NodeBeat is the kind of experimental music application that’s thriving in the age of the multi-touch tablet. Its dynamic interface and sound are built on the foundation of free and open source software tools regularly covered here on CDMusic and Motion. OpenFrameworks, the Processing-like C++ library, handles the UI, as libpd, the embeddable version of graphical media environment Pure Data, manages the sound.

What you get is an open-ended plane on which you can graphically array sequences, far away from the standard grid, for generative and sequenced music. It’s good fun, which made it a hit on iOS. Developer Seth Sandler, working with Justin Windle, did a brilliant job. Then, earlier this month, NodeBeat made the jump to Android, with additional porting work by Laurence Muller. Android has been getting tablets that can hold their own — I’ve enjoyed my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, for instance. But the platform has remained severely starved of applications in contrast to iOS, but at least in place of quantity, there’s some quality: this application being one, tools like Mikrosonic’s RD3 or Reactable orControl or Nanoloop qualifying, too. (I’m not delusional; this does not make it at this point any serious competition for iOS, but it does demonstrate potential for developers. And I’ve already had the chance to use Reactable and Control in live performance, personally.)

That is, NodeBeat was temporarily available on Google’s Android Market. Then, without warning, Google suspended developer Seth Sandler’s seller account. This led to an extended discussion with Seth, other developers, and myself as we watched events unfold, ironically on Google’s own Google+. (Yes, that Google product works, despite what you’ve heard.)

It’s back now, so please, go buy and review it if you get the chance. If you’ve got a compatible Android, you’ve got truly no excuse as it’s a delightful app, and it holds up even in the crowded iOS platform:
NodeBeat @ Android Market
http://nodebeat.com/ (iOS and all versions; there’s even a free, desktop version with source code!)

Okay? Bought it? Good. Now it’s time to talk about how bad this is for a developer.

The account suspension on the Market represents a series of obvious flaws. First, of course, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place – Google support eventually acknowledged the suspension was entirely random, “incorrectly suspended” in the words of support, with no other explanation.

Second, support was largely nonexistent. Days passed during which Seth was left without any information. (Amidst discussions of how “evil” or “open” Google is, I’d sometimes be happy just to see them seem something other than desperately rushed. And that seems to be the primary “Apple-fication” of the market – the company’s rivals now are so rushed to try to compete that they screw things up constantly. “Don’t be crappy.”)

Third, and most bizarre, the application stayed available but payment was impossible, leaving customers confused and unable to buy the app.

Now, horror stories like this weren’t unheard of in the early days of the Apple App Store, and I still hear – with, happily, much less frequency – complaints from developers about Apple’s store and approval process. Apple deserves credit for ironing out those flaws, but from the skeptical perspective of a developer, It’s hard not to draw the conclusion that you may want to consider distributing your software via more than one means. Even as Apple fails to allow that on their mobile devices, that means considering going cross-platform. That’s not a philosophical claim; from the perspective of a developer, you don’t want to be dependent on only one company. Feel free to disagree, but my experience has shown otherwise as I’ve watched developers get burned. (And it’s worth noting that while Google couldn’t sell Seth’s app, Apple could.) Technically, via Android, developers are free on the vast majority of devices to sell direct or sell via alternative stores; unsurprisingly, Seth submitted his app to the competing Amazon App Store and is awaiting approval there.

None of this, of course, excuses Google from a big customer failure on Android Market. And whereas Apple’s earlier hiccups occurred as it was the only game in town, Google is making an uphill battle even worse. With Amazon’s Fire on the horizon, there are two questions to watch: one, can Amazon deliver enough tablets to create the tablet market Android has thus far lacked, and two, will their store deliver a better experience? Meanwhile, Google continues to promise a better Market; it’s all I hear about at developer events, largely because it’s the primary complaint from developers. As tech pundits make largely-unsupported claims like “Android users don’t like to buy software,” as if they’re a bunch of degenerate freeloaders, I’d point to the often-inferior Market and frustrating hardware experiences.

But, let’s put it this way: in addition to the obvious range of iOS choice, yes, there are superb applications beginning to appear on Android. For that, I credit developers like Seth and his collaborators. Even as we push for better audio performance, some of those applications are already running exceptionally well on new tablets and higher-end phones. If you have one of these devices, you can fire these up and enjoy making some sounds. And because you can’t always rely on another vendor to get things right, having cross-platform, free and open source tools behind these applications means developers have the flexibility to adapt to a changing market, and to focus on creative design and not constantly reinventing the wheel.

Here are some notes on NodeBeat’s creation on our forums.

And let us know what you think of NodeBeat, or if you do have an Android device you’re using for music (or a Fire on pre-order, for that matter).

Music notation is powerful because it’s a standard. You can share it between musicians and understand what it means. What if, instead of being confined to individual, platform-specific apps, digital controls for music were the same way? We’re not just talking a MIDI message here or there, either – someone could walk in with some new-fangled noisemaker they just build in hardware or software, and all you’d need to talk to it and change its sound would be a Web browser.

At first glance, the generically-titled “Control” seems like just another iPhone / iPad touchscreen controller, in an already-crowded field. But look closer, and you see the first steps toward a future where browsing someone’s synth is as easy and accessible as browsing this site. By building on cross-platform, open Web standards, and then providing a basic but elegant way to send interaction as messages, Control is more significant than just a convenient wireless touchscreen on your phone. As such, it embodies some ideas some of us (cough) have been hoping would catch on.

It’s available free today for iOS devices, with other platforms possible soon.

First, it is Web nerd compliant, with JSON and WebKit and HTML Canvas and CSS. But what does that actually mean?

• Included templates: Built-in controllers for DJ interfaces, a Game of Life, and a multi-touch widget that tracks two more fingers than you have … on your hands.
• Make your own templates: Templates are specified as JSON, which some advocates describe a more efficient, readable alternative to XML.
• Dynamic interfaces: JavaScript in the interfaces means that you aren’t limited to making unsatisfying fake knobs and faders; you can make stuff that actually does things.
• OSC interaction: Not only does Control transmit OSC messages, but you can also describe JavaScript interactions and widgets themselves using OSC. Over time, this could lead to yet more dynamic interface creation, especially if others pick up the developers’ ideas.
• All based on Web tech – and not limited to iOS in the long haul. Control uses WebKit (the open source browser engine that’s the basis of Safari, Chrome, and others), plus open Web standards, via the new Canvas element in HTML5. Thanks to a lovely, open source toolset called PhoneGap, that means the ability to port to a variety of mobile platforms. Right now, Control is only on iOS, but Android and many other platforms could be possible. Furthermore, the developer’s ideas could be extended to desktop browsers, too, and used in other apps.
• MIDI, too. Thanks to Core MIDI wireless support, you can transmit MIDI alongside OSC. Hardware support I hope isn’t far behind, using, you know, wires. It is a beautiful thing to buy something off eBay from 1986 and program it with your iPhone 4 (or, soon, other phone).

Developer Charlie Roberts I believe is really onto something here. These ideas could all ultimately be bigger than just this one app, which is the idea – but at the same time, having something out there makes a huge difference. (Remember MIDI?) This isn’t the first controller to use Web tech, even on iOS, but it could be the first based on technologies and ideas with OSC that could extend that implementation to other platforms and software.

CDM in one tab, your synth in another, your friend’s live set in a third? We’ve got a ways to go yet, but just having a way of avoiding mobile controller app fragmentation could make us more productive. Stay tuned for more; I hope to talk to Charlie more this week.

And check out the video…

http://charlie-roberts.com/Control/
iTunes link

I’ll be in Stockholm the week of 27 September, speaking at Stockholm’s Android Only conference Wednesday/Thursday 29-30. I’m particularly excited by the lineup, because it emphasizes pushing the envelope of Android and cross-platform development. I’ll talk about how Processing for Android can allow “sketching” audiovisual apps on mobile. Martin Roth of RjDj will talk high-performance audio development. There’s also discussion of advanced uses in embedded hardware, cross-platform PhoneGap development, CouchDB and JavaScript goodness, hardware-accelerated graphics … all good stuff, and all potentially relevant to creative music and visual development not only on Android but future platforms generally.

I need to revisit Android on this site, but in the meantime, if you’re interested in the platform, MusicRadar did an exceptional round-up:
The best Android music making apps in the world today

I’ll have more information for everyone (whether or not you’re in Stockholm) in time for the conference on CDM.

But beyond Android…

Calling All Swedes! CDM is co-hosting a party Wednesday night 29 September at the conference venue in Stockholm, with .SE, Dialect, and most importantly the fantastic Swedish music mag Studio Magazine.

If you’re a CDM reader and music artist in the Stockholm area and have a project/studio to show off, and/or if you’re up for playing (with or without an Android device involved), please let me know right away, send some music/files/info, and we can discuss details. We’ll finalize the lineup over the weekend. I’ll also try to make a visit or two in my free time, limited as it may be.

In this guest column, we turn to veteran synthesist and music tech expert Jim Aikin. When Jim wants to do digital synthesis, one of the tools to which he turns is a veritable favorite with a direct-line legacy to the beginnings of computer sound. That doesn’t mean Csound hasn’t kept with the times, though, or that it has to be unfriendly. If you’ve been looking for a way to dive into sound and code, this could be an ideal path. -Ed.

Csound is one of the most powerful pieces of free, open-source, cross-platform music software in the world. But it’s not the most user-friendly. With the release of QuteCsound 0.6.0, developer Andres Cabrera has made Csound about as easy to use as it’s ever likely to be. You still have to type code — instruments and scores are created in ASCII. But QuteCsound streamlines the process with a built-in text editor that has auto-complete, syntax coloring, and a clickable index pane that lets you jump directly to any comments that you’ve entered in your score.

QuteCsound implements an excellent set of mousable graphic widgets for real-time control. (Okay, it’s not Max, but you can do a lot.) In another pane in the main QuteCsound window you can display the Csound manual. Using pop-up windows, you can define looping score segments and start and stop them with mouse-clicks.

All of the features of Csound, including real-time MIDI and OSC I/O, are available in QuteCsound. After creating a few instruments and a score, you just click the Run button — no need to invoke Csound from a command line. The command line flags are tucked away safely in a dialog box. (Yes, it’s not the ’70s anymore.)

Csound itself is a separate download. Both Csound and QuteCsound are available in doubles (-d) and float (-f) versions, and your two installs must match.

If you’re comfortable with writing code, you may also want to look at blue. Like QuteCsound, blue is free and cross-platform (Mac/Win/Linux). Now at 2.1, blue is a deeper and more powerful but less transparent front end for Csound. To my way of thinking, QuteCsound is more like “vanilla Csound with real-time graphic widgets and a nice text editor.” Blue is a multi-track composition environment in which each of the Sound Objects positioned on a track is created using Csound code.

If you’ve never looked at Csound, it may be a bit intimidating at first. One of the best ways to really learn the system is by buying a copy of The Csound Book, a fat volume that will take you as deep into the math. Advanced math isn’t necessary to produce sound, fortunately.

Here’s my favorite example of how easy it can be. Would you like a ring modulator effect? You can do that in Csound with a single character — an asterisk (multiplication sign). This line:

asig3 = asig1 * asig2

…ring-modulates signal 1 by signal 2 and puts the output in signal 3. There’s a little more to it than that: You have to make very sure that the levels of the two inputs never exceed 1.0. I usually recommend that newcomers to Csound not use headphones, because a bug in your code can cause ear damage! But with a little effort, you can build complex modular synthesizers in Csound using many different types of synthesis. If you take the time to get into it, you’ll be amazed at what it can do.

Visit Jim at musicwords.net. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to give this a try myself. -Ed.

Let’s get this out of the way right at the beginning: dedicated audio editors are important. For sound design, for tweaking audio assets, and for just getting close to your sounds, editing waveforms in a DAW often doesn’t cut it.

That’s made a lot of Mac users unhappy, because it’s one of the few areas where the Mac platform lags seriously behind Windows in available choice. Windows users have been spoiled by choices like Sound Forge (now Sony), Adobe Audition, and Steinberg WaveLab, all three excellent editors that are functional and fast to work with. The Mac, meanwhile, has been all about BIAS Peak. And Peak has been divisive: some users love it, but others want an alternative. Possible choices like Adobe Soundbooth and Apple Soundtrack Pro, while useful in their own workflows, haven’t caught on with audio editors. (One notable “underground” choice is the favorite of many CDM readers – Audiofile Engineering’s Wave Editor – a smaller name, but I doubt WaveLab will shake the loyalty of its devoted users.) Clarification: okay, it depends on who you ask. See comments for some intelligent debate of my thesis here – yes, there are many options, including DSP Quattro and some lightweight choices like Amadeus. So, perhaps the real issue is Windows users migrating to the Mac (or cross-platform users with favored Windows editors) who don’t find something with which they’re comfortable. And yes, whether you really need a dedicated editor is all about how you work with assets – see comments.

Steinberg bringing WaveLab to the Mac is already turning a few heads, particularly among recent PC-to-Mac converts. (Even on Windows, with Adobe Audition having fallen behind, WaveLab may gain some ground.)

Don’t think it’s big news? Have a look at recent Facebook and Twitter activity and other chatter over the announcement. Amongst the elite sound design lovers, WaveLab is the news of the week. That’s a small group of people (as any of the developers of these apps will readily tell you), but they also have a big impact on the sound of media today.

The reworked interface still has a last-generation feel, but on the other hand, it’s functionality over form that defines this category. I’m still waiting to see some more material details, but Steinberg at least has a preview of what’s new in 7. Wading through their PR materials, I translate that to include:

• A new workspace UI built around dockable, scalable multiple windows and customizable toolbar. (I hate toolbars, so I may customize it by … turning it off. To each their own, though.)
• “Ground-up” re-engineering effort to support cross-platform Mac and Windows code (based on past experience, that may benefit the engineering on the Windows side, too)
• New VST3 restoration tools developed by Sonnox, including DeNoizer, DeBuzzer, DeClicker, and plug-ins gathered from Steinberg’s pro audio line, including the Nuendo Post Filter.
• New CD and DVD-A burning engine.

The inclusion of mastering and burning materials really puts this right opposite Peak – and for those of you who didn’t even bother with Peak, could fill in some key gaps in suites like Logic Studio (in case you aren’t a fan of Apple’s editor and burning tools).

I’m not a WaveLab user, though it’s always been a program I respected from a distance. So if you are an old-hat WaveLab lover, do get in touch; we may need to you to review the new release when it ships.

WaveLab 7 preview at Steinberg

It’s simply stunning some of the terrific instrument and effect plug-ins available that are now free and open source – yes, free as in freedom, not just freeware. I had commented in the past something along the lines of, “boy, wouldn’t it be great if this now meant, say, a Linux port?” and then went on the business of my daily life, which tends not to include re-compiling plug-ins. But now, the folks of JUCETICE have been busy doing just that, serving up delicious instrument and effect goodness, running native on Linux.

Translation: fire up that netbook and make some music.

Following up on our tutorial on Ardour and netbook-optimized music competition with Renoise and Indamixx, here’s what you need to get rolling.

With Linux growing in popularity on netbooks – and an option like the pre-configured Indamixx solution saving you the work of optimizing and configuring it – it’s suddenly no longer a stretch to imagine yourself a Linux music user. Of course, what you don’t want is to wind up without the arsenal of plug-ins to which we’ve all become accustomed. There are various ways of hosting Windows VSTs under Linux as though they were native plug-ins; check out dssi-vst (which also enables 32-bit VSTs from Windows under 64-bit Linux hosts), in conjunction with WINE. That should probably be the subject of a separate tutorial. (Ardour 3 also promises Windows VST support.)

But here, let’s have a look at native Linux plug-ins. JUCETICE has some beautiful creations of their own – an elegant, 32-voice polyphonic drum synthesizer and a TB-303 clone – plus some familiar favorites ported from Windows, like the ingenious DiscoDSP sampler created by the late, great Arguru.

Here, we’ll use the native Linux version of a commercial host, energyXT. energyXT is proprietary, but it costs just EUR59, has a free demo to check out before you purchase, and – if you do like it – is really different than any of its competitors.

Patrick Shirkey of 64studio, the music-centric Linux distro, walks us through the steps necessary to get the JUCETICE plug-ins going under energyXT on Linux – all native, no WINE or Windows anywhere.

I’ll be doing this myself on my Indamixx test unit, and will let you know how that goes.

Developer note: yes, you should definitely check out the JUCE framework, which makes developing cross-platform C++ easy, efficient, and modern, and is free for open-source projects.

Patrick explains:

1. Download the jucetice linuxvst plugin : http://www.anticore.org/jucetice/?page_id=7

2. Make a folder called “plugins” in the home directory

3. Save or move the plugins to that folder and extract the plugins.

4. Open energyXT and add the “plugins” folder to the “Plugins” folder list. Choose File > Setup:

Select the “Browser” tab and set it to the “Plugins” section.

Now select the “plugins” folder and add it to the list of known folders.

[Here’s what it looks like in the path structure.]

5. To add the plugin to a project double click on the “Plugins” section on the left panel of the main window to show all the plugins and right click on the plugin you want to use. Click “Add as Send” from the popup menu.

6. Finally, open the “Window” menu and choose the plugin from the list to display the user interface and adjust the settings.

Ed.: Definitely let us know if this is helpful to you; we’ll have some more comprehensive, big-picture tutorials on this stuff soon – but in the meantime, I’m definitely checking out these instruments!

audnoyz – 36 – Male – UK [MySpace.com]

I submit in this age of “in the box” for some, where all is manipulatable and nothing is beyond reproach, the same holds true for noise found or contrived. All is art, all is beauty. ode to aud :-/ More Musings: The pub landlord rules! -Pro Tools: the mix bus sounds great through my Neve -Steinberg: what the fuck happened to you? -Sonar: time has been good to you -Live: awesome, awesome, awesome -DP: don’t get the respect it deserves- -Props for props- -Dangerous: now that’s some good noise- -Korg: CHAOS rules! -Adams: the best!- -Saxonia: German precision- Go SPL before play with your big knob- Liquid channel:too much- Duende:the sound is classic the UI could use some modernization- -RME: worth the extra quid- -64bit don’t mean shit on the dance floor- -Wavelab rules- Focusrite: RED!- TOFT: great stuff- Apogee:little brittle w/o nuts- Benchmark:solid-*** Wedlock is like a dongle*** +Mac still got it over PC+ Macbooks awesome, and you can you warm your tea on them too–Windows: why can’t you remember I already installed via that USB port already!- Mac towers: what you say I did not catch that, the fan is ON…- Robin Trower deserves more!- Jobs: Brilliant! Create a culture that hates Gates, that pays a premium for superior technology? while YOU profit from the biggest proprietary scheme ever devised…. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my mac, I just hate Apple!– Ipod: freepass on this one… wait a minute, I got rid of my vinal for cassette because it was better, then to CD cuz it sounds better, now you want me to drop my CDs for inferior sound quality… BRILLIANT!

“Wedlock is like a dongle”, appearing on a t-shirt near you. (Perhaps for some it’s more like challenge-response authorization. Well, unless you pirated your significant other.)