Latest gig with Aerodrums - now on Youtube

[joncfox]

On April 13, 2014, I played Aerodrums with Gracie MacKenzie and the Grace Notes. A couple of friends were kind enough to record some video. I put together Youtubes of two of the songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ah8GNp-v-Y

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7tv9GX1ylM

Jon

[RTK]

There seemed to be a dynamics issue in things you did. I didn't read anything about velocity (or I missed it). Does the device have velocity settings for the individual's movements, or must the user play to the velocity range of the device?

[joncfox]

When I play, I feel no dynamics issue. The way it feels is simply that it feels that the harder I hit, the louder the sound, and the more gently I hit, the softer the sound. For instance, especially with snare, I can play so gently that that I hear only a soft, gentle whooshing sound, but if I whack it, the sound is loud enough to be painful. Naturally, all this depends on my PA/amp setting. In the recording that goes with the video, I set the drums sound a bit louder than I had them in the room on the house PA, since especially in the beginning I was (very deliberately) playing 'way in the background,' to produce more of a 'shimmer' effect behind the sparse keyboard and Gracie's rubato vocals (especially on "I Believe It Matters."

I know that hard vs soft hit is interpreted by the program from velocity information provided by the sticks movement, but it definitely does not feel as if my speed of hit has anything to do with volume. Rather, it always feels as if the harder I hit, the louder the sound.

Maybe that is because the algorithms were co-designed by a drummer, and the resulting feel is very drum-like. In fact, after playing for a while (I've always called it 'wood-shedding') something akin to sports 'muscle-memory' seems to happen in my hands and arms and it somehow feels like there are drums out there in the air in front of me. That seems a bit more pronounced when I turn off the monitor (desktop) or turn the screen around (laptop) so I can't see the drum images. 'No monitor' works for me when I'm practicing on my own, but I probably won't ever try that at a gig.

As to your question, maybe someone else here can answer this more clearly than I can?

[Richard]

Thanks for posting those videos Jon. Really great to see.

RTK, Aerodrums detects the velocity of the foot and stick markers and uses that to choose appropriate samples/volumes. It also plays different samples for the left hand versus the right hand.

If the preset drum kits it ships with aren't to your taste you can very easily reposition the drums/cymbals, change their volume in the mix or change their sensitivity so that they respond to softer or harder hits. You can read more about this in the manual here: http://www.aerodrums.com/manual/#drum-response

[RTK]

Voila! I appreciate that.

[BrettHeaslewood]

It makes me laugh to see Aerodrums in a live performance, not in a horrible way or a spiteful way.

In a form of happiness and amusement, the same way when I first saw a local band using an electronic drum kit, or even a drum machine and now we have the Aerodrums. It's just fantastic.

I'm still working on my technique on drums as I hadn't played in about 10 years until I picked mine up, i'll be posting some videos soon though!