PLASTIKMAN LIVE SHOW UNVEILS UNPRECEDENTED TECHNOLOGIES AT MUTEK

Windsor, ON May 13, 2004 — Up until now, Richie Hawtin and his production team for the Plastikman Live show at Mutek 2004 have kept a very tight lid on the technology being developed for the show. They have begun lifting the curtain on a set of technological advances that will alter the course of how electronic music can be performed in a live scenario. The performance will involve Hawtin’s manipulation and control of multiple tracks of digital and analog audio, real time generation of a High Definition (HD) visual system, drum machines, synthesizers, effects and lights.

The Show/The Festival
The event will take place June 4, 2004 in Montreal, Canada as part of this year’s Mutek festival (www.mutek.ca). It will be the first live performance of Plastikman material since 1995. The performances from that era, Glastonbury, the Fuk tour, etc, have gone down in the annals of electronic music history.

The Music
Hawtin has resampled and re-arranged all of the Plastikman material dating back to the first Plastikman release, Sheet One (Plus 8/Novamute) from 1993. The entire catalogue is going to be reworked and performed live on stage, using a combination of classic machines and new software to meld old and new material into unique improvised mixes. Working in the studio, Hawtin has experimented with combinations of classic Plastikman material from Musik (Plus 8/Novamute), Consumed (Minus/Novamute), along with the new material from Closer (Minus/Novamute/Paperbag).

The Gear
Hawtin has designed and built an entirely custom MIDI controller incorporating the features and power of 5 MIDI devices into one. This unit, the CTRL LIVE, will give Hawtin full real-time control over 128 parameters of audio, video, lighting, and effects simultaneously.

The MIDI system will work with one Apple G5 audio computer, as well as two massive, industrial custom-built 3D graphics and video PCs, multiple drum machines, analog and digital synthesizers and a host of analog and digital effects units. Hawtin will mix all audio using two Allen & Heath 14x4x2 Mix Wizards on stage.

For additional MIDI control, Hawtin will use an unreleased surface controller developed by Tactex. The units use the same technology the company developed for the Canadian Space Arm.

The Software
Several of the most advanced performance-software developers have created breakthrough features in their software for the Plastikman show.

Ableton has created a special MIDI output feature in their nearly ubiquitous Live program that allows Hawtin to send detailed data to every connected instrument, locking every element together to a degree that had previously been unavailable. New features in Ableton Live also allow Hawtin to navigate his compositions through the CTRL LIVE device with amazing speed and dexterity.

Toronto-based Derivative (www.derivativeinc.com) has developed a custom-designed real-time animation and video sequencing environment for the Plastikman performance. Using their Touch software, Derivative has also programmed MIDI sync modules to lock the visual effects to Ableton Live, as well as custom software interface for the CTRL LIVE control surface.

The Images
Touch will synthesize real-time generative High Definition (HD) quality moving images. The material has been developed in collaboration with an international team of video artists, designers and animators. Ali Mahmut Demirel, who directed the video for Plastikman’s “Disconnect” single, based in Ankara, Turkey has shot hours of new material to be used in Touch. Crush Inc, based in Toronto, has designed 3D animations, and motion graphics. Honest, based in New York City has developed morphing graphics, video images and more. Jeffers Egan has developed real-time video environments and moving images.

Click on the word LIVE at www.plastikman.com. March 17 press release here.

From MUTEK:

On June 4, the Metropolis hosts what is bound to become a legendary performance by Richie Hawtin's PLASTIKMAN persona. An event shrouded in rumors and secrecy, all that can be disclosed is that fact that it will be the most ambitious and audacious audio/visual undertaking of a live set any producer has ever assembled. The first live PLASTIKMAN show in over nine years, the set will present a cross-section of his discography to date.

On the same night will be the legendary ANDREW WEATHERALL. Apart from his groundbreaking work with Sabres of Paradise and Two Lone Swordsmen, WEATHERALL also achieved notoriety as a band producer for his seminal work on Primal Scream's "Screamadelica". He will be DJing after PLASTIKMAN'S performance.