Seeing a tracker interface for the first time can be intimidating. But dive in a bit deeper, and you’ll discover what’s actually a very efficient interface for programming in musical sequences and working with samples. With just ten days left in the Renoise – Indamixx music production contest, there’s still time to get up and running using even the demo version of Renoise (into which you can import samples). And this could be a great excuse to learn a new tool.

Dac, who’s a big part of support and community for Renoise, has put together a nice tutorial showing off the workflow in the tool. It’s nothing all that unusual: bring in samples, assemble patterns, make music. Some of the voice over is hard to hear, but this is a good start. Now, I still like reading and writing better than video just in terms of how I learn, so I may try to work on a written version for the end of the week; feel free to shout encouragement.

For more Renoise inspiration, forum regular djnick sends along a PsyTrance video made in Renoise – so, yes, you can make PsyTrance with a tracker, too, if you like. He samples Peter Jennings talking about ecstasy. Yeah, whatever – as if you can make Peter Jennings any more trippy. Watching Jennings is the ultimate natural high.

And here’s the original jerk beat tutorial. (Hey, who are you calling a jerk beat? Sorry, that just can’t sound not strange when I hear that phrase…)

Enjoy. Got specific requests for how-to’s, other tips or tutorials you’ve found useful, or questions you’d like answered? Do let us know.

It’s simply stunning some of the terrific instrument and effect plug-ins available that are now free and open source – yes, free as in freedom, not just freeware. I had commented in the past something along the lines of, “boy, wouldn’t it be great if this now meant, say, a Linux port?” and then went on the business of my daily life, which tends not to include re-compiling plug-ins. But now, the folks of JUCETICE have been busy doing just that, serving up delicious instrument and effect goodness, running native on Linux.

Translation: fire up that netbook and make some music.

Following up on our tutorial on Ardour and netbook-optimized music competition with Renoise and Indamixx, here’s what you need to get rolling.

With Linux growing in popularity on netbooks – and an option like the pre-configured Indamixx solution saving you the work of optimizing and configuring it – it’s suddenly no longer a stretch to imagine yourself a Linux music user. Of course, what you don’t want is to wind up without the arsenal of plug-ins to which we’ve all become accustomed. There are various ways of hosting Windows VSTs under Linux as though they were native plug-ins; check out dssi-vst (which also enables 32-bit VSTs from Windows under 64-bit Linux hosts), in conjunction with WINE. That should probably be the subject of a separate tutorial. (Ardour 3 also promises Windows VST support.)

But here, let’s have a look at native Linux plug-ins. JUCETICE has some beautiful creations of their own – an elegant, 32-voice polyphonic drum synthesizer and a TB-303 clone – plus some familiar favorites ported from Windows, like the ingenious DiscoDSP sampler created by the late, great Arguru.

Here, we’ll use the native Linux version of a commercial host, energyXT. energyXT is proprietary, but it costs just EUR59, has a free demo to check out before you purchase, and – if you do like it – is really different than any of its competitors.

Patrick Shirkey of 64studio, the music-centric Linux distro, walks us through the steps necessary to get the JUCETICE plug-ins going under energyXT on Linux – all native, no WINE or Windows anywhere.

I’ll be doing this myself on my Indamixx test unit, and will let you know how that goes.

Developer note: yes, you should definitely check out the JUCE framework, which makes developing cross-platform C++ easy, efficient, and modern, and is free for open-source projects.

Patrick explains:

1. Download the jucetice linuxvst plugin : http://www.anticore.org/jucetice/?page_id=7

2. Make a folder called “plugins” in the home directory

3. Save or move the plugins to that folder and extract the plugins.

4. Open energyXT and add the “plugins” folder to the “Plugins” folder list. Choose File > Setup:

Select the “Browser” tab and set it to the “Plugins” section.

Now select the “plugins” folder and add it to the list of known folders.

[Here’s what it looks like in the path structure.]

5. To add the plugin to a project double click on the “Plugins” section on the left panel of the main window to show all the plugins and right click on the plugin you want to use. Click “Add as Send” from the popup menu.

6. Finally, open the “Window” menu and choose the plugin from the list to display the user interface and adjust the settings.

Ed.: Definitely let us know if this is helpful to you; we’ll have some more comprehensive, big-picture tutorials on this stuff soon – but in the meantime, I’m definitely checking out these instruments!

If you thought Gustavo’s tutorial on unlinked envelopes in Ableton Live was faster before, watch in 60 seconds! (It’s a teaser video, but maybe if you don’t blink and watch it a few times, you’ll learn subliminally.)

If you or anyone you know speaks Spanish as a native language and you’d prefer not to have to translate, there’s also a Spanish-language version:

http://sturly.com/bravetti4

Una muestra corta puede “estirarse” en variaciones en un bloque de tiempo mayor – una muestra de 1/16 de duración por ejemplo puede ser llevada a un compás o dos. Suma la posibilidad de utilizar esta envolvente para modular un efecto, y ya puedes comenzar a pensar en extremas rarezas sónicas. Y aunque en esta ocasión se encuentran al servicio de la “paleta” de sonidos de Gustavo, esta técnica puede encajar en diversos fines musicales.

Puedes ir también en sentido contrario: Tomar una muestra larga y modularla con una envolvente corta. Por ejemplo, puedes tomar una textura oscilante de una duración de 30-segundos, y aplicar una envolvente realmente corta, como un único pico de 1/16 para crear un platillo (hi hat) que evoluciona en el tiempo.

Puedes pensar en las envolventes desconectadas como una fuente de modulación aplicable a varios estilos o fines musicales. Puede ser una muestra corta, una cadena de efectos, o un sintetizador. Aquí Gustavo se limita a los efectos incluidos en Ableton Live, pero tu puedes elegir tus efectos favoritos especialmente ahora que Live te permite seleccionar fácilmente cuales parámetros quieres controlar cuando utilizas efectos de terceros (VST, etc.).

That was actually my writing; thanks, Gustavo!

iproducer #4 – Unlink and Conquer + Bonus from Gustavo Bravetti on Vimeo.

Exclusive to CDM (and Vimeo), Live guru Gustavo Bravetti offers a deep tutorial in sound creation in Ableton using “unlinked envelopes.” He assembles quasi-modular routings of effects into one another to create some unusual sounds. I think there are some inspiring techniques here, even beyond Ableton Live – I’d watch it even if I weren’t a Live user.

Gustavo writes:

“This workshop demo video is about using Live’s unique clip unlinked envelopes and Ableton’s effects to easily create elaborated sequenced sounds as well as a “how to” create a bass, a tuned bass drum, a clap and hi hats.”

So, what’s the beauty of the “unlinked envelope”? By separating the envelope length from the length of a sample, you can take a sample of one length and modulate it in time independently with an envelope of a different length. A short sample can warp in a longer block of time for more variety – a 1/16th note sample, for instance, transformed over a bar or two. Add the ability to route the envelope into effect modulation, and you can start to think extreme sonic freakiness. Here, that serves Gustavo’s own electronic palette, but it could suit a variety of musical aims.

You can also go the opposite direction: you could take a long sample and modulate it with a short envelope. For instance, you could select a 30-second oscillating texture, and apply a very short envelope, like a single sixteenth-note peak, in order to create an evolving high hat.

You can think of the unlinked envelope as a modulation source for a variety of sonic targets. It could be a short sample, a chain of effects, or a synth. Here, Gustavo sticks to built-in Live devices, but you could easily add your own plug-ins of choice – especially now that Live has added the ability to more easily choose which third-party plug-in parameters you wish to target.

Part of why I say this is about more than just Live is that you can begin to see how thinking in envelopes can make your musical content more dynamic, a technique you can apply to any environment that allows this sort of routing. It certainly illustrates the power of Live in a way that I think a lot of people miss.

To watch the full HD version, head to Gustavo’s Vimeo account.

I’m going to be organizing a compendium of our best Live tutorials soon; if you have external tutorials you’d like us to link up, let us know.

Previous Gustavo-fueled mayhem:
Ableton Live Follow Actions, Dummy Clips, Making Snares
DIY 808, IDM 101
Gustavo Bravetti Show Us How To Glitch out Ableton Live
Hexagonal Sequencer with vvvv, MIDI, Ableton, and Soon Wii, Camera Input
Live + FM8 = Drum Kit Love: Free FM8 Drum Kit Download

Warp: Engage

The new Warp Mode in Live may actually be friendlier to new users; it’s existing users, accustomed to the previous way of working, who seem thrown for a loop. (Erm… excuse the pun.) I’m at a bit of a disadvantage myself in that I tend not to do a lot of warping/remixing. But Medway Studios has a set of tutorials specifically geared for people wanting some tips on how to assimilate the new working method:

Part 2:

Our friend Dennis DeSantis of Ableton offers his own take in a video shot at NYC-based music tech learning center dubSpot. This is a pretty good conceptual overview of what the whole thing is about.

Basically, what I’m hearing is that people used to previous versions of Warp Markers, while they find it confusing at first, do like the new system once they understand how it works.

Controllerism

Mark Mosher has been doing fantastic tutorials on his site Modulate This. For one thing, he’s got tips for getting Wacom tablets to work in Live 8 and finally getting text entry support, which means Kore works properly in Live at long last (among others).

Best of all, he has a tutorial that demonstrates how he’s putting together all his controllers – the Notation ReMOTE SL with Automap and the Akai APC40 – and making them function more effectively using some subtle controller changes in Live 8.

What’s interesting to me is that this isn’t so much about unique, proprietary stuff added to the APC integration, but basic feature improvements in Live itself, which could help you be more effective with other controllers, as well. That’s the kind of functionality I like to see, because it helps everyone.

All of this is great, but we are getting a little heavy on the Ableton-only video tutorials. It’s time to pick up the screencasting tools and demonstrate other tools, too. I’ve got some time blocked out this summer for the task. Requests?