I use song mode and way i look at it/how I perform is I produce my own tunes, then I take those and DJ them with 2 gameboys. I may only be pressing play but I made those songs and idgaf. Have fun, and do it for you 
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Detroit, Michigan
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The only way anything is cheating is if people dont have a good time at your shows.
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Brunswick, GA USA
Cheating = ripping songs, claiming they are yours.
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I usually write music in live mode as it's easier for me to arrange my thoughts and make 5/6 (or however many) ideas before lining up the entire song in song mode to be played live. This way I quite often have remix material to use on the fly.
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killadelphia
you can defile the stage any way you like. you're an actor / entertainer the second you step foot up there. Technique is NOT a show. Creativity is what you want to display and if that means hitting play then fuck it - you wrote the song.
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Liverpool, UK
Pretend like you're playing with your Game Boy even though you're blatantly playing electro house on your Macbook ayyy lmao
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São Paulo, Brazil
Dire Hit wrote:
It also sucks when the performer doesn't look like they're having all that much fun, and live mode takes a lot of concentration.
Some people comment that I'm "too serious" at my gigs. That's right, 'cos I'm really concentrated. But for me that's where all the fun dwells: using live mode in lsdj/lgpt, tweaking the synth modules, mutting/solo channels etc et al.
My body is far away from a sabrepulse performance, but my brain and soul are completely tripped out.
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Washington, PA
I've never played live personally, but since my stuff is all LSDJ and guitars, I always figured I'd set up a DVD projector or TV with Pixelvision videos synced to a backing track. I figure it'll be boring watching me standing there playing power chords.
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NC in the US of America
jmc1987 wrote:
I've never played live personally, but since my stuff is all LSDJ and guitars, I always figured I'd set up a DVD projector or TV with Pixelvision videos synced to a backing track. I figure it'll be boring watching me standing there playing power chords.
I totally agree with your thinking.
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Playboy Man-Baby
My lsdsng files are usually just tons and tons of brief ideas in one-phrase chains, all decked out all over the screen, to be triggered in any combination I want (yes, if the bpm is fast enough, this is stressful as fuck but I like it that way). I describe my song files as "skeleton files" because when you load them up, you don't really get a song, just a bunch of bare bones snippets of beats/basslines/etc that kinda have to be arranged live or there's no song (or if I start live-moding and leave it on, it'll just loop the same 2 seconds forever which is basically still having no song)
PULSELOOPER wrote:
Dire Hit wrote:It also sucks when the performer doesn't look like they're having all that much fun, and live mode takes a lot of concentration.
Some people comment that I'm "too serious" at my gigs. That's right, 'cos I'm really concentrated. But for me that's where all the fun dwells: using live mode in lsdj/lgpt, tweaking the synth modules, mutting/solo channels etc et al.
My body is far away from a sabrepulse performance, but my brain and soul are completely tripped out.
Most of my practice at home goes into being able to know the ins and outs of live mode timing and shit, so I've gotten good enough that I can be physically active and thrash around on the floor and shit and not really fuck up. I just finished a tour where I was playing basements with 1xLSDJ, crawling around on the floor on my stomach through the crowds and moshing into people and stuff while still triggering shit/soloing stuff/changing parameters on time in live mode.
It is possible to be physically engaged while you *bill oreilly voice* DO IT LIVE but it definitely takes some practice getting good at your timing. You have to be counting shit out in your head and keeping an eye on the screen to make sure your button-presses are on-point (worst/most common failures during my sets on tour: falling over backwards onto my ass and not realizing I hit 'left or 'right' twice instead of once and triggering stuff in channels too early).
If you've got a good hang of it (I do sorta) you can also drop shit into empty phrases during songs (Solo one or two channels while you mentally count out beats/recall notation and program in the new stuff in the other channel/s and then trigger the chains when they're ready to go). Memorize which instruments you've made do what, along with basic scales and the rhythmic timing of the 16-step phrases, and you'll be able to add new stuff to your song with some confidence.
tl;dr:
LSDJ can be pretty damned live if you compose your files to be demanding enough. Also practicing at home before shows = being able to a.) be live and b.) get physically involved while doing so.
Last edited by Invisible Robot Hands (Nov 22, 2014 2:14 am)
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Philadelphia
I switch between 2xlsdj and 1xlsdj live mode for most of my performances and I honestly wouldn't recommend doing it. I just like doing things the dumb way and I feel like the better performances I've seen done by other people are for the most part "press play, effects, and do good transitions" as well as people who play instruments over of their tracks. But y'all are free to perform however the hell you want.
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Seattle, WA
Invisible Robot Hands wrote:
My lsdsng files are usually just tons and tons of brief ideas in one-phrase chains, all decked out all over the screen, to be triggered in any combination I want (yes, if the bpm is fast enough, this is stressful as fuck but I like it that way). I describe my song files as "skeleton files" because when you load them up, you don't really get a song, just a bunch of bare bones snippets of beats/basslines/etc that kinda have to be arranged live or there's no song (or if I start live-moding and leave it on, it'll just loop the same 2 seconds forever which is basically still having no song)
LSDJ can be pretty damned live if you compose your files to be demanding enough. Also practicing at home before shows = being able to a.) be live and b.) get physically involved while doing so.
I'm the other way around with songwriting. If I don't get structure down during the writing process I'll end up having ideas so scattered that nothing is cohesive. Probably my ADD.
Example: an FL trap song I've been working for the last week is a monument to my indecision. I can't decide between 2 instrumental tracks that I can't get to work together so the drum track is designed to fit both 'songs' and I just mute one or the other depending on my mood when I'm working.
Also, a lot of my phrases are one-ofs used for a specific effect at one moment in the song. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
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killadelphia
The best way to learn: Get on the stage and make some mistakes. Your audience will let you know if something is stupid - lack of applause or general unresponsiveness usually means you should change something. I've had this happen many times. At times I ignored it or wrote it off as people not "understanding" my music... not the case haha. Being boring is probably the worst thing you can do.
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Brunswick, GA USA
PULSELOOPER wrote:
Dire Hit wrote:It also sucks when the performer doesn't look like they're having all that much fun, and live mode takes a lot of concentration.
Some people comment that I'm "too serious" at my gigs. That's right, 'cos I'm really concentrated. But for me that's where all the fun dwells: using live mode in lsdj/lgpt, tweaking the synth modules, mutting/solo channels etc et al.
My body is far away from a sabrepulse performance, but my brain and soul are completely tripped out.
This burns my ass somewhat. While a rapport with the audience is important, eg. "How are you doing tonight? Are you enjoying yourselves? Thanks for having me," if what the performer is doing matters more than the music itself, why are the audience there?
While a circus-act feeling can help keep people who aren't necessarily musicians interested, and sometimes stupendous technique is part of that, and others just need a smoke machine, some lighter fluid, and a zippo, what's the point if people don't enjoy your music at face value?
Dire Hit wrote:
Example: an FL trap song I've been working for the last week is a monument to my indecision. I can't decide between 2 instrumental tracks that I can't get to work together so the drum track is designed to fit both 'songs' and I just mute one or the other depending on my mood when I'm working.
You can call them two different songs that just happen to have the same beat if you want.
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Washington DC
It's a little different for nanoloop, but I only use live mode to transition between songs during a set. I am too anal about the structure of my songs to ever fuck with live mode, I just don't write like that. My shows have been totally fine.
A big thing to remember is that at most of your shows, a good portion of people are going to have ZERO clue what the hell you're doing anyway so it absolutely does not matter at all.
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Washington DC
If someone says you're cheating or lazy for not using live mode, you punch em in the god damn throat.
Do what you want. Be free. Have fun. Don't worry.