Finding a new way to use my Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man delay led me to create this sound. By using the device as an external effect on a send track in Ableton Live I’m able to apply the processor to any track in my set.
Normally when I perform I’m juggling the use of multiple keyboards, pedals, software, VSTs and a mixer. Too much activity already to add an external processor into the fray. But for some shows in small venues, dance clubs, or galleries live instruments complicate matters, so my group Keston and Westdal have a laptop set that we do on rare occasions.
Two producers in front of laptops isn’t my idea of an exciting live show, so it’s not our typical modus operandi. Therefore, for a private gallery show that we are playing tomorrow night, I’ve decided to add my Memory Man as a distraction from the trackpad and computer keyboard. This way I can create more sounds like this in the set. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Memory Man Beat
One of my favorite external processors is my 
I’ve been researching audio libraries for 
I have been using my Sequential Circuits Pro-One in the studio pretty often recently, so I decided to use it instead of of a newer keyboard for a recent performance. Unfortunately it did not work the way I had planned. Although I crave unpredictable behavior to stimulate the creative process, it is not exactly as pleasing during a live performance. The aging instrument did not stay in tune for very long and I was having trouble with the keyboard action. I imagine that it’s time for a thorough cleaning of the potentiometers and keyboard contacts. Despite these troubles, while scanning through clips recorded during the set, I came across this nice low frequency filter sweep and ran it through a ping pong delay. 
A variation of this clip is probably going to end up in a new track that Nils Westdal and I are working on. After a recent session Nils left his Boss OC-1 pedal in the studio for me to mess around with. The first thing I did was plug the Rhodes into it. The cool thing about the OC-1 is that if you play intervals into it it gets confused and randomly switches between notes. The results are unpredictable, but it’s also possible to get consistently unpredictable results. I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but duplicating certain intervals at specific dynamics allows you to mold the output into something usable. This is what I was going for in this example. I edited the recording to a suitable length, added some delay, and then automated a filter to manipulate the texture.