Just Listen!
The second in a series of tutorials about nwdlbots, a suite of generative modules for Ableton Live.
This episode demonstrates the way in which nwdlbots can interact within a Live Set using two modules called “noodle control” and “noodle send”. By attaching noodle sends to each EventBot in a set, you can relay MIDI information to the control module, which collates the information and then feeds it back to the EventBots, informing their decisions regarding onset and pitch.
This allows the bots to work together controlling the density and harmony of the set.
nwdlbots are available for download at sundaydance.co.uk
(Ableton Live and Max for Live required).
New inspiring free Ableton Rack based on Melodica samples
Here is this week’s free Ableton rack: Ableton Live Rack I created with samples of my Melodica. It’s a great little instrument that I have just begun using in my live performances and made a lot of use of on my Forest Far Album years ago( http://afrodjmac.com/music/ ).
Download it here: http://bit.ly/freesynth18
For many years, my melodica has served me well. It’s easy to play and has, in my opinion, a warm friendly charm. I made a lot of use of it on my Forest Far album, and recently I began using it in my live performances, running it through my Vocal Effect Rack and mangling it to my hearts desire. This week I share it with you in the form of a free Ableton Live Rack / Sample Pack. I’ve racked it up with some useful effects, Morphing Filter with LFO, Vibrato, Grain Delay, Bit Crusher, and Vocoder. It does everything from the traditional Melodica sound to the bizarre and unexpected. Enjoy and Spread the word
Building an EventBot – Ableton Live
This tutorial describes how to build an EventBot from three basic modules.
I just thought I’d let you know about nwdlbots, my suite of algorithmic (generative) devices for the composition of music within Ableton Live. They include event generators, pitch and velocity selectors and control devices for interaction with each other and with other MIDI tracks and input devices.
As well as generating events at random, nwdlbots can respond to activity on other MIDI tracks in Live, or to input from a MIDI instrument. In effect, nwdlbots control the density of a piece by reducing their activity when things get too busy. They also have some rudimentary ideas about harmony and can follow a chord sequence.
The first set of nwdlbots are available for free download at sundaydance.co.uk. Also on the site: documentation and videos
Free Ableton Rack – FirecRACKer Rack
So here is this week’s free Ableton live rack featuring the sounds of the 4th of July:
This weeks free Ableton download was made entirely with a recording of fireworks from the 4th of July on Long Island, NY. I put the sample into a granulator synth in Max for Live, and then sampled that with Sampler (and Simpler!) in Ableton. There’s a nice textured pad/keys sound, as well as a dangerously ferocious bass sound. I tried to get something fierce a few weeks ago with the Fender Feedback Rack ( http://bit.ly/freesynth15 ) but the results were unexpectedly (yet pleasingly) mellow and smooth. This time it’s different, this bass sound is ruthless if you ask me.
Download it here: http://bit.ly/freesynth17
Fireworks light up the sky with beautiful colors and patterns for the eyes. But can they do the same for the ears? We are about to find out… This weeks Free Ableton Live Rack, “The AfroDJMac FirecRACKer Synth, “ was made entirely from the sounds of the fireworks screaming through the sky over Long Island, New York on July 4, 2011.
I recorded the sound of neighborhood firecrackers and brought them into The Granulator, a free granulating synthesizer that comes with Max for Live. (I haven’t spent a lot of time with this, but it seems pretty awesome). After messing about, I was able to get some nice grainy sounds and then sampled that sound and brought it into Ableton’s samplers. The result is a nice, textural pad/keyboard sound, as well as a thunderously dirty and fat bass sound. A couple weeks ago I thought I was going to develop a rather ferocious synth using guitar feedback (Free Ableton Synth #15: Fender Feedback Rack), but the results were unexpectedly mellow and smooth. This week is much different. I put this synth together to offer the naturally rich timbre that the fireworks created, but also to give you about as ferocious a sound as I could, given the source material. It seems appropriate to me that a firework, which is essentially an explosive device, should deliver a fierce earth shaking bass. Next time you play one of your tracks for your friends you can nonchalantly brag “that bass was created with explosives.”
Kinect Synapse Ableton Dubstep Raw Bass Virus TI
This is the configuration of Synapse Kinect hack Ableton
The right hand Y (LFO) and Z (Tune) Bass Virus TI patch Raw and the left hand stutter iZotope plug combined with the right hand ..
Visuals by Quartz Composer synapse hack ..
Synapse is an app for Mac and Windows that allows you to easily use your Kinect to control Ableton Live, Quartz Composer, Max/MSP/Jitter, and any other application that can receive OSC events. It sends joint positions and hit events via OSC, and also sends the depth image into Quartz Composer. In a way, this allows you to use your whole body as an instrument.
Check out this video for an explanation of how this is done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teHCHsjxI00
This is an example performance of what you can make with the Synapse for Kinect tools combined with Ableton Live and Quartz Composer. You can have this running on your computer within minutes! Head to http://synapsekinect.tumblr.com to download.
Introducing the Protodeck – first demo
This is the very first demo video of a new MIDI controller for Ableton Live
“this has to be watched fullscreen in HD!
– sorry about some bitrate compression artifacts… all is sync, nice, pretty in the real world!
– sorry for the blinking-like blue leds. they don’t blink anymore, but the DV cam is ugly here so…”
for watching it live, I’ll make workshops + music live perf
for further informations: designthemedia.com/protodeck/
THE PROTODECK controller features:
– 87 potentiometers
– 90 buttons
– 81 rgb leds
– 2×20 LCD
– 2 PIC 18F4620 (20MHz RISC processors)
– fully custom rgb led drivers
– fully custom firmware
– 2 MIDI IN/OUT interface
Live mashup of 39 songs: Madeon – Pop Culture
A video of a live mashup is impressing general audiences as much as it is enthusiasts. It’s not a complex work, but it’s brilliantly performed, and in incorporating some 39 songs into one epic mash-up of Ableton-synced clips, it presents plenty of touchstones for audience members. The ingredients: FL Studio, Ableton Live, a Novation Launchpad, and a Novation ReMOTE Zero SL MKII.
“This is a little idea i’ve been playing around with to implement in my set, hope you like it.”
Tracklist:
Alphabeat – Boyfriend
Alphabeat – Fascination
Bag Raiders – Shooting Stars
Black Eyed Peas – Gotta Feeling
Britney Spears – …Baby One More Time
Capsule – Can I Have A Word
Chromeo – Momma’s Boy
Coldplay – Viva La Vida
Daft Punk – Aerodynamic
Daft Punk – Around The World
Deadmau5 – Raise Your Weapon (Madeon Remix)
Deadmau5 – Right This Second
Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed
ELO – Mr. Blue Sky
Girls Aloud – Biology
Gorillaz – Dare
Gossip – Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix)
Gwen Stefani – What You Waitin For (Jacques Lu Cont Mix)
Housse de Racket – Oh Yeah
Justice – DVNO
Justice – Phantom Part II
Katy Perry – One Of The Boys
Ke$ha – Take It Off
Kylie Minogue – Wow
Lady Gaga – Alejandro
Linkin Park – Crawling
Madonna – Hung Up
Martin Solveig ft. Dragonette – Boys and Girls
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Nero – Me and You
One Republic – All The Right Moves (Danger Remix)
One-T – Magic Key
Ratatat – Shempi
Solange – I Decided (Freemasons Remix)
Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You
The Buggles – Video Killed The Radio Star
The Killers – Losing Touch
The Who – Baba O’Riley (SebastiAn Remix)
Yelle – Que Veux Tu (Madeon Remix)
Made with FL Studio & Ableton Live, played on a Novation Launchpad & Novation Zero SL MKII.
AfroDJMac’s Drum Track and Tutorial (Free Ableton Rack 16)
Ableton Live Drum effect Rack download and tutorial.
AfroDJMac takes you through how he uses Ableton’s drum racks, effect racks, and follow actions in his live performances to create drum fills, variations, and effects. Effect rack contains Beat Repeats, Mutes, Looper for tape effects, Reverb, Delay, Filters, New York Style Compression… Download includes a Live set with the effect rack and clips set up to play randomly generated drum fills that come in and out, very musically and on time.
Download the Live Set Here: http://bit.ly/freesynth16
OhmRGB and OhmModes with Ableton Live
The OhmRGB is a totally customizable, interactive MIDI instrument, designed to give you hands-on control for your performance. High-quality sliders, knobs buttons, expansion jacks, and multicolor LEDs provide the interface for creative expression. Constructed with anodized aluminum and hand-finished wood, the quality is felt down to your fingertips. All of our controllers are proudly hand crafted and assembled for artists by artists in our Austin, Texas shop.
This video is presented by Pailo and shows how you can use it with OhmModes, a sophisticated remote script for Ableton Live
Free Weekly Ableton Live Rack – Fender Feedback
Here’s AfroDJMac’s new free weekly Ableton rack featuring the fender guitar.
Here’s two instrument racks created using screeching feedback from Fender Mustang and Jag-Stang guitars, played through sea-foam green Fender Deluxe. Surprisingly, despite coming from such a loud and wild source, these racks are fairly mellow and reminiscent of a vintage keyboard. In the video, it is also shown how the racks work and take you through the effects. Also spend a little time explaining the mapping of the racks.
Download the rack here: http://bit.ly/freesynth15
One of my favorite sounds is that of a distorted electric guitar as it begins to screech into blazing feedback. It’s very unpredictable, wild, and difficult to control. The overtones and harmonics it creates are hard to replicate with any other instrument. For this weeks Ableton Live Rack installment, I sampled some feedback from my Fender Mustang and Fender Jag-Stang coming out of my sea-foam green Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.
Sometimes the results are surprising when you create a sampled instrument, and this is one of those unexpected outcomes. The resulting instrument sounds more like a vintage keyboard with some rich harmonic content than a screeching guitar. Also, the actual guitar used makes quite a big difference as well, so I’ve include two racks this week, one created with the Mustang and one with the Jag-Stang. I added effects that I thought were useful to the sounds, Lo-pass Filter, Tremolo, Vibrato, Chorus, Reverb, Flanger, and just to dirty it up a bit, Vinyl distortion, which can be mix to taste. Enjoy, and as always, send along word of any music you create with this or any of these racks.
DATAMASKIN
