Getting ready for Austin
Share
So, I'm here in Brooklyn riding out the heatwave in the basement (the only room(s) in the house with decent air conditioning!)
I've got my new setup, which I'm totally pumped to bring along to Austin for ICA. Here is a pic of the new "Tree" (the mic stand with all sorts of crap attached to it.) -- By the way, I'm really sorry the quality of the pix are so bad -- Katherine took the camera to Michigan and all I have is the camera on this computer!
Show and tell time:
From top to bottom, left to right, we've got:
• Rode NT3 microphone. My old standby -- feeds back a bit, but sounds so much better than any Shure I've used (and own) that I can't help but use it. I need that proximity effect when I'm beatboxing...
• A new 10.1" LCD monitor i got off ebay (showing sheet music when necessary, otherwise it's unused now -- this is a change from when I had a touch-screen monitor where everything happened on that monitor. Unfortunately it weighed a lot, so I'm glad I don't have to shlep it any more.
• My iPad running TouchOSC which controls the mac via WiFi. Totally wireless, two-way communication between the pad and the mac, so, if I make a change on the mac in Max, it shows up within 200ms on the pad. Sweet!
• Korg's Kaossilator. When I bought this thing I figured it'd be a fun toy that I'd never use in concert, much less a recording. Um, I used it more than the $2,800 Access Virus TI synth for my last record Spin Cycle. Yeah, it's plastic, and it's yellow (though you can now get it in pink), but it sounds AMAZING for what it is.
Okay, so below those I've got a rack shelf holding my harmonicas and across from that is...
• an Akai EWI, which I use more as a vocoder carrier than as a synth.
The other little monitor to the left of the tree isn't used, I just didn't move it for the pic.
I'll get a better pic of the iPad when Katherine gets back, and possibly a video of how it works as a demo. It's really cool... I'm nervous about it a bit because I haven't used it in concert yet, and I have not performed with it on an ad-hoc network (I'm using my Airport to link the two -- ad hoc networks for those who don't know are when you can make your computer as the hub of a WiFi network).
Anyway, this Austin gig is going to be really great, if short (I've got all of 30 minutes). I'm planning to do a few new tunes (My Mouth, Bam Pip and Trip) and a few of my other faves (Ariel's Hands, Sha and Summertime). Hoping I can get all of them in...I'd like to do Abbey as a final tune. We'll see.
Anyway, there you go. If you're in Austin please come by and say hi. I'll be there for nearly the whole conference.
-Mike