Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:39 pm
If Jarre is triggering the Digisequencer like he did by hand during the Oxygene tour,why is that considered any less Live than if he brought in another person to play it?
After all the sequences are triggered live and simply played by a Machine either via MIDI or CV,the issue of using Premade Audio backings is a different matter,because If thats his aim then he has no intention of playing Everything Live,which defeats the object of presenting the Music in a Real situation Like he did with the last Tour.
I'm sure his intention of this newer tour is to do exactly the same scenario of live Playing but with the same gear+more digital devices but in the same sense of playing them Live.
I would suspect that after all the concerts he did of Oxygene last year he and the rest of the crew are more than comfortable to do it again but this time presenting Jarre's more prominent songs almost entirely Live,except for a few presequenced parts triggered from the DS
The problem with using Audio backings as he did in the past was to actually use them as if he was playing it,I have no problem with triggering sequences cos its impossible to do everything with limited persons and simply because those sequences he did trigger on the Tour were perhaps a little repetitive and beyond the scope of being able to play note perfect through a whole Track everytime,which is totally understandable
Using Audio backing tracks are fine so long as they are just that and not a safety net for either perfectionism or lack of playing ability,if Jarre wanted to use backings for Drums,because he simply didn't want to use a drummer or get one,so long as he and the others were playing everything else then thats not an issue,I can see perhaps intergrating a drummer into this would cause problems to start with,if any of you have ever played in a Live band for a long time,you get used to each other and after a while the group becomes almost instinctive to each others needs and everyone becomes accustomed to playing in a tight situation,introducing some new member can create dynamic and playing issues until the dust has settled,and more specifically a drummer who would perhaps be more reliant for the groups timing than anyone else,Given the Jarre camp and setup this would need the introduction of a click track and in ear monitors,something Jarre disregarded on the last concert series.
Lets not forget that things can go wrong with sequencers Live too,so human intervention will always supercede the sequencer,like Francis did during Oxygene 5 at one ofthe concerts when I think Jarre said in his blog that the digisequencer failed to start so francis took over to play the bass,I would much prefer to see/Hear that,than simply using Audio to deceive people by miming,Based on that situation,We can clearly see its still as much a Live situation with using minimal sequences from Machines
After all the sequences are triggered live and simply played by a Machine either via MIDI or CV,the issue of using Premade Audio backings is a different matter,because If thats his aim then he has no intention of playing Everything Live,which defeats the object of presenting the Music in a Real situation Like he did with the last Tour.
I'm sure his intention of this newer tour is to do exactly the same scenario of live Playing but with the same gear+more digital devices but in the same sense of playing them Live.
I would suspect that after all the concerts he did of Oxygene last year he and the rest of the crew are more than comfortable to do it again but this time presenting Jarre's more prominent songs almost entirely Live,except for a few presequenced parts triggered from the DS
The problem with using Audio backings as he did in the past was to actually use them as if he was playing it,I have no problem with triggering sequences cos its impossible to do everything with limited persons and simply because those sequences he did trigger on the Tour were perhaps a little repetitive and beyond the scope of being able to play note perfect through a whole Track everytime,which is totally understandable
Using Audio backing tracks are fine so long as they are just that and not a safety net for either perfectionism or lack of playing ability,if Jarre wanted to use backings for Drums,because he simply didn't want to use a drummer or get one,so long as he and the others were playing everything else then thats not an issue,I can see perhaps intergrating a drummer into this would cause problems to start with,if any of you have ever played in a Live band for a long time,you get used to each other and after a while the group becomes almost instinctive to each others needs and everyone becomes accustomed to playing in a tight situation,introducing some new member can create dynamic and playing issues until the dust has settled,and more specifically a drummer who would perhaps be more reliant for the groups timing than anyone else,Given the Jarre camp and setup this would need the introduction of a click track and in ear monitors,something Jarre disregarded on the last concert series.
Lets not forget that things can go wrong with sequencers Live too,so human intervention will always supercede the sequencer,like Francis did during Oxygene 5 at one ofthe concerts when I think Jarre said in his blog that the digisequencer failed to start so francis took over to play the bass,I would much prefer to see/Hear that,than simply using Audio to deceive people by miming,Based on that situation,We can clearly see its still as much a Live situation with using minimal sequences from Machines
I suppose I will have to forgive them as I have to do some travelling. 
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