Not all users upgrade to the same version at the same time – least of all when it’s a paid upgrade. So, it’s welcome to see that a number of improvements and fixes are making it to the previous version of Live, 7.x. Not only does CDM count numerous Live users among its readers, but users of 7.x are especially frequent, and we’ve been getting your questions – like whether you’ll be able to use the Novation Launchpad controller.

John Kuan, DJ and “culture industrialist,” alerts us that release 7.0.18 brings a lot of improvements, including:

• Support for the Novation Launchpad, Akai MPK line, and improvements for the APC
• Major bug fixes for the APC40 and Novation Remote SL under Mac OS (something I think I’d seen people complaining about in comments)
• Major, bug fixes for show-stopper crashes

There’s even an M-Audio Axiom Pro fix in there. In short, if you’re using 7.x, it looks like you want this upgrade. Full details on the Ableton forum:

Live 7.0.18 change log

And yes, this news is from last week, but it’s news to me.

From Sarah and Lara Grant, we have a dress that makes music, with tube-like apparatus made of felt for connecting sound, modular fashion. From the raucous duo Great Tiger, we get a homebrewed arcade controller Ableton Live that mashes loops into dance music with a quick button push. Yep, it’s Handmade Music time again in New York tomorrow Thursday. If you’re anywhere in the area, come on down – and feel free to bring your own projects and/or expect some surprise technological appearances. If not, we’ve still got some MP3s, visuals, and how-to information to share.

If you do make it to Brooklyn, we can promise some behind-the-scenes demonstrations, noise, at least one live set, and free, ice-cold Colt 45s while they last.

Read on for event details, a preview of the projects, and videos and downloadable MP3s from Great Tiger.

Wearable Patch Cords in a Sonic Dress

Sound artists, inventors, and designer sisters Sarah and Lara Grant present an in-progress audiological fashion experiment involving patch cords made from felt. (I love the gorgeous conceptual drawing.) They’re working with a dancer to make this into a performance, and we get to see the work evolve before our eyes.

the title of the piece is ‘Audiotrails’, playing off of the word ‘entrails’, since as you’ll from the drawing attached, we are designing a dress that has several felted cords coming out from the gut which will act as patch cords. These patch cords connect to different parts of the garment to produce various noises and effects.

What we will be bringing is an example of our patch cord concept in the form of a felted swatch and a concept drawing of the final piece, which we have not completed, but hope to present either next month or the following at handmade music. We will be talking about our process and answering any questions based on that. Sarah and I had been envisioning our set up on a table in the smaller room, since had not been planning to perform and since our goal has been to show our progress of a project that would take a couple months to finish.

Here’s a look at one of the coils, a felted patch cable that can then become part of the garment:

Sarah Grant has also done fascinating research into what she calls “felted signal processing,” in which textiles can themselves become active sound elements.

Push the Button: DIY Arcade Controller for Ableton Live and the Button-Mashing Music of Great Tiger

That’s button mashing in a good way. Inspired by games, fast push-button moves and combos, and electronic music, the duo Great Tiger has built a custom rig for mashing samples in Ableton Live.

The custom arcade controller, looking like what happens when an 80s arcade cabinet and the monome have a love child, was featured on the DJ blog DJ TechTools. (Worth reading that article for lots more technical details from the duo.) This video by Great Tiger gives a behind-the-scenes look at how the hardware is used with Live and how it’s put together.

Here’s Great Tiger live in action at Brooklyn’s Red Star:

Free Great Tiger MP3 Downloads

Great Tiger were kind enough to share a couple of their fun tracks with us, so you can grab them wherever you are.

Great Tiger on MySpace | Facebook

Come Visit Us

RSVP to handmade@3rdward.com OR
RSVP on Facebook

Handmade Music’s Brooklyn edition is held at 3rd Ward in East Williamsburg, a brisk ride on the L train out of Manhattan.

FREE, as always
…plus FREE Colt 45
7:30-10:00 pm, Thursday, October 15 (arrive by 9 or you’ll miss a lot)

Presented by CDM with our friends at MAKE, Etsy, and XLR8R

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I don’t know if it’s “the most revolutionary new musical instrument of the last 60 years,” but let’s be clear on one thing: the Eigenharp Alpha is utterly, beautifully insane. It combines breath and finger input in a bassoon form factor, but with quite a lot more physical control, a computer connection, and no internal sound source of its own. The breath input comes from a crooked tube as on a bassoon, with finger input in a touch strip, a fretted, light-up keyboard, and keys that have their own various forms of expression. Launched yesterday in London, the Eingenharp is getting a lot of attention. (And yes, some of you spotted signs of its launch all the way back in June, to which I say – I’m sorry I’m so late to the party.)

From BBC: Do you drum it, strum it or stroke it?

I hope to speak to the creators soon. Already, I see some indications that there are equal parts genius and madness here. The controller itself, even in the bizarre bassoon form factor, has an extraordinary amount of control, with high-resolution keys, percussion keys, elaborate control arrangements that can adjust tone or record samples, and extremely precise breath and touch. At £3,950, many computer musicians accused of “knob twiddling” by the creators probably won’t be able to afford the top-of-the-line model, but I do believe an instrument like this can easily, fairly cost this much, it’s a cost reasonable for musical instruments – and there is a £349 “Pico” edition for mortals.

There’s some madness, too, however. For the “instrument of the future,” the creators appear to have chosen MIDI, via USB, in place of a modern control protocol. Then, they plug the instrument into proprietary Mac software. (A Windows version is expected early next year.) There are software models of a Cello, a Clarinet, and a Synth, but there are also gigs of samples oddly loaded into SoundFont format. Given the futuristic ambitions and the sky-high price, closed software and antiquated I/O seem puzzling to me. I’m also skeptical of the approach here of piling on as many controllers as possible.

CORRECTION – CORRECTION! Yes, indeed – proprietary software and the limitations of MIDI wouldn’t make any sense – and apparently the creators agree. So the software will be open sourced, as will their custom-designed protocol. I’ve got all the details – required reading for anyone working on expressive instruments.

But don’t get me wrong. I think this fascinatingly bizarre instrument is worth exploring. The hardware design looks exceptionally luxurious, and there is some genuine design innovation in the controller the likes of which we’ve never seen in an instrument beyond a prototype or two.

Oh, and yes, I already want the Pico – and I think the Pico’s fewer controls may actually make more sense.

Basic specs:

Video of the key action, among others collected on YouTube:

The “Alpha,” the flagship:

• 120 keys, plus 12 percussion keys. (Wait — 120? Yes, you read that right.)
• Two strip controllers, one on each side.
• Breath pipe and mouthpiece.
• 11-bit resolution (2048 values) in the keys and strip controllers, 12-bit resolution (4098 values) for breath.
• Internal audio interface with mic pre, converters, and headphone out – so you need to carry this and a computer, but not this, a computer, and an audio interface.
• A “Base Station” with inputs for expression pedals and foot switches, which also contains the USB connection. This connects to a floor spike on which the instrument rests.

http://www.eigenlabs.com/alpha/

The Pico:

• 22 keys (18 for playing, four mode switches).
• Keys work via direct pressure and lateral pressure in both directions, as on the Alpha.
• Breath pipe.
• Strip controller.
• Same resolution: 11-bit keys, 12-bit breath.
• £349.

http://www.eigenlabs.com/pico/

To be honest, I’m quite a lot more interested in the Pico, not because I think cheaper is better, but because I’m curious whether you can’t be just as expressive with the more limited set of controls as with the kitchen sink approach of its big brother. After all, 22 keys is roughly the number you’d find on most reed instruments, including the Bassoon. True, the piano has 88 keys, but it also doesn’t really have anything else – and it’s able to have so many because of its form factor.

In fact, I’m sorry, but I love the Pico. It looks friendly, it looks portable, it isn’t terrifying-looking like the Alpha, and it seems it’d be more at home in a variety of musical venues than the Alpha. Sometimes less is more. Let’s see if I prove to be correct.

The software, though I hope you could also customize your own software rig using the MIDI input:

• Modular, allowing the routing of control inputs, sound sources and samples, loopers, and synthesis and effects.
• SoundFont oscillator.
• Physical models of the clarinet, cello.
• AU host for adding your own plug-ins. (And yes, this is where I think you’ll have the most fun.
• A system for triggering events, takes, key, and mapping scale.
• An interactive arrangement system for step sequencing.
• Oddly, an extensive Steinway D multi-sample. On the other hand, for years we’ve all have been playing bassoon and other reed samples on the keyboard, and in organ form for centuries, so now the reed instrument gets its revenge.

Source: Eigenlabs software specs.

The instrument’s creator, John Lambert, repeats the maxim heard at new instrument design conferences: “We’ve got pretty fed up with watching people twiddle knobs on stage.” Naturally, that means… turning to the Bassoonist, that sex icon of the orchestra? I’ll run with it.

One other tidbit from that article:

He says there is one high-profile musician who is about to take delivery of an Eigenharp, but won’t give any names.

Yeah, Herbie Hancock, we know it’s you. (Okay, they are an English company, so maybe it’s an English celeb, but really the question is whether Herbie is who they mean, or whether he’s filling out the pre-order as we speak. He’s like what we would all be like if we had a budget.)

Anyway, consider this a first look. I hope to get closer to the actual instrument soon.

Here’s someone who really, really loves Native Instruments’ B4 (II) software rendition of the Hammond B3 organ. The work of Markus Berger, this dead-ringer for a real B3 is actually a carefully crafted replica with elaborate MIDI control inside. The body is built by hand from cherry wood. Electronics were prototyped with the open source Arduino platform and implemented with electronics from Doepfer, then finished with manuals (that’s “keys” for you non-organists) from Fatar (as seen in Nord’s organs). Authentic-style drawbars finish the project. Correction: I got my wires crossed and originally claimed this had Fatar drawbars, but it’s Fatar manuals. Thanks to comments for spotting that.

The integration of the hardware design with the B4 is extraordinary: the creator notes that every single function is perfectly replicated, so you never have to touch a mouse or look at a screen. Of course, you can then make meticulous models tweaked on the B4 software that wouldn’t have been possible on the original hardware – and this hardware, while substantial, should be dramatically lighter.

More on those custom electronics:

The main controller electronics were actually custom developed and prototyped with Arduino. They were complemented by electronics from Doepfer for the two manuals.

Most of the electronics had to be custom developed as there was and still is nothing available to cover all the functionality of a classic Hammond B3 with the full drawbars set, preset keys and all the switches.

And yes, the bottom line is that this puts every controller for everything I’ve ever seen to shame. Thanks to Germany-based Twitter reader tillephone for sending this my way.

B4 Controller Project Page

I hesitate to even suggest this, but – is a Leslie cabinet next?

More photos after the jump:

Getting handy with the $60 KORG Nano Series controllers and Ableton Live keeps getting more sophisticated. I did a "quick hack" using the text-based MIDI Remote Scripts with the nano as an example, and provided a download. Next, Raymond Weitekamp modified those scripts and added a monome for a full-blown Live performance. But now James Waterworth aka Myralfur takes the whole idea to the next level, with a fully custom set of scripts with control of additional channels, more control over tracks, and most importantly, interactive scene triggers.

I’ve built a custom python script for the nanoKontrol based on the hacked python scripts for the Axiom controller decompyled from live 7. It adds the ability to switch up to controlling channels 9-16 by changing midi channel (or changing up to scene 2 on the nanokontrol, which I had sending out on midi channel 2 instead of 1). It also has track on/off, solo/cue, panning, and also has the bottom row of buttons triggering clips on the relevant track, with forward and reverse skipping up and down scenes, and the loop button triggering the selected scene.

Best of all, you really don’t need to know – ahem – what you’re doing with scripting to make this work. Just follow the instructions below, and you’re ready to play – so you can get back to your set.

Now, James has polished off the script and fixed compatibility with Ableton Live 8, and this is ready for public testing. Give it a go and let us know what you think. I’ll work on a permanent home for all of this stuff, but for now, let’s just use comments for any issues. For some insane sounds, be sure to check out Myralfur’s music and DJ mixes on Soundcloud, too! He’s working on a rig that also incorporates a Sony PlayStation 3 controller.

nanoKONTROLMyr

A midi remote script for use with Ableton Live 8 and the Korg nanoKontrol.

Set-Up

1. Download and Unzip the file.

2. Move the nanoKONTROLMyr folder to the MidiRemoteScript folder within your Ableton Live application folder.

3. Open your Korg nano series editor and load the presets within the NanoKontrol Presets folder, over-writing your previous settings.

4. Select nanoKONTROLMyr as a control surface in the midi pane of the preferences window.

Mappings

Banks

Bank 1 controls tracks 1 – 8

Bank 2 controls tracks 9 – 16

Bank 3 maps the encoders to the selected device and provides functions for moving tracks and devices.

Bank 4 is free for mapping to whatever you like, sending on midi channel 4.

Global

The Ninth Slider is Always mapped to Master Volume, regardless of bank or midi channel.

The Ninth Encoder is Always mapped to Cue Volume, regardless of bank or midi channel.

Transport

Transport functions only work when receiving midi cc numbers on channel 16.

Different functions are called when in session view and arranger view for some of the buttons. The Loop button acts as a Shift to allow more functions to be called with the other transport buttons.

Loop = Shift

Play = Play (Scene Launch when Shift held)

Stop = Stop (Stop All Clips when Shift held)

Record = Record (Overdub On/Off when Shift held)

Session Specific

Rewind = Scene Up (Scene Up by 5 when Shift held)

Forward = Scene Down (Scene Down by 5 when Shift held)

Arranger Specific

Rewind = Cue Position Left

Forward = Cue Position Right

Encoders

The Encoders map to the Pans of the tracks. When sent on different midi channel numbers they map to different tracks. Channel 1 maps to tracks 1 – 8 and Channel 2 maps to 9 – 16 etc.

When sent on midi channel 16 they map to the selected device. This works in conjunction with the pads and buttons sending on channel 16 which provide functions for moving track and controlling devices.

Sliders

The Sliders map to the Volumes of the tracks. The tracks they are mapped to changes with the midi channel they are sent on. Channel 1 maps to tracks 1 – 8 and Channel 2 maps to 9 – 16 etc.

There is as yet no function for when they are sent on channel 16.

Top Row of Buttons

The buttons on the top row turn Tracks On/Off. The Ninth Button on the row acts as a Shift and when this is held the other buttons Record Arm the tracks. They function the same as the sliders and encoders in that they map to tracks depending on the midi channel.

However, when sent on midi channel 16 the buttons select and view tracks 1 – 8 mapping the encoders above to the first device in that track.

Bottom Row of Bottons/Pads

The buttons, or pads, on the bottom row Trigger Clips. The Ninth Button on the row acts as a Shift and when this is held the other buttons Stop the relevant clips. They function the same as the sliders, encoders and top row of buttons in that they map to tracks depending on the midi channel.

However, when sent on midi channel 16 the buttons provide various functions for controlling devices.

Button 10 = Track Left

Button 11 = Track Right

Button 12 = Device Left

Button 13 = Device Right

Button 14 = Bank 1

Button 15 = Bank 2

Button 16 = Device On/Off

Button 17 = Clip View/Device View

Download:

nanoKONTROLMyr.zip

edison…. new set up….! from edison on Vimeo.

The open source monome, ingeniously minimal as it is, is just an object. It’s the community that has formed around this hardware controller, a simple array of light-up buttons, that has made monome a cultural phenomenon, by pushing performance practice. Using grids of simple music events, they represent an ongoing transformation of DJing from the act of manipulating two records to composing with chunks of material.

On the Web, this has become something of a virtual slam between artists – more generous than competitive. One of my favorites to watch this year has been a gentleman by the name of Edison. He composes a strange poetry about his work in the Vimeo comments, so from here on out, I’ll let him speak for himself:

yo hoss!
so this is my new set up….
the monome is controlling ableton….
each button is a sound…..
the bottom right button is stop all noises….
introducing: the love…
a box of 16 arcade buttons…
made from an USB joystick….
it controls a looper and all effects…
on the far end is a native instruments audio kontrol 1…
(finally gotta audio interface!!!)
the big ass knob just sends the whole mix to an echo…
basically…
i have the melodic content run through a looper…
its is always recording…. so anything i play will repeat on a 2 bar loop
this is bypassable and erasable…..
all the drums are run through 4 effects….
all the melodic stuff is run though 8 effects… post looper…
and if all that aint nerdy enough for you….
then i aint trying hard enough….!
so to you and yours…… STING

From earlier this year, bottom.

64 buttons…..
63 sounds….
1 stop button……
no quantize……
no loops…….

More:
myspace.com/bearless
edisoninvention.tumblr.com

damn hoss from edison on Vimeo.

Ready for more dynamic control of Ableton Live, on the cheap? My how-to on MIDI Remote Scripting in Ableton Live was just last week, but it has already inspired new scripts for hardware, this time on the Novation Nocturn. (My examples for the tutorial were the Korg nanoPAD and nanoKONTROL.) The Nocturn is also very easy to slip into a backpack or carry-on, and very affordable at US$100-130 street. It just happens to become more valuable with a little user hacking.

Why the Novation Nocturn? After all, Novation touts their own Automap technology for just this purpose. But Novation assumed you only want to use the Nocturn Automap with your plug-ins and not to control Live. Here’s the non-dynamic hack from Novation:

How to control Ableton Live with the Nocturn?

Musician NCKN (”Nicken”) of Aachen, Germany has a better solution. He uses MIDI Remote Scripting to create a downloadable file that will map the Nocturn’s eight knobs to your device racks automatically. If you did pony up for Automap PRO, it’s useful, too, as it allows mapping buttons to Live keystrokes. (Bome MIDI Translator would be another option.)

Complete instructions and a free download at NCKN’s site. Be sure to check out his music, too; there’s some wonderful stuff.

DIY: Automap in Ableton Live with Novation Nocturn

Beautiful ambient-ish tracks with field recordings and acoustic noises blended elegantly into an electronic production:

Back to the controller that has an Ableton logo tattooed on it, we’ve got still more APC40 hacking going on, too. Darren Cowley sends along his Live rig and a video:

APC40 Customization from Darren E Cowley on Vimeo.

The “short” film clocks in at nearly eighteen minutes, but here’s the basic ingredients:

Korg padKONTROL + the free Farmpad customization tool for Mac + Akai APC40 + the mighty, powerful Bome MIDI Translator for more control over events + the now-discontinued Lucifer VST (which I believe has now been replaced with the audio-recording-manipulating Live Sync Recorder.)

There are some really tasty hacks here. Scene launch buttons glitch the sound or impact launch quantization. Controls provide quick access to recording and playing audio loops. Effects are on summed tracks for DJ-style effects manipulation. There are clever tricks for using lights for additional feedback. It’s all proof that no two people really approach Live or even this fairly clearly-mapped hardware in the same way.

Side note: I received a comment from a gentleman who is color blind and therefore can’t see the red/green light feedback on the APC40. Anyone with tips? I don’t think you want to rip out the APC’s lights, for sure. It does really prove that one size can’t possibly fit all in hardware.

The KORG nanoSERIES has a rabid following among many Ableton Live users, and with good reason. The nanoPAD and nanoKONTROL street for about US$60, provide basic knobs + faders + transport (KONTROL) and pads and X/Y control (PAD), plus a fully-featured, cross-platform editor, but still fit in a backpack. They’re small enough to use in coach on an airplane.

Having to open Live templates, however, just to get the mappings you want is a big pain. So, instead I’ve created a basic set of MIDI Remote Scripts and Kontrol Editor templates for Mac and Windows, Live 6.x and later, and wanted to share them with you.

If you’re Windows-based and a big fan of the nano, I will say that I recommend you use something else altogether – the brilliant nativeKontrol. It’s a hell of a lot more sophisticated, gives you more control, and still requires no template:
nanoLive

Of course, there are some advantages to my (otherwise inferior) humble solution. It’s free, it works on Mac, it’s completely editable, and much of the idea was to provide an easy way of learning about MIDI Remote Scripting. (Check out the tutorial below.) Now, knowing CDM readers, I imagine someone out there can improve what I’ve done, so feel free to modify it and please send us a copy of what you’ve created!

korgnano_live.zip [Cross-platform archive; will update with a fancier release later on once I've gotten some feedback]

Ableton Live MIDI Remote Scripting How To: Custom Korg nanoSERIES Control

And, of course, read all the instructions…

Install instructions:

1. For full control, upload the templates to your Korg nanoSeries using the Kontrol Editor, via the Communication menu. (See your manual for more.)

2. Place the proper folder(s) in your User Remote Scripts folder, inside your user preferences folder (NOT the Live program folder). That’s something like (Windows Vista/7):

[Windows boot drive] > Users > [username[ > AppData > Roaming > Ableton > Live [version] > Preferences > User Remote Scripts

or (Mac OS)

[boot drive] > [Library folder] > Preferences > Ableton > Live [version] > User Remote Scripts

3. Start Ableton Live 6.x or later (restart if it was already running)

4. Select the device. Choose Preferences > MIDI/Sync, select Control Surface in the first column (nanoPAD or nanoKONTROL), and then its Input and Output ports. Finally, enable the Control Surface Input for Track and Remote. Note that you can have more than one control surface, so if you’ve got both nano’s plugged into a hub, set them both up!

Usage instructions

nanoKONTROL Scene 1 is for device control. The buttons act as triggers for pads in drum devices, and the faders control the eight Macro encoders in any selected Rack. You’re free to assign the scene 1 knobs to whatever you like.

Scenes 2-3 control tracks: the top button record arms tracks, leaving the button button free for whatever you like (mute, enable/disable). The faders control level on tracks 1-8, and knobs control the first send for each track.

Scene 4 is basically unassigned and ready for custom assignments.

Across all scenes, fader 9 is the master level. Transport buttons are automatically mapped and will work as expected.

Because there are so many controls free, I’ve created a sample template that pre-maps some parameters. In case you prefer to work that way, that template can get you started.

nanoPAD: The nano is much simpler, but I’ve set up the X/Y pad to dynamically trigger the first two parameters in a rack, making this much more fun to use with a Drum Rack. I like having access to all 8 Macros, so I’ve spread them across the four scenes. The pads will dynamically map to the first 16 pads, with 1-12 on scene 1 and 13-16 on the top of scene 2. There was some trickery to allow you to map these pads more or less as you see them in the software, beyond those first 16. I’ve provided alternative versions that allow easier continuous melodic control or keep CC 1 + 2 consistent across all four scenes.

(I didn’t say that very well, so if anyone’s feeling really motivated and wants to do a quick post or video of this or even modify them and make them better, feel free!)

To avoid accidentally triggering parameters with the X/Y pad, you can either turn flam/roll mode on all the time, or make sure instruments you want to play are added to racks first.

For more detailed instructions on Live setup and how MIDI Remote Scripts work, please see the separate tutorial!

Scripts for KORG nanoSERIES and Ableton Live by Create Digital Music is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Want to help motivate me to do more stuff like this? (I and others on Planet CDM really will — open to non-KORG, non-Ableton requests!)

Korg’s nano series has been a huge hit. Now it’s Akai’s turn, with their own mini USB pad and keyboard controllers. (Note: given lengthy product turnaround in this industry, these may actually have been designed before the nano – but that’s not as important, ultimately, as which models you like.) The Akai assumes you want something that’s a bit bulkier than the Korg nano line – with, presumably, a payoff in playability.

MusicRadar gets the scoop on the mini models to be announced at Summer NAMM. (Really? People still go to that?) Our friend Ben Rogerson says Akai tells them these are expected Q3 of this year – just in time for back to school. Matrixsynth posted the full press release though we do expect official details Friday.

Update: Akai tells CDM they will make the official announcement on Friday, by which time we’ll have more details to share.

The LPK25 keyboard looks like the biggest competitor here. Korg’s competing nanoKEY sacrifices quite a bit of playability to fit into an ultra-compact space, with an action that — while, incredibly, velocity-sensitive — feels like a laptop keyboard. The LPK25 has some sort of synth action. That ups the weight to “under a pound,” and it remains to be seen whether Akai will match Korg’s unbelievable US$60 street price. But for actually playing a keyboard, the LPK looks like it could be the one to beat – while still fitting on a coach airplane seat tray along with your netbook. And it’s got an arpeggiator, too, not that you really need one with something that only works with software.

The LPD8 is interesting, too, with 8 pads and 8 knobs. But here, to me the Korg may continue to reign supreme. I don’t see scene controls on the Akai LPD8, for one. (I thought the Akai didn’t have scenes, but it looks like program changes 1-4 are that — albeit minus those handy LEDs on the Korg.) Korg’s ultra-light pads — unlike the keyboard — are eminently playable, and feel fantastic. And while the Akai knobs are nice, I imagine I’ll still prefer the hold/flam/roll buttons and X/Y trackpad controller on the Korg. Korg also has some terrific software editing functions. Of course, some people would rather have knobs. That’s why choice is good.

That said, the LPK25 promises to fill a niche I’ve been waiting for someone to fill — a tiny keyboard you can throw in your backpack for programming tunes in a coffee shop.

Stay tuned – I’m finishing up not only a mini (ahem) review of the nanos this week, but also some new templates and scripts that make them easier to use with Ableton Live.

The PowerMate from Griffin is an affordable, very compact USB knob with glowing blue LED feedback and push-and-turn functionality (so it’s a button, too). But using just one knob may not be all that useful for control. We’ve already seen Robert Hodgin VJing with four PowerMates, but our friends Bill Van Loo and Joshua Schnable have come up with a novel solution. Using Schnable’s custom software built in Pure Data (Pd), they’ve not only mapped the PowerMate to MIDI, but using switches and the push function allow you to control four or eight channels at once using just the one knob.

At the end of last week, they offered a first look at the solution, with a basic demo in Ableton Live (though any MIDI-capable software will work), and downloadable Pd patch and manual to get you started. The patch is open source-licensed.

announcing CTRL4 + CTRL8: MIDI Control for Griffin PowerMate + PureData

Of course, if you’d rather use OSC or create an instrument right in Pd, you can do that, too, with this as a template. But if you want to get up and running with your PowerMate – even if you’ve never used Pd – this should be quite accessible.

Check it out in action in the video below. More documentation is coming.

The manual itself is written from the Mac perspective, but with any MIDI loopback tool on Windows, it should work, too – and I believe some people are even using the PowerMate on Linux. If anyone wants to share how you’re using this on another platform or with another setup, that’d be great, in a noisepages post/blog or anywhere you like – just let us know. (Documentation, suffice to say, is a huge part of going open source.)

This might be worth trying with similar hardware like the (discontinued but still available) Logitech NuLOOQ Navigator, as well. (The NuLOOQ is more expensive list, but looks like prices are as low as $30, and it adds additional controls like a ring on the top.)

Griffin PowerMate

Logitech NuLOOQ Navigator

FIRST LOOK: Joshua Schnable’s CTRL8 Powermate/PD control software from chromedecay on Vimeo.