What if a monome had knobs?

Here's the latest minimal toy from monome.org:

holocene from stretta on Vimeo.

Awesome "Arms" music control video

Totally great and not taking himself too seriously...

Real audio and MIDI i/o for iPad?

Alesis Studio Dock aka iO Pro (per Alesis' site)

Game-changer? Could be! Purportedly solving the number one complaint of most iPad musicians - iO Pro adds "real" i/o to the iPad, providing a traditional hardware MIDI interface, USB/MIDI, 2 XLR inputs (w/ 48v phantom power on one channel), R+L 1/4" outputs, headphones out, a footswitch jack, trim pots in all the right places, an impedance switch on one input, and even composite Video out! Everything but, well, the iPad...

List is $399 but Sweetwater's catalog shows it at $199. Add an iPad (~$500 depending on your prefs) and this could be an affordable and flexible alternative for laptop musicians, or for musicians currently using the iPad primarily as a dumb controller for existing computer-based music apps.

Of course, much will depend on the availability and affordability of IPAD apps that can take advantage of these added i/o options. And it remains to be seen whether the quality of the audio produced by the combo actually turns out to be "Pro". Can't wait to get my hands on one!

More reading:

CreateDigitalMusic iPad app rundown

Other CDM articles on iPad apps

An in-depth look at io Dock @ MATRIXSYNTH

The Missing Link OSC/MIDI Translator

"...a standalone hardware device which contains its own WiFi radio, and translates specially-coded OSC messages sent from your mobile device or computer into standard MIDI messages to control synthesizers, drum machines, mixers, digital audio workstations, or anything which responds to MIDI commands. It does this with low latency, high flexibility and configurability, and without the need for a computer anywhere in the control chain. Multiple wireless OSC devices may connect simultaneously to The Missing Link, making collaboration easy."

$150 pre-order: http://www.wifimidi.com/store/

Hours of mindless fun (for free)

GlitchSequencer

GlitchSequencer is free software that allows you to create cellular automata to trigger MIDI and/or OSC. It can also be controlled by a monome:

SimpleSynth

For basic MIDI tasks, I use SimpleSynth, a lightweight MIDI instrument that is also a free download.

Trying out slideshow plugins/services

This is some random pic off my desktop along with a randomly selected song.

They have a paid version that leaves it logo free and add titles I think.

Circles

This is a video project I did over the summer using FinalCut Pro. The video is from www.archive.org and the sound is by phineus + twine. Andy's "sax" part is guitar thru a MIDI converter. The sequencing is all done on a Quasimidi 309 beatbox. The music ends when we throw too much MIDI at the 309 and it freezes-up.

Max/MSP 2-way communication w/ iPod (or iPad!)

Fantastik from Pink Twins connects your iPod/iPod Touch, and soon iPad, to your Max/MSP music programs. And it's free. Uses the standard UDPSend and UDPReceive Max objects. The iPad version is on its way to AppStore...

Livid Ohm 64 Review

More people should subscribe to the world's greatest Audio publication: TapeOp

My review of the Livid Ohm 64 is on page 58...



I previously reviewed the monome 40h, in my opinion still the best illuminated button controller ever, result of one of the most-inspiring DIY projects I know.

Rhizome groove machine

mmmm, yummy! more info

Stribe Proto sample mixing

This is a primitive Max/MAP sequencer app for mixing samples and triggering MIDI with the stribe. On-screen the grid sequencer triggers a sample to begin. Depending on tempo, more or less of the sample is played. Some short sounds are triggered repeatedly. Stopping the sequencer and/or removing trigger points allows sounds to continue playing to conclusion.

BTW this is an early Stribe Proto mod'd to run Curious Inventor firmware. A neat happy accident is that I can put the cursors and the level meters on the same LEDs.

Further Max programming is required to get toggle control over "chunks" of LEDs to add button-like effects (for loading samples, paging, etc).

Curious Inventor Stribe Quad demo

quad stribe Live looping mixer from CuriousInventor on Vimeo.

Scott @ Curious Inventor put together a nice demo mapping his Stribe to affect loops in Ableton Live... via Vimeo

Mark Bokowiec performs with Stribe

"Stribe controlling Logic8 via IAC"

It's from 2008 but I just came across it...

Tanais Fox's 16-stribe project gets fancy

Check out these images on Make Blog of Tanais Fox's drawing for a milled aluminum case to hold 16 stribe1 kits.

sound meets kit meet art

Check out this beautiful pocket oscillator kit, idyllic beach not included. via Make

stretta C74 interview

stretta gets some well-deserved attention. Gotta check me out (e.g. afford) this M4L thing!

Phineus + Twine

twine: midi files
phineus: knobs/309

some recent trax from phineus

Cymatics = Visual Sound

 

Cymatics Scientist Says Sound is a Bubble, Not a Wave by Jodina Meehan
Check out the cool article linked above...

I've always thought of sound waves this way, but had never seem them represented like this. This is a great way to think about sound when mic'ing instruments or creating sound art.

monomnichord by Calum Scott

monomnichord from Calum Scott on Vimeo.

"A max/msp patch that uses a monome 40h and a stribe to emulate a Suzuki Omnichord."

It's wonderful to see music being made with a stribe1 alongside a monome.