I like this topic!
I’ve never really made electronic music with just a computer, always using external instruments and hardware and just using a DAW to record, layer, edit, and mix. So I really wouldn’t want to go somewhere with just a laptop!
I’ve recently been asked to play in Mongolia as part of an environmental mission:
I’ll be playing along with 50 other artists, likely every day, and the performances will also be recorded and released as an album at the end, so I really want it to be something like what I have been doing under my artist name, and can’t pass up such an opportunity to refine my modular performance chops, so I’ll be putting together an Intellijel 7u that will be played as an entirely stand alone instrument:
I’ll bring a grid and 16n, but that’s it. It likely still looks pretty big to some, but I’ll be able to play full voiced music solo, or be able to jam with others.
Also, this is something I took on a trip out of town over new years:
norns + grid + Digitakt + 4 track cassette recorder, which doubled as a mixer + Tascam recorder. I felt pretty inspired by it! I feel like norns is a no brainer since it’s very small and runs on batteries. The tape deck is perhaps a bit bulky, but you could easily get a smaller one. Great to get away from the modular from time to time, though to me something like this works for writing and recording, but less so performing.
