Ready for some musical genetic engineering?

Much of the sound of electronic music today grows out of the use – and abuse – of specific designs. The electronica beats bred in discos and techno, Detroit and Berlin have a direct lineage to analog step sequencers and the rigid precision of Roland’s early electronic devices. These designs create limitations to embrace and to oppose – just as music notation or theoretical convention did for composers for centuries.

Okay, that’s a lofty way to put it — the question here is, how do you re-engineer music, even an ounce at a time? If you’re a composer a few centuries ago, you make subtle changes to your craft, working inside a convention, and write that down. (Just as with electronic music, there is a layer of separation – only then, it was a piece of paper.) If you’re an electronic artist today, you can likewise change what you’re able to control, and how, playing live. The differences at first may be imperceptible, but just like learning an instrument, the long-term payoff can be huge.

I asked for examples of what people are doing with the Lemur multi-touch touchscreen controller and its recently updated V2 software. This isn’t just about the Lemur – it illustrates what’s possible when the musical device and the controller can flow freely out of a musician’s imagination. That could apply to hardware or software designs well beyond the Lemur.

Mikael Björk of Sweden responded with a terrific example, a “dynamic” sequencer available to all Lemur users via JazzMutant. The open-ended screen layout of the Lemur has allowed the creator to provide all kinds of unusual control over morphing beats, with your fingertips manipulating simulated physics as beats twist around you. It’s not just electronica and sampling and DJing, either – he also has an incredible clip working with a very talented vocalist. It sounds markedly different from the more conventional, Loopstation-style loop performance.

DyNAmic is a sophisticated step sequencer managed by a Max patch, and tightly connected to a Live rack. The Live rack consisting of two Simpler devices containing basic sine waves for low and high percussions, a Simpler containing noise for your hi-hats, and one containing a square wave for your bass sounds. In addition, each Simpler feeds an Autofilter and Redux for effects modulation, all of this being controlled from your Lemur of course.

Template created by Mikaël Björk aka Lo-Fi Massahkah.
http://www.lofimassahkah.net

What he says in a separate post on his blog sums up a lot of what I have to say about sequencers and samplers, too:

Sequencing. Sequencing. Sequencing.

You’d think that that’s all I’m about. Perhaps. Sequencers are fun when you can’t really play an instrument. They might also be fun if you CAN play an instrument. I like my new sequencer – and I hope you’ll like it too.

See: Hip to be Square

The upcoming release of Max for Live should mean that Live can work more seamlessly with the Lemur and the control configuration — more on that soon. But this doesn’t have to even be about Live; I imagine we’ll see other setups moving this direction, too.

And having an open music controller means that, pricey as the Lemur is, you get added value from this kind of artist contribution. (See also: monome, on CDM or the monome project site.) You can use this sequencer layout as is — use it in a different way musically — or modify it, or create your own. The whole patch and extensive how-tos are right on JazzMutant’s site:

JazzMutant Workshop: DyNAmic

So, cool as that is, I’m sure many of you were expecting the glitchy beat modulations that result. Here’s a related project that moves in a very different direction.

Schack & Wetterberg Live looping from Lo-Fi Massahkah on Vimeo.

Esben Schack and Andreas Wetterberg doing a set on Café Zusammen in Copenhagen. Esben on vocals and guitar, Andreas on Live (looping) and Lemur.

And for more of this stuff, you can follow the Vimeo feed:
http://www.vimeo.com/user454089

Not much to add – when the tech is working right, your traditional musicianship (if you’re lucky enough to have it) can come out. And while the occasional touchscreen tap may not seem as dynamic by comparison, I think the way to think of the Lemur is as a compositional device – the vocalist is the real “player,” in a conventional sense, whereas the Lemur is acting as a composer — remixer, however you want to think of it — in real-time.

My respect for the Lemur has really grown as it has matured; the folks at JazzMutant have addressed some of my design complaints. Its cost is, like most boutique instruments that aren’t made in huge quantities, a premium – no argument there. Likewise, you can sacrifice some of that unique design and get a cheap commodity device. In the end, I think there’s a value in both. To me, the more important thing is what people are doing musically. So I’ll be sure to follow both – and hopefully share some how-to people for our Lemur owners and DIY touchscreen users (or other controllers) alike. Even if you just have a box with a few knobs on it, it is possible to move in some new directions.

Got more examples? We’d love to see them.

Before the iPhone, before HP computers and Windows 7 touch features and Apple trackpad gestures, the Jazz Mutant Lemur multi-touch interface was ahead of its time. Today, it’s still unique, in that it’s one of the few commercially-available devices to support OpenSoundControl, it’s a luxuriously-large multi-touch screen, and it has exceptional precision and low latency with its tracking. Of course, it has also been subject to two primary complaints: one, that the software options for creating onscreen interfaces is two simple, and two, that it costs too much.

Well, the Lemur and its more conventional DAW-controlling Dexter sibling address each of those. The Lemur has gotten a significant software upgrade, and both have gotten a steep price cut.

First, Lemur V2 is the biggest set of improvements since the Lemur’s unveiling. New in the upgraded firmware:

• Tabs for containers
• Breakpoint object for envelopes
• Alias controllers to save memory and (your) time
• Control the mouse cursor or keyboard shortcuts directly (that’s actually a huge deal right there)
• Pinch, rotate, trace gestures
• Pop-up menu object
• New JazzEditor, scripting powers, and instant Ableton Live reactivity – yep, doing stuff even the new Akai APC can’t.

The only bad news is, even with price drops, these devices aren’t cheap, though arguably they can make up for that with longevity. The Dexter has undergone a permanent price drop to a much more competitive US$1519. The Lemur has temporarily dropped to US$1769 for a 60-day promotion. No official word yet on what happens after that offer expires mid-March; stay tuned.

I do think this makes a pretty significant adjustment on value. I’m a big fan of the iPhone/iPod touch apps, but the input area is extremely small; there’s no real comparison.

Lemur V2
Jazz Mutant

And even if you decide not to get a Lemur yourself or can’t afford them, they remain a compelling example of what’s possible in the future of music hardware – and how powerful OSC can be. Look for a hands-on with Lemur V2 and more on OSC in other applications (many completely free) over the coming months.

To close out, here’s a nice, if simple, video demo of a Max/MSP step sequencer controller with the Lemur. What’s lovely about this is that it shows how building both software and hardware interface from the ground up can really give you control over how you’re playing. (Meaning, even if you hate this, you can go create something for youself that’s exactly what you love.)

this is a sequencer i programmed in max using the lemur as a control interface. it sends midi info to whatever program you use. i also forgot to mention that each track can have independent timings, so varitions can span longer than just 1 bar of music.

lemur users can download it off the jazzmutant website. user name – Andrew Graham

Got Lemur creations of your own? We’d love to see them. (I really appreciated seeing the amazing work Bryant Place was doing with LemurV2 and Ableton Live while I was out in LA.)

Here’s a unique chance to step onstage with electronic duo Justice – well, through photos, at least – on tour in Brazil. Behind a stack of Marshall Amps and other gear that looks ready to push back an invading horde of Barbarians with a battering ram, these two have some very lovely goodies for live laptop performance. No plain-vanilla DJ sets here.

Our friend Fabio “FZero” writes:

I came across some pictures of the gear Justice used to play in Rio. They were taken by a guy which works on Circo Voador (the place were they played) and uploaded to orkut. I’ve downloaded and zipped them to make things easier.

The name of the photographer is Henrique Kurtz and his orkut profile is at http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Profile.aspx?uid=3218703684024828269

3 x Jazzmutant Lemur (THREE LEMURS. It’s good to be rich, I guess.)
2 x MacBook Pro (one is probably backup)
1 x Korg MicroKorg
1 x Korg ZERO8 Live Control
1 x Pioneer DJM800
Software: Ableton Live

Get up close and personal with the laptop rig itself. Okay, you may not be able to afford three Lemurs, but this wouldn’t be hard to scale to other setups. And there’s plenty here to make a “live PA” performance really a performance.

All photos © Copyright Henrique Kurtz. Used for createdigitalmusic.com by permission of the photographer. (Thanks, Henrique – beautiful shots!)

I still wonder if producers will prefer this to tactile, hardware control surfaces. It’s also interesting to me that the person demoing generally uses only one finger: just because something can do multi-touch doesn’t mean you will always need to use that functionality.