Raymond Pai – Looking Outwards – 10

For this Looking Outwards, I wanted to focus on a new computational instrument. The Midi Fighter 64 is a ‘finger drum’ instrument, in which a user can program sounds into each button and play the instrument by pressing the buttons. There’s a wide range of button numbers, from 4 x 4 (16 buttons) to 8 x 8 (64 buttons). Artists who use these instruments are called controlerism artists because the boards are closely related to video game controllers (Midi Fighters are only used for music). Another notable similarity between these instruments are computer games is that the buttons on the Midi Fighter are the same as retro Japanese arcade buttons.

The Midi Fighter sounds are programmed into the board using Ableton Live, a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). The Midi Fighter was originally created by Ean Golden, who’s been interested in controlerism music since the early 2000s. Golden wrote and published an article on the topic in 2007 called ‘Music Manuevers’: https://archive.moldover.com/press/Moldover_Remix_Oct-2007_w.jpg . The instrument has since been popularized by artists such as Shawn Wasabi, a DJ who has pushed the instrument to its limits and played a role in its development to turn it into a marketable product.

To see the Midi Fighter in action: