Ableton Live & Novation Launchpad Performance

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

Beardyman Live in the Underbelly: 1 Hour Set

Nice 1 Hour Beardyman set here on Youtube.

NAMM 2010: Korg Kaossilator Pro

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

.: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

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

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

Quick Little liveset studio practice on just a Monomachine and Machinedrum

Ableton Live Controlled with Xbox 360 Controller

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

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

Arduino Didgeridoo

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

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

Transductor Live: AO VIVO 5-23-09

APC Unboxing and First Impressions

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

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

D-Bass Acid House Liveset

12sos + Lenin LivePA

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?

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

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

 

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.