Maxime Rioux (born October 29, 1959) known by his stage name Maxime De La Rochefoucauld is a Canadian musician and performance artist based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Rioux is best known for his compositions produced on musical instruments that are homemade and often built specifically for a single live performance. Most instruments (usually

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

) of his Système Ki, as Rioux calls it, are not played directly by a musician. Instead they are mechanically linked to a woofer that is driven by an inaudible, extremely low frequency electrical signal. The signal, in the range of 1-10 Hz, is most often generated on a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and prerecorded, but may be played live or be generated from other electrical sources. The name "Ki" refers to the Japanese translation of Qi, the notion of a vital energy that animates all things. Rioux is the brother of French-Canadian stage and film actress

Geneviève Rioux Geneviève Rioux (born 3 November 1961) is a Québécoise television host and actor in theatre, television and film. Biography Geneviève Rioux graduated from the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal in 1983. In 1987 Rioux was nominat ...

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Discography

Albums

* ''Automates Ki'', Plastique Records, 1997 * ''Collection Somnambule'', Disques Pout Pout, 2002 * ''Orchestraki'', Storyboard Records, 2006

References

External links

Maxime Rioux's YouTube channel
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Article in British music magazine The WireReferences to several online articles about Maxime De La Rochefoucald
1959 births Living people Musicians from Montreal Canadian experimental musicians {{Canada-musician-stub