| Yep, once you give control to the sequencer, that's it.
There are a couple machines from Kahler, Garfield, etc., that do a
fair job of following a drummer or other human, but they aren't
perfect.
Actually, training a singer to sing at a steady tempo isn't really
a bad idea. I've heard many people blame sloppy chops on the
"inhumanly" steady tempo of MIDI. Follwing a metronome is a basic
musical skill, one that should be cultivated.
Edd
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| I use a sequencer playing all sorts of stuff, or just a drum
machine in my Duo all of the time. You learn very quickly that
you have to follow the machine. At times, when you want to stop
& do something that will occur in a random time fashion, such as
a break, you can hit a stop/continue button (available on some
sequencers), and this will halt the sequencer in it's tracks, until
you re-start it again (re-starting from where you left off).
You have to plan for this sort of thing however, otherwise you
will get quite lost & the sequencer will happily go on without
you. If you are used to playing with musicians that follow you,
you'll need to work on following the machine.
Also, you need to consider building cues into sequences that assist
you in positioning yourself within a song. An example would be
a short drum roll as you lead into a chorus. If you ever get lost
(and once you build up a large amount of sequences, the odds are
in favor of you occasionally getting lost), this que will assist
greatly in a graceful recovery.
There are a million possiblities for how you might want to
organize your sequences. These all depend on what your end goals
are, but I'd reccommend that you spend some time considering
how you plan to be using your gear & thinking about the best way
to implement it.
Jens
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| A couple of ideas that I have tried...
Sound Queues within the sequence.
I program sounds into the sequence that "stand out" at
points in the song that relate to specific
vocal passages. Mostly these are changes to
percussion (perhaps a different cymbal pattern, bell etc).
A clearly audible change in the bassline may also
be a good indicator to the singer when it is
time to start a vocal passage. This is equally useful
to instrumentalists.
What is important is to have some discernable change
that will indicate to the live performer that his
part is comming up. Usually a measure or two ahead
of the required part is all that it takes. It should
blend in with the feel of the song, but still be
obvious to the musician.
This probably works the best of all the methods that
I've experimented with. I have noticed that this is
a standard feature of songs many great artists, such as the
Beatles. Not only can the singer/ musician anticipate when
his vocal part is comming, but the listener can also,
which adds excitement to the song.
some others... (less effective)
Remote footswith.
When songs start of with a vocal part,
with the music following, it's
sometimes useful to use a remote footswitch
to start the sequencer. I do this on
a few songs. It is somewhat error prone,
and does require lots of practice start off with the
correct tempo and in the proper key.
Background vocal line.
On a couple of songs, that were particularly
monotonous ( few changes in chords, and sparse instrumental
melody line), I've programmed the vocal line, and
plays very softly in the background of the sequence.
This doesn't help you start a passage on time,
but it is possible to reorient youself within the song
when you hear the vocal line playing and you are not singing.
This is also not foolproof, and only works well on
some types of songs.
For multi-track sequencers, you can even have a louder
vocal line to follow when practicing, then turn it off
for a performance. This can be especially useful to
practice vocal harmonies, that are each on a seperately
controllable track. Very effective for practicing.
Watch the Sequencers measure counter.
My sequencer has a numeric display that changes
as each measure of the song is played. As I am learning
a new song, I watch the display for the important measures
where changes occur in the song (eg; Key changes, chorus)
After some pratice, I learn to do it by feel, and don't
have to watch the display any more.
Other visual queues are possible, depending upon your
equipment. There are midi light-controllers. But the best
queues are in the music itself.
experiment and have fun..
Rick
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