There's a group called LoopStation that I heard live in SF at the Edwardian ball that does a similar thing. I need to listen to this, as I have a feeling she may (or may not) have a better grasp of it :)

(Reply) (Thread)

Yeah, the concept is not new, but her particular take on it is quite impressive.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

I gave in and bought the album, this is lovely stuff :) I might have to work on a routine to one or more of these...

Her layering beats the pants off loopstation, hands down.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Listening...

(Reply) (Thread)

Do you know Ben Sollee?

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

we were supposed to do a show with her, but then she was whisked away for Amanda Palmer's international solo tour :-/

also, Ableton Live is an extremely impressive piece of software, and it's been a staple of live electronic musicians for years. i have an old copy kicking around, and why_style has actually been using it very actively on his recent projects.

(Reply) (Thread)

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2008081918101840 appeared just down my friends page from this… before which I'd never heard of it. :)

(Reply) (Thread)

Ableton Live is amazing. as chillguru said above, i've been using it quite a bit as of late. it's actually become my main platform for music production. like anything, it will take some time and effort to get the hang of it, possibly more than a looper pedal, but it really is powerful. i have yet to use it in a live setting (i don't have a laptop), but i can't imagine it not working very well for that. the great thing about Live is that it's grown into a fully featured DAW but you only need to get as deep into the features as you need for your application of it.

basically you have a bunch of tracks lined up in columns which you can load up with clips - each track can hold as many clips as your computer can handle, and then you launch them on the fly via a MIDI controller (or using your mouse). you can easily record new clips in realtime and loop them to match up with everything else enabling incredible layers of sound, and it comes with a bunch of great effects built in that are tailored to working with audio this way, plus it supports external plugins as well. it's also organized so that you can launch a bunch of clips together by having them set up on separate tracks but all in the same row - this makes it easy to have preset sections set up ahead of time and then you can arrange the tune on the fly as you jam. i could go on and on...

one tip though - the full version is a bit pricey ($400-1000 depending on the package), but there are some things you'll need anyway if you're going to get your computer involved on stage - mainly an audio interface and likely soem sort of MIDI controller (a foot pedal would probably work best for you if you're looking to play and loop the bass) and many of these products come bundled with with a lite version of Live so you can try it out and then upgrade to the full version at a reduced price if you like it. i was actually introduced to Live this way when i bought a new keyboard (m-audio oxygen 49). the lite versions usually have a limited number of tracks, but for playing on stage you might only need a handful. also, i'll dig around and see if i still have a second license (i also got a lite version with my audio interface).

(Reply) (Thread)