For the last couple of months I’ve been working on a new Ableton PUSH set up for live performance. I’ll write a more extensive piece on this in the next couple of weeks, but this is briefly what I’ve been working with:
I’m seeing the whole set up as a complete instrument. It’s a hybrid – a DJ set up and live instrument matched together. In my left hand I have the DJ controls – volume faders, a cross faders and knobs controlling filters, delays and the sounds of the TB 303 emulator that I’m running. In my right hand are the live instruments I’m playing. I use the PUSH to program beats on the fly, use the step sequencer and play lead lines and bass lines. I also trigger samples with this hand and “play” the filters of the Moog Minitaur
My goal with this set up is to essentially improvise a dance set. Start with just a couple of sounds and loops and rock a dance floor for an hour. No set can or will ever be the same – it will depend on the night, crowd and how everything comes together.
I also have a random acid house generator spitting out patterns when I really want to take a completely unplanned detour and see what I can do with it. Kind of like life – taking what’s handed to you and doing the best you can with what the universe has given to you. : ) More on some of the details of the set up and tips on live performance with PUSH to come.
