chipmusic.org — LSDJ live performance thread (2010)

What live mode actually gives you, argued out by people who tour with it.

Key claims#

• What is unique to live mode, precisely (PixyJunket): "the only thing that makes live mode unique is the ability to start and stop channels live. Any other fiddling around that you can do to alter the song while it is playing (for example soloing/muting/panning channels) will work in song mode."
• The real answer is per-channel queueing (Bit Shifter): "in live mode you can queue up, in each individual channel and independently of the others, a chain anywhere before or after the one currently playing … So PU1 can be playing the chain at position 01 while PU2 plays the chain at position 2F." In song mode every channel advances in step.
• Chain-loop islands. The manual's "chain loops" section says the sequencer in live mode stops rewinding as soon as it hits an empty step. The thread translates it: build isolated blocks of chains separated by empty rows, and each channel then cycles inside its block until told otherwise — "you can be assured that a bassline will only cycle through the parts you want it to, rather than continuing on and advancing through the rest of the song. Until you TELL it to." aphasia: "so you can split up bits of songs and then loop them parts indefinitely and independently from any of the other channels. Which is very useful."
• Jumping without breaking: xero values "jumping between different song positions while playing, without causing audio glitches or lost synchronization", and edits instrument parameters live — changing LENGTH as he goes.
• Editing parameters mid-song is a performance in itself (Lazerbeat): "altering Q in wave instruments while a song is playing is a lot of fun for sweepy type stuff" — and it works in song mode too (filter-programming).
• Vamp sections and resultant melodies (BR1GHT PR1MATE): write several chains of different lengths over the same harmonic material on PU1, PU2 and WAV, then let them cycle freely — "you can get amazing resultant harmonic/melodic textures that you never would have planned for … the mix of tones, melodies and registers can be quite beautiful, string quartet-like". For polyrhythm, give some chains different rhythmic lengths with the H command so they cycle against the song's straight 16ths, "giving you a wacky, shifting groove (I suggest being subtle with this, otherwise it can sound like utter shite)". Under that, a 5/8 drum ostinato: "although you wrote the individual sections, hearing the material overlap in unexpected ways creates its own sort of organic structure."
• Live mode as arrangement: Starscream introduces songs "by slowly piecing them together — kind of remixing my own songs on stage as a lead up to the original structure"; Subway Sonicbeat keeps a bassline running "while you keep drums and lead fucking it up the way you want"; ovenrake writes everything in live mode, where "making transitions is always such a bitch".
• A hazard that became a trick: switching the sync mode to slave mid-note drones the sound. PlainFlavored offers it as a technique ("for maximum Nullsleepishness"); Note! offers the same thing as the accident to fear — "more dangerous is accidentally switching your master to slave (or worse even, MIDI) in the middle of a song, resulting in a delicious drooooone and loud SHITCAKES!" (sync).

Practical takeaways#

• Design the save for live before the gig: blocks of chains separated by empty rows, so each channel loops safely inside its island.
• The performance is queueing chains per channel, not muting — everything else works in song mode too.
• Chains of deliberately mismatched lengths generate music you did not write; H turns that into polyrhythm.
• Live parameter edits (Q, instrument LENGTH) are an instrument in their own right.

Notable quotes#

"You can be assured that a bassline will only cycle through the parts you want it to… until you TELL it to." — Bit Shifter

"Although you wrote the individual sections, hearing the material overlap in unexpected ways creates its own sort of organic structure." — BR1GHT PR1MATE

Relevance to the wiki#

live-tracking had the C64 improvisation tradition and the save-preparation habits from pain-perdu; this is the Game Boy scene's own account of what live mode is for, with the chain-loop islands the manual only hints at.

To verify#

• The manual passage quoted is from an older edition ("3.5.1 Chain Loops"); the 9.2.6 manual in raw/lsdj/ should be checked for the current wording and section number (unverified).

Pages touched#

live-tracking · arrangement · orderlist · sync · filter-programming · rhythm-and-groove · lsdj · chipmusic-org