We’ve always been big fans of Thomas Dolby, so it was a wonderful surprise to discover that on his current tour of the US and UK…..he’s using Stylus RMX in Groove Menu mode in some very creative ways!
Check out how he’s using the Vocal Planet loops from our SAGE Xpanders on the song “Airhead” in his video podcast:
Dolby Video Podcast
Thomas explains how he uses Stylus RMX in Groove Menu mode to jam in his solo concerts….very cool stuff:
“I recently bought a plug-in called Stylus RMX by Spectrasonics. It’s like a drum machine that plays sliced loops. But it plays them in time with the host sequencer, like Ableton or Acid, except that when you trigger multiple loops with multiple keys on your keyboard or pads, it will wait until the next beat or 16th to trigger them. This means that you can load up a bunch of loops, and hold down any combination of keys to get different combinations. You don’t have to be very accurate, just hit the key a fraction ahead of the beat. So in ‘Airhead’ I just lay down a funky bass and guitar riff in cycle/record mode, then start jamming with loops over the top. The song can end up any length, I can sing the vocal or not, and add in, say, a piano solo over any groove texture that takes my fancy.”
So what’s he doing on that picture on our home page viewer? Thomas has also has retrofitted old radios and field test gear from the 1940’s to act as MIDI Controllers…now that’s what we call MIDI Learn!
Check out new “Sole Inhabitant” DVD and Live CD, the latest tour dates with BT and details of Thomas Dolby’s amazing tour rig at his excellent website:
(Thanks to John “Skippy” Lehmkuhl for the great concert pics!)
