#42

Wow. That Sleaford Mods is freaking great! Thanks for the tip!

#43

I enjoy doing this.

I’ll sometimes pick up cheap old laptops (G3 ibooks/powerbooks for example) and then load up whatever software will run on it to use as a sound source or processing box feeding into my separate recording computer.

Some of the most fun I ever had was with an old Pentium laptop someone gave me. I got audiomulch sort of running on it and used to make patches using purely the internal laptop sounds going in via the built in mic - feedback heaven!

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#44

For me the thing I love about working on computers is the ability to re-work and re-work, try things and undo and generally edit forever. Not just for music, but anything creative really. I guess it could be seen as the fatal trap of things never being ‘finished’ and losing spontaneity but it gives me a certain sense of calm. And the perspective of being able to come back and tweak things with fresh eyes/ears is great

Whenever I think about computers on stage I always think of Humanoid on Top of the Pops back when a computer on stage seems kind of exciting… these days though, I must admit I’m never too psyched to see someone on stage staring into the MacBook abyss.

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#45

Quick note in case anyone else is looking for a free working alternative. I’m using “Insomnia X” and it keeps my mac awake with the lid closed. I had tried using other apps and the “caffeinate” Terminal command, but these only prevent idle sleep, not lid sleep.

Still haven’t tested while running my Ableton Live set, how safe is it to keep the lid closed for a couple of hours with intensive CPU-usage apps running?

#46

I’m using Nosleep for mac. It works.

1 Like
#47

There seems to be several sources for NoSleep.

This is the one I’m using… And the only problem was to not forget to disable it again when not desired :grin:
https://code.google.com/archive/p/macosx-nosleep-extension/

#48

Can you cook breakfast on it after a while or is it safe? :sweat_smile:

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#49

Indeed, safe to make a breakfast after a while :slight_smile:

Just noticed, the project continues on github https://github.com/integralpro/nosleep/releases

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#50

I liked the thoughts and process of Holly Herndon. Her idea is that the Laptop is the most intimate instrument ever created as it’s mediating all of our daily experiences from Skype calls to emails. With her work she tried to study/explore the relationship between her and her computer. (Starting 4.25)

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#51

Seeing the video of Holly’s talk a few months ago made me really frustrated that I didn’t bother going to Loop. It’s especially intriguing to hear after seeing her (and her team) perform a couple of times.

I’ve also suffered from screen fatigue quite a bit… after spending all day at work staring at pixels with a keyboard, looking at a screen is the last thing I want to do when I get home. This feeling was actually strong enough that I stopped making music on the computer altogether for a while. One of my favorite quotes on this topic comes from Roger Linn when talking about the Linnstrument (paraphrased a bit): “At a certain point in making music on the computer, I realized that I was actually playing, I was rolling a bar of soap around in front of the TV”

IMO, a lot of this boils down to pragmatism. I have a relatively small home studio, but I can’t even imagine what a pain in the ass it would be to bring all of this stuff out for a live performance. Is it really worth bringing the OP-1 to live-trigger samples that I could use in some other way? Or bringing the keyboard synth so that I can play this one chord progression that only shows up for 30 seconds in one song?

There’s definitely something to be said for the limitation of only working with the gear that you bring, but in many ways, sound preparation and studio treatment of loops (or shots) can yield results that you can’t get any other way.

And I think there’s also something to be said for the value of playing (instead of thinking, or science-ing) as a method of generating sounds: There isn’t really anything that an OP-1 can do that a computer can’t, but the OP-1 is immediately playable – you don’t have to think or science too hard to generate something appealing, that you can then throw into whatever you’d like into the computer for post-processing, etc.

I forget if I’ve talked about this on hear, but I’ve had this discussion of methods of performance and avenues of music consumption with a few people, and I think it’s quite interesting. For (mainstream) theatrical performing arts, you have the medium of both film and stage. As an audience member, you don’t judge the two on the same scale, and you expect different things from each type of performance. But, with theatrical performing arts, you have the stage theater, you have the movie theater, and then you have the home entertainment system as means of consumption. With music, there is no equivalent of the movie theater: either you’re listening at home, or you’re seeing something on the stage. So, why hasn’t someone opened up a sound theater where it’s expected that the “performance” is just hitting Play?

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#52

The closest thing would be the electroacoustic (or “acousmatic”) tradition of diffusion.

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#53

I think the term you’re looking for is “night club” :slight_smile:

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#54

this was one of the people who became Future Sound of London right?
the thing i really love is that somewhere along the line someone must have said ‘hey, you know what will really make this show rock… if you mime along pretending to play slap bass… that will really send the kids wild!’ :slight_smile:

#55

The musicians of the Priceton Laptop Orchestra each use/build own omnidirectional speakers as a reference to spatialization of instruments in classical orchestras. This way they “attempt to mimic the way acoustic instruments radiate sound in rooms”.

#56

Suuure, but then a) there’s a DJ, which wouuld arguably be considered an actual performance, and b) you’re only ever going to hear a certain subset of music. Even among the most diverse clubs, there isn’t anything that I would analogize to a movie theater, where you might have a consistent lineup of things like “hey, we’re gonna spin Music for 18 Musicians and lay down on soft cushions and stare at the ceiling”.

It happens once in a while, here or there, but not regularly.

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#57

A nightclub that spins Steve Reich would actually succeed in getting me out of the house. (Not an easy trick at all.)

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#58

yes exactly, seems like after that they preferred to hide behind the anonymity of an ISDN line rather than bring the computer back on stage though unfortunately!

#59

Nine Inch Nails had listening parties at a few places (I went to two - one in a club and one in a museum theatre) for a couple of their albums at release. It was great to go experience premiers on a good system, but I think the thing I liked the most about it was the community in every one sitting and listening together – as opposed to a club in which the music is a backdrop to other activities.

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#60

something to think about:
«laptop music stopped being interesting when the computers stopped crashing».

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#61

There’s a roving event called Classic Album Sunday that sometimes takes over various clubs to listen to classic albums in there entirety. I haven’t actually made it out to one yet but conceptually it seems cool