I love the idea of artists translating their work into interactive packs of sonic exploration – like releasing an album for fellow electronic musicians. If you’re enjoying our exclusive 808 “less cowbell” Live Pack for Ableton Live and want more sound goodness for free, good news. Puremagnetik has released a set of entirely free “artist packs” with drum kits, clips, and (from Neon Stereo) effect racks. Note that even if you don’t have Live or just want to use a different app, the audio contents of these packs will work anywhere.

In this lineup: Gregory Shiff, our friend Elijah B Torn, Paul Rose, Kalahari Surfers, Brian Best, Kamoni (Micah Frank), and Neon Stereo. You do need to sign up for a Puremagnetik account, but there’s no financial obligation.

For more tips and mad scientist antics from Elijah, see our previous story:
Elijah B Torn on Odd Sound Techniques, Ableton Live

And I got to drop by the DUMBO, Brooklyn studio of Puremagnetik’s own Micah Frank, as pictured here. It’s quite small and packed with fantastic gear in regular rotation. The good folks of TRASH_AUDIO had a nice interview spotlight on Micah late last year:
Workspace and Environment: Kamoni
You can also check out Kamoni’s new rig on his site.

All of this is well and good, but being, erm, me, I’d love to see more oddball stuff, too. How about a Pd Pack or Csound Kit – anyone?

Monolake as I’ve said before once released an album with a Max/MSP patch. In a way, this sort of release of sonic content could be a way of releasing music in a different way, one that assumes active participation by your listener. There was a time when people regularly passed around Max patches and sort of influenced each others’ music virally. I think there’s plenty more to explore in this category – and I’d happily buy sonic content alongside music releases, too, from folks I love.

Puremagnetik Artist Page