After doing the last track/video “Taste of Blue” introducing my new technique of launching clips and scenes in Ableton live using the Novation Launchpad while playing the drum part live, it opened my mind of the many different types of sounds and styles I could tackle using the same basic setup. I had the idea [...]

For the past year since I’ve been on this Progtronica quest, I’ve had the compositional approach of beginning with the idea of “What if I did this?” A lot of great music has been written with this type of inspiration, trying to figure out something one doesn’t know and then making a musical statement out [...]

After doing all the post production, polishing, and arraigning of all other logistical details for the release of the “Live For No One” EP, I’ve gotten back to exploring new production and performance techniques in Ableton Live. The most crucial of all of these has turned out the be the “sidechaining” of certain effects from [...]

The brand new nigelsifantus.com has now launched and my creative fire is burning and ready to blaze. For the past 9 months I’ve been working in solitude, producing solo live music videos in to comfort and isolation of my own studio and have been amazed at the reception I have received from all corners of [...]

Progtronica Ableton Live/Novation Launchpad weekly dj set. 2-11-20 by Progtronica This week’s performance is the longest to date and has the most aggressive time signature changes. Here is the YouTube edit of the performance. To see the full thing visit this Vimeo link. Also I have provided the full audio to listen to here and [...]

For the past 6 months or so I have been creating “Progtronica” tracks as solo performances using Ableton Live software and a few different controllers most notably the Novation Launchpad which has completely changed my musical approach. I have been creating music usually centering around samples of my own drumming mixed with found sounds musically [...]

“We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.” – Barack Obama 1/20/09 There have been a lot of inspirational words spoken by our relatively still new commander and chief over the past couple of years [...]

Nigel Sifantus It has been a little over a year now since I picked everything up and moved my family 3000 miles away from our familiar east coast roots to chase after the California dream that so many before us have sought after. When we arrived, we had really no idea where we were, just [...]

In light of President Obama’s speech last night, and all the recent insane chatter on the healthcare issue, I have been reflecting on my own experience with our country’s “health care system.” Although I have lived a relatively healthy life (I did break my leg when I was 5) heath insurance, or a lack thereof [...]

The L Maestro Presents show in Cleveland on Sunday the 16th quietly ended an almost year long hiatus from performing for me, the longest I’ve gone without performing I believe since I was around 7 years old, performing contemporary classical music at the Rivers music school. Sure I had sit in at a couple of [...]

I was listening to NPR on my way home yesterday (yes since there is no music worth listening to on the radio any more I nerdily am usually listening to NPR these days) they were doing a bit about “classic summer jams” and discussing what were this year’s big summer hits. An amazing fact was [...]