There’s no datestamp to the entry, but up on the website of composer Aaron McLeran are examples of granular synthesis methods that he has applied to a sample of solo piano. The original is a slow, romantic piano piece (MP3). Following that are five digital etudes, each applying a different transformational technique to the original. […]
Waves of sample videos have followed the release of the recent Nintendo DS port of the Korg MS-10 synthesizer (aqi.co.jp, disquiet.com), which took an early mass-market synthesizer and put it inside a popular video game cartridge format. As a kind of proof-of-concept jam, a dozen musical acts each answered the call for MP3s from the […]
This is a screenshot of PaklSound1, an iPhone music-making application developed by Patryk Laurent:
Laurent explains that the synthesizer is inspired by the Tenori-On. More details at pakl.net/iphone/PaklSound1 (via the-palm-sound.blogspot.com).
Newfangled, electronically based musical instruments like the Tenori-On, the Monome, and the Nintendo DS port of a popular Korg synthesizer aren’t just for so-called non-musicians. Take Electroplankton, the most restricted, or creatively circumscribed, of this batch. A sound toy (or audio game) built on the Nintendo DS platform, its fairytale interface is a child-friendly aquarium […]
Screenshots from the new music-making program, Beatmaker, designed for use on the iPhone. From top to bottom: (1) pads to “trigger and manipulate” samples, (2) a sequencer with a timeline interface, (3) live performance functionality, (4) set start and end points for samples, (5) edit “velocity and groove of each track on each pattern”:
More info […]
Quick News, Links, Bits, Reads: Playing catch up on links I’ve accumulated. … Is the Nintendo DS video game Electroplankton out of print? Someone’s selling it for over 70 bucks, used, on amazon.com. (Thanks, Jeff.) … Speaking of which, amazon.com has updated its underacknowledged free-download service, now as part of the blue-light specials at amazon.com/mp3deals. […]
Once upon a time, Monolake was a duo, consisting of Robert Henke and Gerhardt Beheles. Beheles exited the duo, which specialized in dank minimal techno, to start the company that created the now popular audio-production and -performance software Live. The company is called Ableton. Henke continued on as Monolake, and he also participates in the […]
On her website regarding her Soundbook One project, soundbookone.com, composer Jennifer Stock describes the process behind her effort, which places the laptop in an ensemble setting, including electric guitar, cello, drums and, occasionally, vocals:
The idea of a “Soundbook” was to process a specific set of found sounds in Max/MSP and then to notate the acoustic […]
Open source programmers make open source music. On his jonaquino.blogspot.com blog, Jon Aquino, best known as the creator of yubnub.org (”command line for the web”), this past weekend posted a file he’d recorded in the popular freeware music construction kit Audacity (at audacity.sourceforge.net). The result is a three-minute ditty that plays with rhythms like he’s […]
A selection of recent freely viewable videos of note:
Spoken Word: Public Enemy producer Hank Shocklee interviewed (vimeo.com, via createdigitalmusic.com). … Minimal techno figure Robert Henke (aka Monolake) presentation (video.google.com, via createdigitalmusic.com). … Laptop-enabled guitarist Christopher Willits lecture on his process (xlr8r.com). … Soundtrack composer Tyler Bates on the film Doomsday (soundtrack.net). … Alex Ross, author […]