I am so happy to add a controller to our next meet up!
Mark Mosher (Modulate This!) will be joining us on Sunday to present Audio Cubes. Click here to read what Mark has to say on the topic.
In my mind, Audio Cubes, from Percussa, are like a 3D reactable table after shedding several thousands of dollars and pounds.
This page will get you in-line pretty fast (great stuff).
And some informative video:
Tell us about how YOU control your electronic music so we can keep the demos coming!
To use the parlance of our current time:
OMG OMG OMG Cache Flowe haz teh ROXXOR!
Yeah, what is the world coming to huh?
In other words – Cache Flowe dropping some mad skills for an A/V set! Do come!
Got your history in order? How about this article outlining the past 120 years of electronic music.
Linux side note – Launchpad getting ported to, you guessed it – LINUX! Here is the article. Relevancy? We got it. Her you go:
I could go on, but I would be geeking out too hard.
FREE STUFF – some live packs on Groove Packs site – click here for a zip file. Get it while the link works!
Mid/Side processing – check out this new unit via Gear Junkies.
How about a good debate on 16 vs 24 bit? Thx to Joe for keeping the thread hot.
The Boulder Laptop Orchestra is performing up in Boulder 13March2010. I am getting more details on this…
More soon!
The controllerism show is on the horizon! RSVP Now! FaceBook
I missed some emails this weekend as POP email crashed for my provider (I aggregate). So if there was something crazy interesting/important/similar – resend! I will be going backwards through emails.
On other news – we are having fun! I will be releasing a review** of the NIIO Analog Iotine Core in the next week. We teamed up with Chase to get some instructional videos on the unit. We are currently editing.
We got some good tape from Darwin on Max, I am open to ideas on how to get them online. YouTube limits are 10 minutes. The 10+ minute videos are a special feature I just don’t see how to get! Vimeo? Hosting on my server will probably get me some heat (because the bots will trigger mass bandwidth, plus there is not sharing/embed).
I have been spending time with Final Cut and Celemony DNA. Nothing too impressive to talk about in Final Cut, just another software package. But DNA is SICK!
Don’t forget Cache Flowe in March!
As for the summer – thoughts (feed back very welcome!). Our summers in Denver/Colorado/Boulder are some of the best anywhere in the world. I am looking to scale back the meet-ups after April (through the summer) so we can enjoy our evenings. Hell, even I want to ride around town with my wife on our cruisers. Instead of larger formal meet-ups I would like to invest in smaller gatherings all over and include our community in festivals (supporting) and do various levels of out-reach before shows and to similar groups.8
**On the topic of review – the term “review” is not totally correct. As there are a few companies looking to work with Ableton Colorado already, another round of “cleaning the air” is called for…
Our goal is to extend the use, functionality, and overall exposure of gear that is not on the radar (cough***Guitar Center***). There is a certain “departure” from journalistic integrity (if that is still a thing anymore). Our goal is to build community and knowledge in an academic manner with users (producers) and producers (of gear in this instance). The policy is simple:
If it is crap, send it back
Don, in the context of this “review” has a “filter” that is so freaking cool we need to help get the word out (I am using some bass sounds I generated in my standard set). So great.
Helpers wanted!
That is it, more soon.
–M
Here we go, the first announcement :
Ableton Denver is proud to announce and evening with Darwin Grosse from Cycling ‘74 discussing Max For Live.
The event, is FREE! (21+)
Prepare yourself for graphical blasts of information with color and crazy subliminal messages. For now, I provide an image form the interwebs.
This is pretty exciting! I will post more information and pictures. As for graphics, well, I my current favorite quote is from Myth Busters:
“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth over doing.”
More on that real soon. Back to Darwin.
Darwin Grosse is an artist, producer, media software developer, and the Director of Engineering for Cycling ’74. He is also a prolific writer, having authored more than 120 articles for Recording magazine, several product manuals, and countless product tutorials. Formerly the editor of CreativeSynth.com, he now focuses on bringing his Beginner Mind to music and media production. [credit]
Darwin’s Play site : http://www.20objects.com
Darwin’s Blog : http://www.darwingrosse.com/
Darwin’s Work: http://cycling74.com
When : January 24, 2010
Where : The Walnut Room located at 3131 Walnut Street in Denver.
Max for Live is an important evolutionary step for both Cycling ‘74 and Ableton. When you factor in Moore’s Law, my brain should finally melt and ooze out the nose sometime in 2015. All a result of finally gaining total control on all audio to finally engineer the perfect song, not too dissimilar to the Funniest Joke in the World (YouTube version).
In preparation for “the Final Track” bring a taiko drum, fourteen airplane vomit bags, and a goat on January 24, 2010 for an evening with Darwin Grosse and Max for Live.
Final accommodations for goats has not been worked out. Stay tuned.
C.DB.SN will be providing the evenings sound track. (SoundCloud) Imagery and telepathic suggestion to follow real soon!
Well, thank you to everyone who came out Sunday night (22Nov2009) to our meet up. There were a BUNCH of great new friends made. I will be presenting more links and information real soon.
Like I said in the beginning of my (attempt at a) presentation – my relationship with Novation has always been choppy [note 1].
Right now I want to talk about the Launchpad failure. Over the night I talked with one Ableton user who had great success, I could be an isolated incident.
Regardless, I will document my travel through the Launchpad and provide my feedback and analysis of the situation. This is only my personal experience from an editorial point of view. This is, in no way, a formal endorsement or otherwise on this equipment. Just an audio geek (junkie) not having a good time…
My Equipment (as pertaining to the situation):
Other Applications I am suspicious of:
Back story:
I put a Launchpad on hold on the release day (I am one of those geeks, I was at Guitar Center on May 30 10am to get my APC on release day – it was also my birthday). Like most any purchase I read the instruction manual a few times, and there really is NOT very much at all on that topic. All you get is a quick start and this support:
Before 22Nov2009 I watched about 20 YouTube videos on the unit (where I think I learned the most). YouTube is a great resource. Two of the best tricks I learned in Ableton came from others tutorials.
I freely admit that my experience with Automap was, well, none. But I don’t think this should be a major hurdle for someone who had been deep in MIDI for over a decade and is a programmer by profession.
Automap, during my experimental week changed version quickly.I do not know if this is the norm? Version 3.3 is out as I write, I was originally bleeding edge on 3.2, and I think I started on 3.0. This does not really matter because Automap is NOT compatible with the Launchpad (my bad – am I wrong?). See the image below.
Notice a lack of Launch pad support in this Novation marketing image (pulled form Novation site 23Nov2009)
So, there is not a heck of a lot of information included or available with the Launchpad. I am damn good on the APC, seriously and that unit is not a major mind-melter out of the box.
So I upgraded Ableton and my Mac (non-Snow Leopard) before starting with a week available to fix problems [note 2]. Typical wise move. I installed the drivers. I then went through about 7 hardcore lock-ups on my Mac – one after another. When I am running on a Mac I play “dumb” and generally let things install as they want unless I see something flaming wrong. I feel Mac’s are safer to play stupid with, unlike PC where you should read every dialog box.
So the install was default. I downloaded Automap, tried to get it working for quite a while before a combination of giving up and learning that Automap does not support the Launchpad.
So I dropped that line of thought.
All in all I spent just over a week on the Launchpad. A few full days and a little bit every night (check the tweets). All in all I considered the unit “normal”, or more specifically “flawed like everything else”.
Then I get brave. I installed the Ableton version on my Windows box. That is a 64bit running a current 32bit install. Everything runs great on that box (much better than Mac in my opinion). That unit is my “work” box where I program, edit, video, Ableton, you name it (this was the first Ableton Install on the unit, my Windows 7 install is fresh).
On Windows 7
Windows was running just fine for a while. Then, with no error messages or similar, the Launch pad failed to fire up at all. A few reboots, a quick uninstall and reinstall changed nothing. The Launchpad was not powering up any more (the USB bus is strong) with no changes to configuration. I figured Win7 in combination with my 32/64bit mismatch was the problem. So I moved back to the Mac.
Back on the Mac
Having concluded that Win7 was not happy on the first day I knew I was Mac only. I chugged along for about 7 more days. No problems at all. Once I got over the hump everything ran smooth. I took my notes, pushed the unit in practice performances, etcetera. I even did a little programming in Ableton and generally had good success.
I left my Mac on over night once to make sure everything was still okay the next day, that passed just fine.
Moving on I built MIDI demos, learned how to do what the promo video outlined (watch the video). I was able to get all of this done over the course of a few nights.
The Saturday before the Meet Up I had a good 5+ hour session refining my set and trimming out fat so I could fast load a new set while holding the crowd. Smart huh?
The Sunday (before the Meetup) I spent the afternoon practicing and refining my notes. I went over my presentation practicing. All was running fine. Having performed live for well over a decade I always go over my gear carefully before a gig. Event when I was playing out several times every week. I am very much a boyscout (be prepared) at gigs. I usually have 2+ levels of redundancy allowing gear to fail (not with laptops though). Additionally, as my band mates know, I usually have extra cables and plugs as well as other goodies to help out.
So I pack up and go to the meet up. All was fine with the pre 7pm check. This remained the truth until I did the presentation.
When I picked up the Launchpad to show the kind audience (like I was doing in my preparation work) I *think* the USB cable moved a little. From there all hell broke loose.
My TC Electronics was getting kicked offline (outside of Ableton) at first. Something that NEVER happens. It was a first. Then the Launchpad was either not powering up via USB or working for one button push, or in other words it booted and once a button was pushed it seizes (with LEDS on).
I also lost MIDI out on my TC Electronics as well as 2/4 audio outputs. I reviewed my set up and all is normal. No changes, with Automap off I am recovering form the damage.
Mike (thank you) then took the unit and downloaded the drivers and could not get the unit to work.
So, at this time, through public embarrassment, I deem the Launchpad a NO GO. The data bleeds on note data,the several admissions from Novation-Land of tricky areas (no, plain old broken items), and a long laundry list of things that were almost working I formally have to declare my experience BAD. Very bad.
The unit no longer powers up. Nothing, dead, 1 week, probably 30 hours of use. OUCH!
So, for those of you looking to get a Launchpad I advise against it. Save up twice the chedder and get an APC40 or a OHM controller, or similar.
I was going to outline all the funkiness that I have in my notes, but that is not going to happen. My list was long. I was looking forward to putting a smile on a new product that has a few bugs and welcoming another controller to the world of Ableton. Those notes, photos, and other information will now rot on my drive. I wish to spend NO MORE time on this unit. Period.
Now what? Looking at getting an Akai MPD24 for my second / Max4Live controller.
[note 1] – The build quality has steadily been declining in my opinion since my first Novation products in the late 1990’s. Most recently was a XIOSynth where they keys were built incorrect and would stick “down”. 100%, beyond any reasonable doubt, bad engineering. But I did love the Bass Station back in the day.
[note 2] – My rule of thumb is to have a week available on your computer for any major upgrades and / or changes. Do not upgrade right before the gig.
Abletoin Denver is proud to announce that c.db.sn will be providing the evening sound track for us. You can preview his work at the Three Kings Tavern with Munimula, PH-10 and I-45 on Saturday 21November2009.
c.db.sn’s blog is located at http://cdbsn.wordpress.com/
Listen to a few tracks at http://soundcloud.com/c-db-sn/tracks or below…
Ableton Denver invites you to join us on November 22, 2009 at the Walnut Room in NoDo (Denver) to go to a special place where Reason flows like wine from the Lake of Ableton. We will make a quick stop in the land of Rewire and focus on cross program collaboration with a focus on Reason under the control of Ableton.
MEET UP RSVP NOW! Free to all and very helpful resource!!!
James Tobin puts Reason into Ableton.
The evening demonstration and discussion will highlight the power of the Ableton sequencer and the sound engine of Reason working in perfect harmony.
Who is James Tobin? Besides sharing his name with a great American economist he is a premier Ableton guru, Reason ninja, electronic musician, and audio artist.
With old school roots in warehouse parties in and around Chicago James is a consummate vinyl connoisseur (with time spent at Wax Trax here in Denver), established DJ, recording technician for film and audio, and currently enjoying work with Alien Logic providing sound design for game development.
James is weeks away from completion of a masters with Berkley Music after already gaining a specialist certificate in Composition and Production in New Media.
Musically James Tobin is 1/2 of Sound Logic Sound Logic, also known as DJ Radioactive, and the man steering Dorje Records since 2003.
Reason (wiki link) is a powerful product for music production produced by Propellerhead that accepts control from external devices as well as other DAW and similar programs. Ableton, as many agree, has taken sequencing to a new level with one of the most amazing MIDI sequencers and editors on the market. With these 2 programs combined you go somewhere special. (enter James)
We have included time for questions and answers from James and a demonstration of the new Novation Launchpad.
Novation formally launched the Launchpad November 4 2009. That very morning, at 10:05am local time I put one on hold. As of this writing I still need to pick it up and learn the sucker. No complaints here! I will do my best to get a grip on the device and provide time for everyone to mess around on this great new device.
There should be quite a bit of shop time after our hour + of talk and demos, so we would love to get everyone trading tips and and cards.
Background information on Reason (wiki link):
Reason 1.0 was released in November 2000.
These modules can be controlled from Reason’s built-in MIDI sequencer or from other sequencing applications such as Ableton
Some Reason contents (wikipedia links):
ReWire is a software protocol, jointly developed by Propellerhead and Steinberg, allowing remote control and data transfer among digital audio editing and related software.
Originally appearing in the ReBirth software synthesizer in 1998, the protocol has since evolved into an industry standard.
Media files and press information is located here: http://abletondenver.com/press-kit/2009-11-meetup/
Now with more c.db.sn click http://abletondenver.com/meet-up-this-sunday-now-with-soundtrack/
Week of 19October2009 “Bring the Cold” Edition : The weather is chilling up out there and that means my tube amps and power supplies will turn into heaters instead of the summer sweat lodge.
Events:
Next Meet Up is 22November2009 at the Walnut Room. Watch for the official Post! Put it on your calender right now!
Friday 23Oct2009 at the D-Note [[[http://dnote.us]]] Darren Kramer is live with Live (Ableton). Darren’s site. Here is a snippet:
“ELECTRIC QUARTET” Latest Release! FEATURING “Electric” Horns and B3 Organ. PERFORMING Original Funk, Jazz & Soul A brand new 4-piece DKO group that primarily features improvisation and the use of high-tech electronics and loops to create innovative sounds and unique textures.
Beta 23Oct2009 : Mochipet @ Beta BPL w Spectre & Ale Fillman – info at Facebook
Via Gear Junkies : At this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), 365LIVE and Media Satellite present a series of workshops and audiovisual jam sessions, including an introduction to Ableton Max for Live, a fully integrated tool kit for making your own instruments, effects and extensions in Ableton Live 8. More info is available here.
Various
If you are not aware of http://www.remixcomps.com you should be. If you are an infected mushroom fan there is a remix comp going on right now.
2010 Bent festival calling for performers – goto Matrixsynth for information.
Matrix Synth has this link on how to build a synth. I looked over some of this and found it slow moving but interesting. The content is hard to move along without either getting boring or wooshing by too quick. Why do I mention this? Because there are so many people pushing synthesis with no idea of the roots or principles of synthesis (Did you know that a Hammond organ tone wheel is a mechanical synthesizer or additive synthesis)
What is a vocoder? Here is the answer, vocoded of course.
Visually
Hey! Ableton Tweets has a new (?) site up at http://abletontweets.com!!! and reminds us the Ableton is 10 years old!
There is a video titled “Mickey Mouse Abuse” I placed here. Well, here is an interview of Kamoni (the artist) on Phuq Radio
Beginning Max Demo (vimeo) “How do you make an application in Max” – Get yourself ready. The Fed’s or duct tape ain’t gonna help you! (Only you can prevent large bears from wearing park ranger hats).
max4live.info Tutorial: Beginning Max from max4live on Vimeo.
Here is Ma x applied to the game of life
Gif animation of the game of life.
m4l.lab.gameoflive from liubo on Vimeo.
Advanced Max for Live – “Live Paths, Objects, and Observers”
Max For Live Paths, Objects, and Observers from max4live on Vimeo.
Editors note on Max for Live: There is going to be a lot of fun out of the box stuff available, but I want to say that we are entering a world of programming with this application. Please send me notes on this topic. I am seeing traditional programming ideas in Max more so than any other software packages. I work in this field and I would love to talk more on the topic where it gets deep.
Official (?) sneak peak of Max:
Max For Live Sneak Peak from max4live on Vimeo.
Circuit Bending for beginners via Matrix Synth.
Hardware :
Flame, uhh. Get ready. Well, first off, these are the cats who make the “Talking Synth” (it uses a vocal processing chip instead of a traditional oscillator – way cool). Well, they have some amazing MIDI gear also. Start here the site is harder to navigate than it should be, but there are some real gems.
Live Block control surface (demo) by Livid. Really good stuff! Info via Syntopia.
Livid Block Control Surface Intro from Livid Instruments on Vimeo.
Is this hardware, hard wear, software, or soft wear? Regardless – This is cool, jump into your own (damn) control surface. . ***Not recommended for anyone with bladder issues***
Music "soft wear" - more here.
New midi controller series from M-Audio. From what I see, this is more like an update of the Oxygen series. I am not too clear on the changes – my use of M-Audio products is almost none. I welcome input or reviews! Send me a message.
Elextro Harmonix has released the Memory Boy “Analog Delay – 550ms of delay time with Chorus and Vibrato” . Fun stuff. These guys have a warm place in my heart.
Tascam, the steady hitters in the audio interface game have dropped another solid unit – the US-2000
the quote:
TASCAM has announced the US-2000, a new one rackspace 16-input audio interface that’s expected to sell for under $500.
Super major FYI here – Touchprone make a bunch of fringe MIDI and similar items. The ebay store – one handy unit is the In line sync start-stop – here is an auction link . This is somethin every MIDI person should know about. There are several companies out there producing, this is but one option for inline start-stops.
Software
Free Alterex VST’s (via Matrix Synth)
Free SPL attacker plugin (via gear Junkies) “SPL celebrates one year of Analog Code and give away one Attacker per computer.” Direct link.
Free Jazz Guitar pack for Knotakt via Synthopia. Pettinhouse has released WarmJazzFREE, a jazz guitar sample library for Kontakt.
Another case of “show your age” – Remember the Korg M1? In our part of town this keyboard was the total “cat’s meow” for live Latino music in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Well, here is a link for a free sample pack via Synthipoa.
Circuit Bent Sounds library via Synthopia here is the quote:
Loopmasters has introduced Circuit Bent Sounds 2, a collection of bastardized electronics, twisted circuits, rewired technology and warped audio.
Pretty cheap and tons of sounds. Check out this page also.
I do not think I posted this – “The Future of Ableton Live” – interesting twist that came via Synthopia:
The future of Ableton - inside the box!
Online Synthesizer – good job!!!
Personally
Well – I finished my Ableton Rig. This has been going on since February. My goals:
I have a ton of photos, I will be posting more information soon. This is one of my specialties – I mod gear, cases, controllers, etc and get TIGHT rigs together. My gigging key rig was always a total blast! My Ableton rig is even more killer. Here is a link to a Tumblog I keep regarding audio peripherals and technology. Watch for more links.
Finally – a minor blow to Denver. I am from NY also and aree with Oliver. However, there are a bunch of us whoare pushing the envelope.
Welcome! To kick things off here is a little video showing you around!
Ableton Denver is proud to Launch! Here are some of the features we have to offer and other nuggets of goodness!
Create Digital Music News, technique, ideas, events, and more!
Gear Junkies Gear, News, updates form the conventions live from Europe!
Home Studio Connection Tips and professional thoughts form the studio.
More feeds coming! Let us know of any news feeds.
We are actively looking for a new FTP server.Right as we were kicking this live our server screwed us big time. I will not go into the details, but they lost all my business and caused many breaks in the site. Amazon / AWS is one consideration.
