I wrote a while back about how dope Nosaj Thing’s live performances are, but any Youtube videos I found just didn’t do him justice. Luckily, someone over at the Seattle radio station KEXP had a camera handy when Nosaj and Daedelus dropped by to each do a 10-minute set.
Aside from the stellar performances, these videos are dope because they give you a clearer sense of how they’ve mapped out sounds on their respective triggering devices. Nosaj, working off of the Akai APD, seems to have his primary melodic elements and drums programmed to play on loop, although he can adjust the timings and use the repeat button for a stutter effect. So, it would seem that his sound effects (static and sweeps and such) and some alternate percussion are what he actually triggers in real time via the pads.
As for Daedelus, he’s using the Monome controller, linking the 256-button version to its smaller, 64-button sibling. I’ve seen him live before, as well, but, again, this video shed some light on his performance “style.” The way that each pad lights up to various divisions of the beat makes the device seem very intuitive. However, it’s incredible to me that he’s able to remember what some random button in the middle triggers— it’s almost like trying to find a particular groove in record.
Since, like most Hip Hop producers, there’s no performance aspect to my craft yet, it’s great to see the possibilities that exist— particularly with the flexibility provided by Ableton Live. Check the videos out below for their technical know-how, or just admire two great sets.
