For me it depends on what I’m working on. If I do techno related stuff I use mine for basslines (of course) and sometimes I use my second Little Phatty for kicks but I try not to do that very often because I’m only able to bring one Phatty with me when I perform live (otherwise the rig would be too large).
I also use the 103 and 104Z together with my Dynacord tape echo to create lush phase-shifting delays for chords.
If I do more retro stuff like Berlin-school or disco I tend to use both Phatties, one for sequencing and one for leads and sound effects. Also the 102 comes in handy for outerspace sound effects. I use the 103 and 104Z to spice up certain elements in the music (delayed sequences or phased leads for instance).
If I’m in a modular mood I’ll just hook up every piece of Moog equipment I have and create the most complex patches I possibly can (and still trying to make it sound good in a musical way).
Until I get my own studio set up, my Moogs ARE my set up. I’ve got the LPAGSE hooked up to my 'Foogers running out to my amp. Also, I use hand drums and harmonica sometimes. That’s it. Eventually, an electronic drum kit (completely homemade, BTW) and my Farfisa will join the setup.
This is how I work and how a lot of the music that you hear when you go to my pages are done.
The older stuff, my partner composed on fruity loops. With that he would compose the drums and I would do the basslines and melodies on the Micro.
Nowadays he composes all kinds of beats and sequences on REASON and I will go back over that and punctuate. He will compose something that is really hard, and Ill go back and lay some Rhodes over it and then accompany the Rhodes with some Moog.
Other times I might just write a melody speciffically with the Moog.
Since I don’t practice the Theremin like a proper Thereminist should, my theremin technique is halfway melodic and halfway SCI-FI.
Since we do most everything in a small bedroom home studio, we write songs in the studio. We will spend hours and hours in playback and working out the melodies and then laying everything down. This is mainly why we don’t have a live set going because If im playing 3 or 4 different overdubbed parts to his 3 or 4 sequences then its rather tricky.
I view the “Moog” as a system of all my Moog gear not just specifically one synth or effect.
Me too! There’s the Moog, the Farfisa, the Hohner (harmonica, either C or Bb), ocarina, and the hand drums. Of course, when I complete the mods to the Farfisa, it will be referred to as the Moogfisa.
My LP actually performs dual duty as a controller keyboard and a sound source, but I think with the imminent arrival of a five-octave DSI unit it will revert to the latter.
Sonically I tend to layer it with a Future-Retro XS, as the two complement each other well, creating a “four oscillator” monosynth.
I’ve never really used a Little Phatty as a controller keyboard, I use my DAW for that. Otherwise I’ll be changing the MIDI channels too often.
Does it work well?
If I’m done moving I’ll design my studio to pair my Little Phatties with ease and try to use them more simultaneously (duophonic or layered monophonic).
Using an LP as a controller has a couple of downsides: no aftertouch, a short keyboard, and there aren’t exactly dozens of knobs, sliders or pads to transmit data.
In practice, I really only find the short keyboard to be an issue, which is part of the impetus behind buying a Prophet-08. I rarely (read as “never”) use aftertouch. I’ll probably go through and disable it on most of the P08 patches when it arrives and all my synths are fairly well equipped with knobs, sliders and other realtime controls so edits can be done locally and quickly. You can tell I don’t use software synths!
Perhaps, but in this case it’ll be the other way around: the P08 will likely be the master and the LP the slave.
I find the P08 to have the most wackily hair-trigger aftertouch on the market. What I consider to be simply the weight of my hand resting on the keybed causes absoltely seasick levels of modulation. I haven’t dived in far enough to see if its scalable, but it will have to be addressed.
lol this is my setup exactly, LP is my kb controller/bassmonster, midi out to the XS. Slightly different though, I have a mf107 running via the XS for 5 oscs total, and have a DSI Evolver hooked up through the XS’s midi thru for another 4 when i’m feeling like overkill. >:D
Have fun w/ the Poly! I had a Prophet '08 for a while but sold it for the desktop version to make room/ buy the XS
I find the P08 to have the most wackily hair-trigger aftertouch on the market. What I consider to be simply the weight of my hand resting on the keybed causes absoltely seasick levels of modulation. I haven’t dived in far enough to see if its scalable, but it will have to be addressed.[/quote]
The Prophet 08 can be a bit sensitive in many respects, pressure being one of them . You also have to be careful brushing against the knobs since they tend to go into edtit easily. Doesn’t stop me from using it live though . The feel of the Pro 08 keyboard is very nice though.
To adjust the pressure(after touch) on the Prophet 08, go over to the Modulator section, press the misc key scroll to pressure adjust to taste then save. This is adjustable per patch.
As for what I use my Moog gear for, a little of everything depending on what I want to do Leads and bass lines of course but then filler effects or just general “noise” . The MoogerFoogers come into play on things other than the Moogs. All depends. The Moogs, the Motif, Z1 and Prophet 08 get the most use, but there still is a place for the other “kids” sitting around .
For awhile I was using a Voyager to do bass lines and or leads for the slower songs at Church for the contemporary service. The I lost about 25 pounds when I started taking the LPTE. Now I pretty much take the Prophet 08 each week so I can do pads when needed. For the “faster” things I play drums live on a Boss DR 770
We were going to use the Voyager for some Funk Basslines in the CHristmas service in Dec, but the day before the job the Voyager keybed scanner crapped out, and then they cancelled the job because everyone got sick.
Ill bet you a billion dollars that your contemporary services are better than ours!
We now have a bass player ( electric bass) so I only play bass lines when he’s not there, once in awhile I’ll double what he’s playing but for the most part I’m playing melody lines or pads on the slower things. When he’s not there though . Even then it depends on the piece . The Prophet does a nice job on he bass lines, not as warm as the LP or Voyager, but it holds it’s own well. It’s really it’s own kind of warm Once in awhile I’ll take one of the Moogs with me, but 99% of the time now it’s the Pro08, fro what I need to do I need the Polyphony . Our Director of Music plays all the “main” parts on a Korg N5, then we also have an acoustic guitar and singers.
I just got my LP, but I got it specifically for bass and leads. [I had budgeted for mid-January, but the CP-251 offer forced me to move up the schedule! Guess I can live on ramen for a couple of weeks.] I had been using my Akai AX60 for bass and leads, but the MIDI implementation is pretty minimal and I wasn’t able to get that BIG lead sound.
So far, having recorded two tracks with it, I’m finding the LP fits perfectly. I’m really wuite impressed with it. Unfortunately, I’m travelling for the next little while, so I won’t get to play with it for a while.
The plan, ultimately, is to come up with a live set for A Perfect Vacuum. Most of my stuff won’t work live, but I’m working on an improvisational thing with a bass player, a guitarist and a much pared-down live rig with the LP at the centre.
Matt,
I sent you a friends request a few hours ago.
See, we don’t have a live set either, and Im not hip on finding/adding a bunch of musicians to try to do it live. Im also not hip on having computers on stage, because to me thats not too far removed from Milli Vanilli when you start having [prerecorded parts, although Id use computers for databases or visual arrays.
So we are essentially in the same boat, making magic in the studio but perplexed at how we are going to translate it to live performance lolol.
Basically, we need to clone ourselves.
I liked that “Devices” list of instruments on your myspace profile.
Eric
