DT's impact on JR's work

[Zorbas]

Because of the "Programming Marathon" thread, the other day I started thinking about how much Jordan's work with DT has influenced the way he works.

Maybe I don't know enough about his past work, but it seems to me that he wouldn't be using so much technology if he wasn't working with DT. I remember being blown away in the "Six Degrees of Inner Tourbulence" video by the german fanclub by how much responsibilities Jordan has during a show (not only playing the keyboards but also trigering samples) and the work that he has to do every day to fulfill those duties (programming his keyboard and samplers for different setlists and loading those programs before each show).

Also, the absurd number of sounds he uses. I don't think he has ever used these many sounds in a concert. Then again, I may be wrong. Like I said previously, I don't know about many of the details of his former work.

What do you guys think?

[Enigma™]

Three words:
Rudess Morgenstein Project. When you load up his sounds for a single night, you HAVE to load them into the "everything" bank and overwrite all the default sounds to get them all to fit properly.
That's more than just about any DT show I've seen so far... :)

[Zorbas]

But they never played it live did they?

I was under the impression that that project was a studio only affair.

[Bert]

RPM plays live... well, not "quite often," but often enough. The next appearance is this coming Friday, opening up for Porcupine Tree at Irving Plaza in NYC, then another appearance at MoogFest at BB King's on May 31st.

Be there or be... not there. But never square.

-- B

[Zorbas]

If only I wasn't half a world away...

[Stimpus]

dammit me too....thousands of miles. I'm in NY soon though, which sucks because its too damn late! i wanted to see dream theater tour there, but i'm not a great fan of megadeth so i thought it might spoil it. i'll wait 'til next year when they come to uk....

About Jordans responsibilities aswell, all those images on screen at the back of the show all come from his keyboard too. samples, keyboard and images. Nice, don't think i would like having that on my shoulders!

[Bert]

Hmmmmm...

Samples, yes. Keyboard parts, yes.

Video? JR and I were partners in crime in the original concept of the video stuff, and he definitely had a lot of input and put a lot of work into that portion of the show. However, the images didn't come from his synth, nor were they triggered that way. Actually, the first U.S. leg of the Metropolis 2000 tour, there were MIDI signals being sent from his Kurzweil to the video rig, but after that (from Europe on until the present day) all the video stuff has been independent of his rig.

How do I know? I'm the video guy. :P

-- B

[Luca_Capozzi]

Bert, now you have to confess us: YOU'RE PLAYING WINAMP WHILE @ WORK!!!111 :D

Luca

[Cary]

How do I know? I'm the video guy. :P

And a damn fine one at that. Behind-the-scenes guys never get enough credit, yet the work is adimirable and top notch.
Three cheers for Bert!!!!!

[Taurus]

hmmm I think the title JR's Influence On DT's Work would be better.

I think DT is more influenced by JR than the other way round. Also think of that Jordan and Petrucci write most of the (tonal) music togheter. When Jordan is doing his own stuff he doesn't have any limits or restrictions and does it on his own.
Maybe he's inspired by some rhythmic stuff from Mike, but I hardly hear any petrucci influence to be honest... Let's think Labrie and Myung away.

[Zorbas]

I'm not saying that DT influences JR and not the other way around. It's obviously both ways. I was addressing this specific one.

[hephiroth]

i know labrie doesn't write tooo much in the band because the other guys usually write the lyrics and the melody lines, BUT:

1. myung DOES write a lot of riffs...more than you'd think, from what i've been able to gather from home videos

2. portnoy may not write a lot of the tonal music, but he writes a lot of lyrics and is HUGE HUGE HUGE in the arranging process, which is a very important part to songwriting. so, even if he's not "writing" the material, he's putting a lot of his ideas into it

-jeff-