Further my post concerning BeatBurner, I got around to installing it onto my DAW. Figured if I was gonna run my mouth off…

Though I downloaded the full package, I haven’t yet installed the included beats. While BeatBurner only processes 16bit wavs - we’re digital lofi so we don’t let that stop us, do we? - I have plenty of fodder for this thing. More than a few folders full of my early ACID loop collections, various freeware loops, stuff culled off Brit music mag cover disks - a bunch of crap to be sure, but some that have stood me well over the years - mostly shopworn breakbeats, but some other oddball stuff I’ve picked up. I thought I’d run them through it, let me evaluate the ‘burners potential on material I am well familiar with.

And it is indeed very cool. So, yes, not a beat-slicer. More like a very musical audio modulating filter synth wave-shaper thing. Every loop I loaded up sounded great and made me want to squirrel it away for later use. With just a bit of fiddling you can coax some unique sounds out of it, depending on what you’re feeding it. It’s a one trick pony, more or less, but it’s a great trick that sounds fantastic once you know what you’re doing, more or less.

It seems petty to fault the program’s shortcomings since it’s a few years old and, you know, free. They are what they are - off the top of my head I can think of 4 things I wish it did or did better - but since we’re all more or less in agreement that what sounds good is good no matter what goddamn bit-rate it was recorded at, it is a nice tool for getting some new use out of old sounds, and has a lot of inspiration potential. Tip: Disengage the sync on the delay and lfo for instant dub fun.

So I’m definitely going to kick into the coffer once the next paycheck comes in.

EDIT: Okay, so I’ve spent some more time with it, and not so right with the “one trick pony” thing. It actually has quite a few tricks up its sleeve. It would be great if it did 24bit samples, just for the breadth of shit you could throw at it. So, it’s not Kontakt. But it’s way more capable and interesting than a lot of commercial synths.

• I’ve said before, I’m not inclined to fault companies for what they didn’t put in their product - I generally know what I’m getting into when I fork over for a license and trust that it will meet my expectations. I’ll even be pretty forgiving for “bugs” and what I see as over-sights/blunders in the execution - to a point of course. And, as I’ve also said, most of the companies we’re talking about in the independent audio software world are benign to very cool. But indulge me in climbing on my rackety and feeble pulpit and address my benefactors over at Native Instruments.

Greetings Native Instruments Co.,

Congratulations on all the great products you’ve been releasing lately. I hope you’ve been having a lot of success with them. However, I want to specifically address your upgrade policy on your Kontakt line of products.

I’ve been using Kontakt since literally the day it arrived at a local Mega Lo Guitar Mart and upgraded to version 2 because of all the fine work you put into improving and expanding the product. It’s been great. I even purchased the tutorial DVD to more fully utilize it’s deeper features; to what extent this is actually the case is sorta besides the point. Suffice to say, I’ve acquired (legally it should be said) a lot of soundware that does fully utilize Kontakt’s deeper features.

The latest version Kontakt 3 looks pretty swell also. Looks like you improved a lot of the features. Perhaps not a whole version upgrade. But, you know, it’s your product you can give it what number you want really; who am I to judge the work that went into it? I look forward to trying it out.

My problem is this: Why do I have to buy the whole library that comes with it? Honestly, I don’t really use the 2 NI Kontakt libraries I have as it is. And while I’m sure you’ve done some stunning work on improving the included library, and the reports seem pretty favorable, I don’t see this being a whole lot different. I’ve got a lot of these sounds well covered, and the last thing my sample drive needs is more redundancy.

I’m guessing it’s because you want to keep it a boxed product, no? That even with your very well implemented registration management, and your high profile, a boxed product is more like a “physical thing” - shelf space and all that - and thus somehow less prone to being ripped off or dismissed as not worth the investment. Okay, I may well be grasping, but, seriously, couldn’t you offer an “engine”-only download update for users? Well, I know you *could*, but for some reason you don’t. No offense to the many sound designers and editors who put together your library. But I just don’t need it. And it seems a waste for me to buy a whole lot of packaging and content for what probably comes to about 20MB of program and plugin files.

And, yes, I know it’s only around $130.00 street. It’s not really the price so much as it is the waste of it all. Offering it for under 90 bucks from you website seems a reasonable amount to pay considering what you’re charging for the boxed upgrade.

I’ll just give in and get it I suppose. I’ll get sick of manually exporting MIDI files, or trying to built multis will finally drive me batty and I’ll get the packaging then go ahead then download the latest build. Either that or you’ll release Kontakt 4 and just upgrade to that. Or, considering how I’ve wound up with a lot of your products, just before the next version is released you’ll blow out the remaining stock of 3 and I’ll just pay what it would theoretically cost me for a download now. And then start the cycle again…

Do you see the folly?

Cheers,

Your Customer,
Digital Lo-Fi

Of all my posts over the last year, by far the most viewed has been my post on the open-source-ing of the DiscoDSP Highlife sampler. People love the open source. The project is not without its controversy - for a lot reasons I don’t understand and have no opinion about - but is still something I think is a good move for the alternative audio software world.

Since that post both the commercial version and the source code have been updated. Not in tandem; it appears there is a fork in the project, and the commercial version exists independently of the open-source version, i.e. features and improvements in the new commercial version do not necessarily appear in the source code. But the source code now has an official update with some new features. And I like to believe that somewhere a developer or neophyte is tinkering away and will release something none of us saw coming.

I’ve mentioned it before, Rayzoon Jamstix is a great value for the Windows-based project studio. It has another update that adds a boat-load of new features and fixes. I’m not using it much these days because I’m not doing much composing or creating, but when I start writing again I’m hoping to get some good use out of this.

And here’s a new old one: Beatburner, possibly one of the best names for an audio production tool, is now Free. As in lunch, erm… beer… erm… well, free software.

I haven’t had the time to install and give it a whirl, but that the developer turned what was, he says, a commercial “meh” into a hotly downloaded piece of software that will be powering thousands of users’ digital lofi tracks for the next few years is a Great Thing. And he’s supporting the swarm all on his own time and dime. There’s a new torrent which should ease some of the burden, and I’ve badgered him into putting up a PayPal donate. Give the guy a few bucks if you’ve downloaded it, or are planning to. He said something like 20,000 (!) downloads; if everyone gave one or two (insert currency here) he’d have made a nice little return on his investment.

And, as always, to stay up-to-date on all things computer audio related, soundware and software, rekkerd.org is a great blog. And his “short links” roundups are always interesting.

Chris @ AI is running an interesting open thread inviting readers to dream up their own plugins/software.

Being the software geek I am, this is something I’ve thought about before. So, to further refine my initial idea:

A 12×12¹ MPC-style grid. The cells can be triggered individually or in groups, and rows and columns can be triggered horizontally, vertically or, why not?, diagonally. Grouping could be done by color. Each cell can contain either a MIDI or an audio clip (REX, wav, aiff), play either looped or as a one-shot, forward and reverse. Drag ‘n’ drop between cells. MIDI cells can contain note and/or control data. Each cell, group, row and column can be mapped to a MIDI trigger.

Integrated Piano roll MIDI editing and a beat slicer.

Now here’s the thing: the MIDI can be routed completely internally. So the MIDI in one cell can modulate various parameters on any number of other cells: the MIDI-steps in one cell routed to the CC# of another cell, or the velocity of another, or to the clock-division of the whole engine. If you can think of it, it can be wired up in the matrix. Throw in a hosting engine, so you can put in put in your synths and effects, or build chains, and the steps of the MIDI cells can be routed to the exposed plugin parameters of the plugin. Or MIDI VSTs can be hosted and send/receive data through the matrix.

Oh yeah, you can record directly from one cell to another, or from one output routed back into an empty cell. No multi-channel audio recording, but a single stereo in would be useful. 16 configurable outs, though. Right? So, a real sampler.

The whole thing can run stand-alone or as a plugin - or ReWire or Jack I suppose - and it outputs multi-out audio *and* multi-out MIDI. So you could build a complete sequence/song in the software, wire it up to your host, and record the complete ball of wax. Or perhaps there could be a “track” sequencer, that in a record mode records the sequencing of the channels and cells.

Obviously, this is hugely based on the GrooveMatrix of Project5. It may be glaringly similar to Live; I wouldn’t really know. There’s a bit of Tenori in there, too. And some energyXT as well. Basically, I’ve just cobbled together all the bits I like about other software/plugins and put it into one package. But in my software there is minimal bloat.

^{1Originally I thought 32×32 but doing the wireframe I realized this is way too much information for a GUI so I whittled it down.}

EDIT: Due should also go to cakewalk form member “b rock” Tom Brockway for doing the heavy lifting on this one. The whole MIDI-routing thing was something he was talking about in one of those old threads wish-list thread I can’t be bothered to dig up.

Okay, as long as Antares still produces hardware units that can keep aging popstars in tune during the national anthem or the American Idol Tour on something resembling pitch night after night, Autotune isn’t likely to go anywhere. Besides, the name Autotune as entered the vernacular, like ProTools or Q-Tips, where people use a brand name as shorthand for the task performed rather than a specific product.

But in terms of the software used for pitch correction, Autotune is about to be totally pwned.

I’ve been using Melodyne since it’s first version (in its cre8 iteration), when it still didn’t integrate into other software but at all (lots of exporting and importing) and have kept up with the updates as the software has progressed, despite the fact that I don’t actually use it that much. (Not because I sing that well, just that most of the music I’ve been working at present on is sans vocals.) I didn’t buy the plugin version but I did get their “Medolyne Bridge” working, more or less (tempo changes tend to throw it for a loop).

I avoided Autotune mostly because of its PACE copy-protection, and because once I tried the demo of Melodyne, the Autotune plugin felt cramped and fiddly. And I couldn’t get nearly the same quality of results. I just grokked with Melodyne. Even if you’re not using it to tame woolly vocals, it’s great for mashing up samples and loops, or taking uninteresting spoken vocal samples and making them melodic.

And now Celemony has announced the next generation of Medolyne with something their calling DNA: Direct Note Access. Which means you can take polyphonic material, say a guitar or piano chord, and split it up into its constituent notes and tune those individual notes. Here, watch the video. If it works 3/4 as well as that video we’ve moved into a whole ‘nother level of musical deconstruction.

Before you get too excited, keep in mind it’s scheduled for fall of this year, so it’s actual appearance is a ways down the line. The first of the Celemony Melodyne line to get it will be the plugin, and if you register between now and when this is released the update is free. The plugin is on sale at various online shops and at Mega-Lo Guitar Mart so now is a good time get in on this. They also offer many upgrade paths for all their products so visit their web shop and see what you qualify for.

I guess it’s time for me to buy the Melodyne Plugin.

Hey, check this out:

That’s about 6 hours of mucking about, using a not-complete selection of the included instruments. “Mixed” directly in Kontakt, a little Ambiance on a send, a taste of Vintage Warmer on the two bus.¹ Perhaps finalized a little too loud.

And I have no idea what I’m doing!

Well, that’s not entire true. You see…

As you may have heard, the Soniccouture Gamelan is indeed the business. A meticulously assembled and presented Kontakt library, it begs superlatives. It’s as challenging as it is effortless, as simple to assemble and play as it is mind-blowingly complex.

So imagine it in the hands of someone who has a greater musical mind than myself.²

Soniccouture has said that the primary audience seems to be those who will use this for soundtracks and scoring, beds of music for video games and such - and indeed, I imagine this will become a prominent part of our semi-collective soundscape. For someone who’s bread and butter it is turning out interesting and varied music this is a brilliant tool.

But here’s the thing. It’s a fascinating theoretical study of music and composition; a more esoteric aspect of musical theory now more easily available³ to the curious and studious. So I imagine that this would have huge appeal to the educational market as well. As a teaching tool this appears an essential companion to the written and visual record of this fascinating aspect of our collective musical culture.

Using the really clear and well-considered manual, reading and listening to each piece in context, it would be hard not take something away greater than just a cool sound you might use in one of your tracks. I sincerely believe I learned valuable musical information just putting together that demo.

Listen, I’m a long-in-the-tooth punk, underground, and sometimes pop guy who’s a johnny-come-lately to the world of electronic music composition. And what I’ve retained about theory could fit on a notecard. For me so much of this all is the exploration. Trying things and seeing what works and what doesn’t. Learning that which I didn’t know. (Sometimes it’s a joy being a neophyte because there’s a whole world open to you.) So, that I’m able to assemble something that may be technically imperfect but of which I’m not ashamed is a real testament to what Soniccouture has pulled off here. And there’s features I haven’t even begun to explore.

Finallly, I don’t know how much of the limited edition packaging they have - word is it was going quickly - but if you’re at all on the fence you’ll kick yourself if you miss this edition. It really conveys the value that this truly is. It reminded me of seeing PiL’s Metal Box for the first time and being completely impressed by what an amazing object it was.⁴ Even my girlfriend, who usually and understandably glazes over when I start talking about cool music software, remarked on how classy the packaging was.

—

Update: Just this morning Soniccouture released a Gamelan Set tuned to western equal temperament. In their words, “Some of you will appreciate the chance to play the Gamelan instruments in western tuning, and some of you will just ignore this version and tell us we’ve sold out.” I’m definitely in the former group.

—

^{1 I know I sound silly trying to sound like I know what I’m talking about.
2 I take it you’ve listened to the demos. If not, do so now. They’re really beautiful.
3Some people have groused about the price, which is considerably more than Soniccouture’s other products. It is what it is, and in my opinion it is more than worth it. My point being, it is not out of reach of universities and music tech schools.
4The first release of Project5 also elicited this reaction; that was a truly unique and cool piece of packaging.}

Somewhat long, poorly shot but cool video after the jump. Bare with it, it goes some interesting places:
(more…)