This is a pretty cool idea; the folks over at Point Blank have put together a video showing you how to create a rack in Ableton Live that gives you a Propellerhead Figure style of drum sequencing. This is a cool way of finding some inspiration and creativity when coming up with drum patterns. Check out the video below.
"http://www.pointblankonline.net/courses/ableton-live-courses.php to check out our range of online Ableton Course where you can learn more techniques like this. Please get in touch with a course advisor at advice@pointblankonline.net if you want to find out more.
In this tutorial Danny J Lewis shows you how to create a rack that emulates the mechanics behind the way the drum patterns switch in the recently released 'Figure' app.
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To celebrate LoopMasters releasing their 100th artist series sample pack they have teamed up with Computer Music magazine to offer their Facebook fans a free 1GB+ sample library featuring samples found in every artist series pack from LoopMasters.
As some of you know Akai (who are responsible for the legendary MPC samplers) earlier this year announced a handful of new products. Among these was the very interesting looking MPC fly (an iOS app developed by Retronyms), the MPC Renaissance and the MPC Studio. The Renaissance and Studio are both midi controllers designed to be used in conjunction with Akai's new MPC software (Sort of like Native Instruments Machine).
Until now we were somewhat kept in the dark about this software but Akai have just released a video overview of the MPC software and I have to say, it looks pretty impressive.
One thing that isn't quite clear though is whether you need the controllers to use the soft wear or whether you could use the soft wear on it's own with another controller. If this is possible then this could be a very affordable solution for beginners to music making and live performances. Coupling the MPC software with a dirt cheap pad controller (say the Korg NanoPad) could be a very convenient compromise for some people. Even though this would be a pretty cool feature I'm not going to be holding my breath.
Here's a link to my new release, it's a house track that I've been working on for a film project that a friend of mine is doing. Hopefully the finished film will be up on the internet sometime soon but until then you can get the music from the Voltage-Controlled music page.
The link in the right-hand sidebar that says 'music' now redirects to "music.voltage-controlled.com" instead of "music.dan303.com". It's still the same site but I thought that I'd change the domain to work better with the flow of the site. I've also changed the banner on the music page to match the one on the main site.
It's been a while since I've done any house music but I'm quite pleased how this one's come out. I can't wait to see how the finished film looks and hopefully the music will work well. I've also uploaded a remix that I did; it has sort of a moombahton feel to it.
It's free to listen to the tracks online but if you want to put them on your iPod and feel like donating a little cash to Voltage-Controlled.com then you can buy both tracks for just £1.99. Check it out, I've embedded the music player below.
Just a quick update to let you guys know that I'm working on a Refill for all you Reason users out there. The Refill will contain lots of multi-sampled instruments for the NN-XT sampler and maybe a few custom Subtractor and Combinator patches. This is a work in progress so I don't know when it's going to actually hit the site but I'm aiming for 2GB worth of samples for you guys to enjoy. So far I've taken samples from the MicroKorg, the Korg R3 and the Korg AG-10 sound module. I'm still waiting on the delivery of my new camera connection kit for the iPad (my old one broke) and then I can sample some iPad synths as well.
Everyone loves a dub siren. Here's a video from Point Blank that shows you how to create a siren of your own using Ableton. If you don't use Ableton, the basic principle will work for pretty much any DAW or synth that you have.
Here's another nice little tutorial from James Bernard at Propellerhead software. James shows you how to create the perfect rise effect to build up your track in Reason. Check it out.
"Propellerhead's product specialist James Bernard shows you how you can create effective transition sounds so that your build up really does build up! Get that sweep right and people will know when you're about to drop the bass."
"Danny J Lewis checks out the new iOS app from Propellerheads. This gives you intuitive control of three main elements: Drums, Bass and Lead and allows for complex modulation without any technical expertise."
Propellerhead's new iPhone app Figure has just found its way into the Apple AppStore. Figure is based on the Reason sound engine so you know its going to sound awesome. Imagine that, Thor and Kong sitting just in your pocket, waiting for that moment of inspiration to strike.
Figure provides you with a three instrument loop sequencer; one part drums (powered by Kong) , one part bass (powered by Thor) and one part lead (also powered by Thor).
The app itself is separated into four different sections that will aid you on your way to creating some awesome beats and loops.
The 'Pattern' section allows you to select your sound and play in a part (drums, bass and lead). This is the main window that you're going to be working with when you're making beats in Figure. When working with the synths in the Patteren window you are presented with three basic controls and an X/Y pad for performance and recording your loops. The controls allow you to select the rhythm pattern of the part, the range of the notes on the X/Y pad and how many notes that you can play in a certain scale. The role of the X/Y pad is pretty obvious, it lets you to play in the notes and make your loops.
When your working with drums in the Pattern section it's slightly different, in place of these controls you are provided with four smaller X/Y pads that control the variation of each drum. You are also given a rhythm control the same as the synth parts.
Moving onto the 'Tweaks' section, this section allows you to sculpt your sound using various preset perimeters such as filter, delay, chorus distortion, etc. You are given another X/Y pad here but this time it's multi touch. Just turn on the parameters you want and tweak away. The Tweak section really helps expand the range of sounds that you can use within Figure. It takes advantage of the Reason synth engine and alows you to take that preset and mould it into something of your own.
The 'Song' section gives you the option to change things like tempo, key and shuffle. it's pretty self explanatory really, change how fast your loop is, change the scale or mood of the loop and adda bit of shuffle to give it a little funk.
Finally the 'Mix' section provides you with a three track mixer and a side chain compressor (which uses the same engine as the Master Compressor in Reason). The mixer is also based on the Reason mixer but to be honest it's just a mixer, it sets the levels of each part. The pump control on the mixer page lets you dial in the amount of sidechain. There's not really much more to the mixer page so I'll leave it at that.
This is a really nice app the GUI looks nice and the workflow is really straight-forward which makes the app extremely easy to use. Propellerhead have done an amazing job on this app, you'll be up and making beats in seconds.
But with that all said the app is not perfect, there are tonnes of features missing in Figure that we expect as standard from most music apps.
There's no way of exporting your creation as audio when you're done, not unless you're willing to hook up your iPhone to an external recording device. This should be in all music apps that offer you sequencing capabilities. It's just common sense.
The most annoying flaw in Figure is that you can't save your project. Say you've made this awesome loop and you're really proud of it, it's finished and you want to move on to a fresh creation. You cant start a fresh beat without clearing the old one. There's no save feature.
It's also not a universal app so if you have an iPad then you can only run Figure in that ugly x2 mode. I've gone into this many times before so I won't bore you with it again. There's no reason (no pun intended) that this cant be a universal app.
Another thing that annoys me is that there's no pan section on the mixer, I suppose it's not a nessesity but I'd like the option to separate the sounds a little and give the mix that little extra room.
Other little addition that need to be considered for this app are wifi sync (WIST maybe?), core midi would be a nice addition too and maybe the ability for Reason owners to export the loop as a Reason project file.
But then again even though Figure's missing out on some vital features it's still a blast to play around with and for 69p in the AppStore I'm going to stop complaining, shut up and enjoy that awesome little loop sequencer that Propellerhead has given us.
All in all I'm going to give this app maybe an eight out of ten. If figure had audio export and a save feature then it would most definitely get a full ten.
Here's the third and final Moog Animoog Tutorial from Dubspot. It looks at ways to incorporate Animoog into a DAW environment and goes into ways of beefing up the signal.
Moog have also released a brand new preset/timbre set for Animoog. It's available as an in app purchase for just 69p.
Here's part three.
Don't forget to check out the Dubspot Youtube Channel and subscribe for more awesome videos.
"In the third and final installment of our video tutorial series on Moog's Animoog iPad app, Dubspot Instructor Matt Cellitti offers sound design and production tips and tricks and shows you how to use Animoog in a Digital Audio Workstation.
The final installment of the Animoog tutorials will hopefully give you a few more tricks on how to create some really cool sounds in this great app. Once you have created an interesting sound with a unique path, I will show you how to "stretch" the orbit across your path to create thick sounds, triggering multiple timbres at once for radically transforming sounds. Moving the path around the X/Y axis will allow you to essentially create several different presets inside of one saved sound. I might start with a slow pad if I begin in the top left corner, yet morph to a sharp lead sound by pulling the path down to the bottom of the Y axis.
Lastly, it is important to realize that the signal coming out of the iPad/iPhone headphone jack comes in at a lower volume level than we would like. Simply use some effects inside of a DAW or other host program to boost the signal and create more interesting effect chains for Animoog. Set up an effect chain just once and save it for instant recall when you need it again. Works great in both Live and Maschine. - Matt Cellitti"
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