Community (American Garage)

Subject View

From:	Message:
SUBJECT:	Orchestrion DVD-- OUT NOW! Back to Subjects
Didi2 Sep 20 2012 at 1:09 PM	Bought the DVD today (Germany) and had a short overall view. CD1 shows - as already known - the "concert" as we expected. The guy who was anxious about "quick edits between camera every 5 seconds": No, this is not the case at all. All really "slow" and matching the music. CD 2 shows the "making of" with short films and a lot of photos. There are two studio sessions, which shows a lot of interesting close ups of orchestrion instruments working (in full light, not in the rather low light from CD1) So far by now, will enjoy the DVD at the weekend. Look foward! (Sorry for bad English :-)
Login to Post
METHenyaddicted Oct 25 2012 at 5:23 PM	The photography is as wonderful as the music. (Too bad about the worn grey t-shirt.) Maybe not on this scale but wouldn’t it be great to have a basic concert dvd of every tour?
bluepno Oct 25 2012 at 1:29 PM	I like the old QRS piano rolls on the grand piano at 55.00. The objects d’art around the room are intriguing.
blisterfree Oct 25 2012 at 11:56 AM	hman01 - It depends whether "making beautiful music together" is on her list! ;)
aloc Oct 25 2012 at 11:40 AM	hman - well, if you ask Eric Singer to build you some solenoid-based chore-bots whom accept midi-messages, then I can’t see why not.
hman01 Oct 25 2012 at 10:43 AM	Hey,can I rig up that Ableton device to finish the chores on my honey-do list,while I watch the new DVD?
bluepno Oct 25 2012 at 7:42 AM	Be careful what you ask for...Pat may release the schematics next week. I was following along last night with the published score. This master musician has knocked me out another time. When the room slowly comes alive at the opening of the DVD is one of the most fantastic visual events I’ve seen in a decade.The music sublime.
kreilly Oct 24 2012 at 11:28 PM	aloc - nicely detailed description of Pat’s process. When you get the DVD you will see Pat tap in the tempo at the start of Improvisation #2. He then triggers a rhythm clip for his little mini-cymbals instrument that is used throughout the first section of the piece.
mountain Oct 24 2012 at 3:52 PM	Ableton Live is all that and a slice of bread. Lots of folks have and are using AL in a live setting. Very functional, interactive uses. I was not all that surprized to hear that Pat used AL with the Orchestrion rig. I would love to see a full diagram of the Orchestrion setup. Details! I believe John Scofield was using AL too.
-m Oct 24 2012 at 9:28 AM	In the liner notes to the DVD Pat gives a thank you to someone at Ableton (Dennis something). I had never really thought much about Ableton as a serious tool since it gets a lot of workout in the DJ, Beatz and HH arenas. Anywho I purchased it over the weekend based on Pat’s comment. Boy was I wrong! A very cool software package that I can ReWire to work natively in my DAW of choice. Headline: Old dog learns new tricks! WOOF!
aloc Oct 24 2012 at 5:59 AM	lorenantolik - yes, I recall Pat saying in some interview that just figuring out the math on this thing took some time, because each instrument needed to be calibrated differently in order to get a good play-feel out of them time-wise, which I also recall Pat saying was one of the top issues for him as he embarked this project. I can only imagine the ordeal it must’ve been to get the whole thing to work as well as it does. I presume that it would’ve been somewhat easier for a keyboard player to do this, since guitar-to-midi technology still has its inherent quirks.
lorenantolik Oct 23 2012 at 9:03 PM	aloc - that’s exactly what i got out of it when i saw him at the blue note. an additional thought about latency - each instrument probably has it’s own latency (due to mechanical issues), so he must use some type of configuration that delays a command before it is performed. custom configurations for each instrument would allow all requests to perform a note to have the exact same latency. as cool as the music is - as a computer programmer and musician i can only imagine all the little quirks and configs required to make this thing work as elegantly as it did.
bluepno Oct 23 2012 at 8:27 PM	Hi kreilly, thanks for the update. Sounds right on.
blisterfree Oct 23 2012 at 6:41 PM	Wow - thanks for that, aloc! Like I say, over my head, but I guess the gist of what I theorized is about right.
aloc Oct 23 2012 at 2:58 AM	Haven’t seen the DVD yet, but from what I recall from the live gig in Stockholm, Pat used Ableton Live for that particular improv (with the GR solo in it); with Ableton he’s able to record the Midi -information from his gtr into Ableton as clips into different "tracks". The tracks then correspond with different instruments (or instrument groups) in the Orchestrion rig. Different harmonies/ progressions are recorded into their own clips and thus with foot switches Pat is able to shift between different progressions/harmonies at will and also is able to leave certain instruments out at certain times and then bring them back in when he wants. There is nothing spectacular in this per se, since electronic musicians have been doing this with Ableton for a long time. The spectacular part is, obviously, that the Midi data isn’t trigging soft synths and samples, but live, acoustic instruments in the Orchestrion. And also what Pat plays is naturally pretty spectacular. Also from what I recall, when pat recorded the loops (or "clips" in ableton jargon), the timing was sometimes a bit off on the orchestrion instruments (most probably due to latency issues), but once the loop played thru once, the timing corrected - this is probably because there is an auto-warp property in Ableton, which corrects/quantizes the timing of any given clip to a certain tempo - the tempo can be pre-determined or fed into Ableton via tap tempo by a foot switch for example. I hope this made some sense. Waiting to see the DVD and relive the memories of seeing and hearing the Orchestrion and Pat live! Also looking very much forward to the extras and such.
kreilly Oct 22 2012 at 10:53 PM	bluepno, I recall Pat saying somewhere that he used Ableton Live for the improvisations he would perform on tour, so I assume he was using it for the DVD as well. He uses Digital Performer in the studio, and Sibelius for notation.
djbinder Oct 22 2012 at 5:23 PM	Review coming later this week at All About Jazz, will post when up.
blisterfree Oct 22 2012 at 11:33 AM	Listening in again, I think I hear Pat creating the changes for the solo during the first half of the improv. Speculating here, but with each layer fully fleshed out, he saves them, and then is able to recall each one via the floor toggles, though it’s hard to see this happening during the solo.
bluepno Oct 22 2012 at 7:20 AM	In the accompanying descriptive video there is a "Sibelius" box lying on the floor of the room. Sibelius (notation software) allows a composer to plug in a composition and triggers the accompanying orchestration allowing a player to improvise over the track in real time. Brave new world stuff used to the nth degree.
blisterfree Oct 21 2012 at 1:33 PM	For an idiot like me that missed out on the Orchestrion tour, I found Improv #2 very enlightening, seeing how Pat is able to shape a particular soundscape in real-time via the guitar as a controller (apparently any guitar). What I haven’t been able to grasp is how he then controls the Orchestrion’s modal change-ups during the synth solo, unless some of that was worked out in advance. I suppose a little mystery is a good thing; and I’m almost positive it’s way over my head anyway.
-m Oct 16 2012 at 1:15 PM	Received my copy yesterday and watched/listened last night. Just like the concert my favorite was Sueno con Mexico. I might just put that on infinite loop for the next few days...Also enjoyed the bonus track Improvisation #1 more so that Improv #2. Just sayin...
TonyDP Oct 13 2012 at 6:12 PM	I just got thru watching the Orchestrion 3D BluRay. I own a 3D TV and surround sound system so I was able to experience the whole enchalada as it were and absolutely loved it. The songs here really demand to be heard on a good surround sound system. Playing them in stereo or (gasp!) thru a TV’s speakers doesn’t do them justice as the sonic range is just too rich and you lose so much if you’re not in the middle of a bunch of speakers, listening as the music blasts you from all directions. All the songs on the BluRay were great but I really loved Improvisation #2; nice title there Pat :) More than any other song in the set, that one really shows how Pat uses the Orchestrion to build a song, layer by layer. It also doesn’t hurt that he bangs out a killer guitar synth solo. In terms of the 3D, it definitely added ... wait for it ... a new dimension to the presentation. There are no popout gimmicks here; rather, the 3D adds a nice, natural sense of depth into the screen and the placement of Pat in the middle of all these crazy instruments and assorted objects in the foreground and background really makes good use of the technology and it really looks like Pat is in the center of a crazy, wonderful machine made up of distinct parts from every era from the early 1900s until today. It was a lot of fun watching Pat interact with his bots, casting glances this way and that as if they were living, breathing creatures and he seemed completely at home in that environment. Well worth the investment and should definitely be seen in 3D if you get the chance.
bluepno Oct 10 2012 at 7:52 AM	Thank you for the update. Good news all around.
sednaej Oct 09 2012 at 2:31 PM	Bought my copy at bol.com (also live in NL, just like thehague). Great to hear and see the unique orchestrion again after having experienced a live concert more than 2.5 years ago! Pat has really developed the suite during the tour and it’s awesome to see how he pushes his skills and all the technique behind the machine to the maximum. The DVD offers a good opportunity to discover the whole orchestrion and all of it’s details: very impressive! I only wonder why it took so long to come out. Imo the film itself is not exceptional, but it sure will have to do with de 3D technique (which I can not benefit). Anyway, this is a must-have as the whole project is a milestone in the history of music.
thehague Oct 06 2012 at 3:26 AM	I ordered my copy from a site in the Netherlands (as I live there).
chickb Oct 05 2012 at 8:44 PM	DID YOU ORDER FROM THIS WEBSITE??
yodedude2 Oct 05 2012 at 7:28 PM	it was for sale at the concert in austin last night...
thehague Oct 05 2012 at 3:58 PM	Anybody bought this?
thehague Oct 02 2012 at 4:05 PM	Received it today. Great to see and hear the performance again (saw Pat and ’the band’ during the O tour). Excellent compositions (we already knew that), great musicianship (knew that too) and a stunning show, even without audience. The robotics are even more breathtaking than in the theater. So much to discover, so lots of playing will be ahead.
blisterfree Sep 25 2012 at 12:27 PM	So I take it the visual presentation is nothing like the music video for Yolanda, You Learn. (Alas, I was 12 when that video came out and had NO IDEA who Pat Metheny might be. Live... and learn!)
radeem Sep 22 2012 at 7:22 PM	Glad to hear there are no quick,5-second, edits!
Didi2 Sep 22 2012 at 1:22 AM	:-))
DCTWMT Sep 21 2012 at 3:50 PM	That was GOOD English! Es war gute English! (and bad Deutsch!!)
Login to Post