New Year’s Resolution: do cool new stuff. In celebration of the coming of 2009, I’ve got a set of tutorials to post here on createdigitalmusic and createdigitalmotion, so you can get a jump start on the new year by learning some new skills and making new music and visuals. First up: our friend Bill Van Loo has a great video tutorial on working with touch control on an iPod touch or iPhone.

The ingredient list here:

• TouchOSC, one of a handful of superb new touch controllers on the iTunes app store that supports the flexible, forward-thinking OpenSoundControl protocol. TouchOSC’s edge? Ready-to-use, clever, music-oriented control layouts.
• Ableton Live, a good choice because of its live-playing emphasis and solid hosting features
• BigSeq, Audio Damage’s fantastic analog-style sequencer plug-in
• OSCulator, the glue that holds the rest together by intelligently

In fact, even if you don’t have an Apple mobile gadget, you may find this useful: the OSCulator software on the Mac used for control processing can work with a variety of controllers. If you don’t want to spend $200+ on an iSomething, you can spend a few bucks on a Wii controller and run with that, or grab a SpaceNavigator (also very affordable) or Wacom tablet. (OSCulator is Mac only; PC users may want to check out the likes of GlovePIE.)

chromedecay studio look: TouchOSC with Ableton Live and BigSeq

Sure, we may live deep into the future. High in our Blade Runner apartment studios, we use androids for all of the vocals. Yet we still have that occasional need for good, old-fashioned compression. Like the soy-based dinners we microwave and the synthehol beer we wash it down with, it has to be simulated.

Audio Damage has earned its cult following thanks to inexpensive plug-ins with no-nonsense controls that just seem to fit into projects. So it’s nice to see his new, free Rough Rider compressor. Simple controls, a slight vintage tint, and crankable parameters – not the “careful with that, too far, total destruction!” feeling you get from, say, the unpredictable compressors included with some hosts.

I see on Twitter that Tom from Music thing likes Rough Rider, and he’s a hardware guy, so that’s a good sign. That means he didn’t just eBay some ancient, slightly irradiated piece of Russian equipment.

Rough Rider Download Page @ Audio Damage [Mac, Windows – yep, a free Mac plug-in!]

Via the Ruin & Wesen blog, here’s another way to approach compression in Ableton Live. Live may instantly make you a remix artist or loop addict, but it can’t turn you into a mastering engineer. That means you can either apply science (blech!) or complete voodoo. We choose a culture of voodoo.

My friend utofbu pointed me out the trick of using a Dynamic Tube in Ableton, with Dry/Wet on 50%, and output gain to -3db. This adds a subtle distortion to the sound which makes it more lively … I finally tweaked a "killer" combo which I saved as an Effect Rack, and now just throw it on the master channel once I’ve finished my song. It just makes everything sound a bit nicer, and it’s totally voodoo.

Ableton Compression Trick [Ruin & Wesen]

The magic ingredient turns out to be none other than the Vintape Reaktor Ensemble. If you own Reaktor, this could mean some free goodness to add to any host, not just Live – Vintape adding tape simulation, some other effect adding tube distortion and compression (or perhaps Rough Rider). The ensemble’s creator Stefan Knauthe writes:

Hello Userlibrarists, this is my very first ensemble. As you all know (or maybe not), i’m a huge fan of the scotish [sic] band "Boards of Canada". In Interviews they stated that they often use an old, almost defect Grundig tapemachine for recording, adding wow and flutter, saturation and hiss to the signal, to give it a "sound-ageing" feeling. This is what this ensemble simulates…: there are two wow&flutter units for left and right, followed by a saturation unit and a phaser/flanger section.

And, as we like to encourage in tools like Reaktor, creator Stefan borrowed from another Reaktor ensemble (from Jo Orgren) to get wow and flutter.

You can grab Vintape on the User Library at Native Instruments:

Simpler Vintape [the version R&W use]

Vintape Original

Got favorite compression tips? Give a holler, or send a holographic encoded message. Or just wait, because remember, CDM is monitoring everything you do.

What’s in for this season in music software? Cellular automata. You may have been exposed to a cellular automaton in the classic Game of Life; it’s basically a very simple biological simulator exposed as an intuitive, 2-dimensional grid of squares. If tic-tac-toe, Charles Darwin, and a petri dish of bacteria got together in one wild evening, you’d come up with something like this as a result. The Game of Life has been around since mathematician John Conway invented it in 1970, but lately it’s been cross-bred with music software to help patterns escape the rigid, boring repetition of traditional sequencer grids.

Cellular automata is in fine form on the beautiful, strange homebrew sequencer for the Nintendo DS, GlitchDS, which has had ongoing updates. It’s still fun as ever in Reaktor 5’s Newschool preset (old news, but enjoyable nonetheless). But in what’s so far the most anticipated plug-in release of the fall, CA takes on particularly powerful sonic possibilities in the first “experimental” release from beloved plug-in boutique Audio Damage:

Automaton [Product Page, Mac AU/VST; Windows VST]
Cost: US$49.99

Since the cellular automata grid can control anything, it’s what you hook it up to that matters — and that’s especially important, because it means instead of a set of knobs or sequence grid doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, CA “evolves” on its own, bringing much-needed change to your music. Automaton is a combination of a flexible CA sequencer with four effects:

1. Stutter (modulates a buffer, so you can combine Automaton with existing beat loops and patterns)
2. Modulate (a self-modulating ring modulator)
3. Bitcrush (which includes AD’s own “error” setting)
4. Replicate (based on their Replicant effect, which goes even further in the beat slicing realm a la Ableton’s Beat Repeat)

I’ve been playing around with the beta, and it’s just fantastic. I hope to finish off some special CDM presets and share them with you, though I’m a bit behind — let’s see if I can top the presets that come with the tool. One of the hallmarks of Audio Damage’s software in VST format is lots of MIDI learn support, and since it supports VST automation I anticipate some fun combining this with Kore. Either way, think easy tweaking and live performance control.

Now, question math geeks: any other cellular automata aside form the Game of Life that work well with music? I’m sure there are some experimental music projects out there that have used other CA, so link away.

Here are two tutorial videos of the tool in action, in case you haven’t seen them already:

Automaton Overview Pt. 1 – Sequencer… from Audio Damage on Vimeo.

Automaton Overview Pt. 2 – Effects… from Audio Damage on Vimeo.

The debate over copy protection in music software and anti-piracy tactics continues to heat up. Now Adam Schabtach of Audio Damage, the popular plug-in developer, has fired off a call for a boycott of products that use PACE and the iLok hardware dongle. And that means that Waves is again a target, in this case because Adam himself had technical difficulties resulting from the copy protection scheme. But here’s his argument: the problem isn’t copy protection per se, it’s that developers have to cede control to a third party when the technology breaks.

This points up the biggest problem with PACE: if something goes really wrong, the maker of the PACE-wrapped product can’t help you. They didn’t invent PACE, they can’t fix bugs in PACE, they often don’t even know enough about PACE to troubleshoot it (which is not so much a reflection of their ignorance but of the sheer arcane complexity of PACE and the amount of information about it which its makers do not release even to their customers). Their only recourse is to tell you to wipe your hard drive bare and start again. This is one of many reasons that Audio Damage doesn’t use PACE: we want to help our customers make music, and we don’t want to be in a position in which we have to say “sorry, can’t help you” if something goes wrong with one of our products. Of course, unlike Audio Damage, Waves doesn’t offer a money-back guarantee for their products, so in the end I was stuck with software I’d paid for but couldn’t use.

Adam just doesn’t like copy protection, right? Well, no, in fact. The issue is that while PACE fails to stop piracy (something admitted by Waves themselves as they sue studios around the world for millions of dollars), PACE did succeed in stopping Adam from using his software:

I went to the Waves website, logged in to my account, downloaded the latest installer, and retrieved my iLok from the shelf upon which it was gathering dust. I backed up my hard drive (”once bitten, twice shy” and I’ve been bitten way more than once by PACE), launched the installer, and held my breath. The installer almost immediately informed me that it had to restart my PC, so I let it. It launched itself automatically after the PC rebooted, started the installation process, and then my good faith and efforts were rewarded with [a Windows Blue Screen of Death].

… A PC running Windows puts this up when something goes really, really wrong and the OS makes the unilateral decision to bring all proceedings to a halt in order to prevent further mishap. Seeing this screen is the computer equivalent of seeing your car deploy its airbags.

The final analysis:

PACE doesn’t stop piracy; any copy-protection system can, and will be, defeated. What PACE does do is prevent legitimate users of software products from using products which they’ve paid for.

Why I Boycott Products That Use PACE/iLok (and Why You Should, Too)

PACE/iLok is the leading provider of this kind of copy protection, so I expect we may hear a response. If I can get a statement from them, I’ll post that soon. But I will say, Adam is not alone in his frustration. Developers will continue to make the choices they feel are right for their business, which is their prerogative — but it’s likewise the choice of their customers to vote with their wallets. I do know users who are perfectly comfortable with iLok. Let us know how you feel, and whether copy protection has influenced your purchasing decisions.

Updated: Note that we’re talking about two different kinds of copy protection offered by PACE. One is the PACE software protection, which does not use a hardware dongle (or “hardware key” as PACE prefers to call it). The other is the iLok.

Already, readers are split: we’ve got Max/MSP users (myself included) who haven’t had problems with PACE software protection, and even some iLok hardware users who haven’t been bothered. But there are some strong arguments against the hardware dongles, to the point of cutting into sales, something developers may want to watch closely. Keep the feedback coming.

Your best bet: don’t install the updates the Software Update recommends unless you can easily go back to the previous version. And hold off on 10.4.9 for now.

Users and developers are understandably angry with Apple: rather than bundle updates together, Apple has been making lots of minor changes in successive updates, and developers too often find about changes after things break. That’s especially problematic when the changes are being made to an API like AU — the whole point is supposed to be providing a solid platform for developers. Apple either needs to adjust the way it rolls out updates or communicate better with its developers. Be aware, as well, that the upcoming 10.5 upgrade is an enormous release; I expect you may want to wait for updates to catch up with that when it comes out (when that is, no one knows).

Now, no Windows vs. Mac arguments, please: the bottom line is, developers are having a rougher time than they should on both platforms. (On the Vista side, what I’ve heard from developers is that they had the same difficulties the rest of us did — it was tough to get test systems up and running because of new compatibility and driver issues, so it was hard to test in advance.) Updates and the resulting bugs are a necessary evil, but there’s clearly room for improvement on both the Apple and Microsoft side that could result in a healthier, happier platform for everyone.

Teaser… Pt. 3

Like Beat Repeat in Ableton Live , Replicant performs some automatic slicing and dicing of incoming audio with randomization, so you can stutter, shuffle, and scramble drum tracks and other audio material. Unlike Beat Repeat, Replicant will have “a much more comprehensive timing mechanism, resonant filters, pan position, bit reduction, and more sophisticated randomization features.”

Beat Repeat certainly has its detractors. I happen to be a fan — not initially, but after I spent some time sorting the interface. But I’ve been longing for another tool to do some of the things Beat Repeat can’t. This could fit the bill. It also inspires me to spend some time with Reaktor working on other audio processing ideas.

And, of course, we love replicants. (I think I’ll name my next Reaktor patch Cylon Hybrid.)

[tags]previews, beta, software, plug-ins, Mac, Windows, Audio-Damage, effects[/tags]

Despite the embarassment of riches that is available effect plug-ins, sometimes an effect is special enough that, on its own, it becomes a favorite. If you feel like there’s a gap in your reverb collection, Audio Damage’s new Reverence could become one of those plug-ins.

Classic vintage digital reverbs were capable of unique, rich plate simulations unlike any other kind of reverb. (Yes, digital hardware is now old enough to be called vintage.) You’ve probably already used a preset that attempts to recreate this sound, but if you’re using the typical reverb bundled in your DAW, the results are often downright awful. Many convolution reverbs include lush sampled plates, some of them even recorded from impulse files of digital gear, but a convolution interface is rarely the best way to control these effects and this technique is tremendously CPU costly. There’s hardware like the Lexicon MPX series, but most of us want plug-ins.

Reverence is the new plug-in from Audio Damage built specifically as an emulation of digital ‘verbs of yore. (The front panel recalls the Lexicon 200.) I’ve been throwing it into mixes since a pre-release version came out last week. While I’ve generally trimmed down the number of plug-ins I use, this one has fast become essential.

The focus on doing one thing and doing it well pays off here:

1. Clear front panel and simple controls: In this case, emulating hardware makes everything easy to see and follow conceptually. Reverence’s controls are pretty much limited to what you’ll need.
2. Light on CPU: Audio Damage claims this uses an “optimized algorithm” and sure enough, even on the long reverbs the CPU meter doesn’t tick. (My test machine this week is an Athlon64 x2 3800+ PC running Reverence as a VST in Ableton Live 5.2.) If you’re looking for a live performance reverb, this could be a good choice, especially compared to using plate and digital impulses in a convolution reverb like Apple Space Designer.
3. MIDI learn: Like Audio Damage’s other controls, VST MIDI mapping capabilities are included. The controls also mapped perfectly to my Novation ReMOTE SL, which always benefits from having a few, simple controls to manipulate. You wouldn’t want to use the size control onstage, but you could get effects by adjusting the output mix, input mute, and reverb stop controls.

Most importantly, this plug-in sounds terrific. Plates rock. You can hear some more creative examples of Reverence working on synths and vocals in the examples from Audio Damage. I’ll second that, but subtle effects on vocals, synths, keyboards, and drums are also in order. Here are two typical examples.

First, using the piano plate preset, applied to the Steinway D from Native Instruments’ Akoustik Piano. Dry, the piano already has some resonance, captured in NI’s samples:

Dry piano

But wet, the plate adds a lot of sparkle, particularly at the high end:

Wet piano

Switching to acoustic drums, first a backbeat loop included with Live 5.2 with reverb turned off:

Dry drums

You could add some typical reverb, but I find this often sounds flat. A plate can add some badly-needed punch, using the Big Eighties! preset on a send:

Wet drums

The presets are neatly organized into send effects (like the drum plates) and insert effects (like the piano), as pictured.

Audio Damage already has a near-cult following for their plug-ins, and developer Chris Randall’s loud-mouthed blog Analog Industries, where they have been some interesting discussions of this plug-in, and plug-in development in general. Word must be spreading, or this must be filling a niche others don’t have, because it’s already AD’s best-selling plug-in ever.

I will echo the calls for a “reverb” pack. I’ve long been a fan of one plug-in that Audio Damage reports hasn’t been terribly popular, the excellent, dark Deverb plug.

In the mean-time, though, Reverence is a must-have. The combination of light CPU usage with great sound at US$39 is just about perfect. Now we’re just left to wonder what gear Audio Damage has their eyes on next.

Compatibility: Mac VST/AU (Universal); Windows VST
Cost: US$39
Official product page [Audio Damage]

The Bi-Phase is the sound of the seventies, known for its stereo phasing capability, and has been used by everyone from Frank Zappa to Smashing Pumpkins. Phase Two features two separately controllable 6-stage phasers that can be routed in series or parallel, for everything from subtle phasing and flanging to the sound of a jet aircraft leaving the runway.

The cel-shaded interface is accurate to the original, including the footswitch and, as usual from Audio Damage, everything is MIDI controllable and learnable. An extra CC, which takes the place of the “Opti-Pedal” in the original unit can be used to manually sweep phaser frequencies with a MIDI controller, such as a mod wheel or aftertouch.

Pricing: US$49
Compatibility: Mac VST/AU, Windows VST

Ed: Just got my copy and will be playing with it while I’m on the road at NAMM — more soon! -PK

As usual, Audio Damage has been nice enough to make all of this MIDI controllable and learn-able. Fixed knobs + MIDI learn = easy performance with filters. It sounds great, and the price is right. What are you waiting around here for? Go enjoy it!

Pricing: US$29
Compatibility: Mac VST/AU, Windows VST

Suffering from effects overload? Effects, effects everywhere and never quite the one you need? Check out Ronin,
the new multi-effects rack from Audio Damage. The idea is to combine
everything you might need into a single, "bucket brigade" package for
analog-style delays, chorusing, flanging, and destruction, with:

• Synced delays with pitch, infinite loop, reverse, feedback modes, for subtle delays or wild tape echoes
• Multi-mode filters
• Sync-able LFOs
• Tube saturation
• Powerful routing matrix
• Envelope follower
• MIDI control of everything
• Optimized performance

Sadly, no AU yet. I'll report back once I get my grubby hands on this.

Compatibility: Mac/Win VST
Cost: US$69
Availability: Now; demo available