Are New Order really playing live?

What takes the piss is when u see performances where the keyboard aint even plugged in!!!!!!!!!!

PSB were guilty of this quite a lot on TOTP

Well, even though I like a lot of the music that PSB have released, apparently they started the band more as a business venture and not a musical one! At least that's what I've heard. :(

Originally posted by M. Domingo Well, even though I like a lot of the music that PSB have released, apparently they started the band more as a business venture and not a musical one! At least that's what I've heard. :(

Can't agree with that at all, like most bands the reason they started a band was to make the kind of music that they wanted to hear. We're talking about a band who lost almost £1M on a tour because they wanted to put on an extravagant show and who have never given their music for advertising. They might not be everyones cup of tea but I don't think you can fault them for integrity or doing it for the love of the music maaaaan.

M. Domingo wrote : "HELLO!!!! An electric guitar and an electric bass have wiring!"

true, but they don't have MIDI ports or memory banks

"But back to the topic. With bands like NO, it's necessary to have some pre-programmed stuff. It adds to the sound. It would be extremely silly and complicated to have an individual musician playing out on all those repetitive sequences. Have you ever tried it? It gets tiring to play a simple arpeggiation over and over again."

I agree it makes sense for NO to use sequencers, but there is nothing 'silly' about having real musicians play parts. Actual live playing also 'adds to the sound', more so than a sequencer chewing away forever at a riff. I think NOs music would be better if they would get away from sequencers, at least for their studio recordings when they can try as many times as they like to get it right. Digital edits on their newer material have the same effect, like Hooky's melody on 'Vicious Streak', you can hear that it is the same recording pasted onto the song multiple times. If they would have recorded him playing the riff several different times with the subtle differences that go hand in hand with human effort, I think it would sound a lot better and the song would be more impressive (I like it but it sounds a bit like a demonstration of digital editing software). Personally I think sequencers and drum machines are partly to blame for NOs declining musical competence since they started using them heavily in '81-82.