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  • Controllerist Feature: ZedEppelin

    My cell phone is the ultimate facilitator. It essentially has the power to dictate what kind of day I’ll have. For instance, if it dies on me while I’m traveling, or I get some sort of troubling message; the day will probably be a pretty bad one. But if I get some good news, or see something uplifting or inspiring; the day will probably be good.

    I remember having a productive day full of positivity a few months ago after I caught a particularly inspiring video being passed around on social media. It featured ZedEppelin performing some refreshing music on a refreshing instrument – a guitar with a Launchpad inside of it!

    The man behind ZedEppelin is Zoltan Fecso, a graduate composer who focuses on acoustic instruments, field recordings and synthesis. Those areas of focus are especially prevalent in his most recent video:

    I had the chance to catch up with Zoltan via the e-mail machine and have him shed some insight on what inspired/inspires him, the build process of the Launchpad guitar, and how he performs.   

    On the inspiration behind putting a Launchpad on a guitar:
    I guess I’m an instrumentalist at heart.     Performing in bands quite young and the exposure to playing live left a huge impression I think.  When I fell in love with electronic music, my main goal was to be as ‘live’ as possible. I’d hear these amazing melodies or musical moments at shows and think, “Whoa, where did that come from?!” It’s a human thing for me. A visual and audible connection. Strum guitar = hear note. Hit drum = hear sound. My first live setup was a MIDI keyboard, a laptop and my electric guitar. It was pretty messy, aesthetically and practically. When I bought my first Launchpad it lived on a stand next to the MIDI keyboard so I was always flailing my arms around trying to reach the buttons or keys in time. The Launchpad is such a flexible and amazing partner to Ableton and with MIDI pickups in the bridge of the guitar, I can play any virtual instrument or sampler I want. Alternatively, I can just use the natural tone of the instrument. The knobs on the body control all of that stuff. I’m learning more about Max for Live now – the possibilities with the Launchpad are so unbelievably vast…

    The Launchpad guitar build:
    Looking back, the first set of blueprints I drew up for the guitar were quite hilarious! (No wonder out of the 15+ guitar builders in Australia, 12 said ‘no’ straight away…) Ian Noyce was the first to invite me to his workshop for a chat and by the end of our meeting I knew this guy was the one. We scrapped all of my original designs and re-worked the whole concept in a single afternoon.
    This left us with a guitar that:
    • - was half way between acoustic and semi-acoustic
    • - had a 1/4 inch output, USB output and 13 pin output
    • - had extra thick soundboard & struts to withstand playing the Launchpad
    • - had a bridge 3 inches further towards the sound hole,
    • - had a neck almost the length of a bass guitar,
    • - had an 18th fret joint (14th or 15th is common) 
    … it was a lot of work!
    Ian built the whole instrument by hand over 9 months. Every carving precise and masterful. There were many hurdles and I’m so fortunate to have worked with such an open minded and experienced luthier. The guitar is a true work of art. I often just lose myself in the delicacy and beauty of the wood and craftsmanship. 

    I also got an explanation of his performance in this video:

    Basically, I split the Launchpad’s User 1 mode into four groups of 16 pads. Each group has its own LED feedback colour so the audience can distinguish which group = which sound. I then created a loopback MIDI channel with Apple’s IAC driver and could send commands to control Loopers. The start builds on a drum and percussion loop then I play different samplers with the other pads. I quickly flick back and forth to Session mode and trigger different sections of the piece. About half way through, at the ‘breakdown’ (if you want to call it that) I switch from the sitar sound to a growly FM bass synth using the Launchpad’s Mixer Mode, and now the notes on the strings are controlling the notes on the synth.Essentially there are lots of loopers and programmed changes happening under the hood. My aim is to do something about the ‘man peering into a laptop’ conundrum. As the performances get tighter I won’t have to look at a laptop for a whole set! The coolest thing that I’ve found, and which made a lot of things possible is Gridlock, a monster M4L patch by Sigabort that allows you to completely transform Launchpad’s User 2 mode. I can’t even begin to… seriously… check it out! Another M4L device I used was NotesMute. This allowed me to split the grid in User 1 mode and block out any unwanted incoming MIDI signals. I definitely recommend looking up Macro Clips for the IAC Loopback stuff too. It’s like Ableton having an internal virtual MIDI controller!

    ZedEppelin’s music and videos became even more refreshing after I had that chat with Zoltan. (I know I’ve used that word a few times, but I think it’s a pretty fitting word considering it’s so far removed from the usual EDM bangers and Serato face I’ve come to expect when I see videos being shared on social media.)    In addition to having an album in the works with his newly acquired instrument, ZedEppelin has released two EPs which are free to downloadhere. To keep up to date with his upcoming audio and video releases be sure to check out his official website, FaceBook page, andSoundcloud account!