This essay reflects on the learning and experimentation that influenced my six-minute live electronics performance, and about the equipment used, the decisions made, and how working with electronics has begun to shift my approach to making music.
To understand the choices made throughout this project, it is first necessary to situate them within a broader context of live electronic music practice. The use of electronics in performance is not a new development; composers and performers have been exploring the relationship between acoustic sound and electronic transformation for a while, and have been gradually increasing the frequent use of it in performances. Pierre Schaeffer’s development of musique concrète in the late 1940s was foundational in establishing the idea that recorded and manipulated sound could itself become musical material. The idea that any sound, whether produced acoustically or synthetically, is a valid compositional resource became central to how I approached the project.
Within more contemporary practice, artists such as Fred again, sampha and Four Tet have demonstrated how electronics can be used not merely as textural decoration but as a structural, expressive, and even political tool (Herndon, 2019). These references directly informed how I conceived my own performance structure and how it would be implemented into the genre I like.
The artists that most directly influenced this performance — Dijon, MKGee, Fred Again, Sampha — are not figures who typically appear in electronic music scene, yet their approach to electronics is no less considered electronic influenced Part of the learning process was recognising that these two worlds — the stereotypical tradition of electronic music composition and the contemporary practice of artists working across R&B, indie and experimental music — are not opposites but can complement each other, and that drawing on both produced a rmore personally grounded piece of work than either alone would have.
A particularly significant influence was watching Dijon’s performance at Coachella this year. Watching such performances made apparent the extent to which control of electronics in real-time requires both preparation and a willingness to respond intuitively to the evolving sonic environment. This balance between the composed and the improvised became a guiding principle of my own performance.
It’s shown in the video how his vocals can be manipulated heavily using distortion, chorus, flanger and other warped effects but still capture an emotion from the audience. Furthermore, it seems like every hit the drummer does triggers an effect, such as a reverb gate different sounds. This really impacts the song, and I wanted to make sure to capture that element in the closest way possible by using send effects and triggers.
My main takeaway from this performance was the use of FX sends and the SP404 trigger pads. I was certain I wanted to use it for my performance as well.
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=6846bdbd-bcf6-4cda-9422-b4400142bfa7I was really intrigued by the tone used in the performance above, and after doing some research, I discovered it was by an artist called Mkgee. His ability to create such a distorted tone that is only gated when you strum really hard on the guitar interested me. I knew I wanted that type of FX send on my guitar track inside my performance that would only be triggered when I play aggressively.
I tried to emulate the same FX chain by creating two tracks, one that was embedded with chorus, wah, reverb and saturation, whilst the other was reverb, saturation, drive and distortion, all gated to a certain dB threshold that would only be achieved when I play aggressively.
The equipment used in the performance was selected based on a combination of compositional intent alongside reference recommendations. The core setup consisted of the Roland SP-404 sampler, the Korg Minilogue synthesiser, the Novation Bass Station, an RC-20 fx, reverb, delay, spectral time send on ableton and a guitar and bass with various effects processing. The decisions surrounding their use evolved considerably over the course of the project.
The SP-404 is a sampler with an established history in hip-hop and lo-fi production, most famously associated with beatmakers in the J Dilla tradition, but it has increasingly found a place in live experimental performance due to its built-in effects, including vinyl simulation, reverb, and bit-crushing (Roland Corporation, 2021).
For this project, I used the SP-404 primarily as a means of triggering pre-prepared loops and samples of guitar licks and riffs while also applying real-time effects processing from the sampler itself.
It’s 16 pads made it intuitive to use under performance conditions, and I found that its slightly lo-fi character, due to the 12-bit converters, added a textural quality to the output that suited the aesthetic of the song.
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=2c5afe00-053f-4cbd-a29a-b44100c255d3
The Korg Minilogue is a four-voice analogue polyphonic synthesiser, and its inclusion was because of my desire to incorporate analogue warmth and harmonic complexity that purely digital sources often lack (Korg, 2016). Analogue synthesis operates on the principle of continuously variable voltage, meaning that its oscillators and filters produce subtle, organic variations that add life to sustained tones. I used the Minilogue for pad sounds and lead synth textures, whilst also manipulating the filter cutoff and resonance in real-time to create a sense of movement.
A further piece of hardware central to the performance was the Novation Bass Station II, a monophonic analogue synthesiser designed primarily for bass and lead sounds. Its inclusion was motivated by the need for a dedicated a high end synth lead that could sit above the Minilogue pads without the two competing for the same harmonic space.
Where the Minilogue provided polyphonic warmth and textural complexity in the mid frequency range, the Bass Station II handled the higher frequency material with a focused, punchy character that analogue monophonic synthesis is particularly well suited to alognside sometime its use as a bass synth. The Bass Station II also features a sub-oscillator, which adds a layer of low-end weight beneath the fundamental tone that reinforces the bass guitar without duplicating it, creating a low-end that feels fuller and more physical.
Operating it in real-time alongside the other elements of the setup required a degree of planning due to the fact that, as a monophonic instrument, it can only produce one note at a time, meaning melodic decisions had to be simple and deliberate. This limitation proved helpful, pushing the bass and lead synthesiser parts toward a clarity and intentionality that more harmonically complex instruments might not have demanded.
All audio tracks were routed through a series of send effects: Reverb, Delay, the RC-20 plugin, and the Portal spectral time plugin. This approach of using send channels rather than inserting effects directly on each instrument meant that multiple sound sources could share the same reverb and delay effect, creating a sense of consistency across the performance. This is a technique commonly used in studio mixing, but its application in a live context introduced an element of surprise as the interaction between different sources within the shared reverb tail could produce unexpected harmonic and textural relationships.
The Portal spectral time effect became the one to experiment with the most. Its ability to pitch-shift and temporally smear incoming audio in real-time meant that guitar lines and synth notes could be transformed into something barely recognisable from their source, which I found to be one of the more creatively interesting parts of the project.
The bass was processed and also routed to the send effects, which allowed its lower frequencies to interact with the reverb and delay in interesting ways, which is quite uncommon. One discovery during the preparation process was that applying significant reverb to bass frequencies can destabilise the low-end foundation of a mix, and I had to be deliberate about the balance between wet and dry signal to avoid the bass becoming muddy or indistinct. This was a practical lesson in the relationship between frequency and time-based effects, and it pointed to a broader principle I had not fully appreciated before of the same effect behaves very differently depending on the frequency content of the source material.
Rather than beginning with a fully realised score or structure, I started by experimenting with individual elements in isolation — exploring what each piece of equipment could do, what timbres and textures it was capable of producing, and what happened when different elements were combined. This approach resonates with Pauline Oliveros’s concept of ‘deep listening’, which emphasises a heightened attentiveness to sound as it emerges in the moment, prioritising responsive, exploratory engagement over adherence to a predetermined plan (Oliveros, 2005)
The attached video documents Sampha performing live, drawing on multiple analogue synthesisers and sequencers to build improvised textural layers beneath his vocals and live drumming, a process that accentuates Di Scipio’s model in practice, where the music takes shape through the interaction of components rather than adherence to a fixed plan.
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=efa6d87a-948a-4f36-ab01-b44001447126The drum loop provided a rhythmic anchor for the performance. I chose to treat the loop as a fixed, consistent backbone to the music and as an active element that could be manipulated through effects to shift the energy and character of different sections. At certain points, applying heavy reverb or delay to the loop created a more atmospheric, washed-out quality; at others, a drier, more present drum sound drove the piece forward more directly. This real-time manipulation of rhythmic material is a technique I observed in the work of producers and performers such as Flying Lotus, whose live sets often involve real-time transformation of rhythmic and harmonic layers into something fluid and shape-shifting.
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=73cd75a6-2e88-45e5-8848-b4400142bfa6There were unsuccessful investigations during this process that proved instructive in their own way. Early attempts to use the RC-20 send FX plugin to build up multi-layered loops in real-time were more difficult to manage than anticipated. Maintaining rhythmic accuracy while simultaneously attending to other elements of the performance, such as synthesiser parameters and effects sends, placed a multitasking problem. I ultimately decided to use the RC-20 in a more limited way, primarily as a sustain and extension tool rather than as a looping effect in the full sense. This was a compromise out of trial and error, but it also led to a more considered and less cluttered performance texture.
Reflecting on the performance itself, there are aspects I consider successful and others that I would approach differently with the benefit of hindsight. The textural variety achieved through the combination of the SP-404, synthesisers, and processed live instruments was one of the stronger elements: the performance moved between denser, more active passages and quieter, more atmospheric ones, and the electronics played a central role in facilitating these transitions. The use of the shared reverb send in particular created a sense of spatial box that I had not fully anticipated, and which added a cohesiveness to the overall sonic world of my 6-minute piece
However, there were moments where the management of multiple elements simultaneously led to less controlled outcomes than I had intended. The coordination of the SP-404 and the Minilogue, while also attending to the guitar processing, proved demanding, and there were instances where the balance between elements was not ideal.
This is a challenge inherent to solo live electronic performance, and it points to the importance of practice and system design in ensuring that the performer is not overwhelmed by the technical demands of the setup. Christopher Small’s concept of ‘musicking’ — the idea that making music is fundamentally a social and performative act — is useful here. The challenge of applying several instruments at once is not merely technical but involves maintaining an expressive and communicative presence even when managing complex systems (Small, 1998).
https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=cdba3de0-2b1e-4eab-8b25-b4400142bfa7In terms of what I would do differently, I would invest more time in designing the signal routing and effects chain before the performance, with a clearer map of which sends are active at which points in the piece. I would also consider simplifying the setup slightly, focusing on deeper exploration of fewer elements rather than the breadth of the current configuration. There is a tension in electronic performance between the richness of possibility offered by a complex setup and the cognitive manageability of that setup in a live context, and I feel I was positioned somewhat on the complex side of that balance.
One of the more unfamiliar aspects of this project was the question of how to document a piece defined by real-time spontaneity. Traditional sheet music notation is poorly suited to capturing this kind of music. In place of a conventional score, I developed a loose performance map — indicating the sequence of elements, approximate points of transition, and which send effects should be active at different stages.
The experience of devising this document made me aware of how deeply notation shapes musical thinking; working without the structure of a conventional score forced a more direct engagement with the musical decisions as the primary organisational material.
This project has significantly expanded my understanding of electronics as a compositional and performative tool, and has opened up a number of avenues I intend to pursue in future work. The most significant shift in my thinking has been in relation to timbre: engaging with electronics in depth has made me much more attentive to the sonic character of sound itself — its texture, its spatial qualities, the way it evolves — as a primary compositional parameter, rather than treating pitch and rhythm as the dominant organising principles.
I am particularly interested in exploring the relationship between analogue synthesis and acoustic instruments further, especially through the use of synthesis as a means of augmenting or extending acoustic sounds in real-time. The use of the Minilogue alongside the guitar and bass really intrigued me, and I would like to investigate this more, perhaps using the synthesiser to respond to and harmonise with acoustic material in real-time, creating a kind of live, dynamic accompaniment that blurs the boundary between acoustic and electronic. This has precedent in the work of artists such as Nils Frahm, whose integration of acoustic piano with modular synthesis and electronics demonstrates how these two worlds can be brought into intimate dialogue without one dominating the other (Frahm, 2018).
I also intend to develop my understanding of spectral processing further, particularly in relation to the Portal effect used in this performance. The ability to transform sounds spectrally and alter their frequency content in ways that go beyond simple filtering opens up compositional possibilities that are difficult or impossible to achieve through acoustic means alone, and I see this as a central area for future exploration.
Engaging with live electronics not as an addition to acoustic performance but as a central compositional medium has required me to rethink fundamental assumptions about what music is and how it is made. The equipment used, the SP-404, Minilogue, RC-20, Portal, and the various guitar and bass effects, each contributed to a performance that was, at its best, a unified piece in which acoustic and electronic elements were in genuine dialogue.
There were technical challenges, unsuccessful experiments, and moments of performance where the complexity of the setup exceeded my immediate control. But these difficulties were themselves instructive, pointing to areas for development and clarifying what I would prioritise in future work.
Bibliography / Discography / Video References
Books and Articles
Borgo, D. (2005). Sync or swarm: improvising music in a complex age. New York: Continuum.
Oliveros, P. (2005). Deep listening: a composer’s sound practice. New York: Universe.
Herndon, H. (2019) PROTO [Album]. 4AD.
Korg UK. (2021). Korg UK. [online] Available at: https://www.korg.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOorKYLNW2qf19AnWfFZWxjqLMp4M5kCCGLKYqBViPFkAiw30nBYb [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026].
Corporation, R. (2026). Roland – Support – SP-404MKII – Owner’s Manuals. [online] Roland. Available at: https://www.roland.com/global/support/by_product/sp-404mk2/owners_manuals/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026].
Schaeffer, P. (2013). In Search of a Concrete Music. Berkeley: University Of California Press.
Small, C. (1998). Musicking: The meanings of performing and listening. Wesleyan University Press, pp.1–18.
Weber, W. and Tamm, E. (1990). Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Colour of Sound. Notes, 46(3), p.644. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/941440.
Coachella (2026). Dijon – Kindalove – Live at Coachella 2026. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjnrL0HE94 [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026]
TeddieMusic (2024). MK GEE onstage interview. Mike’s showing his Gear before the concert [4K Live]. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20YmcA-mf6U [Accessed 25 May 2025]
here you go (2024). Sampha Camp Flog Gnaw 2024. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2YbAe-3EBg [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026]
Highland Park Beat Music (2020). Flying Lotus and Chris Fishman Duo set in the Park. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgWJYxhi-OU [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026]
Coachella (2026b). Disclosure – Latch – Live from Coachella 2026. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtzqAHt3WhI [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026]
INCredible COFFEE (2025). SPELL – Live Beat Set at INCredible Coffee (Tokyo) / SP-404MKII / Beat by SPELL / MUSIC LOUNGE STRUT. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaPEa8_r7_U [Accessed 5 May 2026].
