Moldover is on tour and made a stop in Denver to perform a show and give a workshop at The Church nightclub in Denver last night. A big thanks to Marc Wei of Ableton Colorado for behind-the-scenes work to pull this workshop together in Denver.
Moldover’s workshop offered a nice blend of topics including controllerism, controller building, real-time effect processing on vocals, Ableton, workflow, creativity, personal productivity, song writing, and touring. I highly recommend you attend one if you get the chance. Checkout his tour page for a calendar.
Throughout the workshop he performed some songs using a custom Guitar (Robocaster) with buttons, joystick, and accelerometers; the MOJO customer controller; and a new prototype of a vocal controller called the MOJITO that is clamped to the mic stand.
Here is a close-up shot of the MOJO which has buttons, knobs, switches, sliders and touch strips.
It is built around the notion of 4 tracks of real-time controllerism and playback control (inspired by 4 track tape deck work). Each type of controller is assigned a specific type of role. For example touch strips control tonal modulations.
There were lots of behind-the-scene looks at his Ableton sets.
During and after the workshop Moldover took the time to answer questions.
Now called Space Palette, it offers more windows of control and expressiveness and also has interactive visuals that react to gestures. Space Palette’s design makes it a fantastic casual instrument allowing for walk-up players. Tim has been spreading electronic musical joy by bringing it to events such as:
I got to play an updated version of Space Palette when Tim and I were in Atlanta in February. It’s expressive enough to scale beyond casual play and Tim has become quite a virtuoso with it as can be seen in his latest performance at STEIM in Amsterdam below.
After already presenting Soundplan at Expo '74 in NY, Madrona Labs has set off on the west coast leg of their tour. I pulled this schedule from the news section of their web site.
Robotspeak, San Francisco, Saturday Nov 5, 4pm CNMAT, U C Berkeley, Monday Nov 7, 2pm UCSB, Media Arts and Technology Seminar, Tue Nov 8, 5:30 pm CalArts, Thur Nov 10, 6:30pm
All of these events are free and open to the public. Come play with a Soundplane, and ask questions about anything from capacitive sensing to CNC machining to software! I look forward to meeting you.
They are posting photos on their home page and tweeting as they go. If you are not familiar with Soundplane I’ve included a video and description below.
The Soundplane A is a computer music controller with the sensitivity and feel of an acoustic instrument. It detects a wide range of touches on its walnut playing surface, from a light tickle to a very firm press. The Soundplane A can be configured as either a 150-note keyboard with position and pressure sensing on each key, or as one continuous surface.
The playing surface is a material custom developed for us, an articulated sheet of walnut veneer bonded to a fiber backing for strength. The case is milled out of alder, a sustainably harvested Northwest hardwood. We have sourced all of the construction locally and test and assemble Soundplanes by hand here in Seattle. The entire instrument is about 28 inches wide by 8 inches deep by 1 inch thick.
Included with the Soundplane is Aalto for Soundplane, a custom, signal-driven version of our patchable software synthesizer. The Soundplane client software can send MIDI and OSC messages to control other software and hardware.
Mark Mosher Electronic/Experimental Music Artist, Boulder, CO Synthesist | Composer | Keyboardist | Performer
Tim Thompson is a software engineer, musician, and installation artist. He was recently mentioned in Roger Linn’s post “Research Project: LinnStrument -- A New Musical Instrument Concept”where Roger credits Tim with writing a program that “translates the TouchCo's proprietary USB messages into TUIO messages sent over OSC.”
I met Tim at my recent concert at the Art Institute of California/Sunnyvale and he was kind enough to invite me over to see his latest development project, the MultiMultiTouchTouch. This custom solution offers players any number of arbitrarily-shaped multitouch areas with three-dimensional spatial control. Interaction with this space allows users to control and play virtual synthesizers using nothing but a Microsoft Kinect as the controller.
Ironically, the concept shown in Moog Music’s April Fools video “Introducing the Moog Polyphonic Theremin” is not only a reality, but Tim has one-upped this idea by providing polyphonic spatial control in multiple “frames”, AND more granular control than a Theremin with finger blob detection. In short MultiMultiTouchTouch is like having a polyphonic/multitimbral Theremin that can not only detect hand movements, but finger movements as well - from multiple players!!!
Luckily I brought my video camera along and recorded Tim describing and demoing the technology. I also give the MultiMultiTouchTouch a try at the end of the video. So, without further ado, I present the video “An Exclusive First Look at Tim Thompson's Kinect-Based Instrument: MultiMultiTouchTouch”
Python, used to implement a GUI for parameter control
HP Laptop running Windows 7
A wood frame for calibration (wood frame is not required once the frames have been calibrated).
The raw output of this controller is OSC messages formatted using the TUIO (multitouch) standard format. Parameters of the software can be controlled with JSON-formatted messages.
Pass It On I want to reiterate, this is real and NOT a late April Fool’s joke. Incredible work Tim! Congrats. I can’t wait to see where Tim takes this and look forward to the possibility of doing some MultiMultiTouchTouch compositions and performances myself. To help Tim promote his work share this video.
In late January I purchased Waldorf Largo and I’ve been using the hell out of it for work on my next album. It is now one of my most heavily used synths in my rig and I’ve crated a fairly large number of custom presets from INIT.
IMHO this is one of the finest virtual analog instruments on the market and the sonic capabilities are kind of mind blowing when you dig into the synth. Also, Largo is architecturally 98% the same as my Blofeld (look for a future post on how they compare) there was almost no learning curve for me.
I passed on Largo when it first released because I’m not a fan of the eLicenser technology and when I tried an earlier demo there were some oddities on Windows. The 1.5 update fixed these issues and added some great new features (see what’s new here) and once I tried this version I fell in love with the synth right away - so much so I decided to give in to the eLicenser dongle Regarding eLicenser, you don’t need a dongle if your only going to run on Largo one system, but I bit the bullet and bought the Steinberg USB Key so I could use Largo on my primary and backup systems. I also got the boxed edition so I could get the manual in paper form which ended up being a wise decision as the documentation is quite good.
One of the best new features in 1.5 is Largo’s new Chorus effect. It’s incredible how you can radically modulate it in-real-time without producing unwanted popping or stepping artifacts.This goes for almost every parameter in the synth by the way.
Waldorf describes the Chorus on the product page:
Largos new Chorus comes in three flavours. The one with two stages you already know from earlier versions, and now also with four and six stages to create lush pads and strings. Spread controls the behaviour of the four additional stages, when set to zero, all six stages run in sync with a fix offset creating the ensemble effect of old string machines. When set higher, the modulation is increasingly decorrelated to make the Chorus thicker and wider. But we didn't stop here. We've also added Feedback to make the Chorus effect even thicker. And together with the quite long delay time, you can now abuse the Chorus as an additional Comb filter (as if the Largo hadn't enough of them already).
I wrote a custom patch from INIT, then used Ableton Live automation clips to crank on chorus depth and speed during playback over a 2 bars.
Below is the resultant waveform after I resampled the output from Largo. Crazy!
I’ve written an entire song for the new album based on this waveform, variants of the waveform, plus live perofrmance playing the patch on keys while clips modulate parameters in real-time.
Sorry to be a tease – but you’ll have to wait to hear the audio till the album gets closer to release ;^)
I found this cool video via @Psicoff on Twitter. It's a video by Steve Fredom using a web cam as a Theremin.
Ableton Theremin - experimental electronic music made by translating hand gestures tracked by Quartz Composer and webcam, into OSC then Midi and sending on to Ableton to trigger Spectrasonics Omnisphere and RMX.
I'm doing similar spatial control with AudioCubes and Theremin (pitch-to-MIDI) into Live and simply love the possibiliites of openning this up to more people via built-in web cams.
I put in some extra rehearsal time this weekend in preparation for the March 17th show at the Art Institute of California/Sunnyvale . I’ll be performing songs from I HEAR YOUR SIGNALS, and some new songs which I’m considering for my next album. I’m also working on getting some songs from my previous album REBOOT to my live set and wanted to share some notes on implementing my song “Alone”.
First off, here is the album version of the track:
As you can hear, “Alone” is the emotional bottom of the story in REBOOT and is the only track on the album without a drum groove. This being the case I wanted to come up with some sort performance that would provide contrast to the other songs in the set. Back in September I came up with the idea of attempting to play all the lead melody and ambient noises solely from Percussa AudioCubes. I’ve decided to push-on with this idea and perform the song this way. Here are the behind-the-scenes notes and a rehearsal video.
Goal I normally configure my AudioCubes so there is 1 “Sensor” cube for controlling effects, 2 “Receiver” cubes for sending MIDI notes to Ableton Live to trigger clips, scenes, parameter settings…, and 1 cube as a “Sender” to trigger to the Receiver cubes.
For “Alone” I wanted to use each cube face to play a different note according to a predefined user scale that matched the notes in the song. AudioCubes can detect objects in one of two ways –Wirelessly (“Sender”/”Receiver” pairs), or through infrared (cube set to Sensor mode). In sensor mode, an object’s (hand, other cube, cat…) proximity to cube face is detected with infrared. Since I want to use my hand to trigger the note Sensor mode is the way to go.
Solution: Using Sensor Mode to Play Notes While the Sensor mode is normally used to send MIDI Continuous Controller (CC) values from 0-127 to control parameters on synths and your DAW, there are also options to send MIDI Notes based on minimum sensor thresholds.
Implementation: Configuring AudioCube Function in MIDIBridge Modes and settings for each cube are configured in the free app Percussa MIDIBridge. Click the image below to see a large version of the screenshot which illustrates how I configured individuals notes for Cube 1.
You can also see that even though I’ve set note triggering via the threshold, proximity to each cube face will case the LED intensity to respond according to the normal response curve and with a different color for each face. I continue this method with Cubes 2 & 3 to program the rest of the notes.
Calibration Like a Theremin, AudioCubes running in Sensor mode need to be calibrated. It’s not because they are analog, but instead to take into account the amount of ambient and infrared signal in the “control zone”. The screen shot above also shows how you can tweak gain to adjust for room – and of course you could experiment with “Threshold” as well. The darker the room the better fro the this particular method.
Virtual Ports, Ableton Live and Novaton Launchpad In my rig, MIDIBridge talks through virtual MIDI ports (Midi Yoke) to Ableton Live. Live is playing some minimal original background tracks from the original album offering me a frame of reference for my performance. The signals from the AudioCubes are routed to various virtual instruments such as Camel Audio Alchemy, Absynth 5, and Sonic Charge Synplant. I assigned buttons on the Novation Launchpad to select and arm tracks (sometimes multiple tracks) so I can swap instruments out from under the cubes without having to load another MIDIBridge Patch.
The End Result: “Alone” Rehearsal Video I shot this video back in September when I first figured all this out. I’m now actively rehearsing it and hope to add it to the show soon. The key to playing this song is to play just behind the pocket to give the notes more emotional tension. The AudioCubes are plenty sensitive enough to achieve this and the visual feedback not only helps the audience connect with the performance, but actually helps me with timing. As a musician, I really like the flow and feeling of the movement as well.
I shot this in 720p so if you have the bandwidth watch full screen at that resolution. I also captured audio right from my sound card so listen with good headphones or on a good sound system :^ ).
I just got an email from Moldover’s email list and thought I’d pass it along. Modover’s work was one the inspirations behind my 9 Box Method by the way.
Good news! I have finished assembling two NEW Social x Instruments. I call them The SyncoMasher and The MiniMasher. I'm taking these two and the reliable old Octamasher on tour with me for the month of March!
MultiMasher Tour - North-East US
I need YOUR help to make this tour a success. If you have a friend in any of these cities who might enjoy my work, please let them know when I'll be coming through their area. Full details and more are on my events page.
03/07 Providence, RI - Live show 03/08 Boston, MA - Live show 03/10 Madison, WI - PlayShop & live show 03/11 Chicago, IL - Live show 03/14 Austin, TX - Live show 03/18 Columbus, OH - Live show 03/19 New York City, NY - DJ set 03/20 Ithaca, NY - Live show 03/19 New York City, NY - PlayShop 03/25 Boston, MA - DJ set & PlayShop
The SyncoMasher
Using techniques I learned building The Mojo, I created a five-sided instrument called The SyncoMasher. I like to play it together with my controllerist friends in an amorphous group I call "The SyncoMasher Quintet". This 'Masher is loaded with songs from my album and it is tremendous fun to perform with.
The MiniMasher
Sometimes less is more. The MiniMasher is easy to setup, it's transparent so you can see all the inner workings, and it's got lots of blinkie lights. This 'Masher will feature original, selectable sounds-sets from my music-producing friends. Adults love it. Kids love it. Cats love it. Makes a great coffee table.
The Octamasher
Now in its' fifth year of service, the good 'ol Octamasher is still bringing sample-mashing fun to thousands of people each year at festivals and colleges. OCTAGONAL DRUM CIRCLE FROM THE FUTURE! Who would've thunk it?
My nephew is a huge gamer and turned me on to this video via Joystiq. The Kinect is nothing short of amazing for gaming and I’m very intrigued that Microsoft Research is looking to take this to the next level. I see a huge potential in all this for controllerism and lots of game changers in this video for artists - both music and visual, and for the audiance. Hopefully Microsoft can productize this technology as well as they did with Kinect.
I received a Korg microKEY USB powered as a gift over the holidays – woot! Here is a hands-on review.
Size It’s bigger than I expected. Here are some shots giving you some perspective. Here it is when compared to an Akai LP2K25.
Here it is compared to my Novation Remote SL 25.
And finally, a shot of it in my laptop back pack.
So as you can see it’s not quite as backpack ready as some of the competition, but it is quite portable considering the number of keys.
Mini Keys
It has the the same synth action 37-key velocity sensitive keyboard as the MicroKorg XL. I like the action quite a bit. Korg says “The proportions of the black keys and white "waterfall" keys have been adjusted for optimal playability, and the key touch makes it easy to play chords, glissandos, and rapid-fire phrases.” – I agree. Unlike the Akai, the white “waterfall” keys on the Korg go down to the case so they are less likely to get snagged when sliding in and out of a gig bag.
Modulation & Pitch Wheels Besides feel, the mod and pitch wheels are the reason I wanted this controller. I love to do “couch potato” sound design and have been frustrated that all the small controllers don’t have a mod wheel. Well the microKEY addresses this nicely.
Octave Buttons
You can transpose using the octave buttons. The buttons change color with each press giving you instant visual feedback on the setting.
Green = 1 Octave
Orange = 2 Octaves
Red = Three Octaves
Blinking Red = 4 Octaves
USB Hub
There are two USB ports on the side allowing you to use the keyboard as a HUB. This is a pretty nice idea if you wanted to quickly hook up other nano controllers (or any USB device) without having to bring along another hub. Nice touch Korg!
Editor As with other Korg controllers, you can use the KORG KONTROL Editor to set velocity curves and and mod wheel range.
Price At $99, I think the microKey is a great value when you consider it's also a USB hub.
Final Thoughts The microKey is the best feeling Mini-key keyboard I’ve played to date - much better than the button feel of the original NanoKey or the spongy action of the Akai.
The microKEY seems is a good choice for players and sound designers on the go who want a nice velocity sensitive synth feel with pitch and mod wheels but don’t necessarily need the unit to fit all the way into the pack.
The microKEY is now my controller of choice for “couch potato” sound design work with VSTs! Link Official Product Page - http://www.korg.com/Product.aspx?pd=579
