Analogue-sequencer

circuitsea wrote:

>How does the P3 with all its many parameters and capabilities rate in
>this category?  Do people find they get really fast moving around in
>it or is it always a very conscious step by step process to add and
>adjust tracks.  
>  
>
It's a good question and my answer may be slightly biased because the P3 
has opened up avenues for me live that were previously closed. I 
therefore bathe in a warm glow of appreciation each time I use it.
As for conscious - I work on mine, mostly, stoned so it has to be 
something I can use without thinking. This is the only reason I sold my 
DSI Evolver and Waldorf Pulse - couldn't program them when wasted. The 
P3 I could play if rendered into a pile of drool in the corner of the 
stage...

So yes, the P3 *has* an initial learning curve. This is mostly because 
it packs in a hell of a lot of features, many of which have evolved over 
time. So at first you do get confused over simple stuff like how to edit 
a pattern or how to string two patterns together to make something 
that's 32 steps long etc. The panel doesn't have too many labels and 
those it has have arcane names like "Func"... no avoiding some learning 
to get started, sorry.

But after a while, when you are able to find your way around the menus, 
it does sort of click. I've had an Xpander too and a Microwave XT - so I 
know what you mean. In fact I found the Microwave 2 more logical and 
faster than the XT despite its lack of knob real-estate. And here is 
where I find the P3 very fast - having a small keypad and those 
great-quality trigger buttons and knobs gives an interface that, when 
learned, your fingers can fly over way, way faster than you can 
physically travel over a far larger, knobby surface (especially if your 
eyes need to keep zipping back to the display). I have therefore become 
pretty fast with the P3 - so much so that I would eagerly improvise an 
entire set from a blank P3 live and in front of an audience. And I mean 
not just banging in notes looper-style but adding auxilliary events, 
randomisation, cool variations. I'm not saying this ability will come 
over night - I play my P3s every day - even more than I play my 
keyboards - and I still encounter some things that slow me down 
slightly, such as the order of some menus. But I don't even have to 
think anymore, I can just do it.

So I don't want to paint an impossibly glowy picture - I've seen first 
time users and know they don't always get the way it all hangs together. 
I think the updated manual, tutorial video and help from this forum will 
make all the difference - but this is the deepest sequencer I know of 
(and it'll get deeper and more powerful yet!) and I believe we have a 
good compromise with user interface and functionality. If the P3 does 
well (and any magazine actually reviews it) I think Colin can totally 
rewrite the concept of the step sequencer...

OK, enough gushing from me, check out some of our (JIC) live tracks to 
hear what can be done in a spontaneous  P3 improvisation. There's a 
couple I'd recommend: "Greg The Moose" and "A Wreck No Phobia" from the 
JIC site.

Hope this helps,

Paul

---
Paul Nagle / Soft Room Music / Bogus Focus Records / Binar / Headshock / The Joint Intelligence Committee
        www.softroom.co.uk / www.BogusFocus.com / www.JointIntelligenceCommittee.com 
** New JIC Live CD available at the BogusFocus site now!! **