The Zen of monome Performance: Edison’s Live Push-Button Music
edison…. new set up….! from edison on Vimeo.
The open source monome, ingeniously minimal as it is, is just an object. It’s the community that has formed around this hardware controller, a simple array of light-up buttons, that has made monome a cultural phenomenon, by pushing performance practice. Using grids of simple music events, they represent an ongoing transformation of DJing from the act of manipulating two records to composing with chunks of material.
On the Web, this has become something of a virtual slam between artists – more generous than competitive. One of my favorites to watch this year has been a gentleman by the name of Edison. He composes a strange poetry about his work in the Vimeo comments, so from here on out, I’ll let him speak for himself:
yo hoss!
so this is my new set up….
the monome is controlling ableton….
each button is a sound…..
the bottom right button is stop all noises….
introducing: the love…
a box of 16 arcade buttons…
made from an USB joystick….
it controls a looper and all effects…
on the far end is a native instruments audio kontrol 1…
(finally gotta audio interface!!!)
the big ass knob just sends the whole mix to an echo…
basically…
i have the melodic content run through a looper…
its is always recording…. so anything i play will repeat on a 2 bar loop
this is bypassable and erasable…..
all the drums are run through 4 effects….
all the melodic stuff is run though 8 effects… post looper…
and if all that aint nerdy enough for you….
then i aint trying hard enough….!
so to you and yours…… STING
From earlier this year, bottom.
64 buttons…..
63 sounds….
1 stop button……
no quantize……
no loops…….
More:
myspace.com/bearless
edisoninvention.tumblr.com
23 Comments
Leave a Commentrobb
i’ve had the pleasure to meet him once, he’s a incredibly warm-hearted and down to earth person.
If you have the chance to see him live, don’t miss him
August 10, 2009 @ 9:00 am
buffer
fuck yeah man!! nothing like jamming on a monome!
August 10, 2009 @ 9:28 am
Steven Nguyen
That was a completely astounding performance. Absolutely mind-blowing.
August 10, 2009 @ 11:23 am
Nick Maxwell
This is the first performance that I’ve seen with a Monome which actually resonated with me. Not that the others I’ve seen weren’t full of talent and good music, but the connection between the performer and the device really came through on this video in particular. Also, the color-scheme is fantastic :)
August 10, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
dead_red_eyes
Nice. This performance really reminds me a lot of “Jel”, but he was using a Monome instead of an MPC. I’m right there with Nick Maxwell’s comment, this was the first performance that I’ve seen with a monome that really impressed me. Absolutely wonderful material from this guy!
August 10, 2009 @ 1:06 pm
Dan Gillespie
His album is full of phenomenal music too, I listen to it all the time.
August 10, 2009 @ 1:35 pm
corporation
Edison is an amazing, top notch musician/person… never met him, but i seem to get that from his monome posts / videos…
August 10, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
deb
whoa.
this is very, very heavy.
August 10, 2009 @ 8:32 pm
ideletemyself
Fanfreakintabulous man! love it :)
August 10, 2009 @ 9:34 pm
edison
hey guys!
moocho love!!!!
super excited/proud/blushing to be on the CDM…
(thanks peter!)
and fer all the comments….
you guys are awesome…
!
ive been working real hard on a new set up / new album….
so far ive added a “wheres the party at” 8 bit sampler to the mix…..
http://www.narrat1ve.com
and been working on a new version of the “love box” that speaks MIDI instead of HID….
i got nine tracks done for the new album…
none of which are recorded yet…
need one or two more…
other than that…
pleaseeeeee stay tuned!!
hope you all have a wonderful night…
and read your CDM everyday…. to keep the doctor away!
sting!
August 10, 2009 @ 9:59 pm
Murray
That was awesome.
August 10, 2009 @ 10:06 pm
solarlion
that’s what i’m talking ’bout. ;)
August 10, 2009 @ 11:12 pm
Stij
Holy crap, that was awesome. Most of the Monome videos I’ve seen have been less then impressive, but this guy truly plays it like an instrument.
August 10, 2009 @ 11:16 pm
Freddy
At last a nice use of the monome, and nice song too!… connecting to a button pushing performance may bit of a stretch though.
I’d love to see the song played by musicians, I can connect with that ;)
August 11, 2009 @ 1:20 am
robb
@freddy
you really got to see some monome performance live, that’s really something different. Seing people like Daedelus or Ed live makes you realize that it’s really more than button pushing; the monome may be an abstract controller, but i think it’s simplicity, combined with the performers body movement, sweating, glasses dropping etc. connects quite well to the audience
August 11, 2009 @ 10:31 am
Create Digital Music » Tilt, Smack, Mash, Tweak: Ableton Live Jam with monome + nanoKONTROL
[...] power user based at Princeton who has organized like-minded monomists. As with Edison’s performance work yesterday, Raymond is working to develop real performance [...]
August 11, 2009 @ 11:41 am
edison
ah….
@freddy….
actually man…
i sampled the drums…. but everything else WAS played by me….
i try to only use sound sources that i have created…
so in effect…. you are watching it played by the musician…..
haha
August 11, 2009 @ 3:30 pm
Esol Esek
I’m too lazy to punch out all those beats from scratch like that…time for some finger holsters..
August 11, 2009 @ 6:15 pm
khani3s
You can just do the same thing on a computer keyboard…
August 12, 2009 @ 10:22 am
mr lazy
i met him too, he’s a retard
August 14, 2009 @ 3:32 pm
edison
nice….!
gotta love the haters…..
i love when people who cant do stuff…. get mad about it….
August 18, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
editorian
Well although i like edisons work i must agree with mr lazy a bit.
@edison – your opinion that this “hater” can’t do “stuff” is based on what exactly?
because he hates? where’s the connection?
that IS retarded if you ask me, sorry.
that said i still like your work ;-)
September 28, 2009 @ 2:14 pm
Tom Jepson
Edison, man. Great stuff! Nice techniques, and a flawless sound.
Quick question – are you running at the ’sounds’ as audio, or are you racking stuff up and triggering MIDI? Drums?
October 20, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
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