Cakewalk: BlogBytes; Using the Beatscape Factory Content in SONAR X1
Cakewalk’s award winning software SONAR X1 comes with Beatscape Factory Content. This content is sometimes overlooked by users since Beatscape came with SONAR 8 as an individual sample player. Now with the ProChannel, Browser and Drag and Drop, this content is great for building creative grooves.
Auto-Melody Generator w/ Drums (2012)
Background details:
… testing a revised set of “Auto-Melody Generator” patches (using Intellijel Dixies for the sine waves, a DrumDokta DRM-110 for the drums) for a concert w/ JD Emmanuel in June in Brooklyn ; not that I’m consciously trying to ape his style (which I love) – just trying to yield something a bit more flowing & less asynchronous / manic than the recent “Occlusion” pieces …
Close-ups of the Voight-Kampff machine, shot with a Canon VIXIA HF M50 (in VERY low afternoon light ; impressive performance) with the stock lens ; line-level audio pumped out of the “thru” of a direct box directly into the mic input of the camera (with the internal manual preamp levels set on the low side ; still doesn’t sound half bad despite the output buzz of the Vermona)…
Space Palette at STEIM
A performance by Tim Thompson on the Space Palette at STEIM (see steim.org) in Amsterdam. This three-dimensional instrument uses the Microsoft Kinect to translate hand motion directly into both music and visuals. It’s like having four 3D mousepads in mid-air. See http://spacepalette.com for more information. Thanks go to Vivian Wenli Lin for the recording.
The Space Palette is a Kinect-based instrument used to perform music and graphics simultaneously, controlled directly by your hands. The picture above shows the newest version, which you can see in action in this video of an open house performance on the Space Palette. The new version also appeared at the Sea of Dreams 2012 New Year’s Eve party in San Francisco. At that event, it was only doing graphics, because it was too loud to do anything else. The previous (rectangular) version of the Space Palette can be seen in this video of people playing with it at Burning Man 2011. Search YouTube for “Space Palette” to find other videos.
Technical details about the latest version can be found in these slides from a talk about the Space Palette. I’m now using Resolume as a FreeFrame host, which I highly recommend.
Source code and a Windows executable for the core bit of software (that talks to the Microsoft Kinect, recognizes your hands within an arbitrary flat surface with holes, and sends out TUIO/OSC messages that can drive whatever you want to control) is available here. If you’re interested in a more recent version of that software, send email to me at timthompson.com.
Synth spotting: NightLights-Alnitak (NEW and Longer Version)
Some great gear featured in this synth video performance:
No more 10 minutes timelimit here on Youtube,i have decided to upload a longer version of this song i made back into september 2009,i have used for this song 4 synthesizers:
Lead:Korg Triton TR-61
Strings:Roland JX-8P
Bass:Roland JP-8000
Noise:Roland JX-8P
The music is composed,produced and Live performed by Alnitak(Bert Anjewierden) c2009/2012
Original version is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FLkvA0_8ZQ&feature=plcp
Pittsburgh Modular ADSR Introduction Video
http://pittsburghmodular.com/adsr/
The Pittsburgh Modular ADSR is a four stage envelope generator with independently adjustable Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release stages. An envelope generator is used to shape control voltages such as the gate of the Midi module or a square wave from the LFO2.
FL Studio 10.5 (beta) | What’s New?
Download the 10.5 Beta here – http://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=91807
Thanks to Charles Deluxe for the 10.5 Demo Project
http://soundcloud.com/charlesdeluxe
Oberheim OBX-a: Unison lead demo
OBX-a Unison lead. 8-voice Unison. WFs- VCO-1 & 2: SW. LFO: Sine.
The OB-Xa is a massive analog synthesizer with a very familiar and classic Oberheim sound. Its sound, size and power are very similar to the Prophet 5 from Sequential. However this one has up to 8 voices which can be split, layered and stored!
The OB-Xa was available in four, six or eight voice polyphonic models. They all featured patch memories, also in varying degrees. A minimum of 32 patches were available on early models (4 banks of 8). The maximum amount of patch memory storage found on many OB-Xa’s is 120 patch memories. All models of OB-Xa, however, featured the new Curtis chips which offered great stability for an analog synth and they are attributed to its great filters and sounds.
The OB-X was very similar to the OB-Xa except that its voices could not be split or layered and, more significantly, the OB-X had a lowpass-only discrete SEM 12dB/oct state variable filter, which had a great and classic Oberheim sound. The OB-Xa changed that in an attempt to economize manufacturing and increase stability by switching to CEM3320 Curtis chips for its filters. The Xa offered two switchable filter modes: 12 dB/oct (2-pole) or 24 dB/oct (4-pole). This hardware change resulted in a more agressive sound, not quite as creamy as the OBX original, but what still became a “bread and butter” sound of the Oberheim line.
Splitting the keyboard mode separates the OB-Xa into two 4-voice synths with two available patches. The Layer mode plays the two patches simultaneously. There are also some added effect sources, perfect for any analog polysynth, including portamento, unison, sample & hold, chord memory and three LFO’s!
However none of the original OB-Xa’s have MIDI, unless otherwise having been modified. The OB-Xa is a classic and fat analog machine. It will give you thick analog pads and drones, punchy bass and cyclic analog effects.
Arcade: Alien space music game
PG Music Inc has released the Pitch Invasion app for iOS. Based on old-style classic arcade games, aliens descend upon your home planet, intent on destroying your prized collection of musical instruments. It’s your job to blast them out of the sky by recognizing the pitch that they are playing, and playing that pitch yourself before they reach the ground. If they reach the ground, one of your 15 musical instruments is destroyed. Once your instruments are all destroyed, it’s game over. As you blast the aliens, you can move up to harder, faster levels.
Pricing and Availability:
Free
Teaser: CrossDJ for iPad
http://youtu.be/kMLcvU_P48c
HDMI Cable used for video capture only, not required in normal conditions
MixVibes is proud to present the most exciting DJing application they have ever made: CrossDJ for iPad. MixVibes brings you a comprehensive iPad DJing experience with a user friendly yet professional and feature rich layout. This application allows all DJs to enjoy performing quality sounding mixes on an iPad.
Max for Live Instrument: SampleRider
SampleRider is a Max for Live instrument that uses a user-defined sample as a table for an oscillator. Basically, a sinewave that is modulated by another sinewave sets the sample index for reading back sample points from the loaded sample. Frequency is set by incoming MIDI notes. Velocity sets volume. The user can define other parameters (e.g. modulating oscillator amount and frequency). There are two main oscillators and two modulating oscillators. All timbral changes are created simply by reading back from the loaded sample at different points / in a different way.
Download here: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/downloads/M4L/SampleRider/little-scale.SampleR…
DATAMASKIN
