Linux on Stage

Guidelines

Using Linux on stage is like exploring an unknown territory: thrilling, slightly dangerous and very time-consuming.

In order not to get lost, we try to keep in mind a few basic principles.

Note All examples below are based on a Linux system with jack, although we only mention the additional software used.

Finite-State-Machine-Based Looper

Live looping on a computer opens up a world of new possibilities, but as the music gets more and more complex, the dance of the performer's feet on the pedalboard can get quite complicated, violating our priciples above.

That's why we sometimes use a Finite-State-Machine approach that allows the performer to control the loops by successive presses of a single button (in a normal performance where nothing unexpected arises), making the whole technical setup very transparent.

Passo Mezzo Antico, improvisation on a renaissance bass (Matthieu Amiguet)

This piece is based on an old Renaissance bass, with improvisation in ancient and not-so-ancient styles.

Granular textures

Anyone having tried to loop a single note from an acoustic instrument into a musical "texture" knows the problem: it is almost impossible to avoid a "clic" sound when the loop wraps up. Although one can try and hide the problem by successive overdubs of the same note, the texture is never really smooth.

By recording a short sample and then looping it in two or more parellel tracks whose volumes are modulated as follows

we obtain a very smooth, clic-less texture.

Greetings from Mumbay (Les Chemins de Traverse)

In this piece, the voice of the performer is "textured" to evoke an indian tampura.

Kaleidoscope (Carole Battais)

This piece uses several textures to build a mysterious atmosphere.

The performer also uses a delay with live-controlled input and feddback levels to achieve a sound density usually not associated with flute.

"Canon" Delay

Computer-based live looping allows the use of a practically unlimited number of loops of practically unlimited length, with complete control over parameters like feedback amount when overdubbing, etc.

A possible application of this is playing canons with oneself.

Canon (Johann Pachelbel)

In a kind of musical joke, this is a rendition of a very famous Canon by baroque composer Pachelbel played by one flutist alone.

Sustain pedal for flute

Ave Maria (Bach / Gounod)

In this humoristic rendition of Bach/Gounod's Ave Maria, the bass flute must hold the lowest notes of the arpeggios while playing the others, something usually not possible with a monophonic instrument.

By using a reverb with live-controlled input level, we emulate the gentle decay of a note on a pianoforte.

Note on the software used

Although we found the reverb we needed in rackarrak, the input level is not midi-controllable in this software. We used sooperlooper as a kind of midi-controlled mix table, mainly because that's what we knew at the time. We would now most certainly replace it with non-mixer.

Collective looping

Hardware loopers are usually thought as a one-person device. Live looping on a computer allows to loop two or more musicians, on the same tracks or not, synchronized or not...

This is a fascinating new musical territory of which we only explored a tiny part yet.

Free improvisation

Although it sounds fairly free, this improvisation with four musicians and live loops results from a rather complex technical setup (jack connections as pictured by the Catia patchbay):