With the right group, something like this could be fun.
Here's how I'd do it:
Download LMMS (free), get your self some decent VST-intruments (possibly free as well - DSK Music has some nice ones to start with), and see if you can get an inexpensive portable amplifier (likely one with an optical input if you laptop has optical audio out - no risk of ground-loop problems that way.) USB MIDI stuff is optional... Other than the hardware, it's rather cheap to get started on something like this.
I expected this to be really cool but I don't see this as progress in any way musically, I think it's harder to program than to play those sounds. Maybe t his is helpful to develop some kind of new computer music enviroment, I don't know, but for watch it's not good. Electronic music has been around for a long time, I bas my whole music setup on software, so using only a laptop I could also play but this wasn't good. That's probably the future of music indeed, it gets worse year by year.
I have to agree, being an actual musician -- I cannot fathom that these hunks of machinery would replace our actual concert halls. It is an area ripe for experimentation alone.
As in a person who is capable of picking up a REAL instrument, and creating music with it. Not just fiddling with a few buttons on a stupid laptop. I agree that this is an interesting novelty -- but the musicality ends there.
i agree what separates a real instrument from a fake instrument? what makes these any less real then say a guitar or a violin? what makes it any less elegant? they are just innovative. D0ug16 i know you already by reading your comment. hmm, you go to or did go to a musical college, youve played music all your life, and yuor in the upper class. you live alone other then the buddies in your wine club. Those who are resistent to change, cant make it in our constantly metamorphisizing world.
You idiot, just because I've received musical training does not mean that I'm in the upper class. It means that I have had to work fucking hard to get where I am with my instrument. And when a video like this warrants more attention that those instruments that people dedicate their lives to, it bothers me.
I saw the Princeton Laptop Orchestra live with Matmos, and it was absolutely amazing and beautiful. The demonstrations in this video do it no justice, as their full compositions are not fiddling on a keyboard, there is a real direction and orchestration to it.
im not very impressed, i dont understand why they are classed as an orchestra, the conduction is improper as they do not seem to play from a score they drop in random synth sounds anywhere and its ineffichant around £20000 of macs when the same effects could be triggered with several keyboards, cheap input effects and less people
The particular piece featured in the clip is Terry Riley's "In C", which is a piece of the minimalist tradition. While the phrases the listener hears may appear to be random, they are in fact written out in standard notation. You can download it from the internet even. Conducting is not necessary, since the duration of the piece is determined by the performers.
"Improper" is just a product of you being conditioned to appreciate one tradition of music alone. And dropping in "random" synth sounds "anywhere" is fine, just like how Bach drops in "random" chord changes "anywhere". It's all planned out by the composer.
But I hear you on the equipment count. It does seem like they're riding on the "cool" factor of the laptop as an instrument.
I don't think it sounds so bad when they accompany real instruments, it's an interesting juxtaposition...but alone I don't find it very musical, just a bunch of beeps and shit. But it's not the end of the world people...it's just a new way to get relatively un-musically inclined people into playing music. And there more music (regardless of it being "good" or "bad"), the better, I think.
Who, in that performance, do you think is "un-musically inclined"? Furthermore, great composers of our age have made music consisting of nothing more than "beeps and shit" that has actual artistic worth.
Okay this is just embarrassing to watch, for music, it doesn't sound very musical, more like computer noise. And what do they mean, new sounds that haven't been done before? I can make n e of those noises with a synth. No one wants to go against the grain and point out the OBVIOUS, it sounds terrible, looks stupid, and is just an attempt to be avant-guard. People have been making music with computers for years, just in a more efficient completely average way. Sad attempt at notoriety
This is perhaps one of the worst "creative outpour" from the long exhausted artists in our society. Post modernism forces people either to be abstract to the point of illogical ideas or embrace technology that enables the mass to take part in activities that will signal the end of true creativity and the fall of western civilization.
Personally I'm pleased to see innovation in the arts, but this is a long way from an organized orchestra able to perform a true pice of music. Call me old fashioned, but not all things analog need to be turned into digital.
Please reply.-
PS: seriousness aside... this is what happens when games like guitar hero becomes a smash hit!
I am also pleased to see innovation, but this isnt innovation, it is just taking the hardest route to do the most simple task. Why instead of using inaccurate inputs like the track pad, just use a keyboard? No, because then Mr. dong wouldnt be known for anything. This is like some1 claiming to have invented the wheel, but what they actually invented was an oval, that didn't turn as well, and even though the wheel exists, no one realizes that the oval is just a less efficient version of the wheel
Hahahaha, Higher resolution - like a trackpad! You are defending SLOP or Slork or what ever it's called so hard. I feel really sorry for you, because you clearly know nothing about making music. Let's say u are right... and keyboards don't cut it, they could use the Jazz Mutant Lemur if they want a tactile approach. But you've proven to have a simpleton's mind, so, you wouldn't understand...
The Lemur costs what a Macbook costs, so it's an expensive choice - especially if the touchpads function just fine for what they want to do.
I hear what you're saying: there is specialised equipment (also eg. Kaoss Pad) that can fulfill this function. However, if the trackpads are sufficient then they're sufficient.
And a trackpad does have a much higher resolution than a keyboard. Obviously they're not seeking discrete pitch shifts here.
nice orchestra.
lovelplants 2 weeks ago
With the right group, something like this could be fun.
Here's how I'd do it:
Download LMMS (free), get your self some decent VST-intruments (possibly free as well - DSK Music has some nice ones to start with), and see if you can get an inexpensive portable amplifier (likely one with an optical input if you laptop has optical audio out - no risk of ground-loop problems that way.) USB MIDI stuff is optional... Other than the hardware, it's rather cheap to get started on something like this.
pauljs75 3 months ago
it has so much potential but it seems so wasted, and for what reason i dont know. The music is very poor.
randmnumber 3 months ago
I think I heard a little bit of In C by Terry Riley @ 0:48 :D
gotztago 7 months ago
i have this album on itunes :D
orchdork775 1 year ago
Because I want to pay 60 bucks to watch hipsters press buttons
TheHawkdaddy 1 year ago
I expected this to be really cool but I don't see this as progress in any way musically, I think it's harder to program than to play those sounds. Maybe t his is helpful to develop some kind of new computer music enviroment, I don't know, but for watch it's not good. Electronic music has been around for a long time, I bas my whole music setup on software, so using only a laptop I could also play but this wasn't good. That's probably the future of music indeed, it gets worse year by year.
MaghoxFr 1 year ago
satinhooks said ¨´i'm looking for one of these clips of 'laptop orchestras' to be awesome, but it's boring as fuck. ´´
THATS RIGHT
jesemus33 2 years ago
how much does this guy get paid to teach?
a lack of imagination should get anyone removed from a creative teaching position.
way to prove higher education wrong, Princeton & Stanford.
what a joke.
isn't music about sound results? this is just silly.
"like, create something new that had never been done before"...
say whaaaaaaat?
so-called limitless possibilities sounds VERY limited in this context.
satinhooks 2 years ago
it doesn't sound like anything.
i'm looking for one of these clips of 'laptop orchestras' to be awesome, but it's boring as fuck.
nice idea. lame results.
satinhooks 2 years ago 4
I agree. I love electronic music, but stuff going on like this is really very uninteresting and unmusical :)
Trunks7j 2 years ago
Edgar varese for example was a thousand miles better than this!!!!!
jesemus33 2 years ago
MAC attack!!!
RoboTekno 2 years ago
fun but stupid
alextimashkov 2 years ago
I have to agree, being an actual musician -- I cannot fathom that these hunks of machinery would replace our actual concert halls. It is an area ripe for experimentation alone.
D0ug16 2 years ago
"Actual musician"? Go die in a fire.
henrebotha 2 years ago
As in a person who is capable of picking up a REAL instrument, and creating music with it. Not just fiddling with a few buttons on a stupid laptop. I agree that this is an interesting novelty -- but the musicality ends there.
D0ug16 2 years ago
How do you define a "real" musical instrument?
henrebotha 2 years ago
i agree what separates a real instrument from a fake instrument? what makes these any less real then say a guitar or a violin? what makes it any less elegant? they are just innovative. D0ug16 i know you already by reading your comment. hmm, you go to or did go to a musical college, youve played music all your life, and yuor in the upper class. you live alone other then the buddies in your wine club. Those who are resistent to change, cant make it in our constantly metamorphisizing world.
boredkidz148 2 years ago
Agreed even Today weve got iphones with musical Instrument applications that create about the same as a so called "Real instrument" in D0ug16's word
Monkeyspider808 2 years ago
You idiot, just because I've received musical training does not mean that I'm in the upper class. It means that I have had to work fucking hard to get where I am with my instrument. And when a video like this warrants more attention that those instruments that people dedicate their lives to, it bothers me.
D0ug16 2 years ago 2
I saw the Princeton Laptop Orchestra live with Matmos, and it was absolutely amazing and beautiful. The demonstrations in this video do it no justice, as their full compositions are not fiddling on a keyboard, there is a real direction and orchestration to it.
cedqwig 2 years ago
im not very impressed, i dont understand why they are classed as an orchestra, the conduction is improper as they do not seem to play from a score they drop in random synth sounds anywhere and its ineffichant around £20000 of macs when the same effects could be triggered with several keyboards, cheap input effects and less people
KensMoose 3 years ago
The particular piece featured in the clip is Terry Riley's "In C", which is a piece of the minimalist tradition. While the phrases the listener hears may appear to be random, they are in fact written out in standard notation. You can download it from the internet even. Conducting is not necessary, since the duration of the piece is determined by the performers.
cellomon09 3 years ago
"Improper" is just a product of you being conditioned to appreciate one tradition of music alone. And dropping in "random" synth sounds "anywhere" is fine, just like how Bach drops in "random" chord changes "anywhere". It's all planned out by the composer.
But I hear you on the equipment count. It does seem like they're riding on the "cool" factor of the laptop as an instrument.
henrebotha 2 years ago
what a dumb ass question "is this the future of music" hell no
davidbassplanc 3 years ago
couldnt agree more
afroskizzle 2 years ago
So what is the future, then? Repetition of the same old symphonies and concerti that we've been performing for literally centuries?
henrebotha 2 years ago
I don't think it sounds so bad when they accompany real instruments, it's an interesting juxtaposition...but alone I don't find it very musical, just a bunch of beeps and shit. But it's not the end of the world people...it's just a new way to get relatively un-musically inclined people into playing music. And there more music (regardless of it being "good" or "bad"), the better, I think.
eetfuk75 3 years ago
Who, in that performance, do you think is "un-musically inclined"? Furthermore, great composers of our age have made music consisting of nothing more than "beeps and shit" that has actual artistic worth.
henrebotha 2 years ago
music killers!!!!
bunch of computerfans
jesemus33 3 years ago
How exactly is experimentation killing music?
henrebotha 2 years ago
Okay this is just embarrassing to watch, for music, it doesn't sound very musical, more like computer noise. And what do they mean, new sounds that haven't been done before? I can make n e of those noises with a synth. No one wants to go against the grain and point out the OBVIOUS, it sounds terrible, looks stupid, and is just an attempt to be avant-guard. People have been making music with computers for years, just in a more efficient completely average way. Sad attempt at notoriety
edmondoman 3 years ago 10
i completely agree with you!!!!
Edgar varese for example was a thousand miles better than this!!!!!
jesemus33 3 years ago
I actually think this is really cool, but I sure as hell hope it will never replace actual instruments. Nothing can top the real thing!
Renthead1001 3 years ago
The death of music...
jimmydu444 3 years ago
The death of Music sigh...
This is perhaps one of the worst "creative outpour" from the long exhausted artists in our society. Post modernism forces people either to be abstract to the point of illogical ideas or embrace technology that enables the mass to take part in activities that will signal the end of true creativity and the fall of western civilization.
jimmydu444 3 years ago
1) Stop using terms you don't understand to cover up your ignorance.
2) Western civilization does not exist solely because of its creativity.
3) Post-modernism has nothing to do with this.
4) Stagnation, not experimentation, is the death of music.
5) Logic and music have very little to do with each other.
6) The key to good music is not elitism. Just ask anyone from, say, a Santeria or Capoeira tradition, or a Bantu tribesman.
henrebotha 2 years ago
I love SLOrk!
lekogirl 3 years ago
so joining lots of sound synthethizers are now an orchestra?
hehe never mind, just another anti-mac user
rockmace 3 years ago
Would you be okay with it if they used PCs instead?
henrebotha 2 years ago
Personally I'm pleased to see innovation in the arts, but this is a long way from an organized orchestra able to perform a true pice of music. Call me old fashioned, but not all things analog need to be turned into digital.
Please reply.-
PS: seriousness aside... this is what happens when games like guitar hero becomes a smash hit!
hmera99 3 years ago 7
I am also pleased to see innovation, but this isnt innovation, it is just taking the hardest route to do the most simple task. Why instead of using inaccurate inputs like the track pad, just use a keyboard? No, because then Mr. dong wouldnt be known for anything. This is like some1 claiming to have invented the wheel, but what they actually invented was an oval, that didn't turn as well, and even though the wheel exists, no one realizes that the oval is just a less efficient version of the wheel
edmondoman 3 years ago
Maybe the virtual instruments they're using require something with higher resolution than a keyboard. Like, say, a trackpad.
henrebotha 2 years ago
Hahahaha, Higher resolution - like a trackpad! You are defending SLOP or Slork or what ever it's called so hard. I feel really sorry for you, because you clearly know nothing about making music. Let's say u are right... and keyboards don't cut it, they could use the Jazz Mutant Lemur if they want a tactile approach. But you've proven to have a simpleton's mind, so, you wouldn't understand...
edmondoman 2 years ago
Not defending them - just the idea in general.
The Lemur costs what a Macbook costs, so it's an expensive choice - especially if the touchpads function just fine for what they want to do.
I hear what you're saying: there is specialised equipment (also eg. Kaoss Pad) that can fulfill this function. However, if the trackpads are sufficient then they're sufficient.
And a trackpad does have a much higher resolution than a keyboard. Obviously they're not seeking discrete pitch shifts here.
henrebotha 2 years ago
Shut Up its awesome why don't you two blow your own instruments if you have nothing better to do then leave negative comments!!
stefanvercelli 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
HMMM.....SLOrk...!RHYMES with DORK!
godot93 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
what a piece of shit
DeadYet 3 years ago