Fix for Mac Audio Dropouts: Roll Back Tiger AirPort Support

Background: Many laptop-based Mac OS X users are experiencing significant audio issues on Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard. On Tiger, the culprit appears to be the AirPort Extreme Update 2008-001 released earlier this spring. One workaround on Tiger is to simply turn off AirPort. On Leopard, the problem appears to be slightly more complex, but generally linked to 10.5.2; several software vendors are recommending music users avoid that update for now. (10.5 / 10.5.1 appear unaffected.) The issue is not universal on Leopard (some laptop Mac users report no problems), but if you are experiencing issues, the only current solution appears to be downgrading your entire system to an earlier release (via Time Machine or reinstalling).

Fortunately, on Tiger there’s a more specific temporary fix.

Tiger Fix: Musician Georgi Marinov has posted step-by-step instructions for reverting the AirPort Extreme Update to the previous release (2007-004). This fix will work only for Tiger users, apparently on specific MacBook Pro and Mac mini models.

tiger airport audio dropouts fix

I’d personally like to see Apple add some facility for uninstalling updates on all releases, as some other operating systems do. (Yes, you can use Time Machine, but that’s more of an argument for building this feature into Software Update.) But regardless, with any OS and any update (and certainly with this unsupported procedure), be sure to backup before applying any update to a critical machine.

If you do apply this, let us know if it works for you.

Previously:

Mac OS X 10.5.2: Music and Audio Problems on Apple Laptops? (Or Blame AirPort?)

Mac Audio Glitches: Serato Reports; Avoid 10.5.2, AirPort For Now

Photo: Telstar Logistics. (Hey, it was either that shot of SFO airport or another apple or tiger or something silly.)

Update: via Kris on comments, it appears the newest ("Penryn") Apple laptops are unaffected, presumably a side effect of using Broadcom chips. (That’s not to say the chip is to blame, but the software support for the different chips might be.)

Weekend Inspiration: Control Ableton Live with Your iPhone

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While we’re having a weekend of Live tutorials, here’s another one for you, this time using your iPhone / iPod touch. Now, I’m not sure I’d want to do a whole set like this, necessarily — but here’s a thought: you could use this to do some sound checks out in the house instead of stuck behind your laptop listening through monitors. I’m sure there are other applications, as well. Enjoy!

The secret ingredient this time is i3L (pronounced “eye thrill”), the MIDI bridge app from VJ superstar group artificial eyes out of Turkey. They note that Mexican audiovisual collective Nortec are also making use of i3L (for video triggering).

See our iPhone/iPod touch music tool round-up from earlier this week for other goodies to load up on your device. To me, the iPod touch is the real bargain here; it’s going for under US$300, with used/refurb models going for a bit less — especially given you don’t need a mobile phone contract. Now if only there were a hard drive model…

Refresh: Asides

CDM Asks: Digital Music + Beautiful Weather? (Go Play On a Lake!)

image CDM traffic has taken a sudden plunge. Now, it could be all those digital DJ stories (um, sorry about that), but based on past experience, we tend to see a dip in readership whenever the weather turns lovely (which also happens to coincide with the end of the semester, a big deal for the many readers in school). I, for one, love the outdoors (despite what you might suspect reading this site), and absolutely encourage the trend! (And if you’re just studying for exams, I’ll send you positive Brain Energy.)

But that got me thinking. I think for creative health it’s important to spend some time out waterskiing or birdwatching that isn’t musical time. But what about those time when you have music making to do and you have to reconcile it with pretty outdoors time? Have you found a mobile setup that you take with you to the park? Let us know. Maybe I do need one of those HP Mini-Notes like our friend Brad just picked up. Some micro PC, solar power … sounds rather nice, right?

And if you’ve got an image of you, a keytar, and a surfboard, or perhaps a solar array powering a mountain-top Reaktor programming session, send them our way!

Updated:

That didn’t take long! Here’s Soundfreaks playing, complete with keytar and Speedo, on a lake outside Munich. Nice one, guys. Now, I just need a waterproof computer…

Refresh: Asides

Chibitracker on DS; Favorite Trackers on the Road?

chibitracker While we’re having a Nintendo DS-laden week, I thought I might mention that I got tipped off (thanks, Laurence) that the popular, multi-platform tracker Chibitracker has made its way to the DS. Consider this a rumor posted in the hopes of prodding the developer to release the ROM file.

That said, readers, what’s your favorite tracker of choice — particularly when it comes to a “tracker to go” on your mobile device? (If I could get one running on Java, I could set up a Blackberry tracker — surely that friendly QWERTY keyboard could come in handy.)

Vitamin L: Ableton Live Keyboard, Mouse Shortcuts on XP

Ableton Live gets a little help from a Tonearm. (Photo: lowfatbrains.)

My friend Ilia, aka Tonearm, has released his set of Windows XP-compatible shortcuts for Ableton Live. (Got to play out with Ilia last month and hope to do it again.) Ableton, if you’re listening, here’s another argument for more customization of the program.

Even if you’re not on XP, it’s worth having a look and even downloading the ZIP and readme for some inspiration as far as what could be possible with Live shortcuts.

Install the executable for Windows, and you get:

read more

Refresh: Asides

Musics and Other Stuff on One Page at Alltop; How Do You Read?

alltop

RSS readers can be terrific; I use FeedDemon and NetNewsWire, both of which recently became free. (Yeah, after I bought them.) But sometimes it’s just too much to wade through RSS, especially after you get back from vacation. Alltop, a site headline aggregator, recently added CDM to its music page, and I’ve started using it as a quick way of glancing over topics like “Music” without cluttering my RSS reader more. Oh, yeah, and it’s nice to see CDM next to KEXP. Alltop is the product of Guy Kawasaki; he’s been a hero of mine since he introduced evangelism to Apple (you know where that led), and he’s still doing great stuff with business and marketing. So, thanks, Guy!

That brings me to my question, though: what’s your preferred method for keeping up with blogs and forums and mailing lists without eating up all your time for music making? (We do see CDM readers on different platforms, including someone who just spent 12 minutes reading on BeOS. Also featured: Wii, PSP, Atari, UNIX, Symbian smartphone…)

Anything we could do to help you keep up with feeds more easily — not only ours, but other sites, as well?

Ableton Live Tutorials: DIY 808, IDM 101 - Gustavo Strikes Again

When we last joined our friend Gustavo Bravetti, Uruguay’s Ableton maestro, he was showing us how to glitch out with Live. Now he’s on Hong Kong-based DJ site djvox with a comprehensive set of Live tutorials. These are not necessarily the usual “how to use Live” fare. Instead, they focus on musical techniques, with Live as the tool — a means to an end, and a way to approach Live as an instrument, rather than a duplicate manual.

First up — one of my favorite tricks, which is building bass drum sounds in Operator. Not everyone loves Operator, but this is exactly why I like it for certain tasks: it’s a no-nonsense, quick way of building synths that drops nicely into a Drum Rack for quick DIY drum machines. And that pitch envelope and all-in-one time controls are especially handy.)

And for IDM lovers, here are some clever tricks for creating rhythmic variations using envelopes and follow actions. This one is especially worth a trip through the guide, even if you have different musical results in mind, because it’s an exceptional description of how follow actions work — one that’s actually better than the manual’s.

That gives you an idea of what Gustavo is working with, but be sure to check out the full guide for more details and step-by-step instructions, friendly even to beginners.

He even gives a shout out to the open-source 3D webcam MIDI controller for Windows we looked at last year.

Looking forward to more iProducer installments, Gustavo! And readers, now you know what to do with your evening / weekend / sick day you’re about to call in. Erm, if you’re not too busy building an arcade cabinet for Live first, that is.

iProducer: A Creativity Upgrade [Ableton Live tutorial on djvox]

(By the way, for digital crate-diggers: snooping around that Hong Kong site, you can buy downloads there internationally, though they wind up being a bit steep in US dollars.)

Refresh: Asides

Jeane Poole Reviews Live 7, Suite, with Handy Resource Round-up

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Our friend Jeane Poole, who hails from the island continent pictured in the screen grab, has a terrific overview review of Live 7 — the upgraded app and suite. And, bonus, there’s some good resources for plug-ins and learning, to boot. The verdict:

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Gustavo Bravetti Show Us How To Glitch out Ableton Live

If your musical production sense tends to gravitate towards the clicky, minimal, and weird, you will appreciate the results you can achieve with Ableton Live by employing a few well-placed tricks. Gustavo Bravetti–the Uruguay-based producer / DJ / maker / tinkerer / entrepreneur we interviewed last year–walks us through his process of glitching out Live with a few tweaks, namely some well-placed volume envelopes, using follow actions and legato and then adding swing to groove-ify the whole thing.

Ed.: Okay, this isn’t necessarily helping Live shake its reputation as just this — a wonderland for glitchers. You really can make stuff that isn’t glitchy in Live, and that new compressor and mix engine sound fantastic. But you still have to glitch it out every now and then. It’s good, clean (erm, digitally dirty) fun. 4-bit 4ever. -PK

Ableton Live Does Frame-By-Frame Animation

Squarely in the “things Ableton Live was not necessarily built to do”: animating visuals, one frame at a time.

Cousin Throckmorton whipped up a retro visual feast of Space Invaders, Pong, and other games classics, using MIDI to step through frames individually.

You can MIDI sequence Live’s locators to jump between frames, thereby giving the effect of animation. Sprites/frames are drawn using blank MIDI clips; unfortunately, the resolution is limited by the Y-axis size, as Live doesn’t allow you to resize that. Live’s skins are somewhat tied to MIDI already, so you can “ride” the skins field to change background colors (it updates on midi notes on(?) Audio track is made of samples of video games, trails effect at end achieved via hacked Live skin. Sets/skins available for you to toy with at my myspace: myspace.com/cousinthrockmorton

Mind you, this is unlikely to shake the visualists on Create Digital Motion from specialized tools for visuals — and you could just as easily (uh, scratch that for far more easily) use MIDI to trigger a visual app. But the work is really incredible, and I think as Live grows in ubiquity, users will increasingly show their Live chops by hacking harder than ever before.

And for the record, this is the same Throckmorton who gave us a ribbon controller made from a drivers’ license, a drum made from a laser, and pennies as drum pads, among others. More MIDI-as-visual-control tips, too:

db3ll Channel

Prescient spam comment: “i am so lonely, i just broke up with my ex” says cutechick90201. Worry not, uh, imaginary cutechick. You’ll be surrounded by boys as you seduce them with the siren song of your drivers’ license.

Thanks, Cousin!