[microsound] More thoughts on no-input

[pelagius pelagius <pela_gius@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I get kind of bothered by the focus on the gimmicky phrase 
"no-input-mixing-board" rather than the concepts behind it.  As Kim pointed 
out a mixer is nothing more than a collection of amplifiers so the question 
for me is what other artists have explored making music using nothing but 
amplifiers?  I mentioned Tudor because he was someone who specifically and 
rigorously explored all sorts of no-input systems from chaining together a 
bunch of gain stages to pointing a shotgun mic at an array of speakers.  In 
my mind all of these activities revolve around the same basic concept.  And 
I think Richard and Keith were on the money with their nods to the Barrons, 
Joe Meek and Pink Floyd.

Something else to keep in mind is that until the late '80s/ early '90s when 
Mackie released the 1604 there really weren't any inexpensive, small format 
mixers.  And going back to the 70s and 60s, such equipment was almost 
completely out of reach of musicians (considering size & cost).

To the question of adding effects to a no-input system I would point out 
that even the eq on a mixer is adding an effect of sorts.  Evidently using 
phase shift within the feedback path is a good trick to explore.  But what's 
interesting to me about Tudor's and others work in this area is the 
revelation of the commonalities between all of these seemingly different 
types of devices.  In other words, a microphone IS a speaker and vice versa. 
 Eqs, filters, preamps, mixers, distortion boxes, etc. are all amplifiers.

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