Results for CDM

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Phillips SAA-1099 Sample Pack (Copyright-free and License-free)

A new pack of samples by Sebastian Tomczak:

I have made a copyright-free and license-free sample pack of the Phillips SAA-1099 sound generator chip. It is a very straightforward sample pack, consisting of 96 pitched samples and 16 noise samples, across a range of frequencies. These samples have been recorded from hardware. The audio output stage of the sound chip has not been filtered.

Sebastian has also announced a music contest:

It's time to get your chipmusic on! This is your chance to win a SEGA Master System MIDI Interface. Be the coolest musician in your town with this brand new tool that lets you control the sound chip in your SEGA Master System with MIDI data.

More information: SEGA Music Competition: Win A SEGA Master System MIDI Interface!

# Jim Reekes, The Man Behind Mac Sound

From Create Digital Music:

The legend of the early sounds of the Mac remains, apparently, an alluring one. Here, Jim Reekes talks to a Dutch documentary crew (though in English) about his thought process in designing sounds for the Mac, including the famous Mac startup sound.

# New Block Construction

Livid Instruments improves its Block:

Improving on a design and sharing the results with our users is always at the top of our list at Livid. The Block controller has been a great success and we have just made some minor design changes to make it even better. Originally milled from a solid block of wood, the square body with thin bottom has had its challenges, mostly warping and cupping. We have experienced a bit higher reject rate for bodies at the shop before they were built then we would like. Thus, the up and coming stash of rejected bodies in the Livid Graveyard that were never meant to be!

# Waveformless: 5 Ways of Emulating Vintage Samplers

Tom Shear on how to emulate vintage samplers:

When sampling technology finally became accessible to mere mortals and not just uber-rich Fairlight and Synclavier enthusiasts, the race was on to increase fidelity and leave behind the limitations of those first 8-bit samplers. Bit depth and sampling rates increased and memory capacity expanded until the average sampled sound was indistinguishable from the same sound recorded on a CD.

But sure enough, after many years of enjoying the pristine sound quality of the new sampling technology, musicians began to explore and exploit the limitations of the old school samplers. Suddenly the grain of low bit-rate samples and the metallic grit of aliasing is very much in style. So how can you emulate the sonic artifacts of some of the long forgotten vintage samplers? I'm glad you asked…

# Intello – Better Demo of first version (YouTube)

This is the plugin I am currently working on. It's called "Intello". Basically it's a glitch producing plugin and in this first short demo I'm showing you one of the 5 planned glitching modes. The plugin will be controllable by an iPhone application from a listening audience. So the listeners can interact with a performer.

More information: www.zettt.de

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Neurosonics Live (Vimeo)

Chris Cairns of Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. posted another Neurosonics video, the Holographic Drumkit and Turntables test.

# OTO machines – Biscuit

Hardware unit with real 8-bit A/D and D/A converters, true analog multimode filter with resonance control, an FX section with Waveshaper, Delay, Pitch Shifter and Step Filter, and more…

OTO Biscuit

Add depth, texture and organic behavior to synths, basslines, drum machines and virtual sounds from computers with BISCUIT !

By using 8-bit converters, digital processing and analog resonant filters, Biscuit opens up a wide range of sounds from harsh distortion, digital and aliasing artifacts to warm and fat 8-bit sounds.

Producers, deejays, musicians and sound lovers can use BISCUIT to extend their sound creation possi- bilities.
BISCUIT will find its place in studios, on stages or even in clubs.

via CDM, where you can also find an interview with creator Denis Cazajeux.

# Image Line Drumaxx Tutorial – Routing Pad Output to Separate Audio Tracks in Ableton Live

Mark Mosher posted a tutorial on how to route pad output of Image-Line's Drumaxx percussion synth to separate audio tracks in Ableton Live.

Image Line has just released a new Percussion Modeling Instrument called Drumaxx made by Maxx Claster. Drumaxx includes 130 drumkits, 900 drum patches, 200 drum patterns. If you use Sawer, Sakura, Morphine, Poizone, or Toxic Biohazard instruments, then you are familiar with Maxx’s work.

Image Line is offering Drumaxx as a “name your price” download for limited until March 31st,2010 with a minimum price of $13 USD with $1 going to support Haiti earthquake victims. With a deal like this I thought it was a “no brainer” so I picked it up.

One of the coolest features is that each of the 16 physically modeled drums can be routed to individual tracks within your host so you can add additional effects. Below I’ll show you how to set this up on Ableton Live.

Music for Our Future is a special compilation inspired by the SyFy original series, Caprica.

Peter Kirn writes:

Working with music production today is a bit like science fiction. It’s fitting that visions of technology’s promise, menace, and humanity would inspire electronic music.

Create Digital Music, XLR8R, and Pitchfork got to join together with TV network SyFy to curate a free, 13-track compilation of “Music for Our Future.” Inspired by the world of SyFy’s new TV series Caprica, which is set just before the recently-concluded Battlestar Galactica, this is science fiction as the familiar. It’s the near future, not simply fantasy.

The full compilation is available to download for free, exclusively at: http://www.xlr8r.com/musicforourfuture

The compilation includes tracks by Lusine, Willits & Sakamoto, The Field, Richard Devine, and more. Also features some exclusive material by White Rainbows, Nice Nice, and CDM’s Peter Kirn, who also talks to some of the artists to find out what inspired them and which techniques were used for these tracks.

More information: Music for Our Future / Create Digital Music

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Make: Online : Open source hardware 2009

Make’s definitive guide to open source hardware projects in 2009.

Welcome to definitive guide to open source hardware projects in 2009. First up – What is open source hardware? These are projects in which the creators have decided to completely publish all the source, schematics, firmware, software, bill of materials, parts list, drawings and "board" files to recreate the hardware – they also allow any use, including commercial. Similar to open source software like Linux, but this hardware centric.

Each year we do a guide to all open source hardware and this year there are over 125 unique projects/kits in 19 categories, up from about 60 in 2008, more than doubling the projects out there! – it’s incredible! Many are familiar with Arduino (shipping over 100,000 units, estimated) but there are many other projects just as exciting and filled with amazing communities – we think we’ve captured nearly all of them in this list. Some of these projects and kits are available from MAKE others from the makers themselves or other hardware manufacturers – but since it’s open source hardware you can make any of these yourself, start a business, everything is available, that’s the point.

# fridgebuzzz electronics MK1 MIDI controller

The MK1 prototype is a user programmable midi controller featuring 32 LED pushbutton switches and 6 touch sensitive copper plate switches.

… read more

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Arduino Sine wave Generator using the DDS Method

From Lab3:

Here we describe how to generate sine waves with an Arduino board in a very accurate way . Almost no additional hardware is required. The frequency range reaches form zero to 16 KHz with a resolution of a millionth part of one Hertz ! Distortions can be kept less than one percent on frequencies up to 3 KHz. This technique is not only useful for music and sound generation another range of application is test equipment or measurement instrumentation. Also in telecommunication the DDS Method is useful for instance in frequency of phase modulation (FSK PSK).

# Schipmann Music out of business Via Matrixsynth

Dear customers!

We are finishing our business. These are the very last units of “ebbe und flut” ever!! We are thankful for all our satisfied customers. We will be there for you in support and service in that time after this sale.

Yours sincerely,
Carsten Schippmann (CEO)

Last ebbe und flut MKII units going for 999 EUR (normal price: 1498,21 EUR per unit) Tempting…

… read more

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Awesome collection of DIY video-glitch hardware

From Make: Online:

The "tools" section of media artist Karl Klomp's website documents an impressive amount of bent, hacked and homebrew hardware for video manipulation. Devices such as the Failter (seen above) series go through a number of incarnations while Karl experiments with different hardware and uncovers its glitch-ability. The retro-simple feel of the enclosures give give it all a nicely 'scientific' almost medical feel.

# MPC2500 Gutted & Deconstructed (Vimeo) via Crate Kings

Hopefully most Akai owners will never have to witness their beloved music machine being gutted like this MPC2500 was. It’s not exactly pretty sight, but fascinating stuff for those that have been curious about the innards of a sampler/sequencer/drum machine.

# 279 / nanopedal via CDM

Marcus Fischer of dust breeding turned a Korg nanoKEY into a foot controller.

Marcus writes:

i’ve been wanting a compact usb midi foot pedal for a long time. i built one out of a usb number pad last year but it was less than ideal. tonight i popped all of the keys but five off of my korg nanokey in order to see how it would work as a pedal. it turned out that it worked really well. i cut some small pieces of plywood out to raise the key height and some scrap plexiglass to cover up the missing keys. a little spray paint and double stick tape and it was all finished.

i think it turned out pretty well. not bad for a cheap keyboard and scrap materials.

# Going Mobile: Nintendo DS-10 Comes to North America

Peter Kirn @ CDM writes:

Fans of the Nintendo DS in North America, the Korg DS-10 Plus synthesizer for Big N’s game system is now coming to your side of the Pacific Ocean. (That also bodes well, I think, for other parts of the world.) The DS-10 I think really deserves some credit for making a straight-up music title a hit on gaming platforms, and its success certainly surpassed my own expectations. It’s not a game, it’s not an interactive experience, it’s not a music game – it’s actually a synth and music workstation that happens to run on a game platform. The DS-10 Plus beefs up the original’s features, though it now has a commercially-available rival in the form of Rockstar’s Beaterator for PSP.