Anyone here ever done any busking with electronic music?

Wondering how it went considering you’re not in a dark club where people will dance mindlessly to anything :slight_smile:

Does it go over well in the daytime on a city street with lots of pedestrians/tourists? I live in a town with lots of busking and tourists but never seen electronic music done.

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This is something I’ve been pondering doing for far too long now. If you get any solid info on this done successfully with an octatrack, let me know. I fear that messing with the OT’s power is something to avoid basically because I know so little about electricity especially where software and timing is involved. Powering speakers is another matter. The fact that nobody has responded to your post for a year tells me very few are doing busking with machines. I’m on it. I’ll update you on what I find out.

I saw a bloke busking with an MS-20 once, it was fantastic. He was just wigging out on it.

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I’ve seen it in Germany a bit.

I’m sorry for ****posting but

You reminded me of this track

thank u

I’ve thought about it, but I also wonder if people would look at an elektron box and just not get what is going on musically… maybe having some keys would be a must. Seen plenty of musicians using drummachines busking as back up to what they were already playing or playing a portable keyboard. That said I have pulled out and played my slide guitar in public a few times with friends and it always seems to have a big draw even though I’m not even busking, people tend to come over and watch and give complements… not sure I would expect the same from my A4 or digitakt, probably more questions about what the heck the devices are I am playing. I think if you found the right space it would be pretty cool though.

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I’ve gone out busking more as publicity for upcoming hip-hop shows, just an OP-1, portable amp, and a microphone. People go bananas over the tiny Mc Donalds toy look of the OP-1.

Now that i’ve got a mobile suitcase rig with a rytm, M32, and O-Coast, i’m curious what kind of response i’ll receive.

Just have to be more cautious where you’re playing with expensive electronics!

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I saw a guy busking with only a few Volcas. He had random passing drunks having a dance while he blooped away.

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I’ve seen people in Melbourne busking with MPCs, keyboard synths etc.

I’m considering getting a portable amp like a Roland Cube or similar and busking with my gameboys running nanoloop2; I’ve had good responses from non-chip people when they’ve heard what I can do with that setup.
I should also get an OP-1 or Circuit again, would make busking a bit more fun I think.

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lol Holy shit. I’m glad I dodged those bullets while I was there.

Does anyone know of any preferable portable power devices that won’t cause any unstable hiccups for my baby, my octatrack. I can’t have it shit out on me. I would be devastated.

Omnicharge 20 does a great job with my Octatrack. There are plenty of alternatives listed in the portable power thread.

A pure sine wave inverter and whatever size 12v battery you desire.

Damn. Reminds me I left my 50m electric cable in Dordogne :man_shrugging:

I played under the trees a few times the last two weeks. DT + DN + AD :slight_smile:
2h long improvised sessions…
Streets were empty, I was mainly playing for me and my friends, but that was a nice way to celebrate this incredible summer !!!

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Hey lampmeister, do you think it would be ok or even preferred to run my speakers and the OT off the same battery and inverter or should they be on separate units entirely as speakers will draw more power than the OT?

@CitizenJ, would you use a separate power source for your speaker then. I don’t want to buy an omnicharge if I can get enough “safe” power from an SLA battery. I’m on a budget and mostly just wondering if it isn’t preferred to have a loudspeaker and OT running off the same inverter/SLA battery. Mostly concerned for the octatrack health in such an uncharted electrical territory (for me, anyway). Thanks. Much love to the responders here. Love any advice y’all have.

Actually, for busking and considering the need of a speaker I reckon the 12v SLA + good quality inverter is a cheaper, more practical and less fragile option.

Thanks so much, everybody. People that are too young to experience REAL club-music (the real shit) need someone to bring it to them. Unless we want deep-state mind-controlled pop-puppets like Katy Perry, Justin Timberdouche, or Ke$ha to guide our kid’s precious souls toward music, we better show them the light before it’s too late. Here’s my contribution, my project, my calling: to save their souls with a mobile busking live-machine setup. Look out, Chicago and World.

If anybody else has good solid advice or thorough experience with this please chime in. I plan now to buy a JBL 2206h for lows and still wondering generally about the highs and what kind/brand of tweeter I’d prefer, or if I need more than one.

I’m also hoping some of you can tell me what NOT to do or buy. I’d like to do this right the first time so I can focus on the music.

I’m verbose.

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you need a $100 street performers license for Chicago, you might find this blog post helpful - https://busk.co/blog/busking-beat/becoming-legal-chicago/ - some of the comments are interesting also

Depends entirely on the size of battery you want to use and how long you’re going to want to use the gear between charges. 2 inverters/batteries will obviously double the cost and double the size and weight, so I’d always recommend a single inverter with a battery or two of the size to fit your needs. A 12v 12ah battery, which should last all day on a single charge, can be had for under £20 from places in the UK such as Toolstation. Your biggest current draw will be your amp, just be sure that the inverter is more than big enough to handle your total current draw.