from on .
Serato’s The Bridge, as covered by Neil Bufkin in video for CDM above, is entering a beta phase. This is an invite-only beta, not a public beta, and it hasn’t launched yet, but you can register your interest. The Bridge met a decidedly mixed reaction here on CDM – the unique approach to coupling these programs isn’t for everyone – but I still expect it’ll be a big release, particularly for devoted fans of Serato.
This will coincide with a new beta for Ableton Live.
I’m of course obligated to pass that along, as part of my ongoing campaign to ruin DJing.(*)
Serato would like to invite you to register your interest in becoming a beta tester for The Bridge.
This does not mean the The Bridge is in an Invite or Public beta phase, so please do not ask where you can get it!
Beta testing is an essential and highly important part of the software development process and your help will ensure reliable performance upon final release.
When we do officially invite interested DJ’s and Producers to beta test The Bridge, you will need:
Serato Scratch Live with supported Rane hardware
A Serato.com forum account
An ableton.com account with a copy of Ableton Live 8 registered to it.
[Serato forums]
Thanks, Mutis Mayfield, for the tip!
(*) Anonymous commenter : “Blogger nerds are killing the coolness of DJing. I blame Create Digital Music and Richie Hawtin! I also blame Andre Agassi!”
For some time, I’ve been a champion of Livid Instruments’ controller hardware, because I like the principles behind it. The devices are handmade in Texas using sustainable woods and environmentally-friendly stains, are standards-compliant with open specifications, open source software, and driverless class-compliant operation on Mac, Windows, and Linux, and lend themselves to programmability and customization. They certainly have some of the spirit of the open source monome devices, but for anyone who wished the monome grid also had knobs, faders, and such, and didn’t require weird serial-over-USB drivers, it’s nice that we have Livid, too. This is not by way of advertising Livid, either. I really believe that generally, open configurability and small-batch construction result in hardware that’s more fun to own and use.
But, oh yeah – there’s also the question of what you can actually do with your music using these controllers. With grids, crossfaders, and faders at the ready, the Ohm64 and more compact Block each have plenty of control possibilities.
The gang at Livid, and the community of users this niche line has attracted, have been hard at work over the past months inventing new ways of controlling musical and visual applications. Here are a few of the best of those examples.
Of course, the wildest of all is the Renoise work at top by proflific Renoiser hitotori. Do not adjust your computer; there’s not something wrong with the speed of the video at top. (Who needs drugs, really – even caffeine – with music like that? I’ll have what he’s having. Check out his , as well.)
Here are some other applications:
Reason + Ohm64
Before Ableton’s mapping features or Novation’s Automap, there was Reason and Remote. And the use of Remote scripts can still be very powerful, as seen here, complete with some keyboard tricks.
from on .
Ableton Live
See Livid’s forums for the , which should work with any recent 8.x version of Live.
What’s most impressive about it is that, thanks to some ingenious work by Mike Chenetz of max4live.info, it not only “automaps” the Ohm64 but even provides access to the “red box” used by Novation’s Launchpad and Akai’s APC. You don’t even need a copy of Max for Live to pull it off.
from on .
There’s also now a script for the Block. I have to say, I like using the Launchpad with Ableton, but I’m constantly reaching for device knobs that … aren’t actually there. (The Launchpad only has buttons.) That means the Block wins out in day-to-day practicality for most users, unless you only ever trigger clips and never so much as adjust a filter cutoff or wet/dry amount.
from on .
Some of the most amazing integration comes from nativeKONTROL, the advanced scripting project that began with the KORG nano series. These are really advanced scripts that have elaborate, layered control of everything from sequencing drum racks to muting and arming tracks – more control, even, than you get from the APC40. Because it’s a script, you don’t need a special template (any file will work), and you don’t need Max for Live. nativeKONTROL handles the Ohm64, and just this week added the Block, seen below. These are payware, at $22.50 for the Block and $25-45 (depending on how many presets you want bundled in) for the Ohm. But they’re really quite impressive pieces of work.
Max for Live
I’m burying the lead a bit here: Livid’s open-sourced LividStep Max for Live device is about the most brilliantly useful patch I’ve seen yet. It finally fills a gap Live itself hasn’t managed to fill: it makes patterns you can step sequence live. Video part 1 below; see also .
from on .
Here’s a demo video by user Monoque featuring some nice use of drum pads in Max for Live with Ableton Live. I’ll try to find some other information on the custom plug itself.
from on .
Traktor
The crossfader, faders, and banks of knobs make the Ohm a natural DJ controller. (The Ohm itself was designed by folks who make and use VJ software, so that’s not a coincidence.) Using Traktor Pro DJ from Native Instruments, the Ohm becomes a controller for looping, cues, sync and bpm, mixing, effects, and even navigation of the browser.
from on .
MIDI and Hardware
Yes, while it seems almost every other recent controller has dropped the good, old-fashioned MIDI DIN connectors, the Block and Ohm64 each have 5-pin MIDI ins and outs. That means you aren’t only restricted to using them with software, as soillodge illustrates here with an Access Virus B and SU10 sampler, plus a noise swash pedal from the brilliant .
Visuals
The Ohm64 was designed first and foremost by visualists, so it’s naturally a nice controller for those applications, not just Livid’s own Cell DNA, which comes free in the box.
As covered on CDMotion, , and legendary live visualist Johnny DeKam has a really combining the Ohm with a and his custom setup. (Vidvox? Livid? VDMX? Vixid? Vidmx? Vidvid? Vidxvidvidvid? Yeah, it’s tough to keep straight, but it’s my job.)
It’s even possible to display very simple, low-resolution images on the Ohm’s grid.
from on .
Got tips of your own?
To me, all of this variety strikes home an important point: we talk a lot about of-the-box integration, but hardware is cooler when it works with more than just one piece of software. Even if you’re not a power user, your own personal needs may be different from someone else’s. In fact, if you’re not a power user, you’re even more likely to expect to be able to connect a piece of control hardware to more than one thing and have it work. We’ve seen that desire not only with the Livid line, but with gear like the KORG nano series and even devices marketed for use with one app, like the Novation Launchpad and Akai APC. That says to me that smarter control and open devices that allow users to easily contribute their own ideas make sense.
The above compilation isn’t even complete. For more on the hardware and techniques for using it:
Lots of good discussion, tips, and the latest scripts live on the forums:
And for more video tutorials, see .
I’ve tried to feature some of the ideas from the community here, but of course the Livid gang have done the most videos, and I’m sure there are plenty I’ve missed. Are you a Livid owner with your own custom rig? Want to share your impressions, tips, templates, etc.? Let us know.
AP - Listen closely, that's the sound of demented music dying that you're hearing on your radio.
Music service has a number of attractive features, including Rhapsody-like on-demand access to albums and tracks, “artist stations” that only play songs by the artist in question, and a low price ($4.99 a month for unlimited streaming). It’s also had one major limitation: It’s only been available in your browser. But MOG has plans to change that, starting next month.
As , MOG says that Apple has approved a MOG app for the iPhone–one that lets you stream or download any song from its catalog. It intends to release the iPhone app and a similar Android one in July, and to charge $9.99 for all-you-can-listen access in the browser and on a phone. (That’s low by historic standards, but the same price that Rhapsody charges for )
July should also see the debut of a version of MOG for . Unlimited on-demand Roku listening will be included in the basic $4.99 plan; for music fans who want to listen a lot without spending a lot, it sounds like a deal.
An ASCAP Political Action Committee fundraising letter that seeks to vilify advocacy positions of organizations like Creative Commons has been circulating the Web. As I noted in a , it’s not exactly news that ASCAP has taken issue with the licenses Creative Commons advocates. Now, however, ASCAP’s legislative advocacy arm also argues in the letter that the advocacy organization is also an enemy of artists getting paid. The EFF hasn’t made a public statement about the issue, but in a response to CDM, an EFF spokeperson says the letter “mischaracterizes” her organization.
“They imply in that letter that the EFF don’t want artists to get paid for their work,” says Rebecca Jeschke, EFF spokesperson. “For years, we’ve had a proposal for Voluntary Collective Licensing,” she says, a scheme by which users of file sharing services could contribute to funds for artists. She says the EFF has been working on the issue since 2003. “We’re interested in making sure that there’s a balance, that copyright respects the rights of the creators but also innovators and speakers, and that [the doctrine of] fair use rights [a provision of US Copyright Law] are respected.”
For more on EFF’s proposals on voluntary collective licensing, see the organization’s 2008 white paper. Ironically, the proposal explicitly cites ASCAP and similar organizations as their model for how file sharing collections could work:
The Precedent: Broadcast Radio
It has been done before.By voluntarily creating collecting societies like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, songwriters brought broadcast radio in from the copyright cold in the first half of the 20th century.
What would cause ASCAP to lash out at EFF in the first place? While the EFF advocates on a number of issues unrelated to ASCAP, including privacy, government transparency, and free speech, it conflicts with some ASCAP positions in some of its recent intellectual property work. For instance, in regards to the case of United States of America versus ASCAP, EFF has criticized ASCAP in court battles over whether mobile phone ringtones should be licensed as performances, and thus subject to performing royalty collections. In legal analysis on EFF’s website last year, intellectual property lawyer Fred von Lohmann described ASCAP in harsh terms:
ASCAP (the same folks who went after Girl Scouts for singing around a campfire) appears to believe that every time your musical ringtone rings in public, you’re violating copyright law by “publicly performing” it without a license. This will doubtless come as a shock to the millions of Americans who have legitimately purchased musical ringtones, contributing millions to the music industry’s bottom line. Are we each liable for statutory damages (say, $80,000) if we forget to silence our phones in a restaurant?
[EFF Deeplinks]
There’s no evidence I could find that any EFF position is advocating that music “should be free,” and ASCAP isn’t clear in the letter about either what EFF policies it opposes, or even what the legislative agenda ASCAP themselves are advocating – and for which they want money. ASCAP’s legislative site is also vague, with a link to a , before the popularity of MP3s, Napster, iTunes, iPods, and so on. made in March to the US government range from the finer points of international trade policy and enforcement in countries of China to ASCAP talking about their anti-piracy mascot for 10-17-year-old kids, skateboard-wielding “Donny the Downloader.”
ASCAP had not yet responded to CDM’s request for comment; I will follow up with them. ASCAP does, however, have a record of a advocating tougher intellectual property enforcement, including harsher penalties and monitoring.
EFF policy is clearer, however: mandatory monitoring and penalties for Internet Service Providers and mass lawsuits don’t work, says Jeschke. And, she says, that means they also don’t work for artists. “The way, for example, the RIAA has [litigated] in the name of protecting copyright hasn’t really gotten anybody paid. They gave up their lawsuit scheme. The lawsuit campaign just kept going but file sharing continued unabated.”
The EFF is arguing Wednesday in federal court against mass lawsuits. Despite the fact that the music industry dropped the approach, filmmakers of movies like “The Hurt Locker” are now going the same route:
Monitoring ISPs and blocking peer-to-peer file sharing, as a recent call from a number of advocacy organizations including ASCAP advocates, is also problematic, she says. When it comes to ISP monitoring, “There are clearly privacy implications for lots of people, in addition to price implications, if ISPs need to step up their enforcement.” Even worse, she says, are policies that would take away users’ Internet access if they are deemed guilty of infringement. “Most of these three strikes policies are three accusations — not three trials where you’re found guilty of infringement. People get caught in that dragnet all the time. Taking away someone’s internet access is a really big thing, and it shouldn’t happen based on three strikes.”
Since even Jeschke acknowledges that music file sharing continues, though, what about artist income? If enforcement isn’t the answer, what is? Voluntary collective licensing is still the EFF’s prescription, says Jeschke. “There will always be some new technology,” she says. “Instead of trying to put fingers in the dam and styming innovation, we need to find ways of getting artists paid.”
In doing so, though, so long as ASCAP sees the EFF as “Copyleft” advocates who only want “free music,” and EFF analysts see ASCAP as the organization confronting Girl Scouts, it’s hard to see these two organizations collaborating on solutions any time soon.
AP - iTunes' top 10 selling singles and albums of the week ending June 28, 2010:
Effect pedals on CDM? Heck, yes. Electro-Harmonix may have just stolen the show in Nashville with the Freeze pedal alone. Continuing our coverage with Nashville locals and musicians Tony and Jeremy, we have some hands-on videos, images, and impressions of the gear on offer. Don’t miss yesterday’s story on . They offered a sobering picture of the state of the show, as well, but that didn’t stop them from finding good stuff to share. -Ed.
Summer NAMM was never the size of its winter counterpart. We were still surprised by the poor manufacturer turnout at the June 18th – 20th convention in Nashville, TN. Absent were heavy hitters like Roland and Korg and innovators like Moog, ZVex, and Dave Smith. Luckily, those that did attend brought some pretty cool new gear. Here are our impressions:
The VoiceLive Touch puts the famous TC-Helicon harmonization technology and effects in a unique, stand-mountable package, with the addition of performance-oriented looping. The unit feels very rugged, locking onto the stand to give the performer all of the controls at the right height. The interface is a simple array of touch “buttons” for access to the different DSP units with display duties being handled by a simple LED matrix display. Parameters are accessed and manipulated by a touch slider below the display. The VoiceLive Touch seems designed for quick access to presets in the middle of a gig rather than for delicate parameter tweaking. For ease of use during a set, the vocal harmonizer/looper looks like a winner. TC-Helicon says that while preset management over USB is the name of the game for the time being, a software editor could be in the cards down the road. In the first video, TC-Helicon rep Laura Davidson gives CDM a hands on look at the device. In the second video, a singer-songwriter demonstrates one of the harmonization presets. – JD
Previously on CDM: a
The Mixtrack is a solid little device, preset for controlling Traktor for $150. For that price, this looks like an amazing little controller – touch sensitive platters for playback control matched with the full range of DJ-mixer style playback, pitch bend, EQ, and looping controls, many of which are illuminated. It’s class-compliant USB and operates as a simple MIDI controller, so it should work out of the box with any application with a fairly minimal amount of mapping and setup. The Mixtrack supports Mac and Windows with possible future Linux support, “if the customer demand is there.” Ed.: actually, since it’s class-compliant, it will already work on Linux. It’s plastic, but it feels quite solid to lift. The encoders have a nice size and grip, with a just a touch of resistance when turning: you don’t feel like you’re going to pull the encoder off of the front panel when adjusting the EQ. I don’t think the crossfader is going to win any awards when put against a DJ battle-style mixer, but it seems like it will do the job without any complaints, especially considering the price of the unit. While the unit is obviously very portable, it may be just a bit outsized for most laptop bags; but that goes with almost every portable controller out there that isn’t named “micro”. In the video, Numark rep Eric McGregor gives CDM an in-depth look. -JD
The Multimix8 is another iteration of small mixer/USB interface device from Alesis – 8 channels, 4 with microphone preamps, a high-impedance instrument input on channel 2, and 2 pairs of stereo line inputs. Built-in preset effects with individual sends on each channel, all mixed to a class-compliant 2-channel 16/44.1 bidirectional USB audio interface. Alesis is apparently taking user feedback from their original MultiMix8 USB to improve panel layout and knob spacing, dropping 24/96 support and reducing the power consumption. We were quoted $149 street price, which is only around $10 or so off the predecessor’s street price. -JD
A personal highlight for me was finally getting the chance to meet Aja and the Nashville-based Beat Kangz crew. I was impressed with their end-user friendly approach to the marketplace, valuing user feedback on their products. News to me is that is getting an AudioUnit version within the next two weeks, with VST coming soon after. I think that getting that product integrated with existing DAWs is going to do a lot for them. Of course, the one everyone is waiting for is the . It was there in all of its prototype glory, although Aja said that the first shipment of test units at full production spec were going to be in their hands soon, with some small tweaks to the hardware (particularly with the feel of the pads) ready to go through a final beta test phase. If their goal is to make the ultimate beat production device, I think they stand a really good chance of delivering. The prototype box is solid as a rock, intuitive interface and spec’d out to be an MPC killer. At $1000, it’s hard not to be interested in this box if you do any kind of rhythmic production. In the first video Aja shows Create Digital Music the Beat Thang Virtual. In video two, Aja shows us the Beat Thang Beat Machine. – JD
What may be the first of its kind, Akai has released a hardware accessory for their SynthStation iPhone software. Unveiled at Winter NAMM, the controller is simplicity itself – It’s an iPhone dock with 25-key keyboard, mod and pitch bend wheels, Octave and Program buttons and 4 buttons for accessing the voices in the SynthStation application itself. Couple this with headphone and RCA outputs and USB interface for MIDI, and Akai is offering a package to give actual musical performance control to their iPhone app. The relative merits of the controller or even the use of iPhones for performance and composition aside, Akai is making a strong move here by being the first to market with such a device. Given the sales of SynthStation in the iTunes store, Akai is betting that there are a significant number of people out there that would want to have an extended musical experience with their app and that those people are going to pony up around $100-$150 for a dedicated hardware controller for it. The release date has slipped on this device at least once already, but they seem to be pushing for July at this point. Interestingly, Akai is going to make their API available to third party developers, wishing to allow opening up the SynthStation25 to other iPhone applications. – JD
Shipping in late June, The Electro-Harmonix Freeze sample-and-hold pedal may be my favorite effect unit at Summer NAMM. The concept is deceptively simple: press down on the footswitch and the unit sustains what you just played. Let go and the sustaining stops. In the meantime, you can layer over the frozen part with additional notes. See the video below for a great demonstration. The Freeze seems perfect for experimental music and non-guitar instruments. Homebrew modifications are inevitable.
EH showed off other new products, including the distortion/overdrive (so named because of its 4 germanium transistors), the (smaller version of the Small Clone analog chorus), and tiny . In the video below, Larry with EH gave CDM a demonstration of these effects as well as the . Ed.: Or, as they describe it, to be semantic, a “single sideband modulator.” The unique thing about the Ring-Thing is that you can tune it from an incoming signal and avoid the unwieldy dissonance that come from most ring mods. Of course, unwieldy dissonance is a ring mod’s main charm. But should you want it to sound more musical, you have that option. – TY
Guitar-pedal bad-boys Pigtronix debuted an innovate universal signal router at Summer NAMM called the Keymaster Re-Amp Effects Mixer. Unlike most loopers, the Keymaster has a plethora of input/output options, including xlr and 1/4” in/outs and two pedal-level effects loops. You can run the loops in series or parallel with the option to mix the two loops in parallel mode. The beauty of this pedal is the limitless ways you can use it. Power two amps at once, instantly switch between two amps on the fly, switch between two effects chains, blend two effects chains, put two instruments in the two return jacks and mix them together to a single amp, and any routing you can dream up.
In the video below, Pigtronix founder Dave Koltai gives CDM an in-depth tour of the Keymaster. The second video shows Dave Koltai sampling a variety of Pigtronix’s other innovated pedals, including the Mothership Analog Synthesizer, Philosopher King polyphonic amplitude synthesizer, EP2 Envelop Phaser, and the Echolocution. Great sounds! – TY
Mark Payung’s fledgling Glasstones guitar company isn’t a household name. . . yet. But that may change if the final Glasstones guitars sound as good at the prototype did at Summer NAMM. The secret of the guitar’s long sustain is a patented glass compound that the nut, frets, and fretboard are made of. Supposedly, the highly-dense material better transmits the vibrations of the strings into the wood. Mark excitedly took us over to his friends’ booth to let us hear the Glasstones prototype guitar through an American Dream amplifier. The features some innovations of its own, including a triangular speaker chamber and switchable output between 22 and 10 watts. Channel one is voiced to sound like a ‘62 brownface Deluxe; channel two, a ‘65 blackface Deluxe.
Of course, it’s always hard to tell what guitars and amps truly sound like unless you’re playing them with your own gear; but this combination under the ideal conditions of the show floor sounded fantastic. (Watch the video below to hear for yourself.) Time will tell if the Glasstones guitar is a game-changing innovation or a fly-by-night novelty. If I were forced to choose, I’d bet on the former. – TY
Tony Youngblood (story, photos) resides in Nashville, TN and hosts the experimental improv music podcast . [, Twitter]
Jeremy Dickens (additional reporting, photos) is a native Nashvillian musician, engineer, sound designer and and producer with works on dPulse Recordings, Sony Digital and his own Discrepancy Recordings imprint. [@, Twitter]
Want follow-up coverage of any of this gear? What strikes your fancy? Let us know in comments.
