some stuff about knobtwiddling *its abit technical*

i posted this in response to a thread that was asking ABLETON LIVE users why they think its so good...
to convince them to give up using logic or cubase (these people are tooo upmarket to use fruityloops lol)

i really dont give a monkeys toss usually - but i was wound up enough by it to post a reply..ma reply goes into how i started makin music etc et so might be of interest to someone - somewhere - someplace

in summertime...


here goes..


i think live works best for people who come from using something like sonic foundrys acid - to me at first it was like a realtime asio version of that - back at live v1.0..

before acid i was sequencing everything on my yamaha rm1x sequencer - triggering a yam a3000 sampler - fatsystems 383 tb303 rip off - an1x synth and other crap..

pc came along and i'd be playing with loops and stuff in acid - then sampling the best results into ma sampler to run along with my midigear..


tried cubase a few times - i found it so longwinded.. logic was just as bad - so stuck to using pc for editing wavs and making loops for a few years - and ma rack with hardware sequencer for the midi realtime tweaking and all that...

live came along and was like an asio version of acid.. then v2 added rewire ( i think?) so the amazing reason was added then - realtime wav manulpulation AND midi style synth action in reason at the same time? wow - the reason for ma rack was gettin less and less



v3 u could rewire things like plogue biddule which could host Vsti instruments - i think it was v3 anyway ...

but V4 was the one - actually hosting all ya vst instruments in ableton? all on 2 simple pages with all ya info u needed - responding quickly to want u want it too do and all that.... adios rm1x and moi sampler - been good friends but needed no more..

hello shiny laptop and controlller - audio interface etc etc - - FAR more powerfull than ma rack ever was...





i know live's midi is rather limited - but - most of the time - i just twiddle knobs.... record loads of audio - hack out t he best bits... set up midi instruments to loop - then tweak the instrument...send the audio out too different fx etc etc .... generally i set up ma microkontrol's pads to be track mutes - scene selection switches etc etc....build up a pattern - then jam with the idea... then edit that......

sometimes i sit and mess around with the arrange page and sequence everything out section by section - it just depends on the mood...


i think its abit cruel to say live is just a sketchpad - or - what gets abit on my nerves is how when i say i use live, people assume i use it to DJ WITH...

i've never dj'ed in my life - i've allways made my own music since i was a kid - started out with ma first soundsampler on ma commodore amiga and soundtracker 1.0 when i was 15..

live's workflow does remind me of ma old trackers - and rm1x sequencer - which i think doesnt make it less of a sequencer than cubase / logic / sonar / reason etc etc

but with all this talk about it being such a great dj tool - i think that could make its primary function - of being a sequencer - more and more overlooked..


sorry too rant so much !


anyway - blatent plug time - crappy myspace page has a few of ma ableton live productions on www.myspace.com/tekkaz

there allso is a full 80 min live mix - recorded at a night called Monkee - in sunny stoke on trent last summer.... and y ah - its my trying to be a dj! lol

i set up 2 channels as a dj mixer type thing - which played whole tracks - filter on each - eq kill on each channel.... then had another 8 tracks running mostly audio loops which i would add to the dj style mix tracks - they'd go from being played linear - into loop based improvised live tracks - fx tweaking ontop of that - joystick set to crossfader for more dj style mixing ( i do sound abit of a spazz flipping it about sometimes tho ! ) - the whole thing was recording itsself as i was playing - and recording a live mic input too.... so when i had finished i could render the damm whole thing to a wav - and burn a cd - pretty much on the spot!



its easier to explain to listen to it - ya get too hear me abused by audience etc etc..


but yah.... i dont expect everyone to like it - and i'm quite happy to go along in ma own little world
but for me

live ROCKS

the fog - (sucks out your soul)

arggh... so much for today. AGAIN.

its 4 20pm goin dark fast - i just awake - its so grim out there its unbelievable..clouds of freezing fog slowlly rolling over the land lit up in batches by the headlights of the rush hour gridlocked traffic and the sky is a dark grim all covering ominipresent grey.

i'm goin to force myself into town a 10 mins walk away once i can be bothered to get dressed.. its been like endless night for the last few days - i work nights..almost all my life since i was 18..

finished work saturday at 5 am - then stupidly enough got onto this thing and was talkin to a girl who i work with till 9-10 am - why we couldnt do this at a more normal hour i dont know.. the plan was too sleep for 2-3 hours then awake to go shop - get some bacon and oatcakes (its a stoke thing) for sunday breakfast/lunch. this didnt happen of course - 5 30 - awakess.... its dark - not goin out there. shops shut etc... i eats crunchy nut cornflakes and watch tv - bill and ted's bogus journey at 6pm - class film - cheers me up abit..watch second half of XXX while pizza is cookin - caught it the instant orbital were playin that cheezy russian rave thing - funnny tho. - then watched rome on bbc1. - fired up the sequencer at midnight... did some structuring to a loop i been workin on the last few days.... its VERY dark :| woooo.

felt tired . went sleep at 1 am in ma clothes - thought i might make it till 6 or 7.
3 am awakes - goes back online - chats abit - does some myspace stuff.. flick on tv about 5 am watch world new today.... 5 30 check out who's on this years I AM A CELEBRITY LEAVE ME IN THIS JUNGLE TO ROT - nobody really of interest. oh well. 6 30 - go back bed thinkin get up about 10 or 11 i can go get some bacon and egg sandwhiches from the pie shop down the street and do stuff in the day. - don't feel i need to set alarm clock as i've slept enough.

3 30 pm i wake up. - fuck. its just confusing and does my head in. its 4 40pm now - i gotta go to town get some food but its dark and cold and i dont wanna go out and its rush hour and everythin is busy and i'm just awakin.. so no doubt i'll be awake all night again lurkin in ma room with the boxes and flashin lights..

i need to wash and put some fresh clothes on - its freezing in ma bathroom...no heating - its below zero outside too. argh.


so yeah - all makes me feel abit crappy really

better go now - everywhere closes at 5 30 and its 4 45...


:|

ableton live 5 SASHA EDITION wow amazing check out screens!!

wow check out this actual screenshot from ableton live 5 SASHA EDITION - mega smashin super like



HAAAAaaaaaa haaaaaaaa wow! - now we can be all great digital dj's now wooooooo yay

the strange missingness of old online worlds and the accleration of time.. (repost)

the strange missingness of old online worlds and the accleration of time..

i FEEL disconnected - yet i am online and connected faster than before ... i went through old images, and messages of ppl and things that i have collected over the years from being online and - with the exception of a few people who i am active with on messenger - it feels like everyone has gone...... and not been replaced

where did they all go? out into the sunlight away from the pc ? - with wireless and them scary little net phones - even in the sun ya can chat away - maybe ppl are just bored with typing in chat windows?

being active on a webpage thing like this is different alot from messenger .... i have yet to make the logical leap into this fully - i still dont really understand - do u just message random people? find groups i guess - add ppl who like - make - similar music to me - i dunno.

maybe they are all playin games? either shootin eachother or existin in vast online gamin universes... i've been considerin gettin a second life http://secondlife.com/ ... i MISS the 3d chat world which i was introduced to years ago on my pentium 2 400mhz thing... when that was fast...

i used to hang out in a place called www.cybertown.com - it really was ma first introduction to chat messagin - and u had a 3d body - in a world - and it TALKED .... in a robotic voice but when ya first chatrooom experience is havin some giant barny avitar say HELLLO to ya - it does make an impact...

i hanged out in CT for 2 years - spendin most of ma time baskin on a rock on sunset beach.. as a red robotic worm :|

then it got too moderated - i could understand the problems with ppl constantly swearin etc ... police would turn up in bladerunnner style skimmers - and ED209 robots...and throw em in the jail for a few days! u could even go visit...

but - it got too much - when i couldnt say that i was smokin a ciggie and havin a beer... cause their might be minors in the room - dear god - u couldnt say ANYTHIN at all in the end.... it was so sugary and shallow.... so moved onto the wildlands of yahoo...

no 3d there but cam and the mic made up for it ! - the electronica rooms DID have some music chat and u could meet some genuine interestin ppl there... who talked about - and more importantly actually created or had serious interest in things - it was cool and i made friends and met ppl i liked..

now for the most part - they have gone - and what ya got left are REALLY young kids - mostly with a passion for basic trance and superfast shallow hardcore - who fight for the mic and boot - yahoo becomin unuserable cause of the bots.... and indians - just why so many indians think its socially exceptable to just message u privately and go HI ASL *BUZZZZZZ* i dont know -
where did they all go? out into the sunlight away from the pc ? - with wireless and them scary little net phones - even in the sun ya can chat away - maybe ppl are just bored with typing in chat windows?




i might try and get a second life - ma first one is stagnant - virtually mirroring the onlife in someways - i rarely see - meet anyone who shares common interests - my old friends are mostly settled down with kids,family etc - there is no scene here to get involved in - (mosly young CHAV skum - listenin to hardcore and shitty trance) - only comercial hellholes for an alternative - or rock nights...not my thing really .... nuthin more quirky or offbeat.. my firstlife is work - track design and the ocassional holiday - beer with old friends..

i think i'm gettin jaded...everythin is the same - i can now begin to understand why time becomes faster when u get older - things become routine - u have less to do to excite the brain - less things make u wake up and really do somethin new that day - so - all days and weeks and months blur more and more into a smooth stream of time - ocassionally pepped by a bright shining event - wether it was a good thing or bad.. and those events become less each year and - the ones u remember - less interesting.... especially compared to the ones u have in memory from years before..

writing it down like this atleast gives me the memory of this thought - otherwise it would just be gone - or naggin me in ma head.. now its out there down on the 010101111's i can look at it and then down to ma fat belly which is developin due to ma sittin around watchin time go faster and faster BI..

its 11am hot and sunny i need to go and rest ma eyes.



HMMMmm...maybe they didnt go anywhere - maybe they just changed and got other interests now - and - i'm stil the same :|

if u ever thought where u live is abit of a dump..

The legacy of ruins – both atomic and physical

This is very interesting I think – the diary of a woman who likes to travel through the Chernobyl ‘dead zone’ on her Kawasaki ninja….she has too ride alone or just with a pillion passenger – it’s dangerous with other vehicles because of the radioactive dust that they kick up…

What u do see is how quickly nature absorbs mans works… animals and wildlife are flourishing, but don’t eat them – or any fruit or veg grown there…… everythin is radioactive till at least 2525.

‘Radiation will stay in the Chernobyl area for the next 48.000 years, but humans may begin repopulating the area in about 600 years - give or take three centuries.’

‘The day after the accident, this place on the bridge provided a good view of the gaping crack in the nuclear containment vessel that was ruptured by the explosion. Many curious people came here to have a look and were bathed in a flood of deadly x-rays emanating directly from the glowing nuclear core.’

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/   

-----------

‘ Zimbabwe, Ephesus, el tajin, Athens, Rome - Now, as for centuries, tourists behold those ruins with awe and wonder. Yet today, a vast and history laden ruin site passes unnoticed,  even despised, into oblivion. Come, travel with me, as I guide you on a tour through the fabulous and vanishing ruins of my beloved Detroit.’

also worth a look – take a tour around Detroit’s wasting industrial landscape – the fabulous ruins of Detroit!

http://detroityes.com/home.htm

new chooooooooooons

ello everybody - i've just changed all the songs on ma myspace music page - they've been there for a year or so so it was due a change..

threshHold - one of ma rare dnb attempts - pretty mellow and trancy - friend of mine on guitar..i'll be attemptin some more dnb in the future..

angel skies - more of a trance number - nice - powerfull - and positive - without the cliche and cheeze hopefully!!

butterRummed - one of the earliest Inteliko http://www.myspace.com/inteliko tracks we did - a kind of acid disco tech house track???!! lol

and finally

we faLL - a 12 minute minimal ambient piece which builds up into a beat for the final few minutes... an older internet collaboration this is - Devi from idiom of sad http://www.myspace.com/idiomofsad sent me some vocal samples over which i used as the basis of this track - its quite haunting i think...

the FULL version if this is about 20 mins - as it builds up into a rather chunky breakbeat number... which i use about 20 minutes into my live at monkee mix if u have it..

it was never quite finished tho - hopefully somethin i'll be able to do one day..

anyway - check her stuff out - its kinda dark but mellow and rather well put together - worth a listen to for sure :)

ok thats it - hope ya like the new stuff...



stay frosty out there people..


Tek

well goddammm what a supprise

damm it i gotta fix this thing so it posts ma correct GMT time and not whatever it is in southern california or whatever!!!

its 4 50 am - i SHOULD BE AT WORK! - i went for ma nap in the afternoon - just for a few hours - i had to go give mum her mothers day card - then go work at 7 pm.... i blooody overslept!!!

alarmclock didnt go off - and i woke up about an hour ago - its a busy night at work today with some big poker comp, so they need at the staff they can get - and here i am being an undead zombie beast!!!

didnt do no oversleepin when disconnected from the net - had it back a day or 2 and yahhhh.... selfcontrol? is that what i hear? hahahahaa yah if only.... hell i work in a place where ppl have no selfcontrol.... lol i should know better - but at least i dont have a gamblin addiction...

any interesting and creative excuses i could come up with to tell the boss tomorrow?

i'm just gonna tell the truth - lol sod it if i get a warning or whatever - maybe if i get the sack i'll have to get a normal job - and sleep patterns!