DJs...... Musicians or Producers

[paradox]

 

[ThunderIdeal]

i get hopelessly confused when it comes to live psytrance sets

how do they do it? and what are they doing? do they have magical powers?

[Chiral]

i get hopelessly confused when it comes to live psytrance sets

how do they do it? and what are they doing? do they have magical powers?

 

What do you mean thunder..live as in the artists aren't using turntables or CDJ's..?

If so then it's not complicated, I've played out live with hardware several times.

Way no 1 - Basically you deconstruct your tracks into loops and save them off into files, load the files into something like a Roland sp808 or two and then the sounds/loops are accessible by loading them onto assigned pads, you trigger them by tapping the pads, the sp808 has from memory 16 pads or is it 12 I can't remember...anyways send the audio outs into a regular 12-16 channel mixer or DJ mixer, bus in some auxiliary effects and start jamming, cutting new loops in and taking old ones out...you can stretch the audio to suit, but a good producer will have already made his files a certain tempo and won't have to fuck with sync issues. The 808 has midi out and in, also so it can trigger external synths or synths time clock could trigger the 808, and run sequences into them, you set the program/sound/patch on the synth to the one you want it to play along with, then start lo and hi pass filtering and changing envelope filter shapes, add some in sync LFO and away you go...obviously this is all well rehearsed and you have the set mapped out in your mind, adding bits of random ingenuity on the fly as you are playing sometimes.

I used 2 of these 808's for my gigs back then and a korg prophecy keyboard for extra midi and fat synth sounds. I had em jumping and waving their arms at Chinese laundry a few nights when I used to play out breaks and DnB...was cool fun for sure.

Way no 2 - A lot of live acts now use their laptops to simply play their tracks out of their sequencers, using multi-track audio and midi software like Logic or Abelton live, the artist can have all his tunes already to go and simply load them up into the program and play them out, they can add an external synth or two via midi..some will patch in a dumb controller keyboard and play soft synths over tracks, like long sweeps of pads or a one fingered fat bass line or tow, all in sync of course and the sequencer sends midi note info to the synth that is in the sequencer ready to be spat out, and change the sound on the synth with knob controls or sliders and wheels etc..as it's playing along, adding effects and using DJ style tricks like pitch shifting and brutal filter sweeps across the channels on the external mixer are the live acts favorite past time.

Way no 3 - Some artists will actually use real instruments like didge's and drum kits, a guitar or two hooked up and some live percussion, maybe a female singer gets in on the act often for boy appeal, sometimes they still use a laptop and run the track they are playing as backing and play over it and add bits n pieces via audio or midi to make a live electronic blend of sound.

Sky's the limit really, you just need to know how to use your gear, it doesn't have to flash to make psi at all, in fact a crappy p4 PC laptop can run a thousand free programs off the net that will playback samples you have gathered over the years...check out an outfit called lo fidelity all stars...they used the shittiest crappy cheap gear and got enjoyment from squeezing out wicked ass tracks from limited equipment, they had a huge following in the Uk in the 90's.

Today's artists are spoiled for choice and most programs will do everything for them...check out traktor...4 decks of pure sweet time synced mixing bliss and kick ass filters and effects you use by simply hooking up a poxy 100 dollar behringer midi controller...all you need is a library of your favorite tracks a PC and a midi controller and away you go.