Kent Williams writes us to share his new, free TR-727 sample pack, based on the Latin-slanted Roland TR-727. Kent explains the hardware:  “The TR-727 is, of course, the ‘Latin’ version of the TR-707 — same hardware, but Latin percussion samples instead of a trap set.”

Also seen on the Ableton Live forums and on Oliver Chesler’s wire to the ear; Oliver evidently owned one of these bad boys! (I miss having gear like this, though I wonder if an open source drum machine for this sort of simple sound could be next.)

So we don’t hose Kent’ bandwidth, here’s a mirror on CDM of the files:

727Samples.zip

He was inspired by GoldBaby’s recordings of unusual equipment, including the German Vermona drum machine and 606 and 808 sample packs as recorded on a cassette recorder. Accordingly, you get some different variations on the recording, rather than simply making everything “pure” and boring.

4 versions of each sound:

• Original - direct to RME Hammerfall DSP/Multiface.
• TubeEQ - recorded through a Behrenger Tube Ultra-
• TubeAmp-Clean & TubeAmp-Dirty - played through a Peavey Classic 20 Tube guitar amp, and recorded with a Shure Beta 87-A microphone and ART Tube Pre.

More Free Samples:

Here are the sounds that got Kent going. We really need a user sample library up on CDM! Any tips on how you’d like us to do that, let me know.

Free Soundware Round-up: Vintage Drum Machine, Nerdy IDM Samples

Free Tape-Recorded Samples of Roland TR-606, 808

Image by Roland Corp, via a terrific Japanese site full of scans.

You’ve seen plenty of live rigs with mile-high stacks of keyboards and sound modules. But this setup is different: one of the world’s best bands is using an elaborate setup of software synths. Binding it all together is one of the most sophisticated software configurations I’ve ever seen, the fruits of labors by of our friend Jonathan Adams Leonard – a talented musician and technologist – in Kore 2. I wouldn’t exactly recommend this kind of setup to anyone else; it involved pushing Kore to its bleeding edge. But Jonathan’s walk-through of the hardware and software programming for this show is an inspiring one. (For us mere mortals, Jonathan does have a fantastic, free collection of modular tools for Kore, built and editable in Reaktor.)

Jonathan goes through every gory detail of the setup on our special Kore minisite. We’ll have more on Interpol’s tour soon to follow up:

Behind the Scenes with Interpol: Obsessive Details of Hardware, Kore Software Rig [Kore @ CDM, kore.noisepages.com]

And in addition to the software, there’s the rich hardware setup, as assembled by Chad Miller (Lenny Kravitz), assisted by Ally Christie (QOTSA, Mogwai). Yes, these are some of the best techs on the planet, working hard for one of the biggest bands. Good stuff. I wish I could have been in Gdansk, Poland (seen below).

It’s cheaper than dedicated Digidesign hardware or automation surfaces – and it’s pricier than all the other iPhone / iPod Touch music apps we’ve seen. But Alex le Lievre has made his iPhone Pro Tools controller software, a story we broke on CDM in December, available on Apple’s store. And it’s the most like a pro … tool of any app we’ve seen yet.

The idea, as we originally saw, is fully duplicating your Pro Tools onscreen interface in a touchable interface on your iPod Touch or iPhone, complete with interactive feedback on channel settings, audio levels, and the like.

The updated release is ProRemote 1.0. A “lite” version is US$39.95, but the full version will set you back US$149.95. That’s caused some complaints from about everyone with whom I’ve talked about this, although I have to say if the resulting tool is useful to you, that’s in line with other “pro” music software (which I expect was the idea). I do think, though, that a lower price might have helped this be an impulse buy for all the Pro Tools users out there.

Pricing aside, the app itself is amazing. Thanks to all of you for the flood of tips on this one, as well. (My general sense is, we’re all skeptical of the iPhone, but likewise interested in seeing what it can do. There wasn’t any rampant “fanboyism” in any of those tips.)

Here’s a video of the new release in action:

A big surprise announcement from Livid, the VJ software / boutique A/V controller maker: Livid Looper is a new, free audio looping tool, built in Max 5.

Click through for the full image; it’s quite lovely with … um, butterflies and such. (Strap that solar panel to your MacBook and take it camping!)

Built around the Ohm hardware controller from Livid, but certainly adaptable to the interface of your choice, the Max 5-based software has some very nifty features for live performance:

• Audio looping, slicing, dicing, and scrambling
• Built-in audio effects, plus VST support – and a built-in Granulator for time-shift / scrambling effects
• Instant audio recording
• Interactive waveform display for selecting loops (or chop them up automatically)
• Beat-synced, sequenced gesture recording – meaning effects can be added in performance and locked to the loop
• MIDI learn (in case you don’t have an Ohm)
• OpenSoundControl support, for easy networking of data to other laptops, or multiple apps / VJ apps on one laptop

As you can see below, it is Ohm centric – making that already very sweet controller this much sweeter – but is likewise generic enough that you own preferred controller should work just fine. Livid also promises that this could work well with a cheap laptop like the Eee (though for now you will need Windows or, at the very least, Linux + WINE).

You’ll need the full version of Max 5 to edit it, but once you do the patch is fully open source, so you can hack it do your own thing. (Max 5 is great, but I wonder if anyone will port to Pd for an end-to-end open source experience? Or perhaps there are some similar Pd patches to consider, dear Pd community? Pd would also give you instant Linux compatibility – at least until Max is available on Linux, ahem, Cycling ‘74.)

It’s too bad Ableton Live doesn’t support OSC, as these two would go together quite nicely linked via OSC (though you should be able to sync them via MIDI, I’d imagine).

Available now for Mac and Windows, fully free as in beer and freedom and beer freedom:

Livid Looper

Let us know how you like it when you give it a try!

Mixxx is an impressive-looking, fully free and open source DJ package for Mac (Intel only), Windows, and Linux. (It’s also the featured DJ tool on the Indamixx, Linux-based ultra mobile PC – mine just arrived, so hands-on is coming soon.)

Adam Davison from the Mixxx development team points out some juicy features in the new 1.6.0 release, out yesterday:

We now support vinyl control with Serato, Traktor, and FinalScratch vinyl, as well as Serato CD. This means that you can use vinyl control to drive your mixes without having to buy expensive software or branded soundcards. We also have greatly improved support for MIDI controllers such as the Hercules Mk2 and RMX.

Other features:

• MP3, OGG, WAV, FLAC support
• The usual DJ stuff: dual waveform display, pitch-independent time stretch (key lock), BPM detection
• Crossfader curve control
• Adjustable EQ shapes
• Wave recording
• Multichannel playback and capture support
• Multi-core CPU support, GPU-accelerated OpenGL graphics display

And unlike some open source music tools, it’s got a polished website with lots of documentation. High performance could be a big draw, particularly on Linux. I’ll let you know how it works coupled with a custom Linux distribution, mobile device, and touchscreen on the Indamixx. (Personally, I like the idea of keeping a DJ mix ready to go on a portable or older machine, alongside the usual live laptop set.)

Stay tuned.

Mixxx: Free DJ Software

Mixxx blog

[Note: as reader bliss kindly pointed out, Mixxx has three X’s, Indamixx has two X’s; quit with all these extra letters, already!]

When I first saw the iPhone at Apple’s keynote in 2007, my first thought was, this could be an interesting controller: big, pretty display, accelerometer sensors, and multi-touch input. It’s not without some problems (namely, small amounts of latency, the lack of tactile feedback inherent to touchscreens, and the size of your fingers reducing accuracy). But with refurb iPod Touch devices going for US$200 and the flexibility of having an interactive, handheld display, it remains an intriguing possibility.

Nonnus’s new iTM MidiLab (released by Silicon Studios) is a suite of MIDI controller apps. It’s free, with a planned future commercial version. It only works with networked Mac OS X 10.5 computers, so Windows and Tiger users are left out for now (because of the client app required).

Unfortunately, the app itself is held up by contract and distribution issues which seem to be plaguing many iPhone/iPod Touch developers; see a separate article on things mobile Apple developers are unhappy about. But in the meantime, Nonnus sends some details. Updated: Nonnus also notes that latency reports from users have been very positive.

See also the project site:

iTouchMidi (the original project name, rejected by Apple)

And discussion on the Ableton forum:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=95117

Nonnus sends along some additional details in a rough/informal email, with images, to CDM:

Whether you care about the iPhone or not, the Summer of iPhone Development reveals a lot about where mobile computing, and mobile music creation, might be headed. That includes Apple’s challenges as well as its accomplishments.

Despite the hype around Apple’s platform, the iPhone and iPod Touch have some strengths and weaknesses, just as any platform does. The strengths you probably know well by now: slick UIs, rich, mobile-optimized developer tools, and a device people love. That has given us some interesting, genuinely-useful music tools amidst the toys and novelties, demonstrating how even a niche can benefit from development capabilities. But the tight development and distribution restrictions, imposed by Apple and their exclusive US service provider AT&T, have compounded some of the negatives of the device. The result is a platform that has some developers raving and some ranting (sometimes simultaneously).

The big news for digital musicians, specifically, is that restrictions created by Apple may keep some music apps from shipping, or for supporting Apple’s official, exclusive SDK and store.

Case in point: the tasty-looking MIDI controller you see above hasn’t made it into the store - and it’s not alone. If the developer were able to distribute it, you’d have it right now. With Apple controlling the store, you might have it tomorrow, or next month, or never - the frustrating thing being, the developer doesn’t even know. And poor communication in regards to the store is just one challenge that’s turning some developers off from Apple’s device.

Digital music creation was built on the openness of the Windows, Mac, Linux, and even Palm and Windows Mobile platforms. That means the situation with Apple’s locked-down development channels is one to watch closely. It also could mean the jailbroken, hacked iPhone platform is here to stay — and that competing platforms could gain some ammunition from Apple’s relatively closed nature.

Not All Developers Are Happy

It goes without saying that some of Apple’s moves have made some developers very happy indeed. The iPhone/iPod Touch is a platform that strikes a unique balance between desktop-class functionality and what’s needed on a mobile device. Developers have complained that platforms like PalmOS or Java ME are overly stripped-down for mobiles, whereas Windows Mobile isn’t optimized enough and is too much like the desktop OS. Apple has done a lot to balance those concerns and wrap it into a beautifully-designed UI and hardware. (To see just how much they’ve done, look no further than AppleInsider’s iPhone 2.0 critique. Even as they complain about the iPhone’s flaws, they note the ways in which competing devices are worse.)

But that doesn’t mean all of Apple’s developers are happy campers. Here’s a quick round-up of some of the complaints:

Live beginners, want to graduate to Live ninja? Sample pack maker Infrasonik has posted a video that walks you through a number of shortcuts for Ableton’s software. (Via wire to the ear and Synthtopia; I agree with Synthtopia that the narration is a bit cheesy at moments, but yes, it’s still quite useful to have!)

I do find that video, while friendly, can be the least efficient way of getting at information. So here are the shortcuts in text form. These were also in Mac form, so I’ve provided Windows “translation”:

• Option-F11 (PC: F11 alone): Full screen mode
• Option-Cmd-B (PC: Ctrl-Alt-B): Open/close browser (and arrow keys scroll).
• Shift-TAB (PC: TAB alone): Switches between Arrange View and Session View (the linear track view and live performance-oriented clip view, respectively).
• Shift-SPACE: Starts/stops playback at the current playhead position; i.e., it’s a pause function. (SPACE alone starts at the beginning of the song.)
• Cmd-1,2,3,4 (PC: Ctrl-1,2,3,4): Adjusts the active quantization grid in current clips while editing. This one is really essential, of course.
• Cmd-arrow keys (PC: Ctrl-1,2,3,4): Controls Loop Region length. This really speeds up editing in a big way. Up/down uses a large increment (doubling/halving), whereas the right and left arrow keys use a small increment.
• Cmd-D (PC: Ctrl-D): Duplicate (and it duplicates everything, so it’s handy in Session View)
• Cmd-I (PC: Ctrl-I): Insert silence
• Cmd-B (PC: Ctrl-B): Draw Mode – essential for being able to switch between drawing and selection in clip piano roll, envelopes, etc.
• Shift-Cmd-I (PC: Ctrl-Cmd-I): Capture and Insert Scene. This cleans up your set by taking combinations and automatically inserting them in scenes.

(Okay, yeah, I sometimes call it the “Apple” key, but technically, that hasn’t been its name since the Apple II. Really. The sound of “open Apple – X” still makes me sigh with nostalgia, though.)

If you want all the keyboard shortcuts in Live, they’re in the Live manual. Choose Help > Read the Live Manual… and you’ll find it as the last chapter, chapter 28. But Infrasonik did a terrific job of picking out all the best ones, including some that even us old-hat Live users might have forgotten. (Yeah, I’ll admit is. I didn’t know about Capture and Insert Scene.)

Show those Canadian gurus some love:

Infrasonik

More Live Tutorials

Still want more Ableton Live knowledge? Oliver Chessler at Wire to the Ear has thoughtfully assembled a YouTube playlist of helpful Live tutorials. You may have seen some before, but it’s nice to have them all in one place. Because it’s a playlist, you can just scroll through via the player below. Enjoy:

And for still more Live wisdom, Ableton just posted an interview with Hot Chip in which they talk about how they use the tool. (Via Sonic State.)

XLR8R TV Episode 71: Daedelus from XLR8RTV on Vimeo.

XLR8RTV has a fantastic video interview with one of my favorite artists, Daedelus. The man is, as always, like pure musical joy. He talks about his musical influences, the early connections he made (including at USC, alma mater of a number of the CDM community), his approach to live performance, the virally-popular open source monome controller, and, yes, that pro-Obama song. (The original lyrics were catchier.)

The monome connection is an interesting case in music technology. Daedelus was the first artist to gig regularly with the device, possibly helping both him and the monome gain some buzz. It’s not just a gimmick, either, because he remains one of the most virtuosic, erm, monomists on the planet.

But technology aside, Daedelus is one of those guys who can charge up your faith in the future of live computer music. Enjoy!

(And Daedelus, if you’re out there, we’ll have to have you sit down with the CDM TV cameras next time I’m in LA. I promise … well, poorer production values. But maybe we can add some special effects in post or something that XLR8R was too tasteful to do. Like have you fly on your monome as though it’s a magic carpet.)

In other news, CDM’s own Liz “Quantazelle” McLean Knight is featured in a podcast look at the Chicago scene.

Don’t toss that Windows Mobile gadget yet. In fact, you might want to keep glued to Craig’s List for a used unit, if you like the idea of road warrior music production on the cheap, sans laptop.

Amidst all the hype around the iPhone and iPod Touch, Windows Mobile devices could actually win on power apps for on-the-go music making. Maybe that’s because of the similarity to developing Windows desktop apps, maybe it’s because of fewer restrictions compared to Apple’s SDK, or maybe some combination of that and fortune. Nonetheless, during this Summer of iPhone, the makers of powerful Windows Mobile sequencer/sampler studio Griff note on their new blog that Windows Mobile just got a new music app.

Yes, you read that right: a new app for Windows Mobile.

Wildly enough, MeTeoR is basically a pocket-able miniature DAW, boasting:

• 12 tracks of audio with stereo mixdown
• Audio waveform editing with cut, copy, paste, and processing (fade, normalize, reverse, etc.)
• Various effects (delay, chorus, reverb, phaser, filters, pitch shift, noise gate, graphic EQ, and more), with routable aux sends
• Metronome with live recording
• A mixer with full automation envelopes for each tracks (for the mixer lanes and effects)

The whole thing is basically reminiscent of an old version of Cakewalk for Windows, only running in your pocket. I could see it as fairly useful for doing some quick processing or pre-processing on a big project – load those extra files on the subway and keep working on that project, even if you’re up against a deadline.

Not only that, but because the system requirements are fairly flexible and used Windows Mobile devices are fairly worthless, you could easily rescue someone’s unused PDA and press it into service as a music device. They’ll thank you. The environment will thank you.

US$29.95, but unlike Apple’s iTunes store, you can download a demo version. (Imagine that.)

All of this is on paper (erm, pixels); no promises, as I haven’t used it yet. I have to brush off my Dell PDA and give this a try. I know there’s a charger here somewhere…

MeTeoR @ 4pockets.com [Demo download and purchase links, detailed features]