Groundbreaking software-Subcycle

I really love when someone brings all of my favorite worlds together. Subcycle does that, with amazing visuals, fun and intuitive control of sound and imaginative touch/gesture control. Christian Bannister, of Portland, Oregon has been developing Subcycle using a number of standard tools to create a very unique product.

The audio is based in Max, where plugins are hosted and mangled. The sound is controlled mainly by a Monome controller, famous for their elegant wood cases and rarity. However, the real showstopper here is the beautiful touchscreen interface Christian has created. Christian does a great job describing how the interface is used to mix, sequence and destroy the sound he is currently working with. It is a brilliant mechanism that has undoubtedly taken years of learning code to perfect.

The use of the three-dimensional graphic user interface here is reminiscent of a real time version of the Autechre music video, "Gantz Graf", which was a leap forward in music/video synchronization when it was released by Warp Records in 2002. Created by director/designer Alex Rutterford, this groundbreaking video achieved cult status amongst audio and video synthesis fanatics and inspired countless "abstract" video performances and installations.

I can only hope to see some version of this awesome software made available on the Ipad...

Max 6 Is Good For You

EDIT: Max 6 is now available! www.cycling74.com

One of the most exciting developments of this past summer was the announcement of Max 6 from Cycling '74. One of the most powerful and exciting applications out there, Max is capable of doing virtually anything that the user can imagine. The only catch: the user has to build everything from scratch.

The Cycling '74 website describes Max better than I can...

"Max gives you the parts to create unique sounds, stunning visuals, and engaging interactive media. These parts are called ‘objects’ – visual boxes that contain tiny programs to do something specific. Each object does something different. Some make noises, some make video effects, others just do simple calculations or make decisions. In Max you add objects to a visual canvas and connect them together with patchcords. You can use as many as you like. By combining objects, you create interactive and unique software without ever writing any code (you can do that too if you really want to)."

Because Max works on this very basic level, allowing you to do things as wide ranging as basic math to generating 3d virtual spaces, the user can really let their imagination run wild. With a good understanding of Max, creating software becomes a breeze.

Now, with the introduction of the beta test for Max 6, the process is getting much easier. With new features like the "Circular Menu" and the reference pane (as described by David Zicarelli in the video above) developing and making connections will become increasingly easy for the uninitiated. One of the hardest areas of programming with Max has been awareness of all the objects, and what they do. Finding an object that does one very specific thing that the user may need, has traditionally been like looking for a needle in a haystack, without a very deep knowledge of the object library.

Also, Max 6 will see 64 bit audio signals and some absolutely mind boggling developments in Jitter, including a new physics engine and some really amazing 3D object handling. Check the videos below for more info about MSP and Jitter.

Cycling '74 is also updating and rewriting all of the documentation for Max, a huge undertaking that will inevitably pay off for users. The documentation has always been extremely well written, as have the tutorials and example patches that came with Max. However, Cycling '74 seems to be set on improving the application on every level. Encouraging news, considering they make one of the most important applications of our time.

You can download the Max 6 Beta for free from the Cycling '74 website linked below. I highly recommend taking this chance to get addicted to Max, it is good for your brain.

www.cycling74.com

Matt Kilmer with the Wavedrum, Ipad and Ableton Live

Here's a great video of my old colleague, Matt Kilmer, showing his amazing range of musical talents with both traditional and modern techniques. I met Matt while in my early days at Berklee, probably in the summer of 2000. We were quick friends because we had both come to Boston from Pittsburgh. His focus and talent were obvious then and he's really blown up since that time, performing with Simon Shaheen, Leni Stern and becoming Lauryn Hill's in-house percussionist.

In this video, Matt is performing on the Wavedrum, a unique electronic percussion instrument designed by Korg. Matt turns it on its side and plays it like a traditional middle eastern drum, like a Tar, a technique that is derived from thousands of years of frame drumming. Frame drums are some of the oldest instruments on earth, and were used by cultures spanning the globe. These drums are traced back 5000 years at least, Matt is using some of the oldest techniques for performance known to man.

Now, square that with the fact that Matt is using some of the newest technology in music performance and things start to get particularly interesting. Using the Wavedrum to feed his performance data into Ableton Live, Matt can perform any sound, not just drums. The varying data from his performance (note, velocity, location and more) is also fed into Ableton, controlling more aspects of the music. In addition, Matt has an Ipad running a popular music control app, TouchOSC, which allows the user to send data controlling even more functions in Ableton. A foot pedal controller to trigger loop start and end points, and a keyboard to chop and slice his live loops, and Matt is shredding in no time.

Matts incredible technique is what makes this performance stand out. After he lays down his first section and begins to perform the drum set parts, things get really inspirational. The intersection of new and old music performance techniques, and the raw talent of the performer make this video a stand out. I hope you enjoy it too!

Csound for Live Masters Volumes 1 Review

A few days ago I posted about the new "Csound for Live" instruments from Dr. Richard Boulanger and company. After some time with them, I thought I would do a brief review of these great FREE tools which can expand your Live performance setup immensely. Today I will cover the instruments in the Masters Volume 1, a powerful package of 6 unique instruments and effects. These instruments are designed to run inside of Ableton "Live" (specifically inside an add-on package/bridge application with Cycling 74's "Max/MSP" calling "Max for Live") and will only work in that configuration.

Masters Volume 1-

Additive10



The Additive 10 is a spacey, wobbly additive synthesizer created by Iain McCurdy. This synth has got some very cool functions, like the Partial Amplitude mixer (for control of each of the first 10 partials) and the corresponding Partial "Spacing" knob (which controls the distance of the partials from one another). When you start playing with these controls you realize just how powerful they are. A beautiful clean pad lead can become a dark soundscape very easily with these simple tools.

Additive also features a handy low pass filter with envelope controls and a simple LFO with an "onset" knob. This is a great synth, I could see it being very popular with the glitch-hop scene.

AlgoSplice



Oh yeah! The first effect in the Masters Volume 1 is a doozy. AlgoSplice is basically a buffer slicer effect, taking input audio, and then chopping it up in time depending on certain user-defined parameters. It is a very simple device, but its usefulness should not be ignored. There is an added "reverse" function also, that offers realtime reverse audio of the incoming signal.

BeatMangler



This is another audio slicing effect, but this time you have to load your audio clip into the instrument itself. This offers a whole other range of controls, but loses the tempo-based functionality of the previous tool. Because the sample is loaded into the plugin, you do not have host based tempo control, making this a more free-wheeling approach to audio slicing and chopping. This makes more sense in BeatMangler, because it creates much glitch-ier sounding of an output. A wild tool, no question about it.

SimpleGranular



SimpleGranular follows a similar principle as the BeatMangler, but it simply controls the grain rate and size, and playback speed of whatever sample is loaded into the buffer. An eccentric tool, but great for dark and noise sound design and experimenting with sonic deconstruction...

SpectralMincer



The SpectralMincer is a sort of combination of the SimpleGranular and the BeatMangler. It allows for playback control, time control and decimate controls. Not much to say about this one, that hasn't already been said of first two, but it's also a cool sound destroyer.

SpectralMasking



The SpectralMasking effect is the final piece of the Masters Volume 1 package from Csound for Live. This time, we have a Spectral Filter tool, which you can feed any signal into. "This plugin analyzes an audiostream and filters out all of the frequencies that fall below an amplitude [sc] level you control" explains the Csound product page, as well as the ability to pan the effect to certain amounts on either side. This tool has a darkness to it. Its more than your simple filter.

Do not sleep on these tools. They are really easy to use, and a fun alternative to your standard, out-of-the-box plugins.

A=440Hz Standard Tuning is Killing You...?

Is the international standard tuning pitch of A=440Hz a militarized global elitist conspiracy?

I came across this article a few days ago, reposted by a friend on Facebook. There are quite a few confusing aspects to this story, not the least of which is the author, Leonard Horowitz, who has a history of investigating health-related conspiracy theories.

I will forgo any statements regarding my belief (or lack thereof) in this story, as I think the reader deserves the opportunity to enjoy and research the included material on their own. However, this article is a fun collision of history, technology, conspiracy theory and music. And who wouldn't love that?

Csound for Ableton Live

Synthesis guru/computer music wizard/Berklee College of Music professor Dr. Richard Boulanger brings us the newest set of mind blowing instruments for Ableton Live and it's crossover project with Cycling 74, "Max for Live", in his new collaborative release, C-sound for Live What makes these instruments truly unique is that they bring the wide reaching power of C-sound into real-time.

Traditionally, C-sound needed to be coded (in page after page of arcane text) then compiled, giving up some of the spontaneity of making and performing music. Thanks to Dr. B and his team of crack coders, the rest of us can now take advantage of the extreme power of C-sound in the form of some very cool and expressive instruments.

A number of the instruments that are available in the C-sound for Live package are free, while some other 6-instrument packages are priced at a very reasonable $6.00. You can get the entire collection for only $50! For the power available in these instruments, this is a no-brainer.

Here are a number of excellent samples and demos made by the C-sound for Live team...

C-sound for Live demo page

Below are some videos of 1/2 of fellow Vermin Street group, Dice Motion, using and tweaking the C-sound for Live instruments...

Animoog Synth for Ipad from Moog

These are some interesting times we live in. Tools like the Ipad are making it possible to realize ideas that could never exist before, virtual text books, for example. The people at Moog have carried on the legacy of their founder, Bob Moog, by developing the Animoog synthesizer for the Ipad which is expressive, fun and powerful.

The keyboard is one of the coolest features of the app. It is based on one of Bob Moog's own inventions, the MTS keyboard, which was never released in a public form. This keyboard featured sensors in each key which detected the three dimensional position of the finger. Many keyboards have attempted similar keyboard concepts such as the Haken Continuum and a number of the Buchla synthesizers. The Animoog keyboard is based on this premise, with some other tweaks, such as scale filtering.

The Animoog also features some very interesting editing pages, including break-point envelope/mod section, an elegant X/Y control pad and some effects and classic Moog filters.

Check out some of the videos below of some new users playing with the Animoog brand new. They are pretty inspiring!

Most importantly, the Animoog is only 99 cents for the first month it's available (it's normally $30)! Get it before it's too expensive...

Rolling out

This is the first post of my new music tech blog, Future Synth!

I have spent the last 5 years inside a major music software company, Native Instruments, and I hope to contribute some of the knowledge learned there to the wider Music Technology community.

In the coming months, I plan on posting daily about interesting goings on in the industry, from new and cool gear, to scuttlebutt about the inner workings of the Music Industry.

Please also follow my Twitter feed, @FutureSynth where I will post and retweet interesting gear, videos and news.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you come back often!