Watching an artist "play" laptop can be monotonous, but it can be engaging, too. The basis of Andrea Parkins's rig is a lap top and she is a very engaging artist to watch. Though granted she has keyboard midi controllers and substantial outboard gear, but the heart is the computer. I think it is left to the artist what she wants to do with the computer as performance instrument; it is up to the artist whether the computer is dull or not. Zach
Mori's been using MAX/MSP on a laptop for years.
Does anyone else think that Mori's whole shtick works great on paper, but not in practice? I mean, the idea of using drum machines to make music was great, but instead of using analogue drum synthizers, with their wealth of tonal possibilities, she always used those really horrible, gated-reverb 80's sounding digital drum boxes. andrew