KVR Audio

jcub wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:01 pm The guitarist in one of the bands I am in is a huge GD fan. He is not too happy when we try to limit solo lengths for songs... I guess our next show will just be one song!

I'd like to request Truckin' then, with a middle-64 on the LinnStrument...

Cheers!

jcub wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:01 pm With the exception of "Terrapin Station," I have never been a GD fan but appreciate their talent. The guitarist in one of the bands I am in is a huge GD fan. He is not too happy when we try to limit solo lengths for songs! I wonder if there is a connection. I guess our next show will just be one song!

Ha! The downside of the dead's influence on rock for sure!

To me, their studio, albums...how shall I say it...pretty much sucked (with the exception of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty which were essentially proto-alt-country albums, so if you don't like that style, no dice there). What was interesting to me (above and beyond my love of Garcia's guitar playing) was their live attempts at group contrapunctual improvisation. Whereas the individual elements of typical "rock" bands play on sort of parallel tracks, and focus on rhythmic tightness, with maybe the occasional solo, the dead attempted to merge their "tracks" into one weave, happening real time and in a different way each time they played. It could either be a disaster or very compelling, but it was seldom boring (in my opinion). Also, at their height they had about 200 songs to choose from, so it was never a tired greatest hits run-through with them.

That group improv aspect, and the fact, that as Dizzy Gillespie said of them, "they sure swing." These two pieces were the reason why so many great jazz musicians wanted to play with them (Ornette Coleman, Branford Marsalis, David Murray, Charles Lloyd). In my opinion, they weren't really a rock band, they were more a uniquely american amalgam of different forms of popular music, with a focus on improvisation.

Some of the modular synth fans around here might find it interesting that at one point, during their set breaks, in the early 70s, they would feature a duo of their bass player (who was an atonal music composer with perfect pitch who joined the band after two week of playing bass) and a modular synth guy doing ambient noise.

I appreciate GD's improvisation skills. I recall there was a band called "Jazz is Dead" that focused on their music. Maybe we need a GD Tribute band with LinnStruments replacing the guitars...

Truckin', I'm a goin' home...
Whoa, whoa, baby, back where I belong...
Back home, sit down and patch my bones...
And get back truckin' on...

What a long, strange trip it's been...

I am working on an original tribute piece for the late, great Rush Drummer Neil Peart and thought I would share an early mix. We are still missing a guitar solo. All keyboards except for the organ part and the pad at the end are played on the LinnStrument. The Dave Smith Pro 2 has a very easy mod matrix to set up for aftertouch and Y axis control on LinnStrument. I play everything except the guitar and vocals. Drums are played on the Zendrum (Superior Drummer 3) and the bass part is played on the NS Stick.

https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... g4z8q2VXg7

Wow, Jeremy. Very impressive. And I can't believe the drums are you playing Zendrum. You're my new favorite drummer.

Thank you, Roger! My skills on a real drum kit leave a lot to be desired and the Zendrum makes far less noise. But expressive pads would be a big plus.

You mean that the zendrum pads sense velocity only, and that you’d like location sensing with each pad?

The Zendrum is velocity only. I have had limited success using LinnStrument as a drum controller only because the pads are a little too small. It would be great to take advantage of pressure and Y axis to access different articulations. IK multimedia has a fantastic physically modeled drum library called MODO drums and you can use MIDI to control positioning on the snare and toms. It works well with LinnStrument, and would work even better with slightly larger pads.

Yeah, I think expressive percussion (position sensing, pressure sensing, and holding pads while varying pressure for repeated notes) has a big future.

I agree! For Snare buzz rolls, I use a sample assigned to a Zendrum pad. I would much prefer to use controlled pressure on an expressive pad to control the dynamics and speed of a buzz roll.

Your "drumming" really is amazing and this one really shows it off. Doing a Neil Peart tribute with a midi drum is a bold notion, and man, you really pull it off. Also like the singer's homage to Geddy Lee!

Roger_Linn wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 3:25 pm Yeah, I think expressive percussion (position sensing, pressure sensing, and holding pads while varying pressure for repeated notes) has a big future.

Are we getting a preview of the LinnDrum 2 here?

Yes, LinnDrum II will bring LinnStrument tech to beatmaking, which I think will expand the genre.

Roger_Linn wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 3:51 pm Yes, LinnDrum II will bring LinnStrument tech to beatmaking, which I think will expand the genre.

great! Can't wait to hear Jeremy play that thing!