So much energy is spent reflecting on the merits of different tools, or re-hashing tired debates like the comparison between analog and digital, often with the assumption that you can hear the tool in the finished work. But the real value of an expressive, creative tool is that it can produce wildly different results in different hands; it’s the measure of its versatility. And the measure of music is the music itself.

That makes it doubly satisfying listening to the results of the Efficient Music Competition CDM hosted with the Renoise production software and Linux-powered Indamixx netbooks and software suites. While tracker applications have been conventionally associated with certain styles, there’s music here from every possible genre. There are contributing artists at a wide variety of different stages in the development of their craft and creative output – just as all of us are growing and changing. There’s even a spoken word piece with a cow in a can (one of my offbeat favorites). I’m sure you’ll hate some of the music and love some of the rest; some will think the voting results were spot-on and others will be surprised and find the results upside down. Such is taste.

You can download all the entrants in the original Renoise file format, which you can play on any Mac, Windows, or Linux machine even with the free demo version. They’re ranked by popular-opinion vote.

http://www.renoise.com/competitions/indamixx/results.php

On the main competition page, most of tracks have SoundCloud players, which means you can also connect with artists you like at that community:

http://www.renoise.com/competitions/indamixx/

Remember that all of these tracks are Creative Commons-licensed, meaning they’re ripe sources of samples and sounds you can use freely in your work. If you need them for commercial purposes, you can contact the artists.

Taste aside, though, it’s fantastic to hear the range of activity going on. And keep in mind that the challenge of the competition, as sponsored by the software Renoise and Linux netbook vendor Indamixx, was to do more with less. As lovely as it is to have ever-growing computational resources, this is proof you don’t need them all the time. Even an affordable Atom-powered netbook is capable of real production, which says great things about the ongoing mobilization and democratization of computer music technology.

We have more than just a one-dimensional set of results. The contest judges offer lots to hear, including commentary on the tracks. And I’m pleased to share my own CDM pick and honorable mentions.

CDM Picks

Now, for my own personal Editor’s Choice selections. Keep in mind, these are governed exclusively by my own taste; your mileage may vary.

My pick: After a lot of listening, I’m naming the official Top CDM Selection dvoraktunes’ Tangeble, by Dave Smith-Hayes.

The track didn’t make it into the top popular selections, which is another reason to highlight it here. Sure, it sounds chippy, but it isn’t fondness for chip music and raw, digital sound that prompts me to give it honors. I thought some of the sounds here were the freshest in the bunch. It makes nods to breakcore but manages to parody it in an intelligent, inventive way. (“Chipbreak” is an apt name, as it’s something that, well, happens to chips.)

Catch it on its drop.io page:

http://drop.io/dvoraktunes8190

Here’s what its creator had to say about the track and the software:

It’s one of the first few tracks I ever made in Renoise, I decided it had the best breaks and best instrumentation. It’s a chipbreak track that uses two drum loops (the amen and a Ryan Gruss break) and two simple waveform tracks. Along with filtering, delay and chorus effects. Everything is native to Renoise, no use of VSTs or third party plugins. It should be more than adequate for a netbook.

Generating Drum Kits in the instrument mode is definitely something some one should look into if they’re slicing beats like an old school tracker (fast-tracker II? It’s before my time, that’s for sure). It’s definitely helped me plug in breaks super fast. And learn your effect columns! They can help you achieve some of the coolest sounds that I find are really hard to emulate outside of Renoise.

Honorable mention:

The work of Cornelius Noll (aka 84 Caprice) is easily one of the highlights of the event. It’s worth a visit to the Audio Cookbook site for the track and a lot of background on how it was produced.

http://audiocookbook.org/audio_news/84-caprice-featuring-prof-karma-the-uh-oh-beat/

[indamixx]_84_Caprice_feat._Prof_-_Karma_the_uh_oh_beat.mp3

It did (rightfully) make it near the top of the competition, but it’s worth mentioning that Atte André Jensen’s Længere væk (“further away”) made exquisite use of vocals on Renoise – even if vocal production is not normally associated with trackers or netbooks.

(Working on grabbing the MP3 file, but until then, it’s in the contest results.)

I love Transient’s self-described “abstract hip-hop” on Green Butter:

green butter by transient

ASCII Death Star is a thumping, tasty track:

http://drop.io/asciideathstar

Sometimes, what’s nice about these sort of contests is listening to a track and hearing a musical voice that isn’t your own, that isn’t expected. The cut “Mole” seems just wildly quirky to me, like soundtrack material, and I got to play it while auditioning tracks as I drove along the I-5 in LA:

Mole by aksn

There were many, many worthy tracks, and polish was clearly rewarded in the top five, but at least I’m able to note a few that might otherwise have been missed.

Finally, I’ll shout out a couple of tracks for being especially topical:

chunter deserves recognition for inventing a name for this ("compact electronic desktop music") and then using an open-source, Linux vocoder to sing it:

Compact Electronic Desktop Music by chunter

And, of course, I have to give a special nod to the tune submitted as a CDM theme song. Give "You Know CDM" a listen:

You Know CDM by Subtracted

Podcast and Track Commentary

Ronald Stewart of Indamixx put together a full, hour-long podcast with his top tracks and commentary on his take on each of them:

http://www.trinityaudiogroup.com/EntireBraodcast.mp3

He also had some nice things to see on the Renoise forum:

I just want say I can agree with the comments about ‘competition’ being too restrictive. This was so much more than a competition. This was special. Thank you to all the Renoise producers!

Peter Kirn and I were talking at Dubspot Sunday night and we both agree that this competition BLEW AWAY any opinions of what Renoise sounds like, sounds, specific genre etc. That mold is officially shattered and I think we are all moving on to bigger and better with computer based music production. The fact that someone can produce this caliber of music on a netbook will redefine mindsets that we have yet to realize the benefit for years to come! Let’s cook this for 2-5 years and see how the dust settles (IMO it will be in all of our favor). Lastly, the incredible amount of global contributions to Indamixx (via Linux community) and all of the songs submitted has placed this contest in a new realm that I have never seen in a contest in the USA. This is the ultimate global collaboration that can never be taken away from all of us!

Rock on brothers!!!
I can’t wait for that Renoise Party

Indeed.

Thanks to everyone for contributing, and feel free to share your comments – including constructive criticism – below. (Key word: constructive!)

If 16 bits spoil the mood of your All Hallow’s Eve, and you need some chips with your treats, the good peoples of the chip music community are hear to make sure the celebration of the visiting dead are properly accompanied by a free musical soundtrack. The download is free to grab, and fully Creative Commons-licensed for noncommercial, ShareAlike use.

The lineup:
The Guillotine Factory – Assembly Line
NESMETAL – The Throes of Wickedness
Heosphoros – A Traditional Childrens Waltz
Chema64 – Mictlantecuhtli
Norrin_Radd – Reciprocal Dimensions
Mr. Doom – Poison’d Candy
Nestrogen – Infernal Misanthropy
Dr. Zilog – Sanguinary Sect of Worship
arottenbit – Chemiotrails
FTF – Phobos & Deimos
Baphomania – Roaming Spectral Shores
Peter Swimm – illithid
H-Pizzle – Ghosts of a Fallen Empire

Enjoy!

All Hallows Eve in 8bit Hell Compilation

And you can add this to our exclusive, blippy, delicious Liz Revision Mix:
Exclusive Liz Revision Mix

It’s nearly Election Day again here in New York. But it’s also Musical Election Day worldwide for the Efficient Music Competition with CDM, portable Linux-powered studio Indamixx, and modern tracker Renoise. In an age when technology tends to mean more, these artists are making music with less, carefully optimizing Renoise-powered tracks to operate well on lesser CPUs. Now’s your chance to hear the fruits of their labors, and register your vote. (And because these are Creative Commons-licensed, they’re free to share and share alike, too.)

Here’s what to do:

1. Head to the Renoise-hosted official competition site.

2. Sign in to your Renoise forum account, or register for a free account if you have not already. (This is just a forum account; the Renoise folks won’t be spamming you. Having the account gives you the ability to discuss the songs and pick up some Renoise tips, too.)

3. Give the tracks a listen. You can download them all at once in XRNS format and play them in Renoise – a free demo will do the trick. Alternatively, click the “plus” icon to expand the song for more details; most include an MP3 preview you can listen to on-demand (a good way to browse the tracks, especially on a machine that doesn’t have Renoise installed).

4. Drag and drop to vote. Drag the song from the list down to the voting box at the bottom, then reorder them in order of which you like best. You can vote for multiple songs, but whichever is listed higher in your list will be “weighted” better, so pick your favorites, then choose your favorite favorites.

5. Save your votes! You can adjust your list, add additional entries, and change your mind – just be sure to save each time.

6. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8 is the deadline for voting. Whatever you have listed as your votes then is final.

The forum will be the official venue to discuss these tracks. Of course, I’m also curious to hear on comments – what do you think of these entries overall? Those of you who worked on tracks, what was the experience like having to optimize for limited system resources?

Awesome as Renoise is, I also wanted a place for lovers of all trackers to come together, so I’ve created a new group on Noisepages:

I <3 Trackers [noisepages.com]

Sign up, join in, and we can talk about tracker technique and tools in general. (For instance, I’d love to get a workflow going working on a tiny tracker on the go, then bringing that work into a netbook or laptop running Renoise.)

A challenge to efficiency brings some terrific results. We’ve got tracks for you to hear, a few quick tips on production with Renoise, a place to go talk about the tracks and how to optimize them for netbooks, and a new extended deadline. And if you’re curious what kinds of music can be made with trackers, now’s a perfect chance to give folks from this community a listen. You may be surprised by the breadth of what you hear.

The forward march of transistors has led to maximalist ideas in music technology. The only problem: musical composition often benefits from efficiency. I remember in the early days of Cakewalk for DOS wondering what I would do with their thousands of promised tracks – and that was before digital audio, soft synths, 64-bit, and the like.

The Creative Commons-licensed Indamixx + Renoise + CDM music competition we introduced last month returns to that idea of efficiency. You use a tool with a different creative approach (Renoise, a modern tracker), then work to conserve computer resources instead of squander them. The music can then successfully run on – and you can win – a lovely, ultra-compact Indamixx Netbook.

And while you’re doing more with less, we’ve decided to give you a little more … time. We didn’t want to exclude anyone from getting in entries, so the deadline has been extended – meaning if you submitted already, you have a chance to revise and polish or respond to feedback (including, importantly, CPU optimization feedback).

New deadline: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25

New full-blown entry + discussion site (with audio, full XRNS files, and plenty of chatter on improving production quality and optimization):
http://www.renoise.com/competitions/indamixx/

Need help with testing? Once you’ve got an entry in, Ronald Stewart of Indamixx has offered a free download of their Transmission OS (based on Linux), which you can run on your laptop for testing purposes. Contact him via the inquiry form, and be sure to mention you’re entering the contest!

And folks, so far, some brilliant work. The contest organizers (myself, plus the folks from 64 Studio, Indamixx, and Renoise) have been going through entries and are blown away.

Tips

We got some tips from users contributing I wanted to share:

Cmd+C, V, and P will help you a lot!

-subtacted aka Steven Nguyen

Generating Drum Kits in the instrument mode is definitely something some one should look into if they’re slicing beats like an old school tracker (fast-tracker II? It’s before my time, that’s for sure). It’s definitely helped me plug in breaks super fast.

And learn your effect columns! They can help you achieve some of the coolest sounds that I find are really hard to emulate outside of Renoise.

-Dave Smith-Hayes

I’ve used the effects columns to balance out the bass, midrange, and treble parts of the sound, it helps to give me a balanced sound in a quick-and-dirty fashion.

Vocoder is Vocov2, vocals recorded using Ardour.

-chunter

This contest has been a great learning experience. I wrote a quick summation on John’s site that approximates my account.

what else….hmmm… I guess that, as usual, the mp3 is not as great as the .wav or listening in Renoise. I recommend listening in Renoise.

Renoise is time and again the program that I really go to get my work done. I don’t feel like there are a lot of hip hop makers out here that use Renoise but it really has helped me do good work. If you don’t use Renoise yet, download the demo, open the tutorials and demos and restart your creativity!

-84 Caprice

This track for the competition I used Renoise as a Live improvisation tool with traditional and non traditional instruments. After many layers of improvised live piano, synthesis, and machines, Renoise allowed me to cut up what I wanted and used.

-Silent Strangers

Don’t rely too heavily on vsts, remember tracking all started by sampling. Also, if you enjoy vst instruments a lot but want to optimize for lower cpu usage, don’t forget that you can render your channels and turn that instrument sound into a sample – great for live play efficiency and great for techy edits. ;p

-K-Rai

Tips? Hmm… Just do your own thing and don’t give a f*k about what others are doing.. If it sounds right, do it. And always use the flux capacitor mixdown technique.

-Custard

See, every time I mix that way, I wind up back in 1985.

Also, don’t forget to make use of file optimization with this free, omni-platform utility:
XRNIRipper – Renoise XRNS/XRNI inspector, ripper and OGG compressor for Java

Blog Journals and Process

A couple of people were inspired enough to blog about their efforts:

These days I typically use a piano to work out ideas and then graduate into software to execute them. Renoise tends to be my favorite place to land as it loads up like butter and is quick for nailing down concepts. The implied constraints of this contest, however, had hoisted a series of difficulties in my process. The first being that while I like to use VST/VSTi’s in the process, non-native sound creators or effectors were not to be used in the final version. The second concern was the size of the Renoise file as the winning entry will be used as one of the demos within the program (I haven’t had to deal with file size since I turned my 1.44meg floppies into coasters). Third concern – CPU usage. I was shooting for a great track weighing in under 5 megs. My rough track was loaded with complex VST/VSTi’s and was well over 20 megs.

The process was actually more focusing than I imagined.

84 Caprice Featuring Prof – Karma the Uh Oh Beat [AudioCookbook]

Me being who I am had to enter. Not that I’m in it to win the computer, nor a Renoise license because I’m perfectly happy with my Mac and I already own a Renoise license. So why then? because it’s fun, and I should really start using Renoise now that I bought it.

The result is “Cow in a can”

Cow in a can, my entry in the Renoise-compo. [Johan Larsby]

The Music

In no particular order, I wanted to compile some of the latest tracks I’ve got. Of course, you should absolutely go vote and discuss these tracks on the official competition site.

Renegade Jazz by Custard

Void Pointer – Rampensau (192) by Void Pointer

AcrossWorlds by fengland

Compact Electronic Desktop Music by chunter

Tangeble by dvoraktunes (on drop.io)

Persecution Theory by phila (on drop.io)

UNGHpsycho2009-140bpm by megadrives

Space Shuffle by ASCII Death Star (on drop.io)

I think this track is Renoise-based, if separate from the competition.
The Love Affair of Man and Machine (Synthesizer Quartet and Solo Piano) by SilentStrangers

Oh yeah, and I do love the title of this track:

You Know CDM by subtracted

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!)

Kongregate is a bit like public access, only on steroids and for games. The idea is this: get indie game makers in one place contributing games, then get lots of people playing those games, then support the system with ad revenue shared with the game makers. The model has grown rapidly, with millions of users and over 15,000 original games.

The newest project from Kongregate looks to connect artistic talent on projects, including musicians, composers, and sound designers wanting to work on game projects. The Collabs section will see artists and sound and music creators uploading their work to find collaborators. Initially, there’s a contest on, with competition for attention, cash, and studio prizes.

http://www.kongregate.com/collabs

The competition aside, this could be the beginning of a successful community for collaboration in the indie Flash gaming world. Assets are often uploaded under a Creative Commons license, and I see one of the top sounds draws on samples from Freesound.org. While career success is an obvious goal, the contributors so far appear to see sharing as a way to get there – in stark contrast to the model in the mainstream, big-business game industry. Quality is, of course, variable, but ask anyone in the game industry how to become successful and the answer is always make as much as you can. Getting work out there, even primitive, can be part of a learning process. So I’m eager to see what transpires as these kinds of communities grow.

There is an invariable comparison to Deviant Art – and you’ll see they’ve already begun to invade.

Oh yeah, and I quite like these glassy tendrils, rendered in Cinema 4D. Image (CC) Chaodeath. Now, make that run real-time. Or, erm, imagine those are virtual renderings of artists … collaborating.

And licensing aside, this is a lovely, clever compilation of tracks.

Interestingly, the physical object did sell out on eBay. When it comes to enthusiastic fans, it seems digital isn’t reducing the value of tangible objects – it may be doing just the opposite. (Adding still more irony, the tongue-and-cheek name for the album was “Coaster,” just what CDs have supposedly become.)

My label’s latest glitchy techno / IDM compilation is now a free digital download: SubvaritraxTM [Liz Revision Blog]

Product page / download links on fractalspin (warning: autoplays)

I quite like this album, released in the heady days of 2005 – there are some lovely, delicate tracks on there. The price is right, though, so grab it (registration required) and let us know what you think. If you torrent it, which you can under the CC license, feel free to post a link.

Description:

SUBVARITRAX™ is a new form of treatment for Sonic Mediocrity Overexposure (SMO). SUBVARITRAX™ works by providing a mix between emotionally-poignant-yet-sonically-dense IDM, and scientifically formulated, provocatively glitchy minimal techno. With contributions from Quench (Funckarma), Ochre, Tim Koch, edIT, Kero, Matthew Mercer and others, SUBVARITRAX™ is a new type of neurostimulant proven to help people with SMO as well as being an enjoyable listen in its own right. Ask your abstract electronic music specialist if SUBVARITRAX™ is right for you.

“Though one is struck initially by Subvaritrax’s distinctive pharmaceutical packaging, the comp’s presentation is trumped by the potency of the medication itself. Virtually a primer for current electronic music trends, the release collects what could be the best bits from imaginary comps by Merck, Neo Ouija, Spectral Sound, and M-Nus into an 80-minute, 17-track set. Such largesse is often wearying but [it] maintains interest by extending the stylistic range beyond a single genre…A terrific outing by the Chicago-based subVariant imprint, the ‘instrumental neuro-stimulant’ Subvaritrax more than makes good on its promise to treat Sonic Mediocrity Overexposure (SMO) with a therapeutically forward-thinking mix of melodic IDM and glitchy minimal techno.” -Ron Schepper, TEXTURA.

Love? Raves? Constructive criticism? You know where to write back.

Now, I’m going to spin this while I code. You can’t fire up Eclipse in silence.

Analog Kit Lite by fugwhump [ccMixer]

Found via Jacob Joaquin’s Twitter.

What are your favorite finds from ccMixter (or other Creative Commons samples sources)? Sample packs you’ve uploaded? Ones you’ve enjoyed using in your own work? Let us know in comments and we’ll do a round-up soon.

You hear plenty of chatter about the powers of OpenSoundControl, the open, high-res, network-savvy control protocol for music and visuals. But standards are no good without implementation — and some implementations just aren’t very good. Now, users, you can go have a sandwich or whatever, but developers, pay attention. (And users, enjoy that sandwich in the knowledge that someone somewhere is giving you better toys to play with soon!)

Our friend Ray, co-developer of live visual app VDMX, has put up a Cocoa, Mac-based framework for OSC. While it’s all in Objective-C (natch), it wouldn’t be too hard to port a similar framework to other open-source languages and platforms. Ray is working on a kind of best-practices OSC implementation. Worth a peek — and if you’re a Cocoa dev, of course, even better.

Described thusly:

VVOSC is an Objective-c framework for assembling, sending, and receiving OSC (Open Sound Control) messages on OS X. A
simple sample application which sends and receives OSC messages is also included.

more information on OSC:
http://opensoundcontrol.org/

VVOSC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

vvosc [Code+Examples]

Cocoa fans, they’ve also whipped up an Objective-C framework for MIDI:

VMIDI is an Objective-c framework which simplifies working with MIDI in OS X. A sample application capable of sending and receiving MIDI built from the framework is included.

vvmidi

(Insert here: “Daddy? Tell me more stories about MIDI and how you used to use values from 0 to 127 back in the day!”)

“vvosc” is likely to cause confusion with the Windows-only vvvv — which is also visual, also wonderful, and also supports OSC — but hopefully you can sort that out.

Now that I have your attention, developers, I’m curious: got questions about OSC? Challenges with implementation on different operating systems and in different frameworks? What are the best implementations you’ve seen in common environments like C++, Java, and Python?

SoundCloud, the music and sound sharing service we saw launch this month has added a very important feature: support for different licenses. When you upload tracks, you can elect to protect your work with a conventional copyright or opt instead for a Creative Commons license. That’s an important feature I’d like to see all these services support. The one thing Creative Commons and conventional copyright advocates agree on is that being explicit about what rights you want to your work is essential.

Naturally, this means not only that you can upload works, but that SoundCloud could soon become a rich repository for CC-licensed work to use as video soundtracks or sample, in the way that Flickr’s CC search has fired up lots of (legal) image use. We have heard some dissatisfaction from readers about SoundCloud’s pricing scheme, but this announcement means SoundCloud remains one to watch — even if you’re not personally uploading to it.

SoundCloud also came up with a unique idea: they created a drop box for CC-licensed works which they played at a party.

You can read about the new licenses and other news tidbits on the SoundCloud blog:
Introducing SoundCloud Creative Commons Support