Here’s the primer :

Open up any modern (hardware) keyboard and start Google-ing the bigger parts on the circuit board to begin understanding that not only are these (awesome) units built on 10-20 year old technology but the iPhone is considerably more powerful.

With that said we introduce products such as the Akai Synth Station

or the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer that I have posted several times on the MIDI Mobilizer, most currently here.

So what’s the problem now, right?

I just read a follow up article on CDM regarding this topic. This article ultimately falls in line with all the NDA protection and conjecture on the Apple policies.  Here’s a few quotes from CDM:

Here is a few lines from the referenced CDM article (this will cause brain pain):

The old agreement

3.3.24 Your Application may interface, communicate, or otherwise interoperate with or control an iPhone Accessory (as defined above) through Bluetooth or Apple’s 30-pin dock connector only if You have obtained a license for such iPhone Accessory under Apple’s MFi Program.

The new agreement

3.3.25 Your Application may interface, communicate, or otherwise interoperate with or control an iPhone Accessory (as defined above) through Bluetooth or Apple’s 30-pin dock connector only if (i) such iPhone Accessory is licensed under Apple’s MFi Program at the time that You initially submit Your Application, (ii) the MFi Licensee has added Your Application to a list of those approved for interoperability with their iPhone Accessory, and (iii) the MFi Licensee has received approval from the Apple MFi Program for such addition.

{via CDM} Apple is now allowing third-party apps to support those hardware accessories – provided Apple approves both the accessory itself, and via the accessory’s maker, the app.

I don’t want to discuss the inner workings of this statement, but it is clear that we there is some nasty stuff going on.

Let’s bring it around to the end users (you and me).

The iPhone (OS) and similar devices has the potential to revolutionize the synth, controller, and hardware industry 3 years ago. Unfortunately it looks like another 3 years is going to  pass before anything real happens.

Apple is not going to relinquish control for us greedy electronic musicians who are often much smarter than the other iPhone users and have a high density of hackers and programmers in the audience.  Roland and Korg are safe (for now) but the end may be near.  As soon as there is an established protocol and standardization for input/output on these devices the guitar pedal market is going to shrink considerably.  The number of effects on outboard pedals that can not be “virtualized” is pretty small.  Boss, as a pedal manufacturer, should be worried, very worried.

When some required changes finally take place here is my prediction:

• End users are going to grow the tool kit exponentially
• End users will need to sift through a market of mostly crap as weak programmers and (cr)app(y) development will dominate
• Large companies will be crushed as they lack the inherent required agility to shift with the market
• Large companies will further alienate users as they grasp to old ideas of revenue generation that do not work in the “app” market
• Boutique sales will slowly rise and dominate as the choice of professionals (tube, analog, and other similar choices)
• Smaller companies and blogs will become the resource of choice for those in the know
• Large “knock off companies” such as Akai, Alesis, Bheringer, and Novation will mass market popular choices that lack the quality professionals desire

I really don’t know what the future holds, but one thing is clear – the technology is moving faster than academic, corporate, and traditional media can keep up with.

It is up to us, the (Ableton and electronic music)  users, to make am impact and speak honestly and truthfully in all realms to keep music alive.

If we fail, the traditional stability of pedals, keyboards, and instruments in general will be suffocated by an influx of cheap China knockoffs, crappy apps, and bug laden software that crushes so many systems everyday already.

DISCLAIMER : I am posting this information for peer review. There shall be no violation of any NDA, developer agreement, or otherwise. Commentary on this information is welcome and open to the public domain.

I just received a return email from Line 6 for an SDK for the MIDI Mobilizer.  If anyone would like to see the PDF application please contact me.  There are no limitation immediately visible on the PDF document preventing me from posting, but I suspect that posting this agreement will impact me negatively.

Here is original copy from the returned email response with a few items [redacted] out of courtesy.

Dear [name],

Thank you for your interest in our MIDI Mobilizer developer program.  We are very excited to see what creative uses developers may have for our new MIDI interface.

In order to become a MIDI Mobilizer developer and to receive the technical documents, we request that you fill out and return the attached agreement.  You can sign it electronically and email the completed form to [email address].  Or, you can fill it out manually and send a scan of the completed form to MMDeveloper@line6.com, or fax it to [phone number].  In addition, you will need to follow all of Apple’s requirements for being an iPhone developer.

Upon receipt of the signed developer agreement, we will send you back a fully executed version and our MIDI Mobilizer SDK.  The MIDI Mobilizer SDK is provided at no charge, and with no royalty or license fee for its use.  Due to Apple’s policies, it will be necessary for Line 6 to approve the application and provide its name and ID to Apple in order for it to function with the MIDI Mobilizer.  All other aspects of the submission of applications to Apple remain the same as with any other application, and are handled directly by the developer.

As outlined in the agreement, we request that an Application Plan be submitted to us for our approval.  This can be a simple description in an email, and enables us to provide advanced feedback and/or legal review if necessary prior to any significant development effort.  We do not anticipate this step being an impediment to your progress, but instead should reduce the time required for Line 6 to provide approval of the application’s use with MIDI Mobilizer to Apple when your development is complete.

As mentioned, the development files for MIDI Mobilizer are provided free of charge.  You can choose to charge any amount you like for the MIDI Mobilizer application you develop, or to make it free of charge, without any approval or cost incurred from Line 6.

We look forward to your partnership, and to seeing the many uses that MIDI Mobilizer might inspire.

Best regards,
-The MIDI Mobilizer team

There is some bold in there.  The cool part makes Line 6 look PIMP! In short, you can charge what ever you want for the application and Line 6 don’t care. Very interested in the license that the SDK has, if any.

The other bold elements make it pretty clear that Line 6 has it’s hands tied by the Apple agreement.  Here is an example of these limitations:

..no interpreted code may be downloaded or used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Documented APIs and built-in interpreter(s). Notwithstanding the foregoing, with Apple’s prior written consent, an Application may use embedded interpreted code in a limited way if such use is solely for providing minor features or functionality that are consistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the Application.. [source CNET]

Your desirable application to control MIDI output via hardware is still pretty far off. The list is long and the real meat of the issue is rumored to be in the Apple developer agreement. I understand the developer agreement is itself under a NDA of it’s own (removing the developer agreement from the public domain for review). These limitations clearly state that you can not allow users to program an application.  Programming MIDI functionality that interacts in real time is an apparent violation of these rules.  (I wonder how the Line 6 SDK works if it is NOT one of the documented “built-in interpreter(s)”?)

It seems safe to say that we (the end user) are very much a victim of Apple’s feud  with Adobe and the Flash system (among many fights).  Depending on your view, understanding, and interpertation of the environment (covered by various NDA’s) there is no distinction between Flash and MIDI interfaces.

So how does Touch OSC, Griid, and others get around this? Easy – they are a dedicated application that is interfacing with an external API (such as an OSC protocol or the Ableton API via network communication and the use of additional software outside of iOS).

Although the iPad and similar Apple devices are very much the coolest electronic gadgets I have ever owned, Apple’s over authoritarian reach and restriction of the hardware and software is unjust to say the least.

Counterpoint: One may claim that the only way to have a hard/software application run stable,such as in the iOS and iPhone, iPad, etc environment, you need to rule your hard/software with an iron fist. This is why your alarm clock, microwave, and car run well – no SDK or tweaker (like me) messing around.

Update : Look here and red between the lines.

My advocacy against wireless communication for Live should hardly go unnoticed.  Nor should it be difficult to find an honest sentence from me on the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer.

History and defense  of Line 6. This hardware and software application was created to back up patches and data (period).  SysEx data and similar.  Very good – Line 6 gets a Gold Star!

Head on over to this CDM article and learn more on this topic.

So what is the problem?

Well, the hardware is 100% capable of passing info form the iOs to a MIDI cable, but no methods other than record and play. No “button creation” and assignment to your desired CC number, Note, etc.

The CDM review is interesting and much of the hoop-la is centered around the L6 side.

I point to the highly ambiguous environment a result of the EFF win. The iOs is a  100% solid front from Apple (in a vague manner littered with the threats of losing a dev license) stating that there is no 3rd party programming (keeping that short, big topic). The L6MM with an SDK should violate this agreement.

Expanded: If you make a button, assign it to CC 44 and fire off that command in an iOs environment you are breaking the iOs rules (100% pre EFF win).  The developer who “allowed” this to happen will most likely have apps pulled from the iTunes store and lose the license. Them Apple people are real nice…

You get it, I don’t need to connect the dots any further than saying how Apple apparently knows something about MIDI and in conjunction with ATT’s paranoia (indeed industry wide) where we can “bring down the network [of cell towers] by trying to force MIDI out in real time”.

C’mon people!

Well there is an SDK available now.  I have an email in.

For now please let me know what you know! How has the iOs dev environment changed? How close are we to getting the MIDI control OFF WIRELESS?

This conversation is NOT over.  We have some progress!

Special thanks to EFF for fighting the good fight against the forces of EVIL!

First on any agenda, we have a meet up happening. July 14, 2010 FREE – Lucid Gallery. Serato will be the topic – get ready for the Bridge!

If you figure out how to do that drum rack thing please contact me!

Some rapid tutorial on exporting VSTs outward in Ableton. Another interesting option is Sound Flower – I am still mastering this app in trying to get a “Virtual Audio Cable” instance going. I am close. For now I re-sample using some straight forward routing (for any laptopist) out my SPDIF digital outs back in, yes I have physical cable connecting the two. This is the only reliable fast  and easy method to permanently borrow sounds from the web or similar.

I know there are other solutions, but many of them require a total rewrite of audio settings, and this is sometimes an undesirable inconvenience. Debatable none the less.

Numark clones Vestax? I can’t say, I am not watching this closely.  From Gear Junkies or more to the point do we give Ean more credit for opening up these ideas? Or more to more to the point will there be little “single” deck versions for goof balls like me who seek scratch.

Text message style sums this up completly: SPL Blog FTW nuff said.

You did get your free download form Ableton for some new live Packs right? (direct link to *.zip) Info Page.

An answer to the drama that is “This is WTF was Hawtin using?”. Gear Junkies starts the journey. Okay, here’s the rest at http://griid.net/ and the same video as before with some text applied on YouTube with Hawtin.

Livid Instruments is talking about aluminium Block and OHM64. Hmm…

Pioneer’s DJ side announced a collaboration with Serato to ensure compatibility of the latest CDJ-2000 and CDJ-900 professional series digital media players with the Scratch Live software. I would call this a golden hint as to things on the way? (**cough bridge)**

How about a time line? “The free Scratch Live Version 2.1 software update compatible with the updated CDJ-2000/900 is scheduled to be released in the third quarter (Q3) of 2010 from Serato Audio Research.” source

A must read for Glitch Mob/Hop / controllerism on EMusician
Livid is 100% stepping up to the plate seeing Max4Live.info drop native Ableton control on to the OHM64. Now for the same treatment for the block. Now we get a SERIOUS UPGRADE for the APC / Launchpad series.

In short, you need to go here, spend your $25, and improve your output. http://www.nativekontrol.com/apC_Series.html. This is some serious controller action going on. The market is growing both in physical possibilities and thorough software advancements. Fantastic.

Closing out – Darren Kramer (Handler of the Lemur and clinician) is dropping a software clinic on July 10, 2010 – the details :

10-11:30am
Everyday Joe’s
144 S. Mason Street
Fort Collins, Colorado 80524

Darren Kramer – Ableton Specialist and Electric Trombone Performing Artist www.ElectricTrombone.com All musicians and educators, regardless of age or skill level can benefit immensely from this technology  Basic to advanced concepts will be demonstrated via Live Looping w/ Electric Trombone, Synths, Vocoder & Lemur!

The next meet up just kicked live.  The Ableton Colorado events will be hosted by Creative Electronica for greater compliance with Ableton and the ability to begin hosting events with electronic music content far outside the Ableton spectrum.

FREE and ALL AGES! RSVP via MEETUP.COM All the details are here!

Bobby Collins joins us to present the Serato environment for Ableton users in anticipation of the next (big) release from Ableton where we gain “The Bridge” to Serato.

This evening will also feature an industry mixer with an Electronic Music slant.

I / Marc will provide a short segment on the OHM64 by Livid

Chase Dobson and I will keep a beat repeat clinic in the back room that will also function as a beginner meets pro area to get questions answered or worked out.

This is a really exciting event and all the details (including sponsors) are available at http://creativeelectronica.com.

First – Congratz to Ableton for, well, kicking ass : Ableton Voted Greatest Work Station and Science Fiction Novel of Decade!.

Okay, I was not telling the truth about Sci-fi novel…

In short, some 5000 votes on Synthopia.com said “You the one!”

I dropped this video in the Facebook stream.Get dialed in further on LPad using USER2 :

K4815 ready for action – if your into the whole euro rack thing…

Here is the opening paragraph:

As its premier offering in the modular synthesizer world, the K4815 Pattern Generator by Kilpatrick Audio packs incredible power into a small 20HP Eurorack module that offers virtually unlimited creative potential for modular players. The K4815 can produce notes and varying control voltages for a wide range of musical applications. Its unique approach to music creation is sure to have you finding new melodies and rhythms never heard before. Unlike a step sequencer, where the player picks each note in a sequence, the K4815 creates sequences by combining a scale, a visual pattern (as shown on the display) and a sequence playback motion to determine the rhythms and notes that are actually played. Other parameters can adjust the note and sequence length, as well as the transposition, direction of playback, and so on.

So there you go -  Thursday June 17th. I could not find a great link or copy. Contact me if you want me to forward the email over to you!

OMFG – what happens if you cross an APC40 with a ‘57 Chevy?

Full story here (in German…)

Off Topic – sorta – if you have a LAMP server (dedicated IP addy preferred) where we can host some light weight scripts please contact me (info@abletondenver.com).  Just a Magpie/PHP install for SEO, I need more IPs!

Oliver finds all the cool stuff

First a synthesizer called the Mono Lancet: 2x VCO (triangle, sawtooth, square / sawtooth, rectangle, noise), 24dB lowpass filter, ADSR, envelope generator (VCF, VCA, VCO), LFO (triangle, square, s/h), MIDI for 449 EURO.

Kick Lancet based on the KICK channel of the DRM1 MKIII Waveshaper (sine -> square), FM, trigger inputs (switch, audio, gate), MIDI for 265 EURO.

Same thing via Gear Junkies

For those of you who don’t know Vermona, you should.  I had one of the flagship drum machines LONG before they were even on the radar (I sold it to get my JoMoX). Vermona is very intense stuff and generally  considered to make the gold standard for anyone hard core serious about making beats (in the studio).  If they release a new product you are obliged to pay notice.

How about some freaky audio forensics? I had to look at this a few times to understand.  In short most audio recorders are of high enough resolution to record fluctuations of electricity in the grid in the audio recording. I got a lot of questions, but that is all geek speak.  So, all you sample thieves (myself included) beware how and where you sample your goods – the grid is getting logged and you will be found! (okay, that is rather unlikely)

Again, Ean and crew saving me time of reviewing stuff,  AP20/40 review :  – the one thing I picked up that is new on the APC20 is a note view allowing easier access to instruments and drum racks (So to us fools who got the APC40 are we screwed? Not sure, but that does suck.  Also, price has dropped from Akai – $299 now on the street).

I just saw a $100 bill flash in the pan…

All I gotta say is DAMN!!! 365 Ableton tips. I just bought his book, that impressed!

Finally – script from MaxForLive.info for the OHM64 to operate like the APC/Lpad (the handshake has been cracked!). I would try the script but it looks like I would need to reset my OHM64 to factory.  Not interested in that at all!

For the hard core geeks – here is an important site referenced for Remote Scripting.

So we had a killer turn out for ILL.GATES – thank you everyone.  If you need help or have questions send it into the community!

Some new friends and the whomp truck is in news.

Is this cool yet? Nope, I don’t think so. But not at Line 6’s fault (Jobs is the issue) There is no new media, no mention of iPad (a great gauge to the alert level of L6).

The new (Apple iPhone OS dev agreement still cripples this hardware / software app). Keep watchin, keep hoping, or maybe generation 2 iPads will fix it?

So how about an early trickle of one a slate on Android?

Minimal techno tutorial on YouTube via Dub Spot

Back to Android. There seems to be some ground being made into audio, CDM really gets it good in this article. The ALSA and other libraries are there and totally ready for  exploit. Android based multi-touch control is SOOO close – I would drop an iPad in a second for a good Android device (I want to hack). Until then I will use the iPad.

Swing it with your python hanging out Python based swing (thx Cache Flowe)

Some friends at ATX Ableton drop some comment on the Livid block.

I want to get High (pass filter) so High (pass filter) – I use high pass filters in my analog processing (post Ableton) with great success (thank you Borat)

FEA Labs is making a bunch of opto-compressors. I have not used this brand, but the collection looks nice. Dual band optical compressors are wonderful for Ableton as they can keep your sound stable after the D/A conversion.

Dual Band Optical Compressor-Limiter
Dual Band SMX Optical Compressor
Opti-FET Compressor

FFE Labs

Let’s drop some serious WTF on Opto

I can (and often do) lecture on compression. In general (and especially in Ableton) they are A-B-U-S-E-D!

Digital compression is a joke, sorry, it is true. Once you work with real compression (mechanical compression is best – using the room to settle your sound) or a killer strip or tube line or a dedicated unit you look at the digital versions as effects processors that mimic the real deal.

Now you can get a lot done with the digital versions, most modern engineering is done in the digital realm (enter Multi-band compressions aka mastering). But this is not the type of compressor I am talking about.

Optical compressors use light to compress the sound.

This is cool because you can not overdrive light (unlimited head room and range). A (real vacuum) tube or valve compressor is close. But the compression is essentially happening with the conversion of sound to a electrons (pure energy) in the context of the vaccum tube (Thermonic Transmission via Wikipedia). This is not optical compression. Although it is often sold as such (ART marketed some of the pre’s as optical at one point – they all got returned).

Here is result #1 and the explanation is not quite developed yet, so here is an a fast diatribe.

In essence your sound is converted to light (energy). No, not SPDIF/ADAT light, but a simple modulation of light based on your input signal.

In total darkness (or else things leak and sound bad) the light is transmitted in open air to an optical cell where it is captured. The optical cell is more or less a solar panel.

So your sound goes form controlled voltage (normal analog audio signal) to light (pushed through a LED let’s say) and the received by a solar cell. While your sound travels as light there is no way you can run out of head room in that environment. So by controlling the “gain” of light you compress or attenuate the signal as light where the curve, control, and performance is very easy to deal with regardless of your sound source.

Usually there is no attack, knee, or ratio. Most of my (many) optical compressors have 2 knobs – pre/post or input/drive.

The change is subtle, but when you are plugged in a loud speaker system or a picky input (no headroom) optical compression is the way to go.

The coloration is minimal, spikes are usually eliminated, dynamic range stays almost unchanged (as long as you are mellow and not driving signals hard). The optical compressor is just damn awesome for controlling your output as it goes from you D/A to PA.

This is very subtle stuff, but the investment is 100% worth it!

The number one place I used opto-compressors in my live keyboard rig was before and/or after filters. If you start stacking filters you can have certain freqs stack and gain 30, 60, 90db (yeah I said 90db,non-linear math my friends).

This would save the crowd’s ears from, well, being destroyed.

If anyone wants to mess around with opto-compressors contact me before the next meet up and I will bring a few. (I collect compressors).

ILL.GATES this weekend!

22may2010 : City Hall

Start Time:    Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 9:00pm
End Time:    Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 2:00am
Location:    City Hall Amphitheater
Street:    1144 Broadway
City/Town:    Denver, CO fbook link

23May2010 : Ill Methodology Workshop (21+ @ walnut details Details and RSVP $50)

24May2010 :Ill Methodology Workshop (18+ @ woudl shop details and RSVP $50)

Pre pay using using this paypal address for ILL.GATES: thephatconductor@gmail.com or contact Ableton Denver with questions!

What to bring to the workshop.

Here’s The Phat Conductor:

ESKAMON: “Fine Objects” – Ableton Tutorial by ill.Gates from ESKMO on Vimeo.

Back to the post!

Brining improv back, this certainly does look interesting – improvisation is an area of great exploration and focus for m.  There are a few key elements worth noting:

-The basics – “Solo over form” and “what is form” in Ableton
-As a solo artist
-In conjunction with synchronization
-In the “live band” context and how to cue and communicate these ideas as well as scripting got them in the sheet music.

This is a great article form our friends over at Audio Tuts providing a help list for the “pre-mastering” stage. A good read or at least a good scan.

Damn, fabric driven controller, no seriously – if my fashion designer wife and I collaborated for the purpose of sound this is someplace we could visit:

fabricmachine from Kathrin Stumreich on Vimeo.

The Quote from Dave Smith (classic) :

“As I always say, as a designer, if you design something digital, you spend all your time adding slop in. If you’re designing analog, you spend all of your time trying to take the slop and the noise out.”

The full article is a group intervirew with Tom Oberheim, Dave Smith, Roger Linn, Jaron Lanier, David Wessel, Keith McMillan, John Chowning, and Max Mathews.

My iPad is coming (I know, I suck, 100% hypocrisy) Rather than spam out a full page of low quality vids of demos of apps here is the Top 25 according to Audio Tuts

Oliver found some Kaoss hacking – not my thing but kinda cool.

I am out for now! More in a bit! –M