Here's Chris Mandra, who - like many of us - thought 'I'm really good at drumming on my leg. I should, like, connect that to a drum machine and a max/MSP looping patch and some footpedals'. Only he actually did it, and it sounds OK, doesn't it? (via Adam Baer)
Posted by Tom Whitwell.
I saw the guy from Fleetwood Mac do that in like 1986 when my dad dragged me to their concert. I was pretty impressed back then, when midi was still kind of new and I was a kid.
This guy's stuff does sound pretty good, but more because of the cool pedals. I mean, nice beats and all, but nothing totally mindblowing about the concept.
Does look like he's enjoying himself though. More power to him.
Only two triggers. No sensitivities at all, just "on" or "off".
So he could buy a bass drum and a snare, or a bass drum and a high hat, plus two drum sticks. Then do about 1000 times more interesting and varied and creative things. Without any wires or software.
And it wouldn't sound like warmed-over shit from the Thompson Twins.
The whole point of this idea is to put triggers all over your body and move your hands around, like a woman in a soap commercial. With only two triggers, this is just an unwashed, hairy man in a too-tight shirt with 1/8th of a 1986 drum machine strapped to his 1986 pants.
actually pretty interesting. not a new idea or anything but it's cool he got it all tied up together. also, the drum triggers ARE velocity sensitive. it's pretty obvious they are. if you can't hear that then i guess you're deaf.
the room full of snotty teenagers isa pretty funny setting for this.
I have to give points for ingenuity and a positive attitude, (despite wardrobe issues) but in general, one must not beat on one's own body, tempting as it is. (and it is)
It didn't relly werk for Bobby McFerrin (for me) or Vanilla Ice. but hey the drumz are soo 1986 so why not i guess.
Making weird sounds with your mouth is always OK, but beating thyself in public shall not be, i'm afraid.
Actually, this has definitely been done already - by John Otway in the last ever episode of "The Young Ones". He does a pretty awful track called 'Bodytalk' using drum machine triggers on different parts of his body.
Of course this has been done before. But im not complaining, as EVERYTHING has been done before. I think it was even in this blog that there was an article on Pietro? (the russian man with a trigger suit).
How about the french horn man? who had several horns of varied pitches tied to different parts of his body, and he played tunes with them (even two part harmony!)
I find nothing wrong with this method of playing; Im all for finding new ways of performing, no matter how strange!
Did I just overlook it, or has the MusicThing public forgotten about McRORIE?
McRorie is 100% grade-A Canadian pwnage. No discussion of slapping various body parts in an electro-musical context is complete without him. As Belinda Bedekovic is to keytars... http://mcrorie.net/
Just a word about the shirt and pants: I put the triggers on clothing I could throw on over my normal clothes - that way when I'm done playing I don't have to literally strip to get out of the manDrum.
Incidentally, there are 4 triggers: bass drum, high hat, and two snares (one on the shirt, one on the leg)
They are, of course, velocity sensitive - otherwise the melodic and harmonic bits wouldn't work. (i.e. when I hit above a certain velocity chords are generated above the bass being generated)
I think rendwich must have been listening to the thompson twins in a different universe from mine...
One last thing - I manipulate the kaoss pad (and other efx) with my toes while I'm playing.
Anyway, cheers - I was wondering where all the you tube views were coming from (over 1500 in the last couple of days)
My Piano Teacher did this back in the 80s only he had a whole suit and it looked way cooler. Neat video though. I wished I had a hot chick to hang out with me while I messed around with synths....
I've often thought about trying this. The cool thing about YouTube is you get to see people demo their crazy little home-brew adventures with triggers and MIDI - and I for one will never tire of it!! THANKYOU!
The glove at the end is a P5 glove (under $20 on Ebay), presumably with each finger's data mapped to the range of a different vocal formant filtering a sawtooth wave (possibly with some initial lowpass). I built the exact same Max patch when I bought a P5, so it's interesting to see that I wasn't the only one.
: 7:22 pm