All-hardware live sets require regular rehearsal and accept reliability constraints in exchange for genuine real-time improvisation

Exercise One’s evolution from a PC-based setup through Ableton and back to dedicated hardware illustrates a key trade-off in live-set design. Hardware rigs — synths, drum machines, sequencers, effects — force performers to ‘play like a band’: parts must be practised, mistakes are audible, and the set cannot be scripted note-for-note. This constraint creates authentic spontaneity but introduces risk: hardware can fail, setup is heavier, and consistency requires rehearsal. Technology ‘can also breed laziness,’ and performers who found software too frictionless deliberately chose the discipline of hardware to keep their performance honest and to avoid conforming to a homogenised club-set norm.

Examples

Exercise One’s 2013 rig: Moog Minitaur, Roland SH-101, Dave Smith Mopho, Elektron Analog Four, MFB Tanzbär, Elektron Octatrack, Korg EMX as sequencer, plus effects and compressors — all played live without a laptop.

Assessment

Name two concrete constraints that all-hardware live performance imposes on a performer that software-based sets do not, and explain why those constraints can be considered advantages in a performance context.