MusicLab has released Garage Drummer, a free plug-in for using a Guitar Hero or Rock Band controller as a MIDI controller.
We are proud to present Garage Drummer – free tool letting you use Guitar Hero or Rock Band video games drum controller as a MIDI controller within your favourite DAW.
Garage Drummer consists of 2 components:
Virtual Midi driver providing Game Controller 1, Game Controller 2, .. MIDI inputs.
Garage Drummer VSTi to select connected game controller as MIDI input, create/load note maps for drum pads, as well as save current settings within your songs.
Garage Drummer is available to download as a freeware plug-in for PC and Mac (VST/AU).
Mike Norrish has released version 1.5.0.0 of Armchair Guitarist, a VST plug-in for providing MIDI input from one of the numerous console guitar controllers currently on the market.
It is a pure-MIDI plugin- MIDI messages, not audio data is sent to the host- in essence, the plugin allows the user to use a guitar controller the way they would a standard MIDI keyboard.
This release basically consists of a few little improvements and bugfixes, but there is enough difference there to warrant the 1.5 release. The Fret Board is now five frets wider, there are now parameters for fine tuning the Whammy Bar, and there is a proper menu for selecting controller types. The major new fix is that Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero 5 controllers for the Playstation 3 are now fully functional, after a few hiccups.
Changes in Armchair Guitarist v1.5.0.0
Whammy Bar can only bend notes down (Fixed)
Playstation 3 Button Mappings Incorrect (Fixed)
Add ability to specify range of Whammy Bar input (Implemented)
Changing to the previous fret at fret zero goes to incorrect fret (Fixed)
Need a GUI Item for changing programs (Implemented)
Resize GUI to fit Program Selector (Implemented)
Extend Fretboard (Implemented)
Armchair Guitarist is available to download as a freeware VST plug-in for Windows PC.
Using pressure pads with Arduino boards wired up to Guitar Hero's Frets on Fire
Football Hero is played by a team of insanely gifted young freestyle footballers, all kitted out in Umbro Football gear. This game is programmed with the Kasabian track Underdog. The freestyle footballers are: Paul Wood, Paul Klein, Darryl Stewart, Tom Pett, Lewis Foster & Harry Adcroft – you may have already seen "Woody" and "Kleiny" displaying their skills during 2009's Britain's Got Talent series…
The Spooky Tesla Spirit Radio is a crystal radio circuit in a jam-jar. It makes fun spooky sounds by responding to input from several types of electromagnetic sources. This non-powered radio plugs right into the computer sound-in jack, and makes use of audio software for real time sound effects.
Martin Herron wrote in to let us know about Continuum, a new release on the IDMf netlabel.
Continuum, the newest installment in the IDMf library, is an electronic music album to behold. Beginning with the hard-hitters and slowing down to a softer touch, this compilation showcases the diversity of genres displayed on the IDMf netlabel, including breakcore, dubstep, house, breaks, ambient, and IDM.
The tracks are arranged as they would be in a double CD package: Side A includes eight tracks jam-packed with energy that smoothly segue into a lighter mix of glorious beats on Side B. IDMf is proud to introduce a few new artists along with some of “golden oldies” who have appeared on previous compilations, bringing you the most well-rounded and genre-stomping release from IDMf yet!
The album is free to download from the IDMf website (320kbps mp3).
While I was earning my BS at Western Carolina University, one of the requirements was a Senior Design Project. For this project, I designed and constructed a MIDI controller/sequencer. I chose this as a project because I am a musician and I am very much interested in electronic music and electronic musical instruments/controllers. This project was ideal for me, as it allowed me to combine my passions for engineering and music.
Chaircrusher has posted another batch of samples. Sounds include a screwdriver, steel thermos, spraypaint can, rubbermaid shelves, sheetrock wall, stair rail, wooden legs that used to hold up kitchen island, and some sniffing.
I am a mallet percussionist who loves the marimba. About four years ago I had a problem. Though I loved percussion, I had no way of practicing at home. There were cheap options. I could have bought a bell kit. But I hate the sounds they make. I wanted a very large five octave marimba but didn't have the money to simply purchase one (7000+ dollars). So I decided against all common sense I would build one.
# TrackTeam Audio Monomulator – Monomulator for APC40 & pK – Monome emulator for the Akai APC40 and Korg PadKONTROL. Free download, includes Max/MSP source files.
Warp commemorates its 20th anniversary with a deluxe special-edition of music and art (Box Set).
The package features new songs, older previously unreleased material from Warp artists, tracks selected as some of his personal favorites by co-founder Steve Beckett and the top ten pieces voted for by Warp fans on Warp20.net. It also includes a beautifully produced book showcasing the label’s rich design history, along with an exclusive hour-long mix and a locked-groove vinyl set.
An Instructable for using a real guitar as your Guitar Hero controller.
We all love Guitar Hero and Rock Band. We also know that we'll never learn how to actually play guitar playing these games. But what if we could at least build a Guitar Hero controller that let us use a real guitar? That's what we here at OpenChord.org are trying to do.
If there's one music video you are going to watch this year it should be one of Kutiman's. A-W-E-S-O-M-E!
This guy collected tons of clips from YouTube and remixed them into brand new songs. Mad skills.
Note: everybody and their mother is now trying to watch Kutiman’s amazing work, so if the site is offline you should really check back later!
# Reaktor Tutorials – Free Reaktor tutorials by Mats Claesson. From the basics of building a simple synth to more advanced topics like Granulation modules.
Paul Lamere uses the Echo Nest API to find out who is using a click track:
I’ve always been curious about which drummers use a click track and which don’t, so I thought it might be fun to try to build a click track detector using the Echo Nest remix SDK ( remix is a Python library that allows you to analyze and manipulate music). In my first attempt, I used remix to analyze a track and then I just printed out the duration of each beat in a song and used gnuplot to plot the data. The results weren’t so good – the plot was rather noisy. It turns out there’s quite a bit of variation from beat to beat. In my second attempt I averaged the beat durations over a short window, and the resulting plot was quite good.
# Beat Fixx – Natural Performance Enhancement For Drums
Beat Fixx is a professional drum quantizing service. AudioGeekZine’s Jon Tidey explains what this is all about.
What is this? Professional drum quantizing. A new service for getting your drum tracks corrected. Using Pro Tools’ Elastic Audio and Beat Detective, drumming inconsistencies on a recording can be snapped into time, while maintaining much of the personality of the original performance.
Who is it for? The service is aimed at home, project and pro studios that may not have the time or resources to do the corrections themselves. Effective and natural quantizing techniques take time to master, I’m sure you’d rather be recording guitars. Spend a few hours editing drums the wrong way and you’ll understand why this is a great deal.
How much? Beat Fixx is currently charging a flat rate of $50 per song. Payments are processed through PayPal.
How long does it take? You can expect corrected tracks in 1-3 days. Approximately 24 hours is typical.
# DEVSND.COM | DEVINESOUND – Website of sound sculptors Richard Devine and Josh Kay. You'll find some top notch free Battery kits (including .wav samples) in the library section.
Free DEVSND Battery kits
Modded ARP 2600, custom samples from a heavily C.M.S. modded ARP 2600. A strange collection of percussion one-shots, hits, pulses, and other unclassifiable noises.
Broken Santoor, custom samples from a detuned & broken suntur, made using a cello bow, battery-powered fans, wind-up toys, and hematite magnets.
Bent TR-808, custom samples from a bent and rewired TR-808 drum machine.
Check DEVSND.COM for audio demos and links to download these lovely samples.
# Auditorium – A free Flash game about about the process of discovery and play:
The Primary Goal of Auditorium is to guide your Flow into the various Audio Containers presented before you. As you fill these Containers, you will energize them. Given enough energy, the containers will begin to sing together in a symphony, providing the ultimate Harmony of Flow. But be advised: While some containers merely require the presence of Flow Energy, some containers will require a specific color of Flow. Beyond that, you may encounter containers that require a combination of two or more colors at a time in order to fill.
We have good news: STEIM is safe and will be able to continue her work. The Council for Culture has reversed her decision, without a doubt impressed by the well over 1000 support letters we received in just two weeks. Insightful, eloquent, personal letters from all over the world. We cannot thank you enough. You helped us realise again how extensive and faithful the network around us is, and we are excited that we can keep working with you and continue to build collaborations, connections and exchanges. Unfortunately at the moment it looks like the City of Amsterdam is not going to continue her support for STEIM. The final decision on this will happen in December. We'll keep you updated.
Since I injured my middle left finger playing Guitar Hero 2 way too much when it came out, I've been dying to get back to playing it. But my finger hasn't healed. I was holding the neck too tightly on the X-plorer guitar controller and it hurts to bend it anymore. I've never had an injury playing the drums, so I thought "wouldn't it be great to be able to play Guitar Hero on the drums?" So I thought about how that might be accomplished… researched, implemented, borrowed, and here I outline the finished product.
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