The Art Of The Generative

Not content with having pioneered the genre of ambient music, Eno has since delved deep into the concepts of generative music – that is, music which does not have a traditional structure and arrangement, but which is actually generated on the fly by an algorithm that follows a set of instructions.

The artist in this case is responsible for providing certain seed parameters, the starting point from which the entire musical composition is then derived. However, as illustrated in the video below featuring Eno and Will Wright (creator of the Sims series of computer games), even a very simple set of rules can lead to surprisingly complex output results…

First Port Of Call For Pro Tools – Digidesign TV

The Digidesign site has quite a few Pro Tools tutorial videos, and these are an excellent introduction to all flavours of the DAW (HD, LE or M-Powered). From the addition of elastic audio in version 7.4 to dedicated videos on the new plug-ins of version 8 (Boom, Vacuum et al.), this is certainly recommended viewing for those just starting out with Pro Tools.

You’ll need to create a user account on the site in order to view the tutorials, but if you already have a copy of Pro Tools then you should have this setup already. You can visit the Digidesign TV page here.

Brent Heber’s Pro Tools Guides

Brent Heber has a good collection of videos on his Vimeo page, and as an experienced HD user he certainly knows a few handy tips and tricks, many of which are applicable to all versions of the DAW.

Breathe In The AIR – Plugin Wonders

The Advanced Instrument Research group are responsible for those very tasty plugins that come with Pro Tools, such as Structure, Boom, Xpand, Vacuum – and more besides. Even better, they have a large selection of tutorial videos on their blog, which you can peruse on this list.

Chris Bryant Shows You Pro Tools

Over at the ShowMeProTools site, Chris Bryant has some more PT video goodies, and as the site’s name would suggest, it’s a good source of tips. Check out his video section here.

Time Flies In The Studio Files

The Studio Files site has plenty of tutorial videos for Pro Tools, and a few for other programs also. General techniques are covered, as well as specific coverage of individual instruments and effects. The video below shows an approach to drum track tweaking with warp markers and elastic audio…

Pro Tools At Home With Joe

Joe Gilder runs the Home Studio Corner site, and the blog is another good destination for Pro tools information, as well as general home recording advice. Joe is a firm believer in the philosophy of learning to use the gear you have more effectively, rather than getting caught up in time consuming gear lust upgrade frenzies, or as he calls it – “Gear Acquisition Syndrome“. To that end, he provides a selection of tips and tutorial videos.

Kalmusky Wraps It Up

Last (for now) but by no means least, David Kalmusky is another Pro Tools veteran with a penchant for video tutelage. You can visit his selection of educational works here…

Introducing Siftables

Siftables are small block-shaped computers that interact with one another in a physical way, and can be modified/controlled in a very physical way, much as children learn to play with toy blocks.

“Each Siftable has a color OLED screen, four infrared communication modules—one in each direction in the horizontal plane—a 3-axis accelerometer, and a Bluetooth radio… They can talk to each other side-to-side, or to a computer or other Bluetooth-enabled device over the Bluetooth radio. The cases were designed and made by Amit Zoran (MIT Media Lab) and Noah Murphy-Reinhertz (polysaturated.com).”

In the video above, Merrill demonstrates some uses for siftables, including using them as a controller system for music production. This is quite similar to the idea of Audio Cubes – there’s a video of Audio Cubes controlling Ableton Live here.

However, the siftables are clearly a more powerful creation with more potential for expansion, so it will be interesting to see what new sort of performance develops from this new music technology…

Mixing A Music Cocktail

photo credit: Rego – twitter.com/w3bdesign

Earlier this year, Apple’s “Project Cocktail” was revealed, which was basically an initiative to create a new format for a digital album that would operate within iTunes.

The project involved Apple working with the “big four” major labels to create digital products that offer more of a multimedia experience – the package is now known as an iTunes LP, which includes animated lyrics, liner notes, videos, photos and artwork as well as the music itself.

A Little LP From My Friends

At the moment, the iTunes LP is very much the preserve of the big boys – the available catalogue of LPs contains a limited selection of major label releases, and Apple have yet to throw the doors open for independents to create and sell their own iTunes LPs via the iTunes platform.

However, Ars Technica had a look at the innards of the iTunes LP (you can easily do this by changing the file extension from .itlp to .zip), and determined that it wouldn’t be particularly difficult for an independent third-party to create their own LP. You still wouldn’t be able to sell it via iTunes, so an alternative distribution route would be required…

Is This A Moving Target?

In the US, an iTunes LP retails for $16.99, versus the standard digital album price of $7. That’s quite a premium for additional content that most users probably don’t really want – especially since the mp3 boom has led consumers to a more á la carte method of consuming music on a track-by-track, rather than album, basis.

It seems like the additional content might be better utilised in trying to boost album sales – by offering it at the same price, which could reignite consumers’ interest in buying digital albums. In fact, the current pricing model employed by Apple is more geared towards the ‘true fans‘ who will buy anything related to their favourite artists. As such, I would be surprised if it has a significant impact on digital album sales, but let’s watch this space…

Akai Buries The Opposition With The APC40

Earlier this year, Akai announced the APC40, the first hardware controller specifically designed to be used with Live, and even sporting the Ableton logo on the side. The device is actually the result of a detailed collaboration between the two companies.

The APC40 features a grid of buttons which light up green when a clip is playing, orange when there is a clip present but not playing, and red when recording. To the right of the grid lie some very nicely designed pots with green indicator lights to show the position of the currently selected parameter. One section here is dedicated to patch control, the other to device control – allowing instantaneous access to essential elements of the set.

The APC40 certainly looks like a winner for use with Live, although it cannot be USB bus powered, requiring a mains connection for juice. It already has plenty of fans in the Ableton community, as evidenced by this rather silly APC40 Photoshop thread at the Ableton forum.

Out To Launch With Novation

Not content to let Akai have things all their own way, Novation have announced their own Ableton partnership product – the Launchpad. This looks like a grid-only version of the APC40, but it is smaller, lighter and (perhaps significantly) can be powered purely from a USB port.

Another crucial difference is the price – the APC40 retails at $399, whereas the Launchpad is set to come in at $199 when it is released on November 1st.

The Launchpad comes with Novation’s Automap software, and it can be used with other DAWs as well, but it is obviously strongest in its integration with Live. Using the Launchpad in conjunction with Novation’s Nocturn would seem to be a very comprehensive alternative to the APC40 (and cheaper too). Multiple Launchpads can be used together if required, with one displaying the clip view and another controlling the mixer, for example.

Ohm On The Range With Livid

Of course, if you want to look beyond the official Ableton controllers, there are plenty of other options. Featuring a similar grid layout to the APC40 and Launchpad, Livid have two very attractive controllers in the Ohm64 and the brand new Block.

Both the Ohm64 and Block are hand crafted in Texas, and seem to be very robust units. CDM offered this feature comparison between the APC40 and the Ohm64…

APC40:

* Proprietary connection to Ableton Live
* A proprietary handshake that ensures only a real APC is being used with Live
* Fixed MIDI assignments – no MIDI assignment editor
* MIDI only
* No MIDI out jacks, so you can’t use it with outboard gear
* No bus power
* 40 buttons
* Made in some factory somewhere we’ve never seen

Livid Ohm64:

* Open source editor, partially open source firmware, open source patches to connect to whatever you want
* Custom MIDI assignments, for use with whatever you want
* MIDI for now, but the chipset supports open source solutions for OpenSoundControl (OSC) in the near future – and even DMX (for lighting) is a possibility
* USB and standard MIDI jacks so you can sequence outboard gear
* Bus power
* 64 trigger buttons in a more logical 8×8 array
* “Made in the USA by humans” – with a beautifully-crafted body
* Free Cell DNA video software included

The Ohm64 is priced at $599. The Livid Block has yet to be released (it’s due to go on sale the same day as the Launchpad, November 1st) but comes with a price tag of $399.

It’s got a similar matrix of buttons, but only two faders and eight control pots.

While these (well, particularly the Ohm64) are more expensive than the other controllers, they do afford a lot more customisation and open-source delving potential. The APC40 and Launchpad would be geared more towards the plug-and-play musician, whereas the more experimental artist may prefer the added flexibility of Livid’s offerings. At any rate, it’s certainly a good time to be in the market for hardware control…