Daft Punk inside the pyramid!

Old news for some of you...still interesting for the others...


Here's some research I did on the web, which gave me a cool insight on the Daft Punk Pyramid mystery. So this is the Daft Punk pyramid from the inside, you might have seen some of the pics in the booklet if you bought the live CD. :-)


The image comes courtesy of mixmag (via The Daily Swarm), to whom Thomas Bangalter also revealed some secrets regarding Daft Punk's live sets and equipment of choice. Namely:

1. MOOGS (Voyager Rack Mount Edition)
"Next to the ethernet remote computer screens there are four Minimoog Voyagers, the classic analog synthesizers. They're a 30-year old design. We can mix, shuffle, trigger loops, filter, distort samples, EQ in and out, transpose or destroy and deconstruct synth lines. We keep some surprises on the side too!" (they don't use it for quick tv shows :-)

2. ABLETON LIVE + BEHRINGER BCR2000
"The show revolves around Ableton Live software on custom made super-computers, which we remotely access and control with Behringer BCR2000 midi controllers."
(Who said the Behringer equipment was crap? Yes, Mister Salesman, you did, because they 're rather fair-priced midi controllers. And you wanted me to buy more expensive stuff!)

3. SCREENS

Somehow there is some discussion: the pictures show like a Lemur (I'm in love with this machine since I discovered this post last night), but they are not, or not the standard models at least. Although...Daft Punk uses 4(!) Lemurs on TV Live Shows, as you can see here on YouTube (go immediately to 2'47" for Daft Punk action on the Lemurs)

And JazzMutant is happy to mention Daft Punk as a customer. (Hey Justice is a customer too! But that's another post coming up ;-)

4. ? Not a clue...laptops?

VISUALS
"There's a direct connection between our rig and the lights and visuals of the show. The light and video engineers can also add or control layers during the show."

SYNTHS
"Inside the pyramid are synthesizers and remote controls connected to the rest of the music equipment and computers, which are in rack-mounted towers off stage."

But there are no keyboards inside the Pyramid. So it is triggering and tweaking of synthsounds not like J-M Jarre playing the keys live - in a way (you like that Xstophe? ;-). But the triggering can be done with every midi controller, or with the Lemurs as seen in the youtube vid above.


TEAMWORK
"Working the music equipment, lighting and video equipment, and building the pyramid for each show takes around 10 people, including both of us."

PRICE?
2x Behringer BCR20000: 120 EURO x 2 = 240 EURO
1x Ableton Live 7: 419 EURO
4x Voyager Rack Mount Edition: +/- 2000 EURO x 4 = 8000 EURO
2x or 4x JazzMutant Lemurs: +/- 2100 EURO/each x 4 = 8400 EURO (for 'easy' lives)

+ and tons of synth racks (but where are they?) + lasers, etc.

You'd better sell your house if you want a temple like this!

So quite an expensive show triangle they have, and even if it's all technologic stuff, these guys made some of the best dance tracks ever. The shows are awesome, including all the lasers, etc. And in the end what counts is one, easy, simple Soulwax sample: "is it good enough for what you're payin"?

Answer: "Yes it is!"

Thank you, Daft Punk for the behind-the-scences material. Oh, and don't you just adore these helmets? Note the "Hero Helmet" and "Backup Helmet"...if you need a back-up, call me!

Soulwax Secret Release Party, Ghent

Yesterday night, Soulwax played a mixset in front of only a few friends, some media folks and contest winners. Not much of a crowd in an unusual location (ICC Ghent) that looked more like a high school lunch hall.


The Dewaele brothers stand for quality mashups & creative setlists, and that's what they served us.


The down-to-earth sons of Zaki (present as well), played at least 3 Justice records (incl. Phantom II :-), one SebastiAn track, a Goose(present) remix, and of course loads of Soulwax remixes, from Gravity's Rainbow (Klaxons) over Kylie Minogue & Sugarbabes. A must-have album for every party DJ!

It's not much, but here they are: Soulwax @ the release party
(sorry for poor sound quality, put the volume down!)


PS: We spotted Linda from Milk Inc too. And yes baby, she can fill a Sportpaleis with air & balloons, but you don't fool these guys. Wrong place, wrong time, maybe?
Hey, I thought the TMF Awards were last week? [grin]

The Police / Roxanne / Soulwax & Friends

So...The Police played in Belgium. And I bought a ticket...and sold it (same price) a few days before the concert. (something like 83 € I believe).

Expensive? Hell yeah...these guys didn't even play "Roxanne"!

Luckily there is Justice (the chinese and the moustache) to keep hope alive.

Remember?


And why am I bringing you this?
Well, tomorrow, tuesday 16/10 Soulwax will be playing as 2ManyDJs somewhere in Ghent "with friends"...secret release party, etc.
My question is...who are 'the friends'?

Justice? Erol Alkan? Tiga? Zaki? I'll let you know... :-)