here are some photos of my many attempts at constructing boxes to transport and configure my gear over the years. why show them here? seems a bit, well… showy. a few reasons:
1. they make me laugh, they make me sigh, they make me cringe. they all had some fatal design flaw: too heavy. too big for the car. too many wires to hook up before a set. new gear doesn’t fit. old gear doesn’t work. ridiculous. insane.
2. they are my only document to the evolution of the process with these pieces of gear and how i configured them. also i can’t describe them in words.
3. inventors have failures, and glimmers of success in many of those failures. they also just have failures. embarrassing, public failures.
4. building a new one, fueled by inspiration, frustration, and (usually) new musical discoveries, is one of my favorite things to do.
5. some of them were really outrageous. i mean, come on: plexiglass sun lit up with lights? the super three shelf monster? the modular sun that didn’t fit in the car? dude. dude. no one does a da boxes lika i a do!
6. i am driven by the following criteria for making a new one:
a. weight when transporting ( just one gig up three flights has inspired a couple of these incarnations!)
b. time to set up for live gig/rehearsal (the dream? left, right, power, on, go!)
c. i draw schematics in my dreams
d. new sound combinations mean some gear has to be next to one another (like sh32 > airsynth > ef303 > sl20 > d3 > mixer, then options to four effects routing paths, from my newest config: sound confusing? well, imagine having to hook all that up in fifteen minutes before you go on stage, and remember what goes into where for who and why and is this left the other left and don’t forget the midi in the spaghetti and is their enough outlets?! simplify, you say? where’s the fun in that? toys toys toys!)
e. at last, that last box is dead. it was such a bad idea. this new box will be much better. it will solve all my problems. i will be happier. this new box is fantastic. absolutely perfect… well, except for… rinse, repeat.
f-z. i do not have a roadie.
and until i do have a roadie, a & b will always be a factor. not that i ever get both! usually b (wiring) over a (weight). a is my nemesis. curses, you foul heavy thing!
the first one...
…but just you watch out! for if i ever get a roadie, the box i make then will be one for the electronic gods: nonesuch as ever beheld! lo! the box! it burns mine eyes with perfection!
by the way, at this very moment (not kidding)…
making a new one. seriously. all these pictures are now outdated. of course, it will solve all my issues. roadies? anyone?
