There are various ways to discern an individual’s presence in social media, key among them is the simple integer associated with the individual in a given network. Take SoundCloud.com for example, where Richard Devine has north of 55,000 of what we’ve become accustomed to call “followers.” His reputation as a tech clothes horse precedes “Glitch Breaker Demo,” a track he produced on the iOS app Tabletop, which is a kind of meta-app, containing assorted mini-apps that emulate various audio tools and instruments, from effects filters to drum machines to a simulated turntable. Devine’s track is IDM by way of EDM, a slowly raging deployment of the various tool at hand:
In related news, the iMPC — the iOS version of the classic Akai drum machine — is the first “Tabletop ready app,” which is to say it comes with a free unlocked version that appears within the Tabletop system. More on that at the Tabletop developer blog at retronyms.com. It’s pictured in the screenshot that accompanied Devine’s track, shown up top.
Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/richarddevine. More on Devine at richard-devine.com.
It’s conceptually a really interesting iOS app. It resembles Propellerhead Reason in its modularity and patching devices together – but I find the workflow a bit tricky to get into. I personally prefer Nanostudio to Tabletop any day. That said, I’ve bought pretty much all the available devices for Tabletop, so there you go. :)
But yes – Richard Devine is everywhere – he makes patches for soundbanks, demo tracks, videos, … it’s a really interesting way to have created a presence out there.
Agreed about Devine’s patch-making and demo-ing being “a really interesting way to have created a presence out there.” Marc’s “clothes horse” is a funny way to put it and not really mean or inaccurate. With, for example, a Reaktor patch, you have the person who made the instrument (e.g., Sinebeats by Programchild/Studiotonne) and 8 presets by Devine with his name in them and an unmistakable “Devine sensibility” in the sound. If there is any possibility for creativity left, you have the hapless user who bought Reaktor and is trying to make music with it, ha ha. As for making music on a touchscreen interface it seems like jumping aboard Apple’s “get’em hooked into buying our hardware” master-plan of spherical trust monopolistic insidiousness and tapping glass is about as much fun as fondling a ventriloquist’s dummy but I realize these will not be universally appreciated sentiments.