This Saturday I played live for the first time! Certainly, I tried it in the past, but it wasn’t a real thing — just some simple toying with the software. This Saturday thing was different.

Mounting the stage

It wasn’t a huge rave that would be definitely over the top for the first-timer, however they put together a small yet convenient stage, added some lighting equipment and sound. There were about 200-300 people when I was performing and it’s more than enough to see how it goes and get the idea of what has to be improved and how. I liked the audience. Many of them didn’t know what “live” means and came asking the same question. It’s good when people care to ask if they don’t understand; it shows they wish to get the picture, learn something new… It was my pleasure to educate them a bit and show how it’s going to be on fingers.

My first live performance

Here I am in the middle of my hour and a half long set. I had huge butterflies in the stomach until the last minute, but eventually it went very well. You can see, I was playing from the HP notebook though the TC Electronic Konnekt 8 firewire audio interface (Andrew, thanks for a hint on this hardware, it’s a dream even though it has some driver problems) and controlling the setup from my custom-built 8-channel midi controller board. The sound was crisp, bright and very clean as the interface is capable of 192kHz/24bit. I didn’t use this much as the CPU in my poor old laptop was almost overloaded, but the potential of the interface is unlimited and I wish to find a way to record the stuff next time for your “offline” listening pleasure.

I would say, my compositions went great and much better than I expected. People were cheering and jumping all around me and the dancefloor. That definitely gave me an inspiration, new ideas and the willingness to go on with performing.

That was a nice start indeed! The next step I’m planning is to create more material for another, better set and climb on a slightly higher stage. :)

Comments from the past

Markus Merz Says:
June 18th, 2007 at 21:32

Congratulations for your 1st live performance!

Aleksey Gureev Says:
June 19th, 2007 at 08:55

Thanks! :)

TechnoSphere Pre-party Live Video Says:
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:08

[…] wrote two or three posts ago that I played at the TechnoSphere 2007 pre-party live with my new MIDI controller console and it was spectacular. Now you can see it with your own […]

Rob Says:
June 23rd, 2007 at 14:52

Hi Aleksey,

I am very interested in your new midicontroller. I planned on building a similar device but do not have enough experience. The controller I have in mind looks very similar to yours. Can you please contact me if you really intend to sell it?

Keep up the good work!

Aleksey Gureev Says:
June 24th, 2007 at 09:04

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the wishes. I currently don’t have plans on selling the device — if fits me perfectly well and works even better — but I’ll keep your offer in mind.

Cheers!