Renoise’s scripting interface is something special, allowing people to build anything they imagine in a way that’s directly integrated with this production studio – no add-ons required. But whether or not you yourself want to code, that also means access to the imagination of the Renoise user base. And one of the most impressive shows so far is an ambitious process to duplicate Ableton Live’s mixer and clip launching interface inside Renoise. We first saw that effort at the end of the year, but it’s now about to reach a whole new level.

Now, in fairness, part of why people like me would like to see people use something other than Ableton Live onstage is to see different performance modes on laptops. And this absolutely doesn’t do that – you’ll see that the interface is more or less a clone of Live. (And I’ve been known to be critical of such interface cloning.) But there are two advantages. One is, doing this in a script in another host is a fascinating exercise in learning how to maximize the potential of Renoise’s scripting, one that could lead to other things. The other is, it’s possible that the familiarity of environments that work like the Live Session View could help performers ease into new ways of working with Renoise – without having to make the leap all at once. Renoise itself offers a very different way of working, built on tools of yore – basically, an alternative music-making path in software design entitled trackers. Like being able to go for a burger, fries, and ketchup in a foreign town, the availability of Cells could help those foreign to the tool moonlight between Ableton and Renoise in their work.

If nothing else, it’s something of an engineering triumph that this works at all.

In version 2.0, now in beta, a complete rewrite of the code vastly expands what’s possible with Cells. CDM readers took a lot of interest in this development when we covered it last, so it’s great to see what may be possible as the code matures.

And in some critical respects, Cells now does things in an integrated fashion that aren’t in Ableton Live. Pattern riffs, built on Renoise’s unique instrument paradigm, encapsulate samples and sample mappings together with your patterns. Bi-directional controller support, while eventually grafted atop Ableton (particularly for certain supported controllers), is part of the framework. There’s also integrated network sync support inside the tool, all implemented atop OSC; it’s still in beta, but shows lots of potential. (That’s possible in Ableton using existing MIDI and network tools, but seeing the server inside the tool is impressive.) And these are the kind of areas where it’s hopeful we’ll see new ideas in Ableton and rivals alike – another reason choice is a good thing.

From the forum post, forwarded to CDM by the creator:

Cells! 2.0 is a complete rewrite of Cells! 0.9. This has been based upon further code experimentation and user feedback. However, due to the improved approach and cleaner code, it has been possible to add many more features.

Thanks to Void Pointer (http://soundcloud.com/void-pointer) for kindly supplying the samples used in the demo video.

Realtime ‘Granular’ Timestretch

Cells! 2.0 allows realtime timestretch in a ‘granular style’. This allows full independant control of both tempo and pitch while still keeping playback syncronised to the beat. Granular timestretch applies to samples which have both a beat sync value and autoseek enabled but beat sync is disabled.

Realtime ‘Slice Based’ Timestretch

Similar to the ‘granular’ timestretch, Cells! 2.0 adds support for sliced loops with independant tempo and pitch control. Each slice will be played back at the correct time to maintain the overall tempo of the entire loop. Slice-stretch applies to samples which are sliced. The length of the cell is assigned through the beat-sync value.

Pattern ‘Riff’ Storage and Playback

Cells! 2.0 allows you to quickly save individual pattern tracks as riffs for use live in Cells!. The riffs are stored in compressed format within the instrument itself, so you can quickly and easily save all samples, sample mappings and riffs self-contained within a single XRNI file. Note that any Renoise instrument is be supported. This means you should be able to send note riffs to external instruments or VSTi’s.

Live Jamming Mode

For specific types of samples, Cells! 2.0 allows real-time ‘live jamming’ playback mode. Play your samples directly with either the mouse or a physical controller for improvising over your mixes to add that extra sparkle. Individual slices from sliced loops and plain one-shot samples can be played in ‘live jamming’ mode.

Bidirectional Controller Support

Cells! 2.0 now has its own native controller framework. This allows full bidirectional support for supported hardware controllers. Livid Instruments Ohm64 and Novation Launchpad (beta) are available with the inital release. If you would like further support for any additional controllers, feel free to either send them to me for development or contact me directly to work together and implement support.

MultiFX

Cells! 2.0 incorporates a simple ‘DJ style’ effects processor into the main UI. Effects supported are a low-pass filter, beat repeat, delay and phaser. All effects are controlled through simple common amount and rate controls. All time based effects are syncronised to the beat.

Sample Preparation Tools

Cells! 2.0 incorporates simple methods to quickly create and prepare samples for use. Both the sample editor and the sample list box contain a ‘Cells! menu’ from which the sample can easily assigned to a specific playback mode and length. A ‘sample report’ feature is also available which allows you to quickly identify how the selected sample
will play within Cells! 2.0.

Additionally, Cells! 2.0 allows quick rendering of either entire patterns or specific tracks within patterns from your existing songs. Only the instrument of the first note within the pattern track will be saved. It will automatically assign the correct beat sync values even if the original song is not written at 4 LPB. All rendered samples will be contained within an ‘Unsorted Cells! Renders’ instrument within the song to easily allow saving of all samples to disk. This menu is present in the pattern editor context menu.

Multiplayer Networking (beta)

Cells! 2.0 has built in support for up to four machines to link together over a lan (via OSC) and keep in sync. Make huge mixes across multiple machines or get some friends around and all play together. Setup network connections on the master and ensure Renoise OSC servers are running on all machines.

Minor improvements

- Variable channels from 4 to 16.
- Variable cells per channel from 4 to 16.
- Variable cell height and width (for touch screen usage).
- Automatic sample selection option (for waveform view in the sample editor).
- Safe cueing option to automatically mute cue output if set to the
same as the main audio output.
- Single output mode (splits the audio so master output on one
channel and cue output on the other).
- Slightly tweaked user interface to cater for the additional features.
- Better audio routing (A/B crossfader or crossfader bypass (M))
- Various other optimisations (too many to list)

Downloads

Download the updated 2.0 beta manual here (http://www.box.com/s/evt2vnpb51hzj6kic1zg). The XRNX tool will is attached to [the forum] post. Please ensure you read the manual, most questions will probably be answered within. Cells! 2.0 Beta requires Renoise 2.8 beta 7.

Download and forum post:
http://www.renoise.com/board/index.php?/topic/33947-cells-20-for-renoise-28-beta/

Let us know if you put this to use; we’d love to hear how it works (particularly network-synced jams). And, hey, there’s nothing stopping you from using this alongside a machine running Ableton Live – even on a Linux laptop.

In an explosion of color, buttons, keys, velcro, and fur, and coupled with a cyborg-chic eyepiece, the VoltAxe is controllerism gone Mad Max, a post-acocalyptic keytar bred from salvaged parts. And if you want to make a unique construction of your own, creator Julie Covello – aka New York’s DJ Shakey – is willing to tell all her secrets, as well as why this was important to her music.

In modeling (the basement hobby variety, not the skinny fashionista one), “kitbashing” is the act of combining bits of multiple kits to produce one finished whole. Some custom new controllers are following a similar route, taking the best bits of, say, a keyboard and a Novation Launchpad, and going a bit nuts. Julie’s work deserves special mention not only because it takes that technique to an extreme, but it couples it with a heads-up, hands-free video display to keep feedback from the computer visible without being a distraction.

Julie tells us all the details:

The VoltAxe controller was created as part of my artist-in-residency at the Clocktower Gallery in New York City, made possible with support from the Jerome Foundation. I named my residency “Dj Shakey’s Audio Control Adventure” and wrote a pseudo-blog on Facebook.

To me, exploring Controllerism means trying to make my performance easier, more creative, and more dynamic. I did quite a bit of general research during this project, but with the performance controller, I focused on making a system that allowed me to walk around, not look at the controller, not look at my laptop (remove the barrier between
me and the audience and / or my bandmates), and have maximum flexibility and spontaneity with the sounds I was manipulating.

I had about 5 weeks to work, and I wanted a finished product that I could perform with, so I followed up on simpler solutions and left the hardcore hacking and studying for another time. I was also planning a huge finale party with 23 music and projection artists performing in multiple rooms, so that was on my plate as well.

Here’s a description of the final controller system…
I use Ableton Live — the way I perform, I want to see the laptop screen so I can pick clips at random to suit my mood. I don’t want to memorize my set and I don’t want to stare at my laptop screen either, so the solution was creating an eyepiece that shows my laptop screen within it. To build this I got help from VJ DoctorMojo aka Mark Alan
Johnson of Mojo Video Tech, Inc.. We experimented with a number of hacks, repurposing components extracted from the viewfinders of old camcorders. These experiments yeilded a number of functional miniature low-voltage displays, however these units were all black-and-white and a color image was what I needed. Very long story short, the final solution was to buy a pair of Vuzix
personal video glasses (US$250), flip them upside down and attach ONE screen to a regular pair of glasses so that only one of my eyes is looking at the screen and the other eye is looking out into the world. What I see with both eyes open is my laptop screen floating in the air on top of what I normally see. It’s amazing how easy this is to use!

There was more to do to make this work:
1. I had to run the output of my computer to a scan converter ($100) about the size of a cigarette pack and then run a wire to the little box that manages the glasses, adapters and cables were required.

2. I had to power the glasses, so that meant making the power cable about 10 feet longer so it could be plugged in while I walked around.

3. The image in the glasses was upside-down, since the unit was mounted upside-down (to avoid my nose!), so I rotated it 180 degrees via my Mac OS preferences.

4. The cursor size was too small, so I enlarged it with the Mac’s “Universal Access” preferences.

5. The image of my laptop screen was pretty low resolution, so low that I couldnt read any of the clip names, I referred to the Universal Access preferences to determine key commands for zoom in and zoom out and then programmed
my mouse keys to do the shortcut keys for these functions. Zoom out and I can see levels and stuff; zoom in and I can read type. I also fooled around with the screen resolution so it would be as clear as possible.

Speaking of the mouse, I did more research on the mouse than anything else! I wanted to attach it to my controller, which I was planning on hanging over my shoulders like a keytar. It had to have basic mouse functions AND I wanted buttons that could be programmed to do a series of keystrokes with one touch. There were some pretty cool mice on websites for the handicapped, but they were either absurdly expensive or they didn’t have all the functionality I wanted. I ended up using the one I had on my desk, the Kensington Expert Pro Turbo Trackball. I’ve had several over the years and I love them. They don’t make them any more, so they are hard to get and costly. (US$150 – 300) Also, the trackball is not secured in the socket. I basically just duct-taped this to my controller backing, and secured the trackball (with help from Mojo) with a piece of silver solder and a rubber band so it could move freely but securely. The mouse comes with programming software and I programmed the buttons to do — whatever I wanted!

The controller backing is 3/4 foam board ($5). I need this thing to be light! It is solid and doesn’t flex at all. I attached a number of controllers to this backing, a Novation Launchpad (triggering clips, punching clips in and out), Korg nanoPAD 2 (fx, samples), Korg nanoKONTROL 2 (mixing, fx), and two Vmeters (fx). I also messed around with a Keith McMillen Softstep foot controller which I like a lot and am still incorporating into the set-up. All of these run into a “Plugable”[-brand] 10-input powered USB hub on the back of the unit. I had to add a 12-foot usb extension to reach my laptop, as well as extending the power brick cable. All these long cables were bound into a single cable sleeve running to the laptop and power strip.

In an effort to use the controllers without looking at them, I added textures to many of the keys so I could find them by touch (velcro, rubber, fur). I covered up the keys that I had no plan to use so I wouldn’t hit them by accident. I divided the Launchpad up into 4×4 quandrants with miniature wire and ductape ridges. I’m still adapting to this set-up.

After the whole thing was put together, I hung it from a strap I grabbed off a gear case I had in the room. It took some trial and error to determine where to place the ends of the straps on the controller so that it would hang properly and my hands reached all the controls comfortably. I spent some time with the prototype attaching and re-attaching items until everything was in the right place before cutting out the foam board into the final shape. At this time, everything is attached with checkered duct tape from Home Depot; soon I will upgrade this to velcro (but keep the checkers as
decoration!).

The VoltAxe was ready to test play at midnight the day before the huge event where I was going to perform! Thanks to
Moldover and Mojo, who were with me doing ongoing troubleshooting, configuring went quickly and I was able to rehearse for a few hours and pull it together just in time! At the show, everything went as planned and I couldn’t have been happier – it was
so much fun! I can’t wait to evolve this set-up! My next move is to make it mobile and take it to the subway station to do some busking.

More information:
DJ Shakey : Clocktower Artist-In-Residency [as written up by the video whiz behind the project, Mojo]

Radio interview, talking DJing, “controllerism,” producing, and complete with remixes and original music from Shakey:
DJ Culture: DJ Shakey, The Illustrated Interview

If you like the project and want to see it developed more, you can also vote for it on Artists Wanted

Here’s a track with the controller in action:
Minor schwing by FreebassBK

Thanks, Julie!

Music is deeply tied up with motion; seeing that in a machine is somehow satisfying. Soundmachines, from the enigmatically-titled Berlin studio TheProduct*, is an interactive physical installation made from optical turntables. By moving the “tone arm” – really in this case an optical sensor attached to an extended mount – you can change rhythms and sound sweeps.

We’ve naturally seen many visualizations, tangible and digital, that make loops into wheels. But it’s worth noting the particular connection to a kinetic experiment by The Books’ Nick Zammuto from the film earlier this week. In fact, my one criticism of this piece is that the rhythms are so regular. Some syncopation in a machine like this would be not only pleasing, but immediately visible to the eye and therefore understandable. Perhaps even decoupling the wheels from the motor could allow a user to experiment with sound. That doesn’t mean you have to go from minimal techno to irregular chaos, but there’s quite a lot in between.

That’s not to take away from the impact of this piece, and in particular, the beauty of its installation. The presentation in an iconic object is a message in itself. And the circle remains the ideal design for a looped rhythm, embedded as it is in the repetition we perceive in our world.

http://www.the-product.org/soundmachines

More details:

Three units, which are resembling standard record players, translate concentric visual patterns into control signals for further processing in any music software. The rotation of the discs, each holding three tracks, can be synced to a sequencer.
The Soundmachines premiered on the Volkswagen New Beetle stand at the IAA motor show in late Summer 2011. In cooperation with the sounddesigner/producer Yannick Labbé of TRICKSKI fame, we developed three unique discs, each controlling one track of an Ableton Live Set exclusively made for the Event. The show was supported by a set of realtime generated visuals, running on a 25m wide LED wall.


One/One oneone-studio.com
TheProduct* the-product.org

Client

Volkswagen

Agency

Vok Dams, Hamburg

Sounddesign/Producer IAA
Yannick Labbé yannicklabbe.com

Special Thanks

Matt Karau
 matt.karau.com
Andreas Schmelas invertednothing.com

(See also a compelling-looking visual collage. It’s supposed to be set to John Cage’s “First Interlude,” but because of copyright concerns, is instead (arguably) set to Cage’s 4’33″. Let’s hope they don’t get sued for that.

There are simpler, more minimal interfaces, and more tangible interfaces for Ableton Live. But when it comes to all-stops-pulled, touch-everything control of the full depth of Ableton Live, it was already hard to beat TouchAble for iPad. Now, with an update, that app closes even more of the gap between what you can do on the iPad and what you can do through the standard Live UI.

The standard computer model – mouse, keyboard, display – places some distance between you and a graphical user interface (even if that mouse is quite precise). The advantage of something like an iPad is, you can touch that interface directly. Part of the reason I’ve criticized that interface is, you’re still short of true tangible control with feedback – and there’s a great “rant,” far more articulate than I have been, on the topic, one that deserves further discussion soon.

But, as a middle ground, TouchAble is impressive. It’s very effective as a kind of “cockpit” for most of Live’s functionality.

New in this release, in brief:

• On-the-fly looping
• Beatjump / loopjump from a clip, among other shortcuts
• New mixer, with crossfader
• Velocity-sensitive drums
• Control Impulse, Auto Filter, Pingpong Delay
• Lots of other enhancements; see the full update list

In fact, with the new Devices, velocity-sensitive Drums, and Looping, TouchAble goes further toward making an iPad-centric “instrument” out of Live.

Odds are, you own just one iPad. But if you’ve got more – or some friends – the new version also supports up to four iPads at once. The video’s shaky, but we get to see that feature in action.

Sylvain Garcia, aka “Le K”, of TouchAble played with all four iPads at Wild Renate here in Berlin last weekend, and sends us documentation. The TouchAble crew also tell us there’s more to come, particularly with artists.

For more in-action videos — proof that this can work in practice, there are two YouTube playlists:
TouchAble Featured Artists
TouchAble Artists

TouchAble @ App Store; via DE:BUG [in German]

Okay, I’m not sure the computers can break a sweat (at least not without some serious consequences). But all the people projection-mapping generatively sequencing live audiovisualism electronic thingamabops sure are working hard in the above teaser video for Amon Tobin’s live ‘ISAM’ show. Not a lot of cities get to see the results, but those that do are promised a fully-immersive experience of this sound design extravaganza, complete with new sensory happenings for your eyeballs.

It’s live. It’s audiovisual. It’s not, says Ninja Tune, “DJ-centric.” Amen, brother.

The dates:

1st June – MUTEK, Montreal
9th June – Astra, Berlin
10th June – AB, Brussels
15th June – Melkweg, Amsterdam
17th June – Roundhouse, London

The collaborators:
Blasthaus, San Francisco-based live collective
VSquared Labs, virtuoso visual lab in LA founded by Vello E Virkhaus
Vita Motus Design, another event design shop (not sure about their specific contribution here)
Leviathan and “others” are involved, too.

Another preview, below, features the arresting photography of Tessa Farma’s organic sculptures, though you’ll have to guess at how this work – featured in a touring gallery show – will be interwoven with the motion materials. But whatever’s happening, the ambitions here are compelling.

http://www.amontobinisam.com/

Previously: Listen to Amon Tobin’s Sound Design Magnum Opus ISAM; Commentary, Behind-the-Scenes Details

Digital musician and artist Josh Silverman began the Synplode process with something familiar – a checkerboard. Play a game of checkers on its computer vision-equipped playing field and beats and loops triggered in Ableton Live generated a responsive soundtrack for the game. But as it’s evolved, Synplode has become a general-purpose musical grid. Whether with little robotic insects (the Hexbugs here) or full-sized human persons, the grid can turn any space into a dynamic, interactive dance floor. (I think I may actually prefer those cute little bugs to the people and dancers and whatnot. Robot rave, anyone?)

I prodded Josh to write up more description of what’s going on, so he’s created lots of documentation on the project Website.

The basic interaction:

At the start of the Synplode demo video, it is easy to see that a wave passes over the basic projected grid, flashing one column at a time, each containing 8 trigger regions. When a participant (or microbot) is present on a region, it is activated. When the wave intersects with an activated region, it causes a Synplosion, expressed through a splash of color and a distinctive sound. In the grid, each row represents a distinctive color and pitch or audio sample.

The basic ingredients:
1. Computer vision in OpenFrameworks, the fully open-source, artist-friendly C++ toolkit inspired by Processing.
2. Ableton Live, triggering clips in Set Mode and modulating them with MIDI effects and racks.

For more detail:
How it Works (details, in particular, of what’s happening in Ableton)
Why it Works (some of the thinking behind the interaction)
Synplode Project Page

Josh first demonstrated this system publicly at our Handmade Music series here in New York, and this is just the kind of experimentation and iteration I like to see. Here’s the original, checkerboard version:

Ready to make your Ableton Live pattern programming a bit more polyrhythmic with the power of math?

In Monday’s reflections and round-up of cycles and circles, I mentioned Euclidean evenness and Godfried Toussaint’s research. The basic idea is that a mathematical algorithm for spacing pulses has a lot in common with traditional preferences for polyrhythms spanning everything from rock hits to conga patterns and musical cultures around the world.

Reader Tony Wheeler has turned those patterns into MIDI clips so you can drop patterns into Ableton Live. Drum patterns and dance music are obvious applications, but this could be an idea starter for melodic patterns or music in a variety of idioms.

Each individual pattern will sound like an isolated cycle; it’s often when you put them together that they’re most compelling. Here’s an example; Tony added a regular bass drum just to make things more grounded (it actually calls attention to the asymmetry of the other patterns).

ScaledKit by wheelmaker

Tony has another terrific tool for Ableton Live that generates the AMS files used by Operator to tune oscillators to alternative pitches, as we covered previously:
Free Utility Makes Endless Oscillators for Ableton Live Simpler, Sampler
Direct link: AMS File Utility for Ableton Live

And for harmonic experimentation, see the Circle of Fifths Chord Resource:
Circle of Fifths Chord Resource in Ableton Live

This is all fairly academic stuff, but the funny thing about it is there’s nothing stopping you from making either a dance music hit or some experimental new kind of music that doesn’t sound like it came from Ableton.

Alternative tunings for Operator oscillators and Euclidean polyrhythms? There are many tools aside from Ableton that will work, too, but whatever your tool, this could be a great way to jump-start a musical idea. Airport layover, meet musical productivity.

Updated: Another great way to go is the Eckel VST plug-in, also donationware. It works on Mac (Universal) and Windows, and since you can dial up parameters, may be easier to use than the MIDI clips, depending on your workflow – especially since you can still choose pitch. (Or, hey, grab both!) Thanks to John Larsby for the reminder:
Shuriken.se: VST – Eckel

For Dr. Toussaint’s part, you can glance over his syllabus on Discrete Mathematics — and find a reference to Tony’s Ableton experiments.

Grab the download and read more on this topic (free, donations welcome):
Euclidean Rhythm MIDI File Resource in Ableton Live [Age of the Wheel]

Max for Live, now into its second year, is a tool with an ambitious goal: take the custom music software creation, visual-patch-programming powers of Max/MSP, and put them inside live performance and production host Ableton Live. It’s not the only tool that allows you to hack your own instruments and effects, or customize how your music tool works – several hosts now offer scripting and patching options. But it’s both unique in its depth and breadth, and paired with the tool most popular with musicians for playing live, which puts it in a league of its own.

I personally like tools I feel are worth criticizing, and I think Max for Live fit that description. Members of the passionate Ableton and Max/MSP communities, perhaps most of all those who embraced Max for Live in their workflow, had some ideas of their own.

This week, Ableton is releasing the first batch of significant, non-bug-fix improvements to Max for Live since its release. You can try them right now in the just-unleashed 8.2.2 beta.

It’s not just about what Ableton is doing differently, though. Recently, Ableton also unveiled a set of guidelines for people making their own patches, with the hope of raising the bar and making patch publishing clearer and easier.

Daniel Büttner of Ableton offers his thoughts to CDM, including improvements to the Live API and the new “production guidelines” for people building Max for Live patches. It’s a detailed read, but I know we’ve got some hard-core patchers out there who will appreciate it. Daniel writes:

Max for Live has been around for over one year. As the community grew and produced more devices, we noticed the obvious weak points that every programmer was trying to work around, such as keeping parameter mappings intact.

A few months back, after Live 8.2 was released, we started working more closely with programmers in the community, listened to their problems and evaluated lots of devices. The two main issues we ran into were 1) limitations in the software that made it difficult to create reliable devices and 2) certain knowledge to program devices that work well in Live.

Top item on the list was the handling and persistency of mappings from a Max device to any Live parameter, which required clumsy workarounds. From what I have seen, the new persistent Ids allow programmers to reduce their Max code in a typical LFO by 60%.

live.object and live.remote~ now have an option “Save Mapping in Live Set” (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1: Save Mapping in Live Set better integrate Max for Live with your Live sets – a must for live performers, production.

Another improvement allows Max devices to observe the selected_parameter in Live via [live.path live_set view selected_parameter]. Max programmers can now build an intuitive Map mode into their devices (see example code below) or follow the user’s selection, which may be useful for certain hardware integration.

The Live API can now reach inside racks, so LFOs can be grouped with Live effects and saved as a preset.

Fig. 2: “This device” is a new Max object that makes it easy to design actions around a patch being opened.

A small feature that doesn’t show up in the changelog is a new Max object called live.thisdevice (Fig. 2):

“live.thisdevice reports two pieces of information about your Max Device. A bang message is automatically sent from the leftmost outlet when the Max Device is opened and completely initialized, or when the containing patcher is part of another file that is opened. Additionally, a bang will be reported every time a new preset is loaded or the device is saved (and thus reloaded within the Live application). A 1 or 0 will be sent from the rightmost outlet when the Device is enabled or disabled, respectively. Used within Max, live.thisdevice functions essentially like the loadbang object. The rightmost outlet is inactive in this case.”

The [live.thisdevice] helps timing in large devices to avoid sending values before the API has been initialized, etc.

Besides technical improvements to the software, we also want to share our knowledge with Max programmers to avoid common errors such as devices spilling into Live’s undo history or not recalling parameters correctly in a Live Set.

We’ve created a set of guidelines as a result of our own experience and known issues, a long evaluation of community devices, discussions with patch programmers.

Ableton Max for Live production guidelines [Ableton Forum]

I hope that everyone updates their existing Max for Live devices and takes advantage of these improvements as they make MfL devices a lot more reliable and fun to use.

The Production Guidelines offer lots of good ideas, including “pre-flight” checklists for technical details and presentation draw from months of experience with patches, compatibility notes for Mac and Windows, device latency, mapping, and the like. In fact, even if you don’t plan to distribute your work, it’s a great read.

Speaking of Guidelines, What About Licenses?

One issue Ableton have not handled is licensing of patches. This is likely a good topic for another article, but I can summarize my own recommendations, having talked to a range of developers and people familiar with open source software policy.

I would strongly endorse putting some sort of license document in your patches. The most important first step is, whatever your intentions for how your work is used, put it in writing. Legal agreements all begin with simply writing down what you mean; it’s when there’s an absence of information that misunderstandings most often arise. That doesn’t have to mean hiring a lawyer – thinking to yourself, then writing down, “hey, this is how I expect this to be used” is a good starting point.

If you want to release a patch to be shared and incorporated into other people’s work, the other good news is that there are licenses available that are tried and tested and do some of the work for you. That means other users can see a license with which they may already be familiar, and you don’t have to worry (as much) about the legal implications.

I understand the desire to apply “non-commercial” restrictions, but as I’ve written in the past, these provisions tend to be problematic. The problem is the lack of a clear line for what “commercial” is. If you simply don’t want others to reuse your work, you should consider traditional copyright – that’s your right as a creator. If you do want others to reuse your work and are simply afraid of abuse, the “ShareAlike” Creative Commons license and GNU Public License each require others to share any modifications you make. Those rules were created precisely because creators didn’t want to see their work appropriated by others just because you made them free.

The GPL is the license I’d recommend in this case, because it’s a mature, legally-tested license. It’s worth a read-through of the FAQ, because it clears up many misconceptions – for instance, you can charge for your (Max Patch, or other software), you can make commercial software, and the GPL requires others attribute you as well as release any modifications they make to a patch back to the public. That makes a lot of sense for the Max community, since it means the best of both worlds – other people can improve your patch, but they have to then release all those modifications, so you and others can benefit, and you can still sell your patch if you like.

Whatever you choose, I think it’s important to explicitly state your intentions. Then everyone knows the rules by which they’re playing. That doesn’t mean some people won’t disobey those rules, but I also fully expect the community to step in if they feel someone has failed to follow the rules. (We saw that happen on this site recently, of course.)

Disclaimer: these are my own opinions; I’m just adding them here as I think it’s an appropriate time to begin a conversation about this.

In the meantime:

Max Beta

8.2.2b3 is released as of this writing:
Current Beta Version: 8.2.2b3 (updated February 15, 2011) [Ableton Forum]

Changelog

** Improvements and feature changes **

(Note: Some of these changes require an update to the latest version of Max, find a download link above)

- Devices inside Racks can now be accessed via the Max for Live API
- Return tracks can now be observed via the Max for Live API

Live devices and parameters can now be much more easily mapped to controls in Max devices. And devices can safely be moved within a Live Set without breaking any existing mappings. The following
changes make this possible:

- There is now a simple way to observe the selected parameter via the Max for Live API, using “live.path live_set view selected_parameter.” This can be used to, for example, build a custom “map
mode” to quickly map parameters in your Live Set to controls in a Max device.
- Live objects like tracks, clips or parameters retain their identity (id nn) during operations like move, save/restore, cut/paste, delete/undo, the identity is global and can be communicated
via Max’s Send and Receive objects.
- live.object, live.observer and live.remote~ are now able to remember their target objects when Live sets or presets are saved and restored or when objects are moved within the Live set.

** Bugfixes **

- Holding a note while recording a MIDI clip and stopping the transport while the note is held would result in a silent note during play back

Have a test, and let us know what you think.

And I know a number of readers have complained this site has done a poor job of covering all the developments in Max for Live patches – yeah, uh, I am human, as it happens. So do let us know if there are patches you feel are especially important. A terrific resource:
http://maxforlive.com/

(Note – please see update at the end of this story regarding controversy over this device in the Live community.)

Ableton Live users have wanted an LFO for a long time. Using basic wave shapes, you’d be able to modulate anything in a set, from clip parameters to instruments and effects, producing shifting timbres or rhythmic patterns or anything you’d like.

Julien Bayle, the Marseilles-based (certified) Live guru, ambient musician (as protofuse), and builder of the protodeck controller, has built a solution. “LFO Everything in Live” is a Max for Live device that allows you to control any parameter anywhere in Live using LFO waveforms. Features:

• Tempo sync toggle
• Multiple waveshapes – new ones added this version – or draw your own.
• Route an LFO to another LFO to another LFO, etc., for some sophisticated signal chains.
• Lifetime free updates.

You’ll need a recent version of Live – 8.2.1 required – plus a copy of Max for Live. But if you’ve got those two things, prepare for some serious LFO goodness.

The tool is normally EUR8, but anticipating some interest from CDM readers, you can get it for EUR6 and go buy yourself an espresso (or two) instead. Use coupon code CR3AT3 (first fifteen buyers only – you might ask nicely to extend that)!
http://designthemedia.com/products/abletonlive/
Follow Protofuse/Julien on Twitter, Facebook, and if you have opinions about what kind of hardware he should be building, take his survey

I’d still like to see an LFO as a default device, and for Max for Live devices to be easier to distribute to users who don’t own a copy – as well as for more M4L patchers to use a GPL license for patches they’re selling. But this looks like a terrific solution, nonetheless, and could really change the feeling of working with Live. Great work, Julien!

Updated: You’ll find plenty of reader discussion of alternative LFO patches for Max for Live, along with what people think of their relative merits, in comments. The maxforlive.com library is a terrific resource.

Also, unfortunately, I’ve learned of a dispute between Julien and an author of another LFO plug-in; I can’t comment directly on the content of that debate because I don’t feel I have all the facts. If a third party wishes to step in and let us know your opinion, please feel free. Otherwise, I’ve asked these two authors to communicate with one another directly.

Since asking them to do so, it appears they have not reached a resolution. You can follow the forum thread on Ableton’s forum in which Max for Live users weigh in here, as well as on the original LFO Everything thread.

Pictures:

Kids today. They just love their Ableton Live and their Rock Band and their alternative tunings and their Live triggers and touch controllers stuck to their far-out new boutique controllers and high-end MIDI guitars.

Starr Labs has a line of MIDI controllers for Rock Band gamers and musicians on a budget, real guitarists (that’ll be the pro MIDI guitarists, not the gaming ones), and a novel new controller designed especially for Ableton Live. We saw their wireless line earlier today, which interoperates with these; here’s them exploring control.

Gaming and serious musicianship have some surprising overlaps here. Look at the new Ztar, the ZS-XPApros, which is a MIDI guitar – complete with advanced features for hammer-ons, sensitivity, and programmable zones – that also can manipulate Ableton Live right out of the box. Triggers are pre-mapped to Live control layouts. Like the game Rock Band, there’s cheery color coding to match what’s on the screen to what’s on the instrument. Unlike the game Rock Band, you’re playing an actual guitar and controlling advanced music software at the same time. (Show that to the next Xbox gamer who thinks they know it all.)

If you don’t play the guitar, there’s also the airPad, a wireless controller for Ableton with pots, X/Y pad, nav control, and 4×4 light-up pads.

Ztar

The Ztar Z6S-XPA and Z7S-XPA are advanced MIDI guitar controllers with “the industry’s only zero-latency, 6-string x 24-fret touch-sensitive keyed-fingerboard.” (I actually think that’s not hyperbolic; this is the only one I know of.)

Each string trigger has its own tuning, so you get what amounts to a combination between a sophisticated MIDI guitar and an alternative key layout. It’s a controller singularity, as if an alternate-tuning keyboard and a MIDI guitar had a love child.

Specs:

6 Velocity sensitive, Zero latency String Triggers
4-Way programmable Joystick and programmable Mod Wheel
24 fret touch sensitive Ableton Live color-coded fingerboard
Ableton Live control layouts and set-up templates
Ribbon Controller with 2 touch pads (Z7S) / six touch pads (Z6S)
Unlimited String and Fingerboard Tunings
32 Mappable Zones
Programmable Chording System
Arpeggiator & Sequencer
Volume Pedal Port & Sustain Pedal Port
MIDI and USB i/o

The Z6S-XPApro adds six pots.

Scott Caligure has more on the updates to the Ztar.

“The Z6S-XPApro and Z7S-XPApro are newer/updated versions, with improved sensing, latest drivers, multiple sysex ‘layouts’ for various software not only Ableton Live, color coded fingerboard soon to be led-illuminated. We are currently working on the instrument to be a class-compliant device.”

I would call this more like an keyboardaraaytrixocontrollatar. I’m not sure the music this instrument plays has been invented yet. (Microtonal breakcore psychedelia?)

Ztar Rock Controller

The “Rock Controller” is marketed partly for use with the Rock Band 3 Pro Mode, but it looks to me to be just as practical as a MIDI instrument – maybe even a little more so for some users, as it’s a bit simplified in contrast to the Ztar. With USB and MIDI connections, it’s just as happy to be plugged into your computer as an Xbox or PS3, and Starr are quick to say it’s not a toy. With zero-latency string triggers, a four-way joystick, five-way knife switch, muting, and two pedal ports, it’s still out there controller-wise.

And like the others, it has actual strings (to make absolutely certain this isn’t just a toy). But it might be a more down-to-earth alternative if the Ztar is a little too alien or pricey for you. It’s also a huge leap up in quality and versatility from the (also useful) MIDI guitar controllers designed for the game.

airPad for Ableton Live

It might seem a bit out of place here, but the airPad is a more traditional Ableton Live controller. It does boast a novel control layout, and it’s wireless, working in the 2.4G ISM band.

It’s well worth a visit to the Starr Labs site; they make an array of controllers and guitar electronics, including some fascinating alternate keyboard arrays. Makers like this make me wish I’d cashed in on some Web startup boom with an inexplicably-successful idea so I could squander part of my fortune collecting these designs. And for someone, I’m sure, they’ll find a real musical place in performance.

http://www.starrlabs.com