Controllerism replacing Turntablism. Beware of the ism’s? Are laptop DJ’s the new underground? Is it a new kind of music or a new kind of instrument? Its called “controllerism” but the name may not be totally apt in describing this complex process. In effect, blocks or sequences of sound are pulled from hundreds or more of songs in a wide variety of styles; these samples are triggered and then transformed into intricate and expressive musical patterns or gestures.
What causes this trigger is the software that synchronizes based on rhythm and other factors. People always ridicule what they don’t quite comprehend; the same mentality that laughed at cars in the age of the horse. The major obstacle facing the DJ who uses a laptop is getting people to take them seriously, especially when they are doing something new and different. Anything that challenges the status quo is suspect; the question is why laptop music took so long… This is the standard path; derision and subjection to the margins, then mainstream consensus until a new transformation develops.
Phil Morse: an age when we use laptop sound cards to add to our botched-together set-ups, when we suffer latency as we push our kit to the limits, when we record, produce and master from our bedrooms – yes, quality suffers. Yes, we’re not producing music where sound quality is our first concern. So what? Now add instant sampling and looping, a plethora of effects, and people behind the controls who are learning as they go along. You know what? Some of this stuff is completely rough around the edges. And your point is? What the old school don’t seem to realise is that yes, we would love everything to be 24bit/96kHz, uncompressed, perfectly mixed and mastered perfection – but it can’t always be that way. What do you want us to do, give up and go home? When we’re having so much fun? read more: http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2011/01/is-controllerism-the-new-underground/
“…Yo, hipsters! (Do hipsters even say ‘yo’?) You wanna be a credible underground DJ by yourself? I got a nice equipment suggestion for you: BUY A LAPTOP AND GO ALL DIGITAL! “Wha-wha-WHAT!?! Spinning music with a laptop? Like all the teeny-bedroom-DJs do? Never!” See? The reaction you got out of it is exactly the reason why Digital Djs/Controllerists/whatever you wanna call them are so fucking underground these days. Club owners don’t wanna book them and “real” DJs, who use turntables or CDJs look down on them, because the most popular prejudice is that the laptop does all the mixing and the “DJ” who uses it is just pushing the play button.
Let me assure you that this is wrong. I don’t know any DJ software that does all necessary mixing on its own. Yes, some of them, maybe even all, got an “automix” function, but this is not what it sounds like.” Read More:http://in-my-head.co.de/2010/09/07/david-guetta-laptops-dont-kill-techno-you-do/ a
---Brooklyn based artist Moldover is redefining the art of live sample manipulation and bringing the concept of controllerism to the world at large. For those not familiar with controllerism Moldover explains, "it's just like turntablism, but instead of using turntables and a mixer to make music, I use software and a controller". A simple concept indeed, but to see it realized with Moldover's carefully honed techniques on a piece of hardware resembling Frankenstein's Monster, is a remarkable experience. Electronic music performance may never be the same. Moldover is frequently billed as a "live mashup DJ" or "sound collage and cutup artist", but to use these common terms is something of an understatement. In the first few minutes of a typical set, Moldover sets out to destroy your whole concept of what recorded music is---sarah peet photo: http://www.novationmusic.com/community/artists/moldover/controllerism
Ean Golden: DJs who emphasize performance and approach their tools as musical instruments needed a way to differentiate themselves from DJs who just play records. In the same way, performers who use computer technologies as musical instruments needed a way to differentiate themselves from people who ‘check their e-mail.’ Controllerism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music live, using computer controllers and software. Simple as that. But besides all this fancy definition, calling myself a controllerist makes my life a whole lot easier. When people ask, ‘What do you do?’ or ‘What is that thing?’ I just say, ‘I’m a controllerist, and that’s my controller; I use it to manipulate sounds on my computer, just like someone playing a musical instrument.’” So if controllerism is the modern turntablism, then what has replaced the turntable as the DJ musical instrument of today? Therein lies the rub. With no defined instrument standard, many people have created, modified or repurposed MIDI controllers to make their own. Read More: http://emusician.com/remixmag/how_to/mixing_remixing/music_maneuvers_digital_dj/
There is no gettig around it: DJing is now completely driven by the technology that the user have at their disposal, and trhe manufacturers are offering product that will appeal to all but the home programmer and solderer.The debate is still not concluded that began with the vinyl DJ over thirty years ago: Can the turntablist justify himself as a musician? and is the controllerist any better? This comes down to a philosophic debate on what is music and the difference between music and sound.
There is no obvious answer to this issue; except there has been a temptation by some of the old guard to denigrate the new technologies and say they are ruining an existing art, or craft. There are still many debates that will drag on over who is more talented, or deserving of recognition but the future is with the controllerist.
---It may be a repost, but i found out that the controller in Swedish House Mafia's vide of One (Intrumental) is going to be for sale. I heard it would be 600-700 $ http://www.teenageengineering.com/products/op-1/---
ADDENDUM:
In Moldover’s own words, “I’ve been meticulously sampling my favorite bits of pop culture for years now. Every sound bite I play comes from some piece of music or film that I feel truly passionate about. Everything is played in it’s original, unedited form. I’ll let you hear a few bars of a classic tune and then rip it apart, twist it around, layer it with a bunch of other elements and slap it back together before I move on to the next thing. Absolutely all the blending, chopping and tweaking I do is happening live” Read More: http://www.novationmusic.com/community/artists/moldover/controllerism a
---You see, shitty DJs come not just with laptops, but the popular opinion seems to be that they do. Damn, if I read only one more comment from Tom Novy about how he wants to pour his drink over other DJ’s laptops and thinks that they are losers and no real DJs, I’m gonna piss all over his CD players. (Despite being a vocal member of the computer-do-the-mixing-for-you party, he is using equipment with beatcounters, waveform monitors and some other stuff that turntables don’t have.) Come on, DJs! Let’s be united! Isn’t it bad enough that we are the victims of stupid hipsters who divide us into „underground“ and „commercial“!? Do we really have to fight because of the equipment we use? I mean, again, after we finally accepted CD players as not the antichrist?---Read more: http://in-my-head.co.de/2010/09/07/david-guetta-laptops-dont-kill-techno-you-do/ photo: http://www.djtechtools.com/about/hiring/
aRead More: http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2010/03/five-reasons-why-digital-djing-beats-vinyl/
http://www.choicecuts.com/blog/controllerism-turntablism-reinvented/
“The gear manufacturers are throwing out a lot of controllers for DAWs and digital DJ’ing, but real controllerists create their own equipment. Now you might argue that this extreme use of controllers is relevant only for artists performing live electronic music. But isn’t computer DJ’ing based on pretty much the same?”
Read More: http://innotune.net/2010/01/dj-or-controllerist/#more-1056 a
"With the widely advertised launch of the DJ Hero game all eyes are on the turntables. The game itself is the latest installment in the wildly successful series of ‘rhythm games’, though the first to be based on turntablism. With this release and the wider digital music explosion it raises the question, will we see the rise of a new wave of turntable jockeys? and if it does what options lie ahead for them to break new ground?" read more: http://www.choicecuts.com/blog/controllerism-turntablism-reinvented/
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