In this video, via Guitar Center, synthesist Lisa Bella Donna explores the new Moog Grandmother synthesizer, in an improvisation from the pop-up store at Moogfest 2018.
Bella Donna plays the Moog Grandmother through her Earthquaker Devices pedalboard.
Awesome performance and tones, reminds me of Jan Hammer’s playing in many ways !
Yes I heard Jan as well, throughout the entire performance, not just those perfect pitch bends!
Great chord progressions and melodic figures. Nice to hear someone doing something interesting.
Lisa is an amazing musician and person! Love seeing her on here
Brilliant! many improv’d demos are so one dimensional. This was improvised composition, brilliantly formed and executed. Bravo!
Why is all I hear from the Grandmother legato synth lines? Anyone want to use the ADSR for a change?
It’s not so much legato she’s got the VCA in gate mode.. or “kb rls” mode as Moog calls it here. Playing the kb gate sounds awesome a many times on many synths. Also sometimes it’s kind of hard not to play a synth legato if you’re a pianist. Furthermore w/ a gazillion pedals the ADSR will cloud it up if too much attack or release.
Bloody awesome!
I thought this was really cool. Nice work by the artist, and I thought the Moog sounded nice. It reminded me of the raw edge of my old Prodigy, even through all the effects. I think the board looks dreadful, but maybe I am coming around to its vibe…
She’s showing the fun of playing instruments without presets, just doing it, playing instead of tweaking within lots of menus.
GAUZE!
I must admit. This sounds fantastic. But true reality is that pedals and performer make the majority of awesomeness. That why I love my Deepmind 12 – it has all the pedals inside.
it sounds very thin and souless to my ears..
What do you mean by “thin”? What do you mean by “souless”?
It sounds electronic, wet, flanged, loopy, repetitive, sonically seamless (i.e., no gaps), and has a little bit of dynamic shape. It’s got lots of pentatonic stuff in it– as one would expect in an improvised thing.
I wouldn’t call it “safe”. It’s adventurous, and does show a high degree of skill– but not in a way that is all about being “showy”.
Not my cup of tea, but mad skills and it held together well.
Awesome improvisation
Awesome improvisation and sound! I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa and a few other folks from Earthquaker. They’re really a nice bunch. The pedals are top notch!