- Jul 07, 2008 Inside The Pyramid: Daft Punk’s Live Gear 7 07 2008 This is not necessarily breaking news, since this info was first published a while back on Mixmag magazinebut it’s always good to share it with newcomers, considering that Daft Punk are one of the best and most creative electronic artists today.
- Nov 14, 2007 The Alive 2007 set used Ableton Live software on 'custom made super-computers' for the show. Daft Punk accessed the hardware remotely with Behringer BCR2000 MIDI controllers and JazzMutant Lemur touchscreen pads within the central pyramid. Minimoog Voyager RME units were also implemented for the live performances.
Let’s be honest here: sometimes, the must fun thing about making electronic music is getting a little geeky with sound. Whether it’s messing with time with a granular synth, manipulating unusual samples such as paper towels, or voice transformation with a vocoder, this week’s Free Stuff Friday should speak to your creative geeky side.
Daft Punk: Thomas Bangalter Finds Live at the Heart of the Machine. For a couple of robots, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter do a good job of injecting soul into dance music.
Everyone Needs a Vocoder
The vocoder - does anything else say “funky robot” quite so well? From Daft Punk to Styx, this singing synthesizer effect has provided that dose of cold (yet oh-so-diggable) lyrical futurism. Check out vocoder heroes Kraftwerk, performing live with the effect:
Kraftwerk - “Aerodynamik”
Now, get in on the fun yourself - with Live 9 and Push! Musician Winterpark provides a free set of custom racks for live vocoder performance, custom-mapped to work instantly with Push.
Need a Towel?
Certified Trainer Brian Funk aka AfroDJMac long ago established himself as a free stuff hero - with well over 100 free Packs given away. This time, he’s explored the hidden musical potential of..paper towels? And the chatter of a local café? What you hear will surprise you:
AfroDJMac’s Paper Towel Racks in action.
Ggrraannuullaarr
With Halloween just around the corner, let’s open this one with a joke: what do vegan zombies eat? GRAAAAINS!
https://valevirgin.weebly.com/blog/ableton-skins-mac. Silliness aside, Grains, a Max for Live instrument from musician Naskou, is a real treat of an instrument. Drop a sample in, and get lost in stretched-out, scrambled sounds:
And that’s all for this one, folks! Tune in next week, same time, same place, for a special Halloween edition of Free Stuff Friday. Until then, get at us with your free stuff nominations on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ - and don’t forget to use #FreeStuffFriday.
For a couple of robots, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter do a good job of injecting soul into dance music. While 2001's Discovery and the lead-off single 'One More Time' put Daft Punk on the cover of every cool music magazine, the duo have released a surprising number of hits for two guys in their twenties. 2005's Human After All expanded on their formula — a blend of catchy robotic vocoders, '80s disco-funk and progressive dance music, with Live as a tool to help assemble their creations. Ableton talked with Thomas Bangalter about how and why he uses Live.
'I jumped on the Live-user bandwagon around the release of Live 2.0. 'Elastic audio' were the words that drew me in. I use Live anywhere, anyhow. I use it on my laptop as a notepad for remembering and experimenting with musical ideas, and as a personal-computer game — because I have more fun with it than most video games. I use it in the studio for Daft Punk projects, tracking sessions, jamming, remixes, scoring and sound design.'
Bangalter also turns to Ableton when he's looking for sonic warmth. 'One of the things I prefer in Live is the proprietary Ableton effects plug-ins. They are amongst the warmest software effects. Sometimes I will import a Pro Tools track in Live, just to bounce it down with Ableton effects, to make it sound warmer and crisper, or dirty — I love dirt. I'm not a big ReWire fan, so I do it the old-school way, importing and exporting the sound files.'
Daft Punk Live 2019
While Daft Punk record analog synths for thick melodies and lead lines, they're also fans of Ableton's built-in synthesizer. 'Operator is one of the best soft synths out there, and I hate soft synths in general,' says Bangalter. 'It's great because it's got its own thing, it's not trying to emulate this or that.' He adds: 'Also, plug-in delay compensation in milliseconds is great. Live is getting better and better with each version.'
Live's simplicity hasn't just influenced Bangalter's workflow, it's also influenced the way Daft Punk make music. 'I tend to minimize my setup, and Live helped me do it. Live is one of the most transparent and creative softwares I have ever used. Its interface is streamlined and its features offer endless possibilities with a minimal approach. The whole process is easy, simple and fun, yet with accessible sophistication and professional results.'
Daft Punk Live Concert
A problem with loop-based music and electronica in general is a tendency toward formulaic, static results. Pioneer rmx 1000 plug in. Bangalter has found Live to be a means of escaping these clichés. 'The rule is: There are no rules. That is definitely the case for the freeform piece of software that is Live.'
Daft Punk Songs
Check out www.daftpunk.com for more information.