| Most street players I've heard were purely accoustic. Guitar and sang, accoustic (not electric) piano and sang, sax, trumpet, trombone, homeless poet.
As far as electronics, they're a pain, and when the power is out, you're out. Marine batteries and inverter is probably the most reliable and cheapest for longer battery life. I got 8 AA rechargeables at Radio Shack, which were $18+ per 4, so $40-ish total bucks for a whole 2.5 hours of record time on my field recorder. There's other beefier batteries at about $200 for a rumored 10 hours. I'm not quite there yet, but I'll likely need a second set of 8x AA's to reach the record/play times that I desire.
The advantages of purely accoustic, is that you're not so loud you're gonna get your permit checked within ten seconds of starting. And you're generally more portable. So if you're playing to just critters, you can relocate to where the human critters are. And on the accoustic model, when it rains, your gear doesn't stop working.
Granted that for piano, it's not conveinent. But it's the streat so you've got to keep security in mind. It's harder to steal an instrument that's in your hand. Or a full sized piano when you make a quick trip to the john. Plus your electronic synth is probably a couple grand. And you can pick up an upright piano for free in some cases. Lots of them on craigslist in these parts. |