Two years in the making, Luciano premiered ALIVE – his most ambitious tour to date – at Art Basel Miami, supported by a fully bespoke rig and tour support from Gravity Rigs.
Raw, improvised, and driven by emotion, ALIVE demonstrates how sound, light, machines, and human energy merge in real time, creating a performance that exists only in the moment. The Swiss – Chilean DJ and producer approached Gravity Rigs in late 2023. Following a disastrous flood in his studio that destroyed almost everything, Luciano rose from the proverbial ashes to pay tribute to 30 plus years of songwriting, emotion, and memory that were almost lost forever.
The result is a show that encourages audiences to surrender to the moment – a concept that deliberately challenges the capture-first culture of the iPhone generation.
“It’s a project that you have to sit down with at a certain moment in your life,” Luciano explained. “I’m gathering an entire lifespan of music and sharing it with the world instead of letting it die in computers in my house, but it’s very much a team effort. I’m simply the person at the centre making the sounds, but the success belongs to the whole collective. It was a dream I had for years – to have fun and be creative, and for this to succeed we needed the right team, so we made a decision to only ever go to work with people that we respect, love and admire. I remembered reading an article about a guy called Matt Cox. We did a little research and discovered he’d started a company with his best friend Alex Turner, we were impressed…”
Gravity Rigs co-founder co-founder Matt Cox agreed: “Luciano cherry picked a strong team across audio, visuals and show delivery. Even with that level of expertise, the vibe stayed relaxed but focussed, and it honestly felt more like a family than a typical production environment. Because the project was so creatively led, everyone had a voice and ideas were encouraged from all sides, which was really refreshing and made it a joy to be part of.”
In terms of the brief, Luciano’s scale of ambition and artistic rigour were clear from the outset, as Cox recalled. “It was a multifaceted brief, Luciano wanted to DJ in a traditional sense but also add multiple layers of performance tech, all synced. He wanted the freedom to experiment musically alongside four-deck mixing, using synced hardware including Eurorack, synths and drum machines.”
This was paired with an exploration of live sampling to generate one-off sounds unique to each show, enhanced by the addition of live singers and musicians to elevate the live element. “The whole concept was to be able to explore DJ worlds and multiple sound creation worlds, and move freely between the two whilst on stage. This would also allow live triggering of visual content to enhance the show.”
At the heart of the setup, the initial layers and backbone of the set are delivered via a Pioneer DJM-V10 mixer and Native Instruments controllers. These layers are seamlessly synced with a more experimental performance environment featuring Ableton Live, an NI Maschine controller, Novation Launch controllers, two Eurorack modular synth systems and live sampling via an XLN Sequencer, all clocked through a flexible range of sync approaches. High-quality audio interfaces from Ferrofish and RME ensured clarity and consistency throughout the signal chain, with BSS DI units forming the final analogue stage before the system reached front-of-house and monitor world.One of Luciano’s key requirements was that the system had to have back up in almost every department to ensure the show could continue without interruption. If anything malfunctioned, this meant switched A/B back up computers systems on both the DJ and creative ‘Ableton’ side, synchronise with the flexibility for any element to operate as either driver or receiver.
“Given its open-ended nature, using Eurorack Modular also allowed us to create interesting synced modular effects with the ability to work across a wide range of fixed quantisations,” co-founder Matt Cox explained. “We could also use sync-free ‘self generating’ sounds that really lend themselves well to some of the sonic landscapes that Luciano likes to create. The physical side of actually using Eurorack also offered up a great visual element to the show as Luciano dialled in and tweaked those sounds and is clearly seen interacting with the system and adding to the set.”
Live synced sampling was a new avenue for the Gravity Rigs team. Turner explained, “The setup enabled the audio, crowd mics and mics on Luciano’s riser to be recorded live and reshaped into one-off, perfectly timed soundscapes that could be mixed back into the set. “This opened up a whole new scope for audio manipulation and crowd interaction. The ‘Life’ sequencer was really useful here and can turn even the most mundane audio clip into a living breathing sonic sequence.”
With global shows planned in multiple continents and with tight turn around schedules the whole setup needed to freight quickly and easily, so was packaged in multiple Peli cases that are all checkable to international flights using the Gravity Rigs transit system. A key challenge for the Gravity Rigs team was keeping connections between system elements as streamlined as possible, allowing for fast setup in festival environments where signal flow across the stage and production infrastructure involved multiple formats.
“Keeping redundant systems in time and always ready to switchover took some figuring out. A requirement to move more critical parts of the setup to a safer off stage position also added challenges, we were very happy using robust but lightweight optical MADI broadcast ready cable runs which kept looms lightweight but able to cover the long distance to reach off-stage,” Cox clarified. “We had Stardraw software in-house so we found the large scale of the project easy to manage. It helps massively in terms of signal flow visualisation, rack design and with budget management.”
One particular customisation the crew were happy with was the creation of a show clock and timer that works across a LAN for all departments to view including the artist. “The show clock allowed everyone to observe critical timings during the performance. As well as a countdown facility and actual projected show finish time, the clock (which was iPad based) also had a sub timer for smaller sections to keep the artist focused on not over elaborating or experimenting. There’s a curfew you know!” Turner explained.
“All of this was bespoke created in Max/MSP – another option we have for clients,” said Cox adding. “We have built devices in Max that address particular needs for other clients too, like Giant Bar Counters and auto-group track openers. That is one of Ableton Live’s strengths: using Max for creative or control effects can be very powerful.”
Balancing artistic intent with logistical and venue constraints was at the forefront when designing the rig.
“There also had to be a consideration of realistic setup times. Thankfully, sensible casing numbers, complexity only where absolutely necessary and keeping an eye on the budget are all skills we’ve honed over the years and definitely had to bring to this project.”
Cox agreed: “Identifying potential failure points and inappropriate kit choices is absolutely something we bring to the logistics table.” In terms of aesthetics the team were asked to keep as much of the infrastructure of the rig offstage and create sleek and minimal lines. Luciano has loved the rig so far. It’s a tighter sync than he’s previously achieved and huge creative possibilities have allowed him to forget about the technicalities of the performance and concentrate solely on creating the sonic journey he’s renowned for.
So what’s next for Gravity Rigs? “Besides bespoke design, build and delivery, which is our passion and core business – we’ve really expanded our range of services.” Turner said.
“Our aim now is to help anyone who needs a playback or performance rig, no matter how much or how little support they need from us – from the full scope of our team’s capabilities, designing and delivering across multiple departments for large‑format shows… through to focussed research and development or proof‑of‑concept work for an artist whose crew may not have the bandwidth or facilities.”
Cox added: “Or simply supplying the kit, or building or upgrading and revamping existing rigs. We want any artist or production to be able to use Gravity Rigs in exactly the way they need. That’s the vision we’re working towards as we approach our 10‑year anniversary.”
Words: Emma Bilardi
Photos: Positronic Studio and Lito Viduarra
