Max Cooper doesn't just perform electronic music — he constructs elaborate, immersive sensory environments from scratch, and each of his meticulously designed live shows uses a different technical configuration depending on the venue and project.
At the core of every Cooper performance is Ableton Live, which he uses to run his intricate audio sets. He controls this through tactile hardware including an Akai APC40 controller and an iPad running the Lemur app, the latter allowing for responsive live drumming and volatile real-time glitch effects.
For his Emergence live show — an ambitious, sprawling 25-chapter audiovisual narrative spanning the entire history of the universe — he runs a dual-laptop setup: one dedicated to Ableton audio and a second powering Resolume for tightly synchronised visuals. In a characteristically pragmatic touch, the entire portable rig is designed to fit into hand luggage for international touring.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
His longstanding collaboration with award-winning design collective Architecture Social Club has introduced striking, custom-built laser and projection technology to his performances.
For theatrical shows like Seme at the prestigious Salzburg Easter Festival and his forthcoming retrospective at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the pair have developed bespoke laser software using Pangolin Beyond, with precise MIDI clips in Ableton sending granular control messages to a dedicated laser laptop.
Cooper uses a Novation Launch Control XL to manipulate laser-specific parameters like colour balance, dimensional size and brightness in real time, producing enormous, sculptural formations of light that envelop audiences in kaleidoscopic detail.
Cooper has also pushed deeply into spatial audio, working with the 4DSOUND system — an extraordinary grid of 48 omnidirectional speakers that physically propel sound around a room using an advanced technique called contiguous phantom imaging, controlled via a custom-engineered Max4Live patch.
Beyond that, he’s collaborated with Dolby on dense, three-dimensional Atmos mixes and partnered with L-Acoustics on expansive immersive sound design, cementing his reputation as one of electronic music’s most technically adventurous live performers.
Find out more here.
