Initially the Shackle System was purely a cueing system, providing analog (visual) cues to the players and with players interacting in the analog domain as musicians. We’ve changed that by adding the possibility for players to control the other player’s musical software parameters. This control only happens in three parts: CLIP, LIMIT and SNAP. In CLIP and SNAP, I control a parameter in Anne’s Kyma system using the X-axis of the joystick. In LIMIT, Anne controls whatever funtion is active on the Y-axis of my joystick.

We are still learning to perform with this feature. We are used to playing our own instruments, but playing one instrument together is a whole different ballgame. It’s a bit like playing one violin with two players: one bowing and the other fingering. The great thing is that it forces us to listen in a different way to the other person’s patches. It’s a completely new way of playing together. Update: come to think of it, Shackle overall is a bit like playing one instrument together, as the system and our experience in performing together are binding our improvisations and determine to a large degree how we respond to eachother as players.