Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/au...our-mp-podcast
@22:20

Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

That’s in my list anyway. Good to know they mention it��

Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

The photo for this article gives the clearest shot I've seen of how the new desk is configured. It seems that each laptop and each half of the desk has a different track loaded up. Based on the article content I'd wager it is rez/cowgirl loaded up in the photo. I'm not at all familiar with live controllers and the like, so I can't pick out the pieces of kit, perhaps some others around here can shed some light on the gadgets and their likely uses?

Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

this track has really grown on me. love it now.

Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

I'm amateurishly familiar with more and more gear but I can't identify what those two modules are on either side of the desk. They appear to have some hand-written notes laid across the bottom of each, likely an evolution of the cheat sheets Rick used to lay across the full-size mixing console of yore. So I would guess they're some kind of Ableton Live interface.But if those modules are serving to trigger and/or control stems in the visible Ableton Live sessions on the laptops, then I'm not sure what the mixing desk is doing besides volume and possibly EQ.

However, we can't see what's on the screens of the mixing desk so there may be a plethora of other parameters Rick is controlling.

Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

Here's a shot of Rick's SSL Live screen:

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...4f&oe=5D78B88B

Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

This appears to be a graphical (possibly touch screen?) representation of the functions that may have been on Rick’s old desk. We see separate controls for different effects and other parameters, not unlike the features you’d find on some consumer grade DJ or Ableton controllers, but luxuriously available for every stem of the loaded Ableton session. At least that’s what I’m guessing based on these photos and my limited experience. Like if I’m reading this right, Rick can add an effect to just the drum track while leaving other tracks unaltered, whereas most DJs would be forced to apply that effect to the entire song.

If this functionality is available it doesn’t explain the largely studio-faithful versions of songs we’ve been hearing live for the last ten years. If it’s the case that Rick just likes them to sound like that, he doesn’t really need more than a laptop and a consumer grade Ableton controller. I think.

Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

I suspect that the desk is a big part of their studio process still and that he uses more of the functions there. Given that the studio-faithful renditions started on the last desks I haven't really been inclined to believe it was a gear limitation that caused that. The desire to be more precise in their shows would also explain the absence of the guitars on stage since 2015, too.

Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

Well that's the big mystery of Underworld live from the past 10 years or so indeed. Rick definitely can mix everything up a lot more than he does but somehow at some point they decided everything needs to sound like it did on the album (mostly) again.
They were also better at actually seemlessly mixing tracks into eachother back in the 90's before they started using Ableton surprisingly. Then they decided to stop in between each song.
The most free-form sounding I've heard them in recent years were the somewhat ambient warmup sets Rick did before the Utrecht Tivoli shows, those were great and totally different on each of the three nights.

Re: Soniamode (Aditya Game Version)
 

I have been listening to the Rijksmuseum concert over and over again in the last 3 months and have found that for example Pearls Girl feels much more improvised then usual.
Though, I wonder what they sound like now, since Price has / been left. Even more linear or more free again.
But hey, they are both over 60 and while I am only in my very late 30s, I can easily imagine that it would get really hard to control a good show at that age.
Was talking to a co-worker the other day, he used to be a house DJ "supporter". He was sitting in a side room with a sequencer and a 10 seconds advanced feed, fixing skipping beats as the DJ got more hit with drugs.
So, I have never really done much with Ablethon and I know its is an insanely powerful tool. Also, I am sure that Rick is still playing live, but doing much improv would probably require at least someone like Emerson to return and I worry if they could keep it together.
Underworld and playlists? Yeah, but at least its all live. And they still blast the house apart.

So while I am sad that I will never have a chance to hear them like they sounded in 1996 IRL, I am still glad there is a chance I am gonna see them at all and not in wheelchairs!