Modulate This! - Electronic & Experimental Music Tech, Technique, & People

I'm Declaring Absynth 5 the Winner of the Modulate This Holiday Sound Pack Poll

I’m making great headway on the sound pack work. I’m almost done with the Live pack version and need to get going on the second format. Since Absynth 5 has been in the lead from the start and hasn’t lost this position throughout I’m declaring it the winner! Thanks to all those who participated.

I think the results are a testament to the quality, and depth of Absynth and the fact that after all these years it’s stayed fresh and relevant. Kudos to Brian Clevinger and NI.

The other good news about Abysnth winning is I believe Kore 2 users will be able to load the sounds. I don’t own Kore 2, perhaps I can get someone to help me test – use my contact form if you want to volunteer.

So thanks for voting and if you voted for Alchemy or Blofeld and don’t own Ableton Live, you might want to pick up Absynth for $99 bucks – sale ends today. (Note: I’m not affiliated with NI and don’t benefit from you buying Absynth – just a heads up). I am quite familiar with programming for the runner up synths so perhaps in 2011 I’ll do some sound design work for those formats.

I’ve setup a new landing page for the Free Holiday Gift Pack. Head over there and subscribe to the comment feed for notifications.

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder CO
www.ModulateThis.com

Absynth 5 Soundscape Using Field Recordings, Wavemorphing, and Audio Mod for Envelope Following

I few days back I posted a soundscape to soundcloud called “Which One is Mine”.

Which One Is Mine by MarkMosher

Absynth 5 has a feature called Audio Mod which lets you take audio input from a DAW and use it as control voltage of sorts.  Sort of like the digital equivalent of what was shown in yesterday’s post from Marc (DJ Not So Much) “Using Ableton to Provide Control Voltage for a Moog Slim Phatty”.

I used Absynth and Ableton Live to create this sound scape which made up of synthesis, and real-time processing of audio from field recordings. The first recording is a Morse code key I recorded at a train museum in Cape Cod. The second is a recording I made of crowd noise at a University of Colorado basketball game.

I wanted to mention that Absynth 1 was the first virtual synth I bought back in the day. I’ve kept up with it all these years and upgraded to 5 right away when it came out (see this vid showing off some Absynth 5 features). It’s still one of my most used synths so I’m happy to see that it’s winning in the readers poll.

Note: You can get Absynth on sale for $99 for one more day till Nov 29th as part of Native Instruments holiday sale.

PRODUCTION NOTES
I created a custom patch in Absynth 5. I'm sending MIDI notes from an Ableton Live clip to Absynth. This causes Oscillator A to play a fractalized waveform that is morphed by a stepping envelope.

 

Oscillator B is set to "Audio In" and I'm routing field recording samples playing in Live audio clips to this Oscillator.

Oscillator C is a single hybrid waveform. This oscillator's Amp, Pitch and Morph params are modulated live audio signals routing through Oscillator B using "Audio Mod". The first audio clip is the field recording of the Morse code key. The second clip is the crowd sound. The pulsing nature of the sound during the crowd section is a result of AMP envelope on Oscillator B.

Enjoy,

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder CO
www.ModulateThis.com
www.MarkMosherMusic.com

New Single "First Orbit" Performed Live + Percussa Audio Cube Presentation Video from Ableton Denver Meetup

On the 14th of March I gave a presentation on Percussa AudioCubes at the Ableton Denver Meetup. David Henderson was kind enough to shoot video and he even took the time to post on YouTube. Thanks David.

By the way, if you haven’t subscribed to his blog yet, you should check it out - http://www.hendersounds.com/. Lots of cool insights on Ableton Live, Monome and more.

As part of this presentation, I decided to perform a brand new single called “First Orbit” using only AudioCubes and a Launchad. The song is in the second video below and starts at the 1:20 mark.

Watch embedded video

In this song I’m using AudioCubes to send MIDI notes and MIDI CC data to Ableton Live 8, specifically to:

• Change scenes
• Trigger Artillery 2 FX with MIDI notes
• Modulate parameters of Ableton Live FX (Redux; PingPong Delay; Arpeggiator Rate, Gate, Distance)

I misspoke in the the video on what synths I’m using in this song. I’m using Gladiator 2, Absynth 5, and U-He Ace. Two synths that are well suited for cubes that are not in this song are Alchemy and Synplant.

The launchpad is used as a visual reference for what is going on inside of Live. at 2:55 I switch to User Mode 2 on the Novation Launchad and trigger a metallic sound then change the Rate by breaking the beam between cubes. I then play notes on the launchpad which plays both Gladiator and Absynth. When I pick up the Sensor cube, I’m modulating arpeggiator Gate and Distance. Opening up the gate makes the Absynth patch much more tonal.

Marc W. from Ableton Denver just gave me additional footage from a second camera angle and I plan to post a video on my channel of just the song by combining footage from both cameras. I’ll also post this live performance of the song in audio format and will also do a studio version down the road and release that as well.

Watch embedded video.

Thanks for watching!

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Composer, Sound Designer
Louisville/Denver/Boulder

http://www.modulatethis.com
http://www.markmoshermusic.com
http://www.twitter.com/markmosher

Download/Buy my album REBOOT on Bandcamp
Buy on iTunes

“First Orbit” Copyright 2010 Mark J. Mosher, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Absynth 5 LFO Tips

One of the coolest things about Absynth is that you can draw custom waveforms. The waveform editor is simply fantastic. Custom Waveforms are not just for oscillators. They can also be used for LFO’s.

1) Click the button next to the LFO wave shape to open the waveform selector. 2) Click the “Edit” button.

This opens the waveform editor. Use the editor to create a unique waveform to be used to shape your LFO.

Try experimenting with the “Transform” function to shape your wave.

Click on the LFO to rename it so you can reference the wave shape and apply it to other modulations.

Another cool feature in Absynth is that you can apply LFO to segments of an envelope. Just click on the LFO tab when working with an Envelope then click on the node at the end of the segment where you want to apply LFO. You can even apply the custom wave shapes you have created.

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Composer, Sound Designer
Louisville/Denver/Boulder

http://www.modulatethis.com
http://www.markmoshermusic.com
http://www.twitter.com/markmosher

Download/Buy my album REBOOT on Bandcamp
Buy on iTunes

Mark Mosher VLog #1 - Creating the patch "Broken Crystals" with Absynth 5's new Cloud Filter

In addition to creating tutorial videos, I’ve decided to start a Video Log. Tutorials are very time consuming to produce as they are scripted and require a lot of planning - not to mention time to edit and produce. My video log will be much more casual and it will be a little more like your just looking over my shoulder while I create electronic music and sound.

I’m also working out ways to shoot live video in my studio so I can also add videos that show how I’m using my Tenori-On, APC40, Percussa Audio Cubes, and other controllers.

As always, I’m hoping the content in these videos can help inspire your creativity and save you time with your projects.

For my first entry, I’ve posted a video where I discuss the creation of a patch using the new cloud filter feature in Absynth 5. There is also a tip for Ableton users within this video.

Watch embeded video on YouTube.

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Composer, Sound Designer
Louisville/Denver/Boulder

http://www.modulatethis.com
http://www.markmoshermusic.com
http://www.twitter.com/markmosher

Download/Buy my album REBOOT on Bandcamp
Buy on iTunes