No post should escape the reminder the Darwin Grosse from Cycling ‘74 (the company producing Max, Max for Live, etc) is speaking at our next meet up!

Now for some business!

Via Ableton Freaks Twitter posted this site- http://www.maxforlive.com/. Good stuff.

Also targeting Max for Live is Novation’s STEPSEQ (via Synthtopia).  The quote:

Conceived as a cool but powerful sequencer to enable Launchpad users to program melodies, leads and basslines quickly in Live, the buttons are configured diatonically (as opposed to chromatically, as with a traditional step sequencer). The degree of the scale and its tonal centre can be set by the user, meaning that, once set up, any note you trigger in your sequence will fit in harmonically with your track, making it really easy to keep within the context of the song.

This is a free download from Novation. The following video is ~9min

Here is something fun from Think Geek:

This is only one of many variants on the LED / programmable interface. There are also a grip of “Macro Controllers” (like the Nostromo Series that I re-program for editing). I would love to talk about the usefulness of something this type of programmable controller.

Here is one example, from my mixing. I have been mapping a standard USB num-pad to may basic transport functions in Cubase for about 5 years. The buttons are always the exact same. I even have a little cheat sheet on the whole thing. The time I save editing via this interface is amazing.

Now I certainly miss the days of a fine console and nice big fat buttons, but I am faster now. Plus, I enjoy distributing my money on smaller quality mixers and other items.

Now, I still very desperately want a Solid State Logic X-Desk very bad. But the nearly $3000US street price makes this a lower priority.

Also if interest – Ableton is spreading. So happy to see this happening.  TC Electronics is the latest to jump on the free distro with gear purchase. The brand new Impact Twin is a new break-out box. It looks like an extension on the Konnekt series (my current break-out box for Ableton). So far I am real happy with all my TC gear. The free Ableton version is “Ableton Live Lite 8 TC Electronic Edition”. I suspect it is like the Launchpad version.

Some free plugins anyone? There are a few listed on the Psychic Modulation Plugin Page. Let me know any about any success with these.

Next up – Monome + Max for Live, hell, why write when there is video?

maxforlive: monome integration from stretta on Vimeo.

How about a digital (ly modified) didgeridoo?

Cool, but I wonder if he is getting the same latency issues I had when using Blue-Tooth for audio applications?

Pure Magnetik announces Fuel for Max. The details are coming through slowly, keep your eye on this!

Finally – 10 cool audio gifts for under $100 at Synthtopia.