What to expect at the battle?

[astronout]

Hello,

I've been 'invited' to compete in the SF Laptop battle. In all honesty, I have no idea what to expect. I perform dj and live sets off my laptop that I think are pretty good, but I dont think my current sets would win me a battle. Especially in a 3 minute format.

So, how do others 'perform' in a laptop battle? Are you just triggering loops at key moments? Are you using interesting plug ins? Without a controller it might be hard to effectivly use plug ins... I'm not trying to take your secrets, just wondering how others perform in a battle situation.

thanxs
astronout.

[syzygy]

Well to answer your questions, yes many of the contestants do trigger loops, use plug ins, soft effects processing and they find some very creative ways of doing it. We've also had people perform using software that they'd built themselves. Personally, I do a combination of DJing and sound design through Live and/or MixMeister when I play. Somtimes I'll use MixMeister to do some serious remixing before importing my remixed tracks into Live. I also work with Cool Edit Pro. Many of the contestants composed songs and performed them, some were very sample heavy, others were not. But the greatest thing about the laptop battle is how little direction is given to the contestants. It's open season on any genres, sounds or composition types. We feel that this keeps the playing field pretty open for people to try new things and explore. Don't worry about what other people are doing, just do whatever you think it would take to get people movin'. Also, don't be afraid of people talkin' shit about doing something different. The stuff that I did pissed off quite a few people because I was taking recognizable samples and doing something different with them. However, just as many people if not more really dug what I was doing and appreciated it because it made this abstract performance genre more accessable. Though some people were pissed, I still held on round after round. Another thing we've found is that every city is different. Seattle responded very well to jungle while Portland was really into some groovy downtempo. I can't wait to see what SF does! Make it worth our while! One final word of advice, don't just stand still on stage, Thats boring to watch... ROCK OUT!!! Wear a costume, hump your laptop, sing, set your laptop on fire, be unique!

-Syzygy

[phiberoptix]

IM HUMPING MY LAPTOP. THATS THE BEST ONE YET. WORK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+ +++ +[]ptx+ +++ +

[trenoops]

I guess I have to go and check this laptop battle shite out, cause I have been avoiding it for months. I get an e-mail from zapan regularly, but the events always conflicyt with my kung-fu practice. damn-it i'm major curious, cause I use all the afore mentioned progs, but I ain't no DJ, and I also can't imagine a battle scenario. But watchin some DJ/MC in a costume T-baggin their laptop might be entertaining at least once.....