop musician with some other entertaining thing to watch other than
> the glow of a laptop's power LED?
>
> Well, maybe you don't care. :) But I can tell you what the general
> audience would probably say, or at least react to. Hell, there are
> enough people that flock to bad music bands, that can't even sing, but
> Look Real Good! to prove this point.

I have to agree -  I've seen some performances by some laptop musicians
that were pretty boring, even though $performer was an amazing musician.
I think there are a number of different approaches to performing
synthesized music "live", and

Personally, I really like it when there are at least some "live"
elements, and when the performer at least seems to be engaged in the
performance. Obviously, it's not always feasible to do everything "live"
(and what does that mean, anyway, in this postmodern world we live in),
but it's nice if there are some unpredictible elements to the music, I
think - helps keep things interesting. I'd rather hear an artist take
more risks, and make more mistakes than hear a perfect laptop
performance.

I enjoyed Matthew Herbert's live show - I'm sure some elements were
pre-recorded, but he had live keys & piano, vocals (Dani Siciliano was
doing some tweaking of her own as well, and had a couple different
microphones that were processed differently), and was manipulating
samples / sounds in real time.

> It's not a requirement or anything, but hey. I look for any possible
> little idiom that could add to stage presence, without looking goofy
> or gimmicky, that I can get. :)

As long as you don't wear a Mexican wrestling mask onstage [1].

[1] http://www.echolocation.fm/esc/photos/020103/volsoc.jpg
(just teasing, Justin)

-- 
Will Yardley
will at code404.com