B4D-W0LF
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No Particular Place

Important thing I need to debate. Live Mode. Is it a must? Is song mode Cheating?

This is a huge discussion that will be essential to know if you are wanting to do live shows. Originally brought up with LSDJ, but Other trackers have Livemode! so Herpa derpa..

Or if you're not mainly a chiptunes artist, would you do it the way you want to do it, because in music, that's how you do it, however you want to do it? Nitro Tracker has stressed to me, people don't like when people don't use Live mode at a chiptunes show. I want to know is it possible that I can be considered chiptunes without the need for livemode? Because I was the guy that created it, I created the way I wanted it to happen, and I did it in the way I wanted to do it, so live mode or not, I could have something to record without having to practice the song, so people could buy it. To me, Art has an art behind it, that everyone's way would be unique, if it were art, and if it weren't art, It would have to be the same way every time. Does my argument hold up at all? It's a really important question to debate, because I am an artist, not a true chip-artist. I am not a performer, I am a creator. do I seriously have to hire a team to remake what I already made in a livemode fashion? (or go in myself, with the way I originally made the songs, and make it Livemode-possible?)

In this debate we should address this a part at a time, so pick one you want to address, and reply with if your reply is an opinion, or if it is a standard for a chiptune standard.

SketchMan3
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NC in the US of America

No

theghostservant
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Chicago

Is it live mode?, or maybe it's Maybelline?

if the only people who are gonna care are those that make it, then there is no issue

Mrwimmer
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Los Angeles, CA

Anything you can do in live mode, you can do better in song mode so you don't fuck it up every time you play.  If you really feel the need to perform, grab your whatever, and do some "fake dj" stuff.  Jump around, have fun with it.  Or just get a shitty casio and play some leads or chords and no one can say anything about you "not performing"

Knife Crimes
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Dire Hit
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Seattle, WA

Live mode isn't the only way to perform. I think the best shows I've been to have been LSDJ DJ sets, with very little alteration of the songs. Channel mute/solo and changing instrument properties can be enough as long as your transitions are killer and you hype everyone up. 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.

I personally keep things interesting by making edits of my songs beforehand, doing fun remixes, and playing lots of unreleased material.

Last edited by Dire Hit (Nov 21, 2014 2:13 am)

jefftheworld
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

It's not cheating unless you're claiming to do something you're not. If you get on stage and say "I'm playing this live!" and you're not then I could see that as a cheat but if you get on stage and say "Dance! Enjoy!" then don't worry about it.

SketchMan3
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NC in the US of America

Lies of omission

ShintarouMusic
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Boise, ID

I look at it this way. If I've already composed the song exactly how I want it to be heard, and done as good of a job as I can, then why would I want to alter it on stage and put the performance at risk?
Now if you're looking for something to do on stage, you could work in external effects and manage those while your song plays. Or you could play around with the transpose function and tempo in LSDJ. You can also just dance. wink

On a side note, I do usually switch to live mode to help with transitioning between songs. And like Dire Hit said, playing new or unreleased material keeps the show fresh too.

Last edited by ShintarouMusic (Nov 21, 2014 3:42 am)

B4D-W0LF
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No Particular Place
theghostservant wrote:

Is it live mode?, or maybe it's Maybelline?

if the only people who are gonna care are those that make it, then there is no issue

My Point Exactly. I will take this as one extreme of an answer!. so opinion: The artist made it, the artist chooses.

B4D-W0LF
Offline
No Particular Place
ShintarouMusic wrote:

I look at it this way. If I've already composed the song exactly how I want it to be heard, and done as good of a job as I can, then why would I want to alter it on stage and put the performance at risk?
Now if you're looking for something to do on stage, you could work in external effects and manage those while your song plays. Or you could play around with the transpose function and tempo in LSDJ. You can also just dance. wink

On a side note, I do usually switch to live mode to help with transitioning between songs. And like Dire Hit said, playing new or unreleased material keeps the show fresh too.

This is why I would have a guitar in the back that I would be like... hey... wait a second how about a random song from that thing.... I still have to figure it out... but... I do have at my disposal, A keyboard... An effects Petal, Guitar, A gameboy, a 3ds, a ds, and I'm about to posess an atari 2600. I have no place to run it, though. I would seriously play a game of breakout, and then play a song I made that when I was playing breakout, I just looped a part of it and put a sick beat over it. It sounds kickass. But I submitted that to Chiptunes=win and nobody liked it. That's why I'm asking this, cause Nitro Tracker said Chipwin doesn't take non-livemoded tracks. It's different with me. I am a noise-oriented artist, so I guess I could do all I want. but I am limited to one input device, and I have (bleep) cords. It's all about doing stuff. I do want to dance... The singer of Joy Division Danced. But I'm not much of a singer. I guess I can dance!

B4D-W0LF
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No Particular Place
jefftheworld wrote:

It's not cheating unless you're claiming to do something you're not. If you get on stage and say "I'm playing this live!" and you're not then I could see that as a cheat but if you get on stage and say "Dance! Enjoy!" then don't worry about it.


So I would say I am not playing my music live. I will be a dj of my own music. cause DJs are different than a music artist. Problem is, if I want to move up, I have to be part artist, but at the same time, if I make money from it, I can get things to help the live show come more alive! so kool. Good input here.

HillyOTM
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King's Lynn, UK

Song mode rocks - means you can put more effort into additional parts of the show. I always think a show played live is better to watch, but find watching someone hunched over a screen doesn't get me very hyped, so I say play another instrument, or just jump into the crowd and dance with them - whatever you think makes your show more interesting.

LazierGunz
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Cleveland, Ohio

Song mode + a mini kaoss pad is all you need to have fun on stage while manipulating the sound in simple ways, making it sound more "live".

B4D-W0LF
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No Particular Place

Dude. I need a Kaoss pad dude. :3 or maybe a kitara or anything with knobs.

an0va
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B4D-W0LF wrote:

I want to know is it possible that I can be considered chiptunes

Don't worry about what you are "considered," genre or performance wise. wink

A live show is about the experience, the feeling and the atmosphere. You could be the busiest person on stage and it still wouldn't matter if your production is weak or if the songs aren't good. It's common to feel like you'd have to keep yourself busy to make it "feel more like a performance," but I think this is a rookie mistake to be honest. People seeing you perform at live show is much different from people watching a video of you on youtube - for example, they aren't going to be staring at everything you're doing on the table. A youtube video gives a hundred people the same view of your rig, but in reality this would be limited to only the people closest to the stage at a live gig. Many people won't even be looking or even care what you're doing - they just want to hear and feel good music pumping out of a nice system and they want to see a person taking ownership of presenting that music to them. I think the sooner you begin to think about what's interesting for a person on the floor and not what's interesting for you on stage is when you really start to nail it down.

Put yourself in the shoes of someone else that night - would they want to observe your performance from a technical perspective or would they want to enjoy the general atmosphere? Obviously this changes from show to show, venue to venue, and city to city but I definitely think this is worth considering about way more than considering the validity.  Try everything and think of ways you can present the music each time - you'll love the trial and error and you will definitely find a way that works best for you! smile


tl;dr - you can perform in any way you want to. smile live performance is a presentation unique to each individual person and not a rigidly defined standard

Last edited by an0va (Nov 21, 2014 9:02 pm)