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Fugue Machine live performance (w/ iGrand, iSEM, Patterning, FieldScaper, Borderlands Granular, etc)
Live performance using Fugue Machine driving iGrand and iSEM with drums by Patterning.
Hosted in Audiobus2 and AUM, with multiple channels of processing and feedback loops: FieldScaper in looper mode, Borderlands Granular in live mode, Moebius Lab, Dubstation 2, EOS 2, Svep and AUFX:Push.
Single take with no editing or post processing besides static level adjustments and minor EQing.
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Back in January I was inspired by the whole Jamuary concept to put up a video of a performance using Quantum. At the time I said that I was hoping to put out a video a week... 5 months later, here's # 2!
I actually recorded a version of this back then, but I've been insanely busy and never got around to editing the video; subsequently I decided I could do better, so I just rerecorded it.
Comments
Excellent
lovely
Nicely done!
Top job, very creative. I like it.
Wow. This is really an amazing use of fugue machine! Wants me revisit my copy and do something beautiful with it too! Thanks for sharing this us!
What did you feed in fieldscaper? I don’t quite get anything cool out of it...?!
Hey, fabulous work here. I too am very inspired by this. Keep it up!!
When I saw the apps used on this, I had to check to date of the posting.
You cetainly broke out the classics for this project. Just proves that these apps should not be overlooked or forgotten.
Excellent music and video! Thanks for sharing it.
Super tight jam, nice video. Thanks!
Lovely!
This is very good! Bravo!
Thanks everyone! I appreciate the kind words.
Yeah, I'm torn about the constant stream of amazing music apps on iOS. On the one hand I want to support developers and play with the new shiny-shiny, but on the other I just don't have the time! I already have so many tools available; I'm just trying to learn them and use them to their fullest potential (OK, maybe not Quantum, it would take a lifetime to master that!).
What I've come to realize is that what I love about iOS music making is the immediacy; apps that are designed for direct manipulation. While Quantum and Fugue Machine could be ported to the Mac they just wouldn't be the same to use without a massive bank of external controllers. The apps require a touchscreen to "play" (to say nothing of sound generators like Samplr, SpaceCraft, etc.).
And for me it's all about playing it. I spend most of my time in front of a computer doing high-stakes technical work; things have to be perfect. I'm no longer interested in "constructing" a piece pattern-by-pattern, track-by-track. What I miss from my musical past is performance. The adrenaline, the stress, the inability to go back and tweak something: flub a note? You just have to keep going....
I certainly appreciate the audience, but for me, just turning on the cameras and knowing I'm going to post something is enough to make me focus on making something with structure and not just noodle away for 30 minutes. And while I could stop and keep making multiple takes to get things "perfect", I make it a point to keep playing when I screw up. Obviously I don't post the complete flubs, but both of the tracks I've posted have a few technical errors - I just have to let it go....
I've been feeling much the same lately about making music - not so produced and arranged - more ambient type stuff. Your video was highly inspiring to me. I think its a beautiful track. And now these words you posted are inspiring too. So big thanks - more videos please too!
Music, not an object.
Music as an active experience.
Not creating music, but chaneling it.
Not playing music, but playing with music.
When you actively listen and let the music guide you, you are playing with music, while the music is playing with you.
@aplourde @Halftone
Some of my thoughts to help me break out of my mental musical shackles. Just wanted to share, as I appreciate both of your posts, and suspect we may be journeying down similar paths.
My pleasure.
If you're looking for other Fugue Machine inspiration (or just inspiration in general), you should check out Perplex On. I'm not going to lie, I completely ripped off the concept for my track from this video, right down to using Fugue Machine to drive iGrand and iSEM. I was even considering doing what he did and using the MIDI to drive Una Corda instead of iGrand, but decided that was going past "homage" to "ripping off"
Also, his videography is amazing. I wish I had the time to devote to filming / editing...
Definitely, what he made is much more beautiful and ethereal, but I'm just a sucker for more traditional melody and structure. For me, texture comes second.
That said...
FieldScaper is absolutely a secret weapon for me, I use it all the time as an effects processor. It's great for taking a melody and providing a textural counterpoint that's not as directly obvious as a delay/reverb combo, primarily because the scanning playhead re-contextualizes the rhythm of the melodic line.
It's not as obvious as pitch-shifting delay / reverb, not as chaotic as granular synthesis, it's just right.
At the beginning of the track, besides the delay and reverb, you can hear Borderlands Granular skittering the piano around the top and deep down there's a dark, growling, honking drone: that's FieldScaper. It's also the majority of what you hear on the long, fade out tail at the end.
FieldScaper, Borderlands, Moebius Lab and Dubstation were all bussed to each other, creating a feedback loop of effects.
Thank you. I'm curious to know if other people have taken on this approach: iPad as "musical instrument" built from sequencers, drum machines, as well as directly playable instruments. Where the point is playing it, rather than constructing tracks. Bram Bos touched on the idea in his essay - and I've long described the iOS ecosystem as "modular synth-like".
I wish! I just need more free time!
Seriously impressive! Particularly interesting how you’ve use fieldscaper to such good effect in loop mode. Appreciate the description of how you’ve used each app - that’ll get a few readers trying out some new things no doubt (me being one of them
)
Fantastic.
I'm sorry to get lost in a nerdy detail but... the delay on the Piano is beautiful. It doesn't sound like a straight delay. It's like it delays at an 8th once at 60-70% volume and then there's a longer delay before it comes back again once more at a much quieter level. Can I ask what's going on there?
Thank you!
I'm a nerd, I love nerdy - here's the patch for Dubstation 2:
<Dub2PresetFile pluginVersion="2.0.0" presetName="Default" 0="0.96385502815246582031" 1="0.60000002384185791016" 2="0.12200000137090682983" 3="0.12800000607967376709" 4="0.35499998927116394043" 5="0.094999998807907104492" 6="0.68000000715255737305" 7="0.75800001621246337891" 8="0.43307098746299743652" 9="1" 10="0.93300002813339233398" 11="0" 12="1" 13="0" 14="0" 15="1" 16="1"/>
It's actually a dotted 1/4 note and a 1/2 note, but you're right in that the feedback is set to -17, so it drops out quickly. I wanted to get that first tap as a counterpoint, but didn't want a series of taps to confuse the melody.
Part of what you're hearing in the longer delays is that the processing routes back into feedback loops. You're hearing the piano after it round-trips through the processing.
When I was first playing with this, it was much denser and textural, bordering on runaway feedback••, but I eased up on that and brought the more traditional melodic and rhythmic elements to the fore (initially there were no drums).
•• while the musical inspiration was Perplex On, the textural inspiration was Hainbach. I just reverted back to a more trad song structure as the piece developed.
@aplourde Thanks for the breakdown. Love this stuff.
I couldn’t agree more - I have been making music for longer than many on this forum have been alive, all sorts of music from prog-rock, through country rock, jazz - back to prog some 10 years ago and recorded and mastered our bands three CDs using Samplitude on a PC.
And for all that I have never had so much fun and been so musically/artistically satisfied than I am today - using just iOS. I chucked out Cubasis, BM3 and now just freestyle using AUM, SPA and Rozeta driving LayR, Ripplemaker, Ruismaker, Zeeon, the Moog twins and iSymphonic. That is all I will ever need - Oh and Quanta when it drops. Endless ambient noodling - it’s feels alive and new every time I connect things up in AUM. Sometimes I actually finish a track - most time not - but it does not matter as I am having fun with music again. Not bounded by genre or style. And this is all portable - sitting in the garden at the moment on a hot summers evening in the UK - iPad plugged in to my Anker powerpack, an evening of music ahead - what could be better.
@aplourde Brother that was brilliant. Totally agree with the comments regarding iOS's immediacy.
Like @ageezz I've used a bunch of different tech, gear & formats in my music and I feel that iOS music production checks off all the boxes. It's fun & hands on like using an old Tascam PortaStudio and it's robust & capable like a modern DAW.
@aplourde used iOS's ace up it's sleave (it's growing number of incredibly powerful apps) to brilliant effect, that fast measure switching he was doing on Fugue Machine was badass. A parameter control for that measure link slider would be a cool feature for those of us who aren't as quick.
Word. He was also deft at switching the pitch of a given track without allowing bum notes during the transition. The developer mentioned here once that the change doesn't take place until you release your finger (good!) but I can never seem to really nail this in the heat of the moment (bad!).
Thanks for sharing. That's quite a chain. I've never attempted such craziness! (Nothing usually more than one or two mixbusses ). I may have to try something like that...
Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it.
Yeah, MIDI control of Fugue Machine controls would be amazing; it's a very "playable" sequencer and really excels on the touchscreen, but sometimes precise triggering from a controller would make realtime navigation easier.
Fugue Machine was very well designed**. "Activate on release" is a feature that I wish other apps would use; you really have more control that way, especially with a touchscreen that has no tactile feedback. Still, a larger quantization value or a Quantum-like Cycle mode could be handy for more complicated playing.
Another thing I wish app developers would adopt (including Fugue Machine) is a "HUD" view for controllers (like MIDI Designer). I almost flubbed a transposition and mucked up the note timing adjustments at the end because I couldn't quite see with my finger on the control....
Of course there's the desire for a Universal version, separate playhead range controls, note recording, more scales, etc. etc.... ; )
** One aspect of the good design is how transposition is not activated on release - this allows rapid melodic modulations. Although I do wish this area was a bit more contrasty and labeled, it's sometimes hard to see how much you're modulating.
Quantum fanboi says... Quantum.
Obviously spoken to fanboi to fanboi!
But... I find different tools lead to different results. With Quantum, I often end up with more groove-based pieces; where melody is more a function of the rhythm than harmonic progression. Fugue Machine, with it's piano roll, leads me to more traditional song structure.
This is all part of the beauty of iOS: the plethora of options to allow you to use the right tools for the job.
I find the same. I just create differently in each app. Last night, thinking of this thread, I had an idea that felt so obvious once I'd done it... I got something going in Fugue Machine and then recreated it in Quantum and wandered from there. Took like three minutes to recreate. Looking forward to trying it again.