Futureman
Q&A
An interview with
Roy "Futureman" Wooten.
These questions were
asked by various members of the Zendrum Yahoo! Users group. Futureman is a
spiritual grandfather to all Zendrummers, paving the way for midi hand percussion
instruments with his SynthAxe Drumitar. A very complete background of "Futch"
and his work with Bela Fleck & The Flecktones can be found at his bio
page at the Bela Fleck site.
Questions are in italic.
Futch's responses follow each.
Gear Gab
On your right hand
trigger pads you seem to have a number of ride cymbals triggered at lower
velocities with Snare and Bass drums
coming in at the higher velocities. Are you using the Cymbals (from the Samplers)
and Drums (from the modules) and adjusting the sensitivity of each to achieve
the layering? Or is it performed all within the DMPro?
Cymbals
are mainly from samplers with some partials of the sound layered in from the
drum modules, particularly the TD10 unit from Roland, which has a beautiful
"ping" sound for the tip of the Cymbal sound that gives that Tony
Williams "4 and more" edge (a Miles David recording).
Any recommendations
on Sample CDs for cymbals as these seem to be the hardest thing to reproduce
on the Zendrum - love the cymbal sounds you're getting :-),but they're probably
your own custom samples....?
I've
used the Sabian Cymbal library and have the Peter Erskin library for the jazz
cymbal beauty and rich qualities.
When using say
a Roland TD-6 or Yamaha DTX Drumset, some of the sets have Bass notes or Chords
that cycle round on consecutive hits, is it possible to trigger these cycling
sound sets from the Zendrum or would the sounds be switched internally in
the module, only from the pad trigger inputs?
I used this effect
on a Flectones album on the song VIX 9, using the Roland TD7 which switched
internally from the module...but with engineer Chris deHaas I have my own
switching with the Drumitar. With the Zendrum they have their own internal
crossfades and you can design your own in most of the sound modules.
Could you please
explain how you use sound layering in your playing? You have such a fluid
and natural sound, and I would love to learn how you do it! It seems that
you use bass drums and snare drums with cymbals layered on them. I'd just
love to know more!
I don't have bass
drums with cymbals layered on them, but you CAN do that if you want to...I
layer that kind of mixture by using finger choices. The layering that I do
is WITHIN the particular sound that I am working on - or using - because the
whole key to sound is in the layering, which is compositional in nature. Because
it's not so important how good a sample is as how it feels from soft to loud,
and there is an episode in subtlety and composition to make a sound open up
correctly with the right feeling from soft to loud. I will tweak sounds for
years before I am actually happy with its function...like now I actually like
snare drums that I use with the Flecktones. Now I can move on.
About The Music
Concerning tonal
experiments like your Periodic Table. Have you tried anything involving microtonal
tunings mathematically related to things like golden proportions? I find that
when matching two or more naturally occuring numeric systems - like a universal
mathematic and an organic cycle, non-traditional but very pleasing harmonies
occur at specific intervals.
Yes
indeed, with Dr. Wayne Kirby, inventor of Serious Composer Software (www.seriouscomposer.com),
out of the University of N.C. He has literally created scales based off the
Golden Ratio, pi, and other natural constructs, architected by Nature. I like
what you're doing, because to understand these different harmonic temperaments
it helps to feel the different indigenous scales from around the world...because
I think they are gravitating towards these other universal tunings. But now
with computer technology we can nail the precise mathematics required to produce
other tuning ratios and these other scales and harmonic realities...kind of
like tuning drums, it's not always "do re me" in the classical sense,
drums require tuning that sounds good...and it's that natural instinct I use
when listening and choosing notes from different tuning systems.
I've heard you
say that the more you play, the more you approach drums like pianos and pianos
like drums. When you play a trigger device, like the Drumitar or Zendrum,
do you find yourself phrasing in fingerings thinking more like flams and double
strokes, or like triads and chords?
One
is an interpretation of the other, like shadow is an interpretation of the
effect of light passing shape or making a shape imprint. Therefore rhythym
is making a possible harmonic imprint...if you can pull out the information
in harmonic or melodic form. For example a "trip-o-let" is a triad
or can be a triad...how many ways you can play a "trip-o-let" =
how many ways you can play a triad? (You can really ponder on these questions
and come with interesting answers and approaches.)
If music is an
expressive language, and the more proficient you are in the basics of your
instrument (rudiments and such) the more fluently
you can express yourself, do you find it better with trigger instruments to
A) create your own language faster by mapping sounds to where your fingers
naturally fall,
Yes, because each
finger has a different personality, like the thumbs and middle fingers are
suited for heavy sounds like bass drum, the first fingers are the next strongest
like for snare drums, and the ring fingers and little fingers are suited for
lighter sounds like cymbals..Think about that. Because this also applies to
high and low notes an a compositional approach.
or by B) learning
an existing system of someone else's design for the discipline required? Maybe
more clearly, would you rather devise your own language of basics or learn
someone elses?
Both systems:
Like setting up a drumset your own way...even though it is an existing system
there is flexibility for say a left-handed player to orient things to their
own approach, like my friend Carter Beauford who leads with left hand and
right foot. Some instruments and approaches don't allow this flexibility,
but ultimately I like both structure and flexibility.
Do you ever want
to play the same piece of music exactly the same way twice?
Partially
sometimes, especially if I am learning a melody, or recreating a certain rhythmical
effect.
The Drumitar
I'm just curious
as to your current setup with the Drumitar - Is it still a DMPro/DM5 with
the Roland Samplers?
Basically
yes, but I am extending to the Roland TD7, Roland TD10, Kurtzweil 2000 &
2500 samplers, and the Giga Studio for some of
my newer music approaches.
What was the biggest
mistake you made in creating the drumitar?
Thinking that a
big company would help.
Personal
Looking Forward
to seeing you all again soon, trying to find a copy of the Flecktones DVD
here in the UK,not so easy though:-(
What's your favorite
food?
If you had to choose
another profession, what would it be?
Time Travel or Alchemy.
or
