Want to load ReCycle REX sample files onto your MPC? Or looking for a better solution for chopping up samples – that is, firing up ReCycle on your screen? Joe Lambert writes in to share his GBP11 Mac utility for the task:

Just a quick note to let you know about a little application I wrote that lets users easily convert chopped Recycle files into Akai MPC program files.

http://apps.steamshift.com/

This essentially allows a producer to chop a breakbeat (or other sample) using their Mac instead of having to use the built-in chopshop and small screen on the sampler itself. It also makes sample CD’s with pre-chopped loops a lot more useful for MPC users.

Unrelated, but he also has a nifty “virtual BCF2000″ utility so you can make use of its control mappings on the road, even when you don’t have the Behringer handy. (Editing in coach class, anyone?)

I’m curious what your REX/MPC workflows are like and if this is helpful.

MPC Forever

I certainly have no doubts that this is relevant to some people. I actually spent a good part of yesterday and today hanging out with MPC creator Roger Linn. Among many other conversations, Roger noted his own bemusement at the ongoing popularity of the original MPCs – to say nothing of the MPC as a category in general. You can buy version 3.10 software for the MPC60 from Roger Linn Design. Tom Oberheim’s SCSI adapter for the MPC also came up. From that site:

NOTE: As of March 1, 2009, Tom Oberheim’s Marion Systems has stopped manufacturing the MPC-SCSI due to diminished demand. However, he’ll make another batch if there is enough demand. If you definitely wish to purchase one at for the former price of $300, email us to let us know and we’ll add your name to a waiting list. When the list grows long enough, Tom will make another batch and we’ll contact you.

Yes, just to be clear, we’re talking the MPC60 and the now-defunct SCSI. (While you’re at it, maybe you’d like a new dust case for your Apple III?) Of course, despite allegations that electronic music tech is easily outmoded or disposable, the MPC is doggedly neither. And while I have no personal need for an MPC60, elegant achievement that it was, I find something comforting in that. So I’ll do my own small part – with apologies to Tom and Roger – to call attention to the thing.

Of course, if you do want something new designed by Roger Linn, the LinnDrum II is planned for release later this year. The moment I can talk more about that, I will.

You’ve seen the splashy “sound just like –” headlines in various music magazines. But imitation is, after all, an essential form of musical development. Something magical happens as you try to imitate something – you begin to hear it differently. Sometimes you wind up nailing something exactly, and in the process discover how you might make your own, unique sounds. And sometimes, the process of translation falls apart, and instead of an imitation you go somewhere else altogether. But I do think you learn something by imitating, however successful you may be. You also often gain new appreciation for the track.

By popular demand, our friend and Live performance guru Gustavo Bravetti has unveiled the secrets behind a sound in his own performances, reminiscent of a tune that’s well-loved in certain circles:

How to program a “M.A.N.D.Y vs Booka Shade – Body Language” like sound, on Ableton Live’s Operator.

Note that I’m using Live8’s Operator. Fortunately all used parameters are backward compatible, so you can perform it on Live7’s Operator, and it will sound the same.

As Gustavo points out in comments, this is all about using a simple example as a window into learning Operator. And just as you might learn to solo on the piano from listening to Horace Silver over and over again, this can be a great way to sharpen your ear and learn more about synthesis.

I really happen to love the sounds from these artists and the Gustavian twist in this variation. I’m also struck, as I was when it came out, by the extent to which Ableton’s Operator is economical in its layout and synth parameters. I have other go-to soft synths, but I think Operator is remarkably fast to program – a testament to Robert Henke and the early Operator prototypes in Max/MSP.

Hope this is useful to your synth programming. Gustavo, keep them coming.

Gustavo Bravetti Blog [in Spanish]

It’s a tough time for the music tech industry like so many industries. But there are beautiful products coming from independent developers – indie, boutique shops crafting musical instruments in code. The folks at Devine Machine, makers of the likes of Guru and Lucifer, unloaded three big announcements overnight – enough to make you think there’s some obscure trade show going on at the end of March no one told you about.

Here’s the capsule view of why they matter:

Here’s a different take on soundware business models: offer your stuff for free, then depend on donations. That’s the tack at Togeo Studios, who have an impressive collection of packs. Wave Attack I, for instance, includes single-cycle waveforms with arpeggiated sequences and leads. Their work is available on BitTorrent, too, which could help defray bandwidth costs. (Well, single-cycle waveforms don’t take up much, but perhaps larger packs might.)

I have to admit, I’m skeptical of the donationware model. The issue is, it seems like a lot of folks just aren’t going to donate – not necessarily for any sinister reasons, but simply because they don’t “get around to it.” Heck, just selling soundware is hard enough. And the brilliant, open source Ardour DAW has struggled to cobble together even a few licenses’ worth of income monthly, despite very reasonable subscription fees and powerful features.

I’m skeptical, but I’m also intrigued. Donationware or freemium models once powered the PC shareware industry and launched the now-massive game company Epic Games (of Unreal fame). Challenging as it might be, these models could open new tools to musicians and would be particularly powerful with open source. It’s something that could help us start new projects here on CDM, while paying our rent / electric bills. So what do you think of Togeo’s work? And that specific example aside, would you be willing to “donate” to software, soundware, and learning materials the way that you do American public radio and TV?

Togeo Studios
Wave Attack 1 Live Pack – mininova [Torrent page]

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Ever feel like you’ve found the seam dividing past and future?

The past: restrictive UI frameworks requiring pages and pages of code to produce dated-look 2D displays. Proprietary software with rigid interfaces. Input bottlenecked through the x and y coordinates of a single mouse pointer.

The future: UIs whipped together graphically or with a few lines of code. 3D mixed with 2D. Open-source, friendly frameworks. Creating your own interface or drawing upon a community of creative software makers. Input that uses multitouch for gestures, collaborative input, manipulation of 2D and 3D space, and … well, just a lot more fun.

There’s no need to wait around for the future. Creative software inventors are building it for themselves. Here are two of the most promising multitouch interface projects I’ve seen in my inbox.

In no time at all, you’ll be painting a cow! (Okay, more on that in a moment…)