Yet another unfinished project.....

[poltr1]

My life seems to be littered with unfinished projects. I come with the idea for something, and I fail to carry it through to its completion. There was the build-it-yourself Birotron (a keyboard instrument which played sounds from an 8-track tape). There was the Great Filing Project (on which I'm declaring victory by going through and getting rid of a lot of paper files). And in my notebooks are probably dozens of song ideas, some of which never made it beyond the embryo stage.

At times I identify with the crazy inventor, the crackpot, the mad-scientist archetype that shows up in many stories. (Think of Maurice from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.)

Here's an idea I had since around 1979-80: The Tetrahedron Project, or "Tetrahedron" for short. Largely inspired by Gary Numan's "Tubeway Army" and subsequent band(s), it was initially a quartet of keyboardists -- me and three other friends/performers. It has since evolved into a one-man-band concept. On four separate tracks, I would be playing keyboards, Chapman stick, electronic drums (I still think the Simmons electronic drums are way cool), and electronic wind instrument (like the AKAI EWI or Joe Ellis' Yamaha WX7 or the newer WX5). In a way, it mirrors a classic jazz quartet: piano, bass, drums, and solo instrument. This is how I'd produce and perform some of the music I'd compose.

There are three big issues that stand in the way: Available space (I currently don't have a place in my condo large enough to perform), money, and time. And so, this dream project is on infinite hold. :(

But I still think it would be cool to bring some of these instruments -- if I had them -- to a filk con, show them to attendees, and let some of my fellow filkers play them (or play with them). And if they were proficient enough on them, we could have a live band. What fun!

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Playing an actual Simmons drum kit would be *sooooo* retro. All the electroclash kids would stare at you in complete awe. However, my understanding is that actual drummers hated them, because the pads were way harder than actual drum heads, and the sticks didn't bounce off of them in the same way, and it made your wrists and forearms tired. Definitely *not* the thing for someone who has RSI.

[poltr1]

Not only that, but it's my understanding that the Simmons drums predate MIDI, whch is a major drawback for what I wanted to do with them (play sampled percussion sounds).

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Well, there's all kinds of MIDIable drum machines these days that contain samples of the old TR808 and TR909 drum machines. I'm sure someone's got a sample set for the Simmons kit as well. Not quite the same, but it can get you close.

[poltr1]

I'm sure there are. And it would probably be easier and cheaper in the long run than try to retrofit a set of Simmons drums so that they would output a MIDI signal.

I once found a soundfont of the Linn LM-1 drum machine sounds. Shame I could never figure out how to use it.