Re: [microsound] laptop ethics...

[paul <pimmon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>there's a difference between creating music with computers and perfoming
>music with computers...  

this can be the case, all depends on what software is utilised..

>I am always very pissed off to pay money for a concert (not a rave or a dj
>party, but a concert) and sit there to watch someone flip open a powerbook
>and press the space bar in a program like protools or soundedit16...  <and
>rock on...>  that makes me want to kotz...

i understand, I guess as has been stated, the degree of interaction is hard
to fathom sometimes...i could never push space and walk about, that would 
seem pointless...

it's interesting you stated that it doesn't bother you in a rave/dj scenario,
when they effectively are also pressing 'space bars' of sorts, I'm not making
derogatory comments re: djs, i recognise how skillful they can be....
i think it depends why you attend...to dance or listen, to be entertained 
'visually' by the artist who you've listened/appreciated over time...
I guess the keyword is 'concert', which implies that what you are going
to hear is an 'interpretation' of music you are familiar with..it would
indeed be disappointing to be confronted with the same track data
churning out..

>with so many programs like bigeye and max and shit like that why can't
>anybody come up with an interesting way of performing their tracks?  isn't
>it true that trent reznor's first record was written with a sequencer which
>he then gave the tracks to a group of talented young (sexy) ladies to play
>live?  [or am I horribly mistaken?]  now that's something to pay money for,
>not to watch the back side of a lombardo...

perhaps genres of electronic music that are more dance orientated suffer
this fate...not sure, not my field, as a creator of abstract landscapes I
find that my works are much more improvised in a live equation...possibly
that I don't rely on generic patterns of drum/bass etc....

but it is the visual 'demands' that has me less inclined to perform, I mean
to be 'theatrical' can be reduced to looking like a halfwit, the only
occasion I used some sort of gesturing etc, was when i used a mouse
theremin....the audience was fooled as I waved my hand mystically
above the laptop's keypad....a young woman ran from the audience and
waved her hand above me [I manipulated the mouse without her
knowing]....she was bragging after how she had been a part of the 
process...

but i couldn't do it again after that....

I think that [for me] these performances are better suited to listening
suites, cafes or galleries with the intent to sit and concentrate, rather 
than sitting up on a stage in a pub/traditional venue...

paul