what's the deal with all this "knob twiddling" stuff? yeah, as far as
programming analog keyboards and so forth, knob "twiddling" is the method
of creating new sounds/patches. but live, neither RDJ or Mikey P. used
knobs on any keyboards. both were fucking around with the knobs on their
EQs which had all their equipment jacked into, and then that was "patched"
into their mixers. (not a guess... chatted with Mikey P. as he was
dismantling his "rig.") just awesome timing, and "creative" EQing i guess
you could say. you can get those really cool filter sweeps (the ones that
usually accompany some "drill and bass" part...) simply by sporadically
"opening" a specific bandwith full "throttle." (somewhere midrange i
believe...) "twiddling" lots of EQ knobs is what RDJ and Paradinas do best.
the difference being Mikey switched between his Akai 3000 which sequenced
everything and a 4 track Fostex recorder when loading new songs and
samples. RDJ had all his stuff tucked away in his powermac and a zip drive
or something. both would fade tracks in and out to give the impression of
a "live" performance. not to make this all sound trivial. as i stood
about five feet from Mike P, and watched him jump around from his Fostex,
to his Mixer, and "typing" away on the A3000, i knew he wasn't just sitting
on his ass and twiddling his thumbs. btw, RDJ does own synths. not home
built or anything like that. programs drum sounds on a MKS-70, runs them
through a signal processor, and samples them. sure he's got other goodies,
but the point is rather "moot." (thought i'd throw it in anyway...) and of
course, i've got to "plug" atari as this is the computer that Mikey P.
"composes" on. (using Cubase of course..) well, that's my babble for the
day. any disagreements, comments, and/or words of praise and bright
thinking (hehe...) are most welcome. as far as IDM/electronic music being
a performance art.... without the lights, lasers, dancing animals, and
fanatic worship, i don't think it's music to be "visually entertaining."
with the exception of Skinny Puppy and 242. but that's just my opinion.
but i'm always right...
chrisTiaN
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It has become appallingly clear that our
technology has surpassed our humanity.
-A.E.