Livepa: Where Electronic Music Comes Alive

Ableton Live & Novation Launchpad Performance

2010-02-07T21:52:00.002-06:00

Ableton Live/Novation Launchpad - Progtronica weekly Dj Performance series Part 2 from Nigel Sifantus on Vimeo.

Beardyman Live in the Underbelly: 1 Hour Set

2010-01-28T21:57:00.002-06:00

Nice 1 Hour Beardyman set here on Youtube.

NAMM 2010: Korg Kaossilator Pro

2010-01-14T10:07:00.001-06:00

Korg has announced an updated version of their popular Kaossilator. The Kaossilator Pro is basically a step up from last year’s model and is analogous to the MiniKP and its bigger brother the KaossPad 3.

The Kaossilator Pro takes the same basic hardware specs and idea of the KP3 and focused on a sound source rather than an effects source. The overall idea sounds extremely appealing and it features 200 sounds (still not a true synth though) along with the ability to load PCM samples. It is not quite the sampled based KP4 many were hoping for, but it is a good start.

http://www.korg.com/Product.aspx?pd=564

NAMM 2010: AKAI APC20 – The Left Hand of Ableton Live

2010-01-14T08:49:00.001-06:00

.:Akai APC20:.

First news from NAMM is trickling in. Akai has announced a new version of their APC line with the APC20. This is essentially half of the previously released APC40 from last year. The new APC20 features everything but some send effects, additional knobs and the crossfader from its older brother.

From the press online it appears that the APC20 is meant to be more of a companion kit then a standalone. You can chain up to six of them together.

Price is $199

Richard Devine Improvs on OpenLabs D-Beat

2009-12-01T16:43:00.001-06:00

I have always loved the idea of the Openlabs gear, but the price often times made me cringe. Above is a great video showcasing what their newest box can do with some traditional and no so traditional Windows software.

Bernd Kistenmacher – Celestial Movments

2009-11-20T10:19:00.001-06:00

A lot of the video and content that we post on here falls into the realm of what I would call “traditional” livePA, that is dance music being performance in a rave or club setting. Personally I am more more interested in alternative forms of live performance. It doesn’t necessarily have to be esoteric or new agey, but something that is just not the same. The video above I think is a nice illustration of that concept. Nothing complex is going on here visually, but performance is still wonderful to listen to.

via Matrixsynth

Machinedrum Monomachine Liveset Practice

2009-11-18T22:26:00.000-06:00

Quick Little liveset studio practice on just a Monomachine and Machinedrum

Ableton Live Controlled with Xbox 360 Controller

2009-11-16T14:54:00.000-06:00

We have seen our fair share of Wii controllers, taking on software for live performance. I have not however, seen something directly controlling Ableton nor have I previously seen an Xbox 360 controller doing it. The video is a little grainy, but is a nice demonstration. Unfortunately, I don’t see any explanation of how it is actually done.

via MatrixSynth

ProtoFields: Composed on a Buchla 200

2009-11-14T18:05:00.002-06:00

Simply a tremendous demonstration of what a modular can do in the right hands.

Arduino Didgeridoo

2009-11-13T08:34:00.001-06:00

Not really a LivePA video, but this is a fantastic video of a didgeridoo modified with an arduino chipset. Incredible how cool drone sounds can be.

Yamaha Announces Tenori-On Orange

2009-11-10T21:40:00.003-06:00

Been a while since our last post. I can't say that will never happen again, but lets hope I can keep on top of things going forward.

Yamaha has announced a new more affordable version of their Tenori-On performance product. The Tenori-On Orange features the same basic soundset and touch array as the original Tenori-On, but comes in a plastic shell (compared to Magnesium) without an LCD screen. It is expected to start shipping in December for a street price around $1,000.

via Engadget.com

Joris Voorn LivePA @ Time Warp

2009-07-07T18:49:00.001-06:00

Transductor Live: AO VIVO 5-23-09

2009-06-06T17:52:00.000-06:00

APC Unboxing and First Impressions

2009-06-04T17:44:00.000-06:00

Some members over at the LivePA.org boards have gotten their grubby littles hands on the new Akai APC40 for Ableton Live. Here is some great unboxing video and some comments.

Akai APC40 - Opening the box from Tom Cosm on Vimeo.

via LivePA.org

Wesley D. Quotes:

The clip launching is sweet. Very sweet. The lower bank of knobs is rather worthless to me. I'll be keeping the PX-7 as part of the rig for it's 16 awesome feeling knobs that have a beginning and end!!! I was really hoping I could use a single controller. Perhaps with some tweaking.... Here's the problem, the lower knobs want to control single devices. Right now for this to work I would need to instruct the knobs to ignore device 1, and then have discreet knobs routed to just a few places on other devices. On my PX-7 I have a HPF and LPF on each channel. I grab the knob, I change the filter. Here I have to first select the track, then I have to scoot to the next device, then I only control that single device. It sucks, but after less than 5 minutes I already want to edit this thing. I don't want to assume control over individual devices. I want to choose my device routings and have them show up when I select that channel. This sucks kinda bad, it means I'll have to edit before I can mix with EQ or filters. I can only mix with volume out of the box. I suppose I could load an EQ as the first device in each channel, but I don't feel like it. I like the way I've had it set up.

I've also solved my device woes, EFFECTS RACKS FTW!!! Easily dedicate knobs to whatever device you like, and the 8 knobs correspond to the track you have selected. That's powerful as hell, makes it like those DJ mixers where you select a track and then go play with FX, only so much more.

As far as navigation, I think I could get used to this. The 'zoom out' thing when you press shift is pretty sweet. Very intuitive. You can sorta 'see' your set in blocks, then press the block you wanna go to. I very easily routed my 8th lower knob to control 'scroll'. So I can scan around to see, then use 'shift+pad' to jump to the box where I need it. I love how the matrix shows you where the clips are, I think you still need the monitor, but this helps you look at it less frequently. Having 40 pads to launch clips with is just plain sweet. No two ways about that.

There doesn't seem to be a way to control FX on the sends, but I don't care. I'm running the Remote Zero together with the APC40 right now for all my discrete nit picky routings.

The APC40 kicks serious ass at what it does. My first impression was pretty bad, but with a little time (less than an hour) I'm reworking my set to be way more powerful than it was yesterday.

Orbital's New Live Setup

2009-05-31T17:37:00.002-06:00

Orbital are back!!! At least for one performance, and pictures of their new live setup are up on the net. Looks like some fantastic analog porn in this shot. Anyone know what modular is in the back? http://www.loopz.co.uk/

via LivePA.org

D-Bass Acid House Liveset

2009-04-26T15:00:00.000-06:00

D-Bass Acid House Liveset

12sos + Lenin LivePA

2009-04-21T10:45:00.001-06:00

Fun little LivePA video where the artist makes use of some common objects for sound. I am not 100% sure if this is straight up recorded or if they are using contact mics or something, but it does have a sort of music video effect overall more than a straight up live show recording.

Openlabs DBeat: The Groove Workstation We Have All Been Waiting For?

2009-04-02T12:36:00.001-06:00

OpenLabs DBeat

I just had an amazing piece of kit come through my inbox. Openlabs at Messe have just announced an amazing new product called the DBeat. It looks to be an ultimate groovebox that takes the functionality and hybrid approach of their other software and merges it with a Groove box (very Command Station looking) interface. Flat out, this thing looks amazing and could very well be the killer LivePA tool that so many of us have been craving for. Specs are light at the moment, but it comes with 14Gbs of sounds, a full version of Ableton Live included (!!!!!!!!!), 12” touch screen with support for Windows 7, the ability to connect to USB turntables and more.

Price is $3,999 but down to $3,499 for pre-orders. I have to say, my mouth is on the floor right now as this looks to be one of the most amazing pieces of kit I have ever seen.

via CreateDigitalMusic.com

Teenage Engineering Operator-1 at Musikmesse

2009-04-02T07:52:00.001-06:00

The internets have exploded yesterday about Teenage Engineering’s Operator-1 synth. Some deemed it to be an April fools day hoax, others thought it to be amazing. Well we have some brief video from NAMM and it is indeed real. Too bad we didn’t get any sound examples out of it, but we do know that we will probably be seeing a finished version sometime early 2010.

Teenage Engineering: OP-1 Synthesizer & Controller

2009-03-31T08:05:00.001-06:00

Teenage Engineering Operator 1

I love the resurgence of boutique synths manufacturers that we seem to be having right now. With all the advancements in software there is still interesting hardware coming out. Coming through the pipes today I saw that there is a new company called Teenage Engineering (awesome name btw) that is developing a great looking synth/midi controller call ed the OP-1.

It has your standard midi controller options, but what is interesting is some of the standalone features. It has 8 synthesizer models, 8 samplers and effects built into an extremely tiny package. It also has a full color OLED display with some very unique UI chhoices.

Inputs/Outputs

3.5mm input for audio/external microphone
3.5mm output for line out /headphones
3-pole power-connector for charging the internal battery or for use with power adaptor.
The power connector itself is the same as used in robotic automation applications
USB 2.0 port for hooking up your OP to your computer transferring your recorded music
Two holes special machined for carry strap
Turn the machine upside-down there are two M6 holes for use with our Studio System parts.

The retro simplistic design ala the Casio VL-1 looks great as well. Actually it sort of looks like an Ableton Live instrument brought to life.

A release date and price is not yet announce as the machine is still being developed, but Teenage Engineering is expected to produce an initially 100 units for Beta testing. You can sign up for more information at their website to try to get on the Beta list.

AtoMikDoG Tek-Brek Liveset

2009-03-29T09:51:00.000-06:00

AtoMikDoG Tek_Brek Livset

We have a new liveset this week from producer AtoMikDoG. This one is a little bit more up tempo then his past stuff.

http://www.myspace.com/atomikdog

Wacom Releases NextBeat NXT-1000 DJ Interface

2009-03-17T08:18:00.001-06:00

Wacom NextBeat NXT-1000 Press Release (.PDF)

Wacom, makers of the very useful and cool tablets for artists has mysteriously decided to jump into the DJ market. Their newest product is called the NextBeat. It appears to be a self contained unit and not a midi controller. Overall I can’t say I am impressed.

There aren’t any features spilling out yet, but it does appear that the controller section can lift off from the body of the device allowing you to “roam” while you DJ.

The Press release states that a website for the product should launch tomorrow (March 18th) at http://www.nextbeat.com

via Gizmodo.com

D-Bass Liveset

2009-03-15T14:59:00.000-06:00

D-Bass Livset

Techno liveset from D-Bass

MGMT - Kids: Performed on iPod Touch & iPhone

2009-03-12T16:35:00.001-06:00

Not sure what to make of this video. On the one hand it is cool, but on the other hand I think the iPod touch and iPhone have to be able to do better than this. The women need to sing out a little bit.

Komega Live October 26th, 2008 @ Willoughby Loft

2009-03-08T14:55:00.000-06:00

Komega Live October 26th, 2008 @ Willoughby Loft

Not a lot of information on this one except that it is from Willoughby Loft.

http://www.komegamusic.com

Radikal Technologies Spectralis 2 Teaser Video #1

2009-03-07T19:51:00.000-06:00

Live Street Gameboy Music

2009-03-03T22:14:00.004-06:00

Yes!!! This is exactly what I talked about three years ago with the Renegade Guerllia LivePA rig. Here is artist who is not identified but is playing some great music live on the street in Japan.

Update: Apparently his name is Maru and the track is called Insane Youth.

Suicide Lane feature rightClique

2009-03-01T14:53:00.000-06:00

Suicide Lane feature rightClique

This is a second live perfomrnace mp3 from Cerebral Sabbath event that I posted about last week. This week’s performance is a collaborative glitch IDM set between Suicide Lane and rightClique.

NIN Live Performing 1,000,000

2009-02-28T12:44:00.001-06:00

NIN: 1,000,000 Live from on stage, Sydney 2.22.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

Nice video of NIN perform from the onstage perspective.

Dr. Who Theme on Two Tesla Coils

2009-02-23T10:08:00.001-06:00

I am a total sucker for Tesla Coil performances and I cannot think of a better song that is worthy of being performed on one. Here we have two Tesla Coils performing the Dr. Who theme in total geeky fashion.

via Wired.com

Mekatroid Liveset from Cerebral Sabbath

2009-02-22T14:51:00.000-06:00

Mekatroid Liveset from Cerebral Sabbath

This week’s liveset comes from Mekatroid from the first Cerebral Sabbath. It is a monthly performance night happening at Octane Coffee in Atlanta Georgia.

More information about this monthly event can be found at http://rclique.org

MattlWilcox Liveset

2009-02-17T14:46:00.001-06:00

MattlWilcox Liveset October 2007

The LivePA podcast is back and hopefully here to stay again. This week we have a nice hard set from MattlyWilcox. Check out more of his work at his decidingly 1990’s looking website http://www.mattlwilcox.com/

LivePA Podcast is Coming Back

2009-02-07T13:36:00.002-06:00

It has been quite a while since I have posted anything up on the LivePA Blog podcast feed. It is a new year though so I think I need to kick myself back into gear to get it going again.

Expect the first new podcasts to come in the next week or so and hopefully they should be a fairly steady weekly program after that.

If anyone has livesets that they would like featured on the LivePA podcast send an email to us at the blog here and be sure to provide us with a permeant, direct link to your mp3 file. If you need someplace to host your music I would suggest Archive.org

Recorder Live Video

2009-01-28T18:11:00.003-06:00

Satellite (8 of8)

Every once in a while I stimble across something that just brings a smile to my face. That thing today was this live video by the group Recorder. ~~The video above has them apparently covering a song Skater Boy by Avril Lavgine.~~ The song is called Satellite Not sure if it is that or not, but I love the mix, the stage presence and just everything about them. Check them out at their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/recorder

via Matrixsynth

NAMM 2009 Beat Kangz Beat Thang: Yes, it is real!!!!!

2009-01-26T20:11:00.001-06:00

Gearwire.com got a great NAMM show video with the Vice President of Beat Kangz and their new Beat Thang Groovebox. There was a lot of pre-show hype about this thing, but almost no reports from the show floor. Gotta say, I am more excited about this after seeing the video. There is even a nice video of them building a beat with it.

NAMM 2009: SonicState.com – Korg Microkorg XL demo

2009-01-21T15:38:00.000-06:00

Korg always had a hit with their ubercheap and very accessible Microkorg. They are releaseing a new version though now that incorporates their MMT synthesis technology and updates the look with a retro feel (see what I did there?). SonicState.com got a new close up of the new little synth and I have to admit it sounds fantastic. I personally really dig the aesthetics on this one too so lets hope Korg prices it right because it was the cheap price more than anything that sold the original Microkorg.

NAMM 2009: Sonicstate Gets Teases Peek at Spectralis 2

2009-01-20T15:32:00.001-06:00

SonicState.com Spectralis 2 Teaser (Sorry Video not embeddable)

The Drool worthy Spectralis 2 has rumored to be making an appearance at NAMM. Along with the Beat Thang though there was nary an announcement regarding it. SonicState.com however seems to be on the ball as they have announced a full review coming soon. In the mean time they have posted a super short little teaser on their site.

NAMM 2009: The Keytar Back with Roland’s AX-7

2009-01-16T14:24:00.001-06:00

Roland.com

For all those musicians out there who have guitar envy and were curshed by the discontinuation of the original keytar a couple of years ago, you can rest easy. You head banging wannabe days are back with Roland’s announcement of the new AX-7 Midi keyboard controller.

The new controller features all the standards you expect from a keytar, but also features some improvements such as D-Beam controlling (so you can double up on your geekiness) and GM2/GS compatibility. Full features below

Features:

Stage-oriented shoulder keyboard in attractive pearl white body
45-note velocity-sensitive keyboard-perfect for solos and bass lines
Intuitive operation via new 7-segment LED display
5 realtime controller s: Data Entry knob, Touch Controller, Expression Bar, Hold button and light-sensing D Beam
128 patches with data backup via MIDI
2 MIDI zones for independent control of Upper/Lower parts
GM2/GS Compatible
Battery or AC powered

NAMM 2009: Akai EWI USB Wind Controller

2009-01-16T09:42:00.001-06:00

http://www.akaipro.com/

This announcement gets a big “YES!!!” in my book. I have always had an infatuation with wind controllers (probably because I am a saxophone and clarinet plaery), but their implementation in hardware has always been spotty because they generally have not been able to work with any synth you plug them into.

Hopefully Akai has been able to get around that limitation with the new EQI USB wind controller. Presumably one would expect this to be able to work within any DAW with any VST instrument, but the details are a little scare at the moment. It does say that there is a platform software for the model but that is it.

Quote: Press Release

EWI USB enables anyone, regardless of wind instrument-playing experience, to perform with the expressive capabilities of the wind instrument of their choice. The wind controller features a plug-and-play USB interface for use with the included Aria software, with Garritan and Akai Professional samples as a sound source. EWI USB is Mac and PC compatible.

Professional players will find EWI USB fully capable of performance for stage and studio with a five-octave range, breath modulation with adjustable threshold, pitch bend, adjustable vibrato, transposition and octave shifting capability, and fingering modes to emulate various electronic and acoustic instruments. Further, the Garritan/Plogue Aria software enables instrumentalists to perform with up to four instruments selected from the full collection of more than 75 orchestral, band and synthesizer sounds.

While EWI USB has full professional capabilities, its attractive price point and easy-to-play design make it a perfect choice for wind students. With a removable, dishwasher-safe, interchangeable mouthpiece[ Ed. Nice touch] that works well regardless of embouchure, EWI USB is excellent for introducing students to the world of wind instruments. Former wind instrumentalists who would like to return to playing will find EWI USB easy to adapt to, eliminating much of the embouchure-building time required with a traditional instrument.

Thanks to multiple fingering modes, EWI USB perfectly emulates saxophone, flute and oboe, as well as traditional EWI and EVI trumpet. The result is completely intuitive performance, even for players who have never picked up an electronic instrument.

"With EWI USB, we are delivering an incredibly expressive instrument to a whole new world of wind players," states Gregg Stein, Director of Marketing, Akai Professional. "Traditionally, electronic wind instruments have fallen into two categories: very expensive professional instruments, and inexpensive instruments of low quality. EWI USB is the first instrument to offer professional quality at such an affordable price."

NAMM 2009: SonicState.com – Hands on with Native Instruments Maschine

2009-01-16T09:36:00.001-06:00

Looks like they are still calling it a groovebox, which makes me lurch a little bit as it doesn’t have stand alone operation, but SonicState.com does have a nice hands on video with the Maschine to give everyone an idea of the interface flow.

So after seeing it, what do you people think? Personally I am not see what it can really do that a regular drumpad and Ableton live can’t, but then again this is just an intro video.

NAMM 2009: Ableton Quietly Allow Free Upgrades of Live from 6 to 7?

2009-01-16T09:32:00.001-06:00

CreateDigialMusic is reporting that Ableton is offering free upgrade paths from Ableton Live 6 to Ableton Live 7. There doesn’t appear to be any official announcement or download link for this update, but heading over to the Ableton forums would presumably direct you in the right direction for the upgrade.

via CreateDigitalMusic.com

NAMM 2009: AKAI APC40 Ableton Live Control Surface

2009-01-15T09:32:00.001-06:00

http://www.akaipro.com/apc40

Not to be back on their heals this NAMM it looks like AKAI is in the game with an announcement of a dedicated Ableton Live control surface called the APC 40. Taking some obvious design influences from the Monome 40 the APC 40 features 40 multi-color clip buttons called the clip matrix. Each button will visually indicated the status of a clip directly on the controller.

It also features 16 control knobs with LED lighting, eight faders and a crossfader. The case is constructed out of metal (a nice design choice different than their recent direction with the MPC’s). Addtiional features below

Key Features

Designed in partnership with Ableton
Unique clip matrix with multicolor lighting displays current clip status
No mapping required for use with Ableton Live
Exclusive bidirectional communication between the APC40 and Ableton Live
Professional feel with rugged, metal chassis and premium controls
Comes with Akai APC40 edition of Ableton Live Lite, free upgrade patch for full versions of Live
USB plug-and-play connection for Mac and PC
Premium controller with rugged, metal chassis

NAMM 2009: Rumor – Native Instruments Releasing Maschine Groovebox

2009-01-14T14:07:00.001-06:00

The stories of Grooveboxes just keep piling up in my inbox this morning with Native Instruments reportedly coming out with their own Groovebox capable of loading the company’s VST plugins.

Earlier this morning there was an image circling the net from ZirconStudios.com which showed a scanned image of the reported box from an upcoming Electronic Musician magazine. The direct link to that image was here, but has since been taken down, presumably to a “cease and desist order” from NI. I have contacted the site owner for comment, but have not yet received a word from him/her. After searching the net I found several other discussions regarding the box on forums, including NI’s own forums, but almost all of the discussions have been removed or closed. To me this almost guarantee's the device’s existence.

The initial image though that I saw earlier this morning showed another MPC like groovebox with lit up display pads and apparently the ability to load VST plugins. Unfortunately I don’t have any more details at the moment on the box, but if someone has details on the specs or the original image please send an email to staff.livepa (at) gmail.com.

UPDATE: I have just found a copy of the image of the new device and posted it above. It looks to be a nice hybrid software/hardware platform that incorporates some KORE like features along 16 backlit pads, 2 LCD screens, 5GB of samples, effects, sampling/resampling and more. Lets hope that it can run stand alone without the need for a computer like the failed MC-808.

Update 2: Well the announcement is out and it appears that we are 0/2 with new Groovebox announcements. The Maschine is another Kore like hardware software interface for percussion sequencing and sampling. There unfortunately does not appear to be a stand alone mode without the software, but there does appear to be sequencing built into the box with midi outputs.There are no audio outputs on the box itself. Whether that means that the Maschine is capable as a sequencer for LivePA remains to be seen.

NAMM 2009: Rumor - Motu Getting into the Groovebox Business with BPM?

2009-01-14T10:00:00.001-06:00

Update: The announcement is out and it appears that this is just a software drum machine. Gotta say I am pretty disappointed. What is the market for something like this these days when you have everything from Ableton Live to FL Studio that can do this built in? The interface doesn’t seem conductive for software IMO.

I have more news trickling in here about some additional groovebox “MPC Killers” . Yesterday I posted about the Beat Thang which looked cool in and of itself. Today though I have word of an an even cooler piece of kit being developed by Motu called the BPM.

All I have is a blurry scan but from the image above here are the specs that I could discern.

Drum machine style operation with VST support
Run as a tempo synced plug-in with your favorite DAW
Live Midi Recording
Unlimited Sample layers
Built in drum synthesizer
Drag and drop sequence capabilities in song mode
15+ GB of sounds built in
“Deep” Synthesis engine
4 Pad banks with full kit capabilities and 2 racks
Complete internal mixer with effects
SP Mode which emulates the SP1200.

Nothing on pricing or details, but again something impressive coming out of the site. The built in LCD screen on this thing (if real) looks amazing and equivalent to the waveform and sample editing screens one would see in your computer software.

via Binary-Punks.com

NAMM 2009: Beat Kangz Releases the Beat Thang

2009-01-13T22:27:00.005-06:00

http://www.beatkangz.com/main/product

Here we are kicking off NAMM 2009 with a very interesting piece of hardware. This is in fact perhaps the most livePA oriented piece of hardware I have seen in a long time. To be 100% honest I am not sure of this product is real. The name is pretty dreadful, but if you can get past the name the hardware and the spec list look to actually be pretty impressive.

The Beat Thang is a 16 track sampler (and rompler?) that features six digital effects types, waveform editing and beat creation. Full spec list below.

Sampling with onboard waveform editing
Over 3000 Blazin' Brand new sounds designed by The Beat Kangz
16 Track MIDI sequencer
500 production ready Platinum beats and loops created by The Beat Kangz
Sleek design and styling with customizable “Paintz” and “Grillz”
Convenient, light-weight portable design with internal rechargable battery
USB In & Out
Pitch and Mod Wheels
On Board FX including Reverb, Delay, Automated Filters and tons of Crazy "Freak FX" including "Chopped and Screwed"!!!!
On Board "Mo Bang" Mastering with EQ and Limiting
256 MB Ram standard
2 High Speed SD Card Slots
Export Beats to a Mac or PC
Very Easy to USE!!!
More top Secret Features and Surprises that we dont want our sleezy, thieving corporate competitors to know.... but we'll tell ya soon!

I have to admit. The hardware itself looks pretty cool and the specs even cooler. I would like to know some more details about that sequencer and the sampling capabilities. But hopefully we have a nice new Groovebox on our hands here.

Update: Some more specs have been posted over at the Harmony Central Forums by what appears to be the company itself.

General Information
2 Headphone Jacks
Carry audio output via USB. USB Connects to any Hard drive, USB keys can also be read and write to
Read directly off of the SD cards. 2 Slots capbable of 16GB's each
256 MB Ram Stock!
512 Flash for user content on board. Higher if its a custom order
Stereo Mic Line input with Phantom Power
Sampling, and Resampling of outputs
Tempo sync Delay, Mastering, Reverb, Filters and tons of other weird FX
Plans to open FX section to 3rd party developers . Can you say VST (Ed. Very interesting.....)
Custom Paint. Any Color LED's, Custom Grillz
Each pad can have 16 layers with independent pitch, cut off res, pan, velocity, vol and a single pad can be spread across a whole keyboard with Loop points so you can sample synths strings or anything and turn it into multi layered patches.
PC Drum Kit builder with Drag and Drop capabilities
Sequencer Information
96 PPQ
1000 Sequences
500 Songs
Individual Bar Length which can be changed in real time even while recording. (Ed. Excellent!!)
Quantize and Swing can be changed in real-time.
All your Songs, Sequences, Beats, Kits, Patches, Samples and settings that are on your SD cards are always there and show up just like the presets.
13 Pads with Velocity
8 Pad banks per track
16 Tracks
Pad and Track mute and Solo
Mixer with level control FX send, Pan, Pitch Automation, Filter and EQ Automation per Track including (Low Pass, Band Pass, Hi pass, Low Shelf, High Shelf and Notch, Automated Q control to)
Dynamic Kit and Patch creator which is easy and to use. Samples can all have categories (Kicks, Snares Hats etc) App for converting your own samples into the categories and the ability to create your own.
16 Layers per PAD with velocity, pan, pitch ,cut off, res and volume control
Can create multilayerd patches that span a keyboard from one pad or multiple. Each bank can have a different patch (keys and bass or drums and synth )

Lets hope they aren't over promosing here and under delivering.

Utilizing Hercules RMX w/ Grooveboxes to expand Live Performance

2009-01-12T14:11:00.000-06:00

A couple of days ago I blogged about the recently released Hercules Steel DJ controller. What I failed to blog about was the also released and perhaps even cooler Hercules RMX. It features all of the build quality and surface buttons of the Steel, but offers a 2in/2out USB interface as well. One LivePA.org member has recently purchased one and has put it to good use in expanding his LivePA setup. Lets here how he is using it.

Quote from MagpieIndustries:

How are you utilizing the Hercules RMX into your setup?

I am experimenting with the following. I take my grooveboxes [Korg ESX-1 and EMX-1] and jam for a while until I have some nice patterns with variations going on. Next, I record some medium length sequences (anything from a few bars to a full song) straight into my computer in two layers, usually drums and bassline, and everything else. While recording, I make sure to have intros and outros and some sections that are quite minimal. Next, I take my Hercules RMX and Traktor, and play these recordings back. While playing, I add in a whole load of cue points, and I have the DJ controller set up so I can hop between these cue points, apply effects, loop different parts and do beat juggling tricks etc. I can even have both my Electribes going directly into Traktor through the RMX as it is a two-stereo in/out soundcard, and keep midi sync with Traktor. The RMX is my key from getting out of groovebox jamming mode and into longer arrangements. I'm slowly getting some DJ tricks together for transitioning between parts. It's realtime arrangement while still having that jamming feeling going on and it's showing a lot of promise.

What are some of the advantages to the Hercules RMX and what are your thoughts on it?

I LOVE my Hercules RMX. It's solid and heavy, and rugged enough to take out to milder parties without fears. It is completely usb bus powered, so no extra wall wart needed which is fantastic. If you want to go out to a cafe or friends house its just stuff it and a laptop in the bag (it comes with a bag) and go. Awesome!! It's also a four channel (two stereo pairs) soundcard, so you can cue up stuff in your headphones, and best of all it also has two stereo inputs. Audio quality is pretty good. I'm not an experienced DJ so I can't really compare the feel of the crossfader and pitches with other gear, but for me it works just as I expected and I have very few complaints.

What are some negatives regarding the Hercules RMX and its setup?
Now onto the negatives. The buttons are a tad stiff and travel quite a distance before making contact, something that detracts from the feel, but not terribly so. You might think from the photos that all the buttons light up, but this is not the case, the EQ kill switches for instance are disappointingly without illumination. The jog wheels are great for zipping back and forth in a track, or to scroll up and down in a list of tracks, but if you want to do scratching go get some vinyl. Same probably goes for beatmatching, although this is controversial. I just press Sync and have Traktor beatmatch everything, if you consider that cheating then fine, I'm too busy doing a hundred other things to worry about being a purist. It's digital djing after all, so focus on the cue and loop point juggling tricks rather than beatmatching.
One thing I miss is some way to have an effect send level. The Torq Xponent has four knobs per deck just for effects, which is much nicer, and with the jogwheels at the back (smart for digital dj priorities I think), but the xponent is very plastic and doesnt have the audio inputs, and is way more expensive. There are enough buttons on it to have several Shift modifiers set up, and I've been experimenting with mapping and remapping the EQ knobs and switches to also work as effects sends and levels, still need to find a layout that works best.

It's crashed my macbook a couple of times, but always exactly when I connect it to the usb port. A reboot solves this. Once it's successfully connected it remains working.

In terms of its competition it's kicking major ass. A possible alternative is the Vestax VCI-100 which is very popular, and apparently a bit better for scratching and beatmatching. Not a soundcard though. The Torq Xponent has the smartest controlset of them all IMHO but without audio in it's no good [for LivePA]. I've heard the faders on it are featherlight, your sleeve can accidently knock the pitch way off, and the overall feel is very plasticy. The new Vestax VCI-300 is definitely the sexiest looking of the bunch, with high resolution jog wheels and inbuilt sound, but it's over twice the price and also lacks some dedicated knobs for effects. If you are after sheer bang for the buck, then I don't think there is any competition whatsoever.

I'd like to also mention a bit about Traktor Pro, which has quite a different workflow to it than sequencing in Ableton Live, but it's clear that both programs are slowly converging on a similar solution. Ableton offers a great method for testing out how different loops and clips work together, but personally I just got lost in a mass of clips and find it difficult to sequence my way into a decent performance. Traktor leans more towards an arrangement style, don't forget that it is a dedicated tool designed purely for creating long live sets. There is no reason to stick to playing finished mp3s. It doesn't have the editing features of ableton, not by a long shot, but it's designed to work at a slightly higher level than that. It's awesome for layering, looping and blending loops and minimal tracks. I tend to have two decks with premade tracks playing, and two decks for the electribes (which I usually leave just playing right through). It's possible to record the master output as a wav and load it in a deck without much fuss. Traktor Pro also finally added midi slave functionality, and is far smoother for looping than previous versions. Finally, when you get sick of jamming and making live sets, you can just chill out and DJ some tunes together.

Overall he has a very interesting concept going on. I know more than one LivePA artist who feels like Ableton Live may be overkill for their needs or is instead too cumbersome for the quick edits needed on the spot. This is a great example on the whole though of the convergence of not only the DJ and LivePA worlds, but also how Ableton Live is not the only game in town with regards to software for LivePA.

Electro-Harmonix Releases the Voicebox: $200 Vocal Stomp Box

2009-01-09T17:59:00.004-06:00

Electro-Harmonix Voicebox

Electro-Harmonix has released a very fun looking Voice Box which contains several very fun and intersting vocal processing filters in it. The box features nine vocal processing modes including the following:

Low Harmony
High Harmony
Low+High Harmony
Multi Harmony 1
Multi Harmony 2
Multi Harmony 3
Octaves
Vocoder (256 Bands)

It doesn't have the most complex feature setup but looks extremely useable for live use. Extra Kudos for the fun demo video as well.

via CreateDigitalMusic.com

Teuf Lamativie System Live

2009-01-08T19:38:00.000-06:00

Great video of a a guy rockin' out on a could of Korg machines, an SP-404 and a KP2. Man it looks cold there!!!!

New Apple Macbook Pro 17”: The Battery is Not the Real Concern!!!!

2009-01-08T11:11:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Apple had their last Macworld address and while the releases were moderately interesting, one of the most controversial is perhaps the announcement regarding the non-removable battery for the newly announce 17” Macbook Pro. Now, I don’t imagine too many livePA artists are using 17” Pros to do their live performances because lets be honest, the things are huge. But this non-removable battery could very well be setting a design standard that we will all see trickle down into the 15” and 13” models come the next revision.

So in this new Macbook, Apple is claiming to have developed a super long batter that lasts up to eight hours and can have over 1000 charge cycles. Interesting, but I think we all honestly can admit that the real world charge life will last probably around 50%-70% of that claimed by Apple. So, 4-6 hours roughly. While the main crux of this debate and disappointment from many people comes down to the fact that business users cannot change batteries when on a long flight and so forth, I think there is a much bigger and more important issue here that most people are failing to discuss. That issue is of course the lack of accessibility to the internals of the machine itself now.

I personally have never once considered purchasing a second battery for my Macbook and I imagine the vast majority of laptop users out there, even “Pro” users are in the same boat. What I have done though is wanted to upgrade my Macbook as it grew older. Install a new harddrive with a higher RPM, add more RAM, etc. And while the new 17” Macbook comes packed with a nice 320 GB harddrive and 4GB of ram, this is certainly not the max of what it can handle. A few years down the road even, the cost of putting in a 1TB drive may only be $100, who knows. What Apple has done here though is effectively remove the personal upgrade options of the laptop from the user. No longer can someone really extend the life of their machine an extra few years by adding a bigger, faster harddrive or more RAM. You are now forced to either purchase a new machine or pay the exorbitant amount of extra cost to have the upgrade done at purchase. We all know that PC manufacturers charge an “arm and a leg” for harddrive and RAM upgrades at purchase.

The upgrade from 4GB of DDR3 Ram on the Macbook Pro 17” to 8GB of RAM costs a whopping $1,200!!!!!!! Admitingly, DDR3 ram is newer to the market and I could not find 2x4GB sticks for sale at either Newegg.com or TigerDirect.com at the time of this writing, but comparable RAM from both of those sites in 2x2GB configurations runs $200 at the most.

This is a slippery slope that Apple has begun to go down with regards to its customers. It is fairly easy to argue that the consumer market either doesn’t care or doesn’t notice these sorts of things, but I for one would like to think that the “Pro” market that all of us as musicians fall into are much more critical and demanding of our hardware.

via Orju.net

Monotouch Live Midi Controller Project

2009-01-05T21:16:00.005-06:00

.:Monotouch Live Midi Controller Project:.

Jazzmutant's Lemur touch control interface is an amazing piece of hardware that has been utilize by many an artist, including Daft Punk. The problem with the Lemur more than anything is the price. At nearly $3,000 it is quite a hefty sum for most artists to shell out.

Fear not though, the open source community has come through again with an alternative to the Lemur called the MonoTouch Live Project. The Monotouch Live Project is a software development project designed to take advantage of touch screen tablet PC's.

Quote:

"The [Monotouch] software package is a stand-alone software controller, with a six channel mixer, designed to allow control over Ableton Live with a touch screen, bringing compatibility to both Windows XP and Apple bootcamp machines. Using the touch screen interface and a normal display, the innovation is almost ready for its first release, and incorporates a crossfader, various start stop buttons, track navigation alongside effect parameters and eq in its simple yet powerful interface...The basic idea is take advantage of any computer capable of managing two monitors at same time (dual desktop, extended desktop). Absolutely all new models of PC notebooks, and new Intel Macs, can support this feature. MonoTouchLive runs on the second LCD touch screen capable monitor, or can run on tablet PC and take control of remote machine using IP over LAN software."

The software currently only supports single touch capbilities due to the limitations of current touch screen monitors, but the platform developer currently seems to be very receptive to suggestions based on the information on his website. A soon to be release version in the future will allow for customized interfaces.

The software currently appears to be in a sort of BETA with a demo available to everyone and a full FREE unlocked version to you once you write back to the author to express your thoughts and current setup with the software.

via Orju.net

DSF Family Live 02/22/08: 2 Korg ESX-1's and 1 Korg EMX-1

2009-01-03T19:33:00.002-06:00

I love these basement low light style videos. The videos is made even better by the fact that the guy performing on it does not look like a LivePA type of guy at all.

Elysium Generative Midi Sequencer by LucidMac Software

2008-12-31T21:03:00.004-06:00

Elysium by LucidMac Software

There are not many of us out there who are still looking for strictly a midi generator out of our music software, but there are some in the sea still. If you are looking for something a little bit more interesting from your midi sequencer then you may want to consider Elysium by LucidMac Software. Elysium is a generative midi sequencer that utilizes a unique honey comb type grid to build upon its sequences. It is strictly midi, but the creator states that you can render all the sequences out to another workstation such as Ableton Live or elsewhere.

Quote:

"Elysium is generative which relates to the way the music is created by building up a “system” composed of layers, cells, tokens, and playheads that combined, when “played”, to produce a sequence of notes."

It is available as a free download, but is Mac OS X 10.5+ only. Give it a download and let us know what you think.

via Orju.net

NIN Rehearsal with Lemur, Keyboards, Modulars, Macbooks

2008-12-19T10:36:00.001-06:00

NIN: Echoplex - Live at Rehearsals, July 2008 from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

Ok, so this isn’t really a LivePA video, but NIN is one of the most interesting acts performing live. They always do something creative with their gear and this rehearsal video shows some drool worthy stuff on stage that they are using. It looks like they may have upgraded their Frankenstein Kaoss Pads to the new Lemur interfaces. For me, they look super sick!!!!

via CreateDigitalMusic.com

Hercules DJ Control Steel Released on Dec 22nd

2008-12-17T10:08:00.001-06:00

Hercules DJ Control Steel

It has been quite a while since I last saw a midi/DJ control surface that has interested me. M-Audio’s Torq Xponent from last year was a disappointment to many and Vestex seemed to be the only one with a solid control surface. Hercules however has come out with a rather interesting control surface that features 13 rotary switches, six faders, and 46 push buttons. Overall very nice specs for an extremely affordable price. It comes in at only $299.

Deadact.com: Embarassing Electronic Artists Who Fake It

2008-11-25T11:40:00.001-06:00

http://www.deadact.com/

I think I may have just found our Doppelganger site. DeadAct is an online blog geared solely at showcasing electronic LivePA acts who blatantly fake their liveset. Love the idea, name and concept

“DeadAct.com is an online archive of videos found in the public domain that show electronic performers blatantly faking their "live set". To qualify as a Dead Act, the performer must have pre set out their performance in such a way that if they were to drop dead, the set would keep playing on as normal. Bonus points for fake knob tweaking, failed attempts to play real instruments , and good orgasm faces. ....Do they think we're stupid?”

TouchOSC w/ Novation Remote

2008-11-24T20:10:00.002-06:00

Making the rounds this afternoon is the amazing implementation of TouchOSC on an iPhone paired up with a Novation Remote SL. TouchOSC takes the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol and puts it into a very slick software application for the iPhone or iPod touch. The result is a Lemur type interface for a fraction of the price. You can download it off the iTunes store now for $3.99.

TouchOSC Details

JayB Productions: Trance Live Studio Performance

2008-11-18T21:16:00.002-06:00

Normally as of late I have been a little sick and tired of the studio live performance videos. They are all over Youtube and while they are cool, I have gotten bored of them. Hence they have not really showed up on the blog much (let me know if you would like to see otherwise). This video above however was just way too good to pass up posting however, because of the fact this guy is playing everything live. Good keyboard chops will get me every time.

via Matrixsynth

Out of Sequence - Live Techno Music Event in NYC

2008-11-07T16:36:00.004-06:00

Hosts:
Tom Phonic, Dj Slouch & A-ux

Time and Date: Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 10:00pm - 2:30am
Location: Karma Lounge (Basement)
Address: 51 1st Ave (Between 3rd and 4th Street), New York, NY 10003
Entrance: No Cover - Strictly 21+

Venue Phone:2126773160
Email: tomphonic@gmail.com

Description:
In the words of a friend -
Out of Sequence, 5 borough known spot for the real underground sounds of Live electronic/hiphop dance music. The line-up this time around shows Out of Sequence keeps it with a bump, a grind, a drink, a dance, and a damn amount of fun.

This is a real deal underground in the basement joint under the chill spot Karma Lounge with it's mad chill atmosphere with the Hookahs up top and the bump of the 808 kicks, and choppy grinding samples underneath.

Come enjoy the ill LIVE musicians, LIVE VJ's, LIVE sexy males and females having their drinks and fun! Nov. 13th, Karma Lounge, 9:30 doors till the night becomes day.

Live Techno:
Krts – www.myspace.com/krts
DJ Slouch – www.myspace.com/ianbradley
A-ux - www.myspace.com/auxmusic
D. Gookin - www.myspace.com/dgookin

Late Night DJ:
DJ Udachi - www.myspace.com/udachi

Live Visuals:
Bryan Teoh - www.bryanteoh.com
Peter Kirn - www.createdigitalmusic.com

8-Bit Guerilla

2008-11-07T14:30:00.003-06:00

What we see here is 8-bit performer Waxin' Wary from Eugene, Oregon, using Milkytracker to do a live remix of an original tune by Portland, OR's 486 Kid on a handheld PC. To the side one can spot an amp with a deep-cycle battery strapped on the back, which is charged via solar panel before being taken out for a walk in the park.

Beardyman and a pair of KP3s

2008-11-03T17:23:00.002-06:00

Here we see champion British beatboxer Beardyman at work demonstrating the live sampling and effects capabilities of the Korg Kaoss Pad 3, paired with a looping pedal. Truly hilarious and amazing.

Bloom for the iPhone and iPod Touch

2008-10-17T13:29:00.007-06:00

Brian Eno, who has been exploring the outer fringe of electronic music since the 1970's, has again fused music and technological innovation in the creation of Bloom, a generative ambient music application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The user sits mesmerized, poking the screen, which responds both visually and musically, effectively turning the device into an interactive audiovisual ambient music generator. Bloom doesn't come off merely as a piece of software, but more like a combination of software and a music album which never sounds the same twice. While using generative and fractal music in regular electronica recordings is nothing new (Aphex Twin has done this to great effect), crossing it with a consumer device like the iPhone is definately a step in a new direction. I say that a user-editable version of this program would turn a lot of heads, and would lead to some more very interesting art and music. As it is, Bloom can be had via Apple's iTunes store for a paltry $4.00us.

Soundcloud.com: Twitter for Musicians?

2008-10-10T20:51:00.007-06:00

.:Soundcloud.com:.

So tonight at 6:00 PM Eastern Soundcloud.com officially launched to the public. I jumped at the chance and signed up to it right away to give it a quick run down and find out what it is all about. After exploring the site for an hour or so I think the simplest explanation of what it is, is Twitter for music sharing. The core of the site exists around musicians being able to upload their music (of any size and length) and then share it with followers. It has a similar followers system to what Twitter uses and you can subscribe to artists on the site.

Sounds pretty basic right? Well it is, but there are a whole slew of other cool features on the site that make it really cool. For example, one such featured is what they called a timed comment. While you are listening to a track an user and insert a comment on the timeline of the track right where they want. They can for example say "That was a great buildup" and insert it right at the point of the track where it occurred.

Also on the site there appears to be some excellent sharing features to embed your music externally. But, one of the coolest features is the dropbox feature. Soundcloud provides you a link to to allow anyone to drop music off for your to listen to. Feel free to drop music at the link below

Dynamic Interplay's Dropbox

So, overall this site is very cool and has a huge potential to allow for musicians to interact with each other. If anyone else out there is using the site or signs up, send me a request on the site and we can get to sharing some music. My username is DInterplay. Let me also point out that there are no file size limits to the music you upload!!!!

VST Oversampling: Reduce the Aliasing on your VST's?

2008-10-09T20:37:00.001-06:00

VST Oversampling

The oversampler "hosts" another VST plugin, and oversamples it by 2. Because of this, aliasing has twice the frequency range to unfold, which means that the aliasing that enters back into the audible domain is much less, and upon downsampling, the upper range (containing only aliasing) is discarded. This results in audibly reduced aliasing.

Interesting concept, but who knows if it even works. Question is, what is the impact it has upon your CPU as well. The trade of quality vs. CPU might be interesting. Any Windows users out there brave enough to tray this out and let us know how it works?

Show Your Vocoder Some Love

2008-10-05T21:11:00.000-06:00

See more T-Pain videos at Funny or Die

Here is a quick lesson to you. Don't mess with your Vocoder, it might just turn on you. You know, now that I think about it I would love to see that battle play out. Daft Punk vs. their Vocoder. FIGHT!!!!

Dave Smith Releases the Mopho Desktop Synthesizer

2008-10-03T09:59:00.000-06:00

DaveSmithInstruments.com

Who doesn't love Dave Smith and analog gear? Unfortunately for most of us the price is just too much for most of us to bear and even if we could afford the equipment the thought of exposing that nice Prophet eight to the possibility of a spilled beer is enough to make any LivePA artist cringe.

Dave Smith Instruments has announced a new monophonic synth module called the Mpho.

Mopho is a compact and affordable—but powerful—monophonic analog synthesizer. The voice architecture is identical to a single voice of the Prophet '08, but with a couple of unique twists to distinguish it from its award-winning sibling. We have added two sub-octave generators—one per oscillator—for additional girth and crushing basses. It also has an audio input that lets you process external audio and mix Mopho's own audio output back in pre-filter for feedback effects that can range from subtle distortion to extreme skronk. The Push It button is a manual trigger that lets you play a specific note or latch notes and sequences on. It can also step through a sequence to play short melodic lines without a keyboard. Of course, Mopho can also be used with a MIDI controller or external sequencer.
Mopho is fully programmable and all the parameters can be tweaked from the front panel. The four Assignable Parameters controls are assignable per program for optimum performance control. A free editor is available for Mac OS and Windows to facilitate programming. (And, if you already have a Prophet '08, most of Mopho's parameters can be controlled from the Prophet's front panel via MIDI!)

Ohh, did I mention it is only $399? Yeah, real analog, real Dave Smith. $399. This looks like a very nice compliment to the original evolver.

via LivePA.org

Roland VP-550: The Best Tool No One Knows About?

2008-10-02T20:30:00.002-06:00

While browsing on some of the shopping sites this evening I stumbled across this instrument called the Roland VP-550. Never seeing it before I had to look into more about what it was. I found out it is a dedicated harmonizer/vocoder vocal synth.

In fact it is perhaps one of the best sounding vocal harmonizers I have ever heard, creating fairly realistic sounding choruses

Jordan Rudess has some excellent Youtube Videos that showcase some of the versatility of the VP-550. Quite frankly I am blown away and surprised no one else is really talking about this interesting instrument.

Jazzmutant Lemur Releases v2.0 Firmware on October 3rd

2008-10-01T09:55:00.001-06:00

Jazzmutant Lemur Releases v2.0 Firmware on October 3rd

Everyone's favorite touch screen interface that no one can afford has just released updated firmware. The full list is below. New features, enhanced junk. Any Lemur users out there? I have always loved this thing, but it seems like it is just one step away from being the ideal touch screen interface.

Breakpoint object – Offers total control of synthesizer or sampler envelopes with a multi-segment envelope editor to allow you to really get inside a sound, live on stage!
Gesture object – This emulates a trackpad control with advanced gesture recognition and has three novel ways to interact with your sound.
Alias – Now you can easily produce a copy or alias of a controller object that sends exactly the same information to your computer.
Tabbed Container – Containers are virtual panels that contain a selection of controls.
Mouse and keyboard control – Now Lemur's objects can be used to remotely control the mouse cursor or computer keyboard.
Workflow improvements – Setting up your custom performance interface is a breeze with the improved and new-look Jazzeditor.
Extended scripting abilities – You can now modify the physical behavior, appearance or size of an object in real time.

via LivePA.org

My New Addiction: Slagsmålsklubben

2008-09-22T18:25:00.002-06:00

Over at the livePA.org boards there was a topic posted about Slagsmålsklubben, a Swedish electronic sixtuplet which is blowing my mind as of late. They have quite a number of videos posted over on Youtube much like this one above. Pretty much, I cannot get them out of my head and I just had to share it with everyone.

Stanton DaScratch Touch Sensitive DJ Pad

2008-09-22T08:18:00.001-06:00

Looks like Stanton is offering up a new, interesting DJ controller to the mix. Above is the new Stanton SCS.3D Touch Pad. There is definitely some interesting design elements here with the USB cord being touched underneath the device. Admittingly it does look a little cheap though.

Even after watching the video though I am slightly confused as to what this device is. Is it supposed to be replacing the turntables or the mixer? Maybe I am just stuck in my old ways in thinking that a mixer style interface is even needed for software. All in all though this looks like an interesting approach to software DJ mixing, but I am curious if the touch interface (all the fad these days) is really any more intuitive or useful than traditional knobs and sliders.

Price comes in at an affordable $300 and features "plug and play" capability for all of the major DJ software out there, including Ableton Live.

via Gizmodo.com

Jam The Tubes: Live Online Liveset

2008-09-20T18:22:00.003-06:00

http://jamthetubes.blogspot.com/

Sort of last minute, but I recieved word that tree members from the LivePA.org community are performing right now via Ustream for a live event on the net.

This is an event they plan to host again in the future so keep and eye for it, and if you are interested in performing yourself then head on over to the website to get more information.

via LivePA.org

Roland MC-808: Daft Punk Jam (Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger)

2008-09-10T20:39:00.002-06:00

Found this nice video of a guy jamming on his MC-808 doing a liveish remix to Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". I gotta say it is pretty good and shows off the MC-808 a little bit. I feel sort of remiss about the MC-808 because I think it has gotten sort of a bad rap for the LivePA crowd. It certainly has its limitations as a full on workstation, but as a straight up sampler I think it has some really great features and playability.

11 Free VST Synthesizers That Sound Great!!!

2008-09-07T17:57:00.001-06:00

Looking for some great free VST synths to produce with? Then check these ones out. They are garunteed to get you some new sounds for your set.

Audiotuts.com: 11 Free VST Synthesizers That Sound Great!!!

Taking the Electribe ES-1 further

2008-09-07T16:20:00.001-06:00

From changing the colour of the LEDs lighting the buttons to adding switches in order to make old functions new again, owners of the original Korg Electribes seem to be taking matters into their own hands. Though the internal components are fare more tightly integrated than in the great circuit bending and user-modded machines of the past, such as the SK-1 and the famous Roland x0x line, today's ever more tech-savvy end users are nonetheless finding ways to creatively modify these increasingly cheap little boxes. Noticing this, I've decided to consolidate a few of the more interesting and successful user mods I've seen floating around the net, as well as inluding links to some useful tools and such for the models I talk about.

Of course, modifying any of these while they are still new and under warranty will void said warranty, but you already knew that, right?

The above video shows what happens when someone decides that Korg's sense of design just isn't up to snuff with their own refined sense of aesthetics. Blue LEDs and a sweet paint job on the case are obviously the answer! It might not change the way the instrument sounds, but it's a start.

Another useful and increasingly popular modification is the addition of a battery pack, detailed in a nice PDF file and AVI video in the file section of the Electribe Yahoo group, where you can find all sorts of other useful utilities as well, such as the blank pattern/sample template in Zip format, and the pitch knob map. (You'll have to sign in with a Yahoo ID to see.) For those wanting to dive in a little further, there is also a Max/MSP editor for the ES-1 as well.

LFO-One & Oliver Porath Rock Two Spectralis'

2008-08-30T18:54:00.002-06:00

The Radkial Technology Spectralis was thought by many to be the holy grail of groove gear back when it was first announced a few years back. Unfortunately it has not totally lived up to its promise with some rather low key short comings and OS bugs since its release. The video above by LFO-One & Oliver Porath show us I think the total possibility of the Spectralis and why it still deserves to be on all of our "most wanted" lists.

via Matrixsynth

Chemical Brothers Live Setup

2008-08-28T20:21:00.000-06:00

Everyone has heard the debates about whether or not the Chemical Brothers fake it right? Well, regardless of which side of the debate you fall onto, you have to admit, they have a pretty sweet set of gear that at least sits up on stage.

Anyone care to spot out all that gear?

via MusicThing

Aurora Open Source Control Surface Now Shipping

2008-08-27T18:30:00.001-06:00

The open source DIY midi/DJ controlled called Aurora is now shipping in two assemble yourself kits. As I mentioned in our previous post this is an open source controlled that not only looks super functional, but looks good while doing it.

Kits come in two versions. The quick assemble kit that requires no soldering on your part runs for $340 US (Not bad IMO) and the complete soldering option runs $270.

You can purchase it over at their website AuroraMixer.com

via CreateDigitalMusic

Arduinome: Arduino Based Monome Clone

2008-08-21T20:11:00.002-06:00

Arduinome Nerdscroll Demonstration from BricK Table on Vimeo.

Wow, it has been a few weeks since the last post hasn't it. Well hopefully I will get things kicked back into gear here with some new posts.

Everyone loves the Monome right? The 64x64 grid based wonder controller that can be used on everything from sequencing to drum triggers. Will it looks like there is a great DIY project out there to clone the Monome appropriately called the Arduinome. One of the prime advantages of this new DIY approach is that it is built upon the Arduino patch board, which allows the device to have an almost unlimited expandability approach. That is not to mention that it is dirt cheap as well.

Full details on the project can be found over at their WordPress blog: Bricktable

via CreateDigitalMusic.com

Aurora: Open Source/DIY Midi Controller

2008-07-10T09:25:00.001-06:00

aurora Open Source DJ Mixer\MIDI Hardware w/ Ableton Live from mcubed on Vimeo

AuroraMixer.com

Now here is something that is hot. The Auroroa Mixer is an open source build it yourself DJ mixer/midi controller that is absolutely beautiful. The device is developed by three individuals who each had a hand in designing the firmware, design and electronics.

Quote:

Aurora is a usb powered multichannel mixer in a typical dj form factor. the device features two linear channel faders, a single a/b crossfader and eight backlit buttons. twenty four backlit knobs allow you to control effects. aurora, unlike most midi controllers, enhances performances with controllable ambient lighting. aurora easily integrates with your favorite midi compatible software.

I hope all of your Ableton live guys out there are getting ready for this thing because it could really change everything we are doing for control surfaces. It has the M-audio design flair and I would not be surprised if we see a manufacturer pick this thing up. I also can't wait until the DIY'ers get a hold of this and start making hacks and all sorts of tweaks. I am looking for the full 64 knob version coming soon.

via Gizmodo.com

8 Free, Cross-Platform Apps for Musicians

2008-06-29T18:13:00.002-06:00

Looking for some new and interesting software to whet your appetite? While these software programs are not necessarily Live oriented they are off the beaten path and could help you with a spur of inspiration.

Traverso

Traverso is a lightweight but powerful DAW that works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Professionals who’ve tried this software comment that despite some strange interface decisions (such as having to hold shift and click to move the playhead), it’s a viable option for those looking for a free alternative.

Ardour

Ardour runs on Mac OS X and Linux making it cross-platform only to an extent, but this app, despite not running on the most ubiquitous system of them all, has grown in popularity and has quite a vocal and happy user base.

Audacity

Every studio, home or professional, needs a good dedicated audio editor to run alongside the DAW. Audacity fills this role perfectly. You could even make a demo of a full song using Audacity, with a bit of work, though I wouldn’t recommend it! I actually tried to do this four or five years ago - we got something usable out of it, but let’s just say it wasn’t one of those projects where you use a take or two from the demo.

Hydrogen

While Hydrogen bills itself as an advanced drum sequencer for GNU/Linux, it’s also available on Windows and Mac OS X. If you’ve got the samples, there’s nothing to stop you from using Hydrogen as a sequencer, but it really shines when you’re putting together programmed drum tracks.

MidiSwing

MidiSwing is a very lightweight, minimalist MIDI sequencer. There’s not a whole lot of fiddling to do with MidiSwing because of its simplicity, which means the geek in you will be disappointed but you’ll be able to get to work quicker, and get more done. Perhaps this is the kind of interface you need to compose your tune before importing it into a more complicated sequencer—if you’re the type who fiddles with synthesizers for a few hours before writing a single note, this might solve your productivity problems.

Frinika

While Frinika’s website could be a little friendlier, this sequencer also runs on Java, so it’s totally cross-platform. Despite the fact that it’s only reached version 0.5, it shows a lot of promise and it seems to be more advanced than MidiSwing, so it’s definitely worth checking out and having a play with.

Finale NotePad

As much as we all hate notation, sometimes it’s a necessary evil. Perhaps you’re licensing a song to a publisher who needs a lead sheet, and you don’t have the software to handle the job.

While Finale’s NotePad isn’t open source like most of the applications listed here, it is both free and cross-platform, with versions available for Windows and Mac OS X.

MuseScore

Since Finale NotePad doesn’t cover Linux users, we can’t leave without providing an option that does. MuseScore is available for both Linux and Windows.

MuseScore handles MIDI, features WYSIWIG notation editing, and a built-in sequencer and synthesizer so you can check that your notation sounds correct (definitely a plus if notation is not somewhere you usually go).

via Blog.AudioJungle.net

Spencer Keeton Cunningham Live 6.8.08 @ el rincon

2008-06-28T21:32:00.000-06:00

Spencer Keeton Cunningham live @ el rincon, SF 6.8.08 from Spencer Keeton Cunningham on Vimeo.

via Matrixsynth.blogspot.com

Upgrade Your Old Sampler with SCSI to Compact Flash

2008-06-25T08:29:00.001-06:00

Upgrade your Old Sampler with SCSI to Compact Flash

Do you have an old sampler that is beginning to collect a little dust because it doesn't have the sample memory that you need these days? Well for about $100 you can pick up the MCDisk-2 media card drive. It allows you to replace your old SCSI memory with Compact Flash cards to boost your memory up to 16GB. The unit comes as an external unit, but can be mounted inside many of the samplers listed.

Korg Triton Classic, Triton Studio, Triton LE, Triton Rack, Triton Pro

Akai MPC60, MPC60 II, MPC2000, MPC2000XL, MPC3000 (requires the Vailixi 3.50 OS), S1000, S1100, S2000, S2800, S3000, CD3000, S3200, S3200XL, MPC4000, S5000, S6000, Z4/Z8

Yamaha Motif 6, Motif 7, Motif 8, RS7000, PSR9000, EX5, EX7

Ensoniq EPS, EPS 16+, ASR-10, ASR-88

EMU Emax SE/HD, ESI-32, ESI-2000, ESI-4000, E4k, E5000, E6400, E64, EIII, EIIIxp, EIV, E4XT Ultra, E-Synth

Roland XV-5080, S760, S770

Kurzweil K2000, K2000VP, K2vx, K2vxS, K2000R, K2000RS, K2500X, K2500XS, K2500S, K2500R, K2500RS, K2600X, K2600XS, K2600S, K2600R, K2600RS, K2661

I personally love the concept, but I am curious as to how far your mileage will go. From my understanding many of these old hardware samplers have memory limitations built into their firmware.

via SonicState.com

Create Your Own Daft Punk EL Suit

2008-06-23T07:10:00.001-06:00

How to Create Your Own Daft Punk EL Suit

You love Daft Punk's live shows, right? Who doesn't with their amazing visuals, giant pyramids and outstanding costumes. While it may cost you $65,000 to buy your own Daft Punk style helmet you can create your own EL suit for considerably less. Instructables.com has a great tutorial up for those DIY'ers who have the time and patience to build the suit. even better is the fact that this little DIY tutorial is lead by the very same person who created the original suits for Daft Punk. How about that?

via Engadget.com

OpenStomp: Open Source Guitar Pedal?

2008-06-20T08:53:00.001-06:00

OpenStomp: Open Source Guitar Pedal

Now here is an interesting concept that I thought we would have seen sooner. Take some standard off the shelf hardware, add some open source hardware, throw in a custom interface and you have yourself a great musical instrument at a fraction of the price of proprietary hardware. The Open Stomp is an open source stomp pedal that I presume basically takes software effects and puts them in a box. It uses the Coyote-1 sound effects processor and includes a Windows-based workbench for making sounds. No more details on the hardware specs, but it does have 1MB of storage (1MB? That is all?).

Lets see how this turns out.

via Crunchgear.com

Korg Nano Control Surfaces

2008-06-17T12:54:00.001-06:00

Korg Nano Control Surfaces (Japanese Website)

Quite a lot of buzz going on around the net as of late regarding Korg's latest announcement of the nanoKEY, nanoCONTROL and the nanoPAD. These are three new mini control surfaces to be used with laptops. Here are specs on the three little devices

nanoKEY: 25 keys, transmitting either as MIDI notes or (via a separate mode) Control Change (CC) messages. Octave shift (natch). Pitch, modulation. And it’s supposed to be velocity-sensitive, too, although we’ll have to get our hands on one to see how sensitive it is.
nanoPAD: 12 pads, supposedly inheriting the terrific sensitivity and feel of the padKONTROL. Chord Trigger. Control Change mode (as with nanoKEY). There’s even an X/Y touch pad with roll and flam mode, favorite features of the padKONTROL.
nanoKONTROL: 9 faders, 9 knobs, 18 switches, transport controls. (No, really.) MIDI notes, 168 CC messages. There are even attack and decay times for the switches, allowing them to work as faders, filter controls, effects settings, and the like – something I’d love to see on other (full-sized) controllers.

The concept seems cool enough. The question I guess really comes down to the build quality and capability of the actual devices. From the pictures they look rather cheap, especially the keyboard. Also while the concept is great they are still divided up into three separate devices. With the size that small why not combine them all into one control surface? Or even better allow users to somehow "click" them together like Legos into a quasi modular setup. You can at least only use one USB port that way. Certainly users would want everything on these and not have to pick and choose.

So would anyone out there find these useful or are they just too cheap? Personally an M-Audio Oxygen 8 seems perfect adequate to me for mobile rig stuff, especially if you get the one with the built in audio interface.

Lukatoyboy Live At De Peper In Amsterdam

2008-06-08T14:17:00.000-06:00

.:Lukatoyboy Live At De Peper In Amsterdam:.\

This week we break up the ambient progression that we have been having with a turn in direction for an 8-bit style gameboy and nanoloop set. This one is performed by LukatoyBoy from Amsterdam. You can find more of his music over at Myspace.com/lktyby

ArtistData.com - Organize your online networks

2008-06-05T06:40:00.001-06:00

.:ArtistData.com:.

Through my news feeds today I happened to come across a new website which seems very topical to the recent posts I have upped on the blog regarding online social communities. We all know that there are plenty of social websites out there and getting in on them can be extremely beneficial to one as an artist. ArtistData.com is a website which will synchronize your information between all of these different social website such as Myspace, Virb. Purevolume and more. The idea is very novel and could be extremely time saving if it picks up some more. The website is currently in a beta form and appears to only really sync your performance date information, but I am hoping that it continues to grow and allows one to eventually sync all sorts of information like your artist Bio, blog/news and so forth.

If you are a heavy user of social networking sites, give this one a look as it may help you save quite a bit of time.

Drat 002 Live Ambient Set at Green Air

2008-06-01T14:13:00.000-06:00

.:Drat 002 Live Ambient Set at Green Air:.

This week we have another live ambient set courtesy of Archive.org. The ambient guys really now how to post their stuff online and here we have Drat 002 with another very ethereal set to put you in a calming mood. This one was performed live on green air May

DJ Hoax and Friends: Live at Psystream Radio

2008-05-31T14:08:00.000-06:00

.:DJ Hoax and Friends: Live at Psystream Radio:.

This week's liveset comes from DJ Hoax from Psystream radio.

Virus TI Atomizer Effect

2008-05-30T19:03:00.003-06:00

So I'm willing to bet that most of you have seen the TI's Atomizer effect in the videos posted from NAMM and other trade shows. Well the OS was released to the public as a beta version about two weeks ago (May 12) and while you can't yet process your audio with the TI in a contained computer environment, you can run audio from an external source through the TI for processing. The results so far are pretty amazing, and tonight I recorded a sample live set while using the Atomizer effect. I hope you'll check it out and enjoy it! It's in podcast form FYI, so in order to hear it you'll need to subscribe to the feed.

Click here

Mikronesia Live at Ambient Ping (April 25, 2006)

2008-05-25T14:02:00.000-06:00

Mikronesia Live at Ambient Ping (April 25, 2006)

This week's liveset is improvised ambient music by Mikronesia at the Ambient Ping series in Toronto, Canada April 25 2006. Sit back close your eyes and take this one in.

More information can be found at his/her website at: Mikronesia.com

Attigo TT: Touchscreen Turntable Prototype

2008-05-23T10:44:00.001-06:00

Final Product // ATTIGO TT from Scott Hobbs on Vimeo.

Now here is something super sweet and something I actually am surprised we have not seen sooner. The Attigo is a touchscreen turntable, basically two touch screens with a large streaming audio interface that you can drag and manipulate in real-time. Not unlike the experimental Protein DS Scratch software.

The device is a prototype right now but Scott Hobbs, the creator is looking to bring it to the mass market.

via Crunchgear.com

Tijuana Sound Machine Live

2008-05-21T20:50:00.000-06:00

Great video of the group Tijuana Sound Machine showcasing some real talent and a variety of instruments in a live setting.

via Matrixsynth

Leveraging Your Online Presence

2008-05-21T15:32:00.001-06:00

Well, I really have been sort of on this online presence and community thing as of late. It is probably due to the fact that I really don't have the time to invest in performing live all that often anymore and I am looking for different avenues to present my music. Online communities (artist or otherwise), music distribution sites and so forth have at the moment become something I have wanted to focus a little bit more attention on. It is a topic that is often talked about briefly but never really discussed deeply. There are so many numerous websites out there that the whole process can be overwhelming. I myself for instance previously went with the approach of getting my music onto as many of these websites as possible to get to as many ears as possible. I have no idea of this approach really worked or not but in the end I inevitably found that I only had the time to concentrate on a couple of websites. For me those ended up being Soundclick.com and to some extent Myspace. I as everyone else jumped onto the Myspace bandwagon when the rush was happening and had quite a bit of traffic on the page....for a while. Now with most all of these websites I have seen traffic dip significantly over the past year. In part due to me not keeping up with the site and in part due to the just lower traffic I think. In that time since I have moved onto numerous other social sites to try to promote myself. Virb, Last.FM and many others that I honestly can't even remember.

It makes you sort of wonder though how is the best way to approach this whole online process. On the one hand you want to get in on the ground floor to any site while it is starting. I personally have the strong opinion that in some of the bigger sites it is way too easy to get lost in the crowd. If one joined Myspace today would they even get hits without having some sort of method to channel people to the site? It certainly is too big for the sort of stumbling around method that it had a couple of years ago. On the other site of the fence you are in the same boat of perhaps diluting your time and resources too thinly. Who is to say how much of a user base or traffic these pages are ultimately going to get. Virb is an excellent example of this. The site is great, the flexibility is awesome and there are a few artists on there who are getting hits. Ultimately though I find by browsing through their pages that almost everyone there who is not on the front page has less than 100 song listens and very few friends. It just doesn't have the critical mass to make it appealing in some sense. Do you hang on and hope it pops or let it go?

As I mentioned before I have always taken the shotgun approach in the past to these pages, but perhaps a more focused approach to alternative promotion sites is a better way to approach the entire thing. Lets face it. Myspace for example has a ton of problems with it. When all is said and done it is a recognizable brand like Youtube. Putting that link on your business card or flyer is a pretty much sure way to get some hits and people are familiar with it.

Ultimately though I am curious as to what other live musicians are doing. Are there any sites that are really hitting your interest right now? Is Myspace still your staple despite its recent slow down in growth? Did you take the shotgun approach much as I have or are you focusing your listeners to a couple of sites?

I would love to hear from what people have found successful.

The Development of Chuck

2008-05-20T20:47:00.002-06:00

The above video is a nice introduction inside the development of Chuck, the live performance programming language being developed by the brain heads over at Princeton. Well worth the watch.

You can find out some more information about Chuck on some of our previous posts.

Create Digital Music:Hands on with Audio Cubes

2008-05-20T20:45:00.001-06:00

.:Audio Cubes Hands On:.

We have discussed the audiocube on this website before and it is an interesting alternative to controlling software and visuals live. CreateDigitalMusic has posted up a very in depth hands on review of the device that shows some great movies. If you were ever curious about these little cubes this is a great place to start to read more on them.

Justice Live Video

2008-05-11T18:48:00.002-06:00

Justice LIVE - D.A.N.C.E / DVNO medley
by justice

Here is a great live video of the group Justice, which I have never heard of. But if you are looking for a little bit of gear porn wait till about two minutes into the video and you will get a nice little look. I won't spoil it for ya.

via Matrixsynth.blogspot.com

Electronic Music Production Communities

2008-05-06T19:00:00.002-06:00

This is just a post out to the reader base. Does anyone have any good recommendations for some electronic music communities? As I have mentioned previous on the blog here I am in a sort of funk phase of production at the moment and that may partly be due to the fact that my participation level with other artists online and offline has really fallen off in the past couple of years. This has been doubled by the fact that the two most popular forums that I visited (Samplecity.net and Serious-Sounds.net) are either now gone or not really active anymore.

Now I have made my rounds to the usual suspects: Future-Producers, IDMForums, EM411, Garageband, Sectionz. I am just not getting all that much of a good vibe from any of them. They either come off as too large and too full of wankers spamming their links and never posting real discussions, or as overly pretentious focusing too much on one particular style of music or concept of production. Sectionz for example seems full of FL Studio users who have the same animated attitude towards software as MS and Apple fanboys do to their computer.

So I am sort of on the hunt to look for a good artist community to bounce ideas off of, see what is happening in the latest circles and so forth. There is of course the LivePA.org forums and I am not forgetting those, but I think I am looking for a general user community to just listen to other's music on and may be avoid the pretentiousness, wankery, posturing and so forth that I see on so many other sites.

May be on a side note if no one has any suggestions what sort of stuff would you like to see in a music community for fellow artists?

Kraftwerk: The Best & Worst LivePA I have seen

2008-04-29T17:09:00.001-06:00

On April 21st I had the opportunity to see Kraftwerk, the legendary German electronic group that has pioneered so much for electronic music. They are doing a small US tour and just happened to be in Milwaukee. I figured when is the next time I am going to see these guys, they might retire at anytime. So I paid my $30 ($50 after Ticketmaster fees) and made the drive up from Chicago.

Now as my post title sort of indicates, this show was great, but also at the same time horrible. We have discussed on this blog and over there many avenues the issues surrounding LivePA. One of the most common issues that always come up in discussions is the laptop debate. Along with that is the artist who just sits there staring at their laptop through and entire show. That is exactly what Kraftwerk did. Stared at their laptops, all four of them and didn’t move. Now I know this is sort of their schtick, and in many respects many of the stereotypes of electronic music and musicians have been formed based off of Kraftwerk, but seeing them really do this in person is a rather unnerving experience. You can also see the crowd not knowing exactly what they should be doing during the music because of the stiffness of the artists on stage. At only a few points throughout the entire show did I see anyone really get dancing.

Overall though I don’t want to totally rag on the show. The music was very tight and well done. The visuals were spot on and I can only speculate that one of the four on stage was controlling the visuals. This tightness in their set however leads me to believe that they have a very choreographed performance, with little room for improvisation. Are they checking their email on state? I can’t tell. Heck, I can barely tell that the performers are still alive.
 When all said and done though the show was an ejoyable with a very tight set (maybe too tight) and great visuals. Worth the effort for the rare opportunity to see them in the U.S.

Monosylabik Liveset 01/03/08

2008-04-28T19:14:00.001-06:00

.:Monosylabik Liveset 01/03/08:.

Alright, I am back after a nice spring break and with my return I am bring a new liveset for everyone to check out. It has been a little while since we have featured a liveset for the podcast here and it is time to get things running again. This week's liveset comes from Monosylabik and is a short but sweet little acid set from this past January.

For more information on Monosylabik check out his website over at: msbkonline.com

Hifana: Fresh Push Breakin'

2008-04-28T09:09:00.000-06:00

The incomparable breakbeat duo Hifana, proving that livePA-style performance isn't just for nerdy obscure basement producers like myself.

Over the past few years the waves they have created have spread beyond the borders of their native Japan, rippling across the world and gaining strength as they go. Their genre-bending mix of live percussion, crisp sampler-driven breakbeats, and turntablism incorporate everything from robot voices to traditional Japanese music, creating a blend that is exotic while still danceworthy, approachable and groovy enough for a casual listener while clever and complex enough for more discerning audiences. While the video is a professionally produced music video rather than a recording of a live performance, the reason I posted it here is to show that the art of livePA is slowly but surely working its way into the public mindset and gaining mass appeal. Bonus points go to anyone who can tell me what the electronic hand drum instrument is called.