Trnsfrmr

Maschine 1.5 is here. I’m trying to download it now but it seems the internet connect at my hotel is throttled so I may have to wait till I get home in the morning to give it another go.
The update is also accompanied by a 1 gig library update as well. I’m not sure at this moment if these are all new sounds of if the library includes existing sounds reprogramed to take advantage of some of the new features.
This baby may have finally tipped. NI has video blurbs by NO I.D, Needlez, Booka Shade & DJ Nu-mark on their site as well as text blurbs by Flying Lotus, Ali Shaheed and Coldplay.

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/maschine/?content=1194&page=1420

In response to Apple’s decision to limit iPhone OS app development to C, C++, objective-c and JavaScript. The Flash Blog

I think that by restricting Developers to a specific set of languages, Apple can somewhat ensure that developers target their platform specifically rather than have developers submit apps that are built for the lowest common denominator of mobile devices. I guess they don’t want to foster an environment that mirrors what’s on the web today. Most websites leave out a ton of features just because IE6 cannot support those features. I do believe that developers produce their best work when they target a specific platform and take advantage of the unique features that platform has to offer.

It is also good business for Apple to maintain a base of developers that are “married” to their platform. Imagine an environment where most iPhone developers migrate to Flash CS5. In such an environment, if Apple releases enhancements to their frameworks, developers would have to wait for Adobe to integrate those changes into Flash before the developers could take advantage of Apple’s improvements.

What if Google buys Adobe and decides CS6 will only come out on google chrome and Flash will only support Android? Apple and all developers that target iPhone OS get left in the dust!

Let’s face it, we always have a choice of mobile phones but when it comes to graphics applications, Adobe is a very strong monopoly. I’d be cautious siding with them on an issue such as this. It may not end well. How much is the web premium suite again? Do you think we would have to pay that much if Adobe and Macromedia never merged?

Adobe is a behemoth. IPhone devs may not be able to use Flash but I’ll bet my last dollar that 99.9999999876% of all graphic content you’ll see on Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Palm & Android devices as well as the web will be created using Adobe’s tools. Isn’t that enough?

I don’t necessarily have an issue with Adobe’s goal of making flash an indispensable tool but I do think that a lot of comments in the blogosphere wrongly suggest that Adobe may have altruistic motives. Adobe’s goal isn’t to give developers choice; it is to maintain and extend the dominance Flash currently enjoys. Apple’s goal isn’t to limit developers choice but rather to ensure that their platform doesn’t become just another deployment target for Flash.

Consider the following: 
If a developer uses Flash, who becomes responsible for performance tuning? The developer or Flash? 
My guess is Flash.

If Flash achieves 65% penetration into the iPhone development market? Who becomes responsible for how efficient Flash generated byte code runs on iPhone?
My guess is Apple because end users will not attribute sucky performance to Adobe but to Apple. 

Both companies are right so there really is no need for Adobe evangelists to pretend this is a fight about open vs closed.

I bet the blogs on here will have a totally different tone if MS/Google/Apple release free tools that allow developers to deploy their apps as Flash files. We will not hear all the clamoring for choice on the developers behalf.

I have been messing with beta version of the imminent maschine 1.5 update. One of the features the update adds is a vintage engine with E-mu SP-1200 and Akai MPC-60 modes.

If you select the SP1200 mode, you get an option to choose from Lo, Lo-mid, Hi, Hi-mid filter times. I’ve never used an SP so I cannot really comment on how accurate the emulations are. They do sound crunchy in a good way to my ears.

So I’m working on YAMP (yet another midi project and it took me a while to recollect all the binary arithmetic required to parse MIDI packets.

Take a midi packet with 3 bytes in hexadecimal notation such as 98 3C 64. This stream encapsulates the following instructions:

Play middle C on channel 10 at velocity 100. Now lets strip it down to nibbles & bits.

9 -> Note on message. (Examples of other status messages are: 0xB for controller change, 0x C for program change & 0xE for pitch-bend)

9 -> Middle channel 9.

3C ->Middle C -> Note 60

64 -> 100 in decimal

Determining if a stream begins with a status byte.

A set high-bit on the first byte identifies the byte as a status message. This can be accomplish visually by converting 99 from hex to binary 10011001,  and seeing if the first bit is 1. This can be tested mathematically with the following condtion:

0×99 > 0×7F

Once you have determined that the byte actually sets a status, you need to identify the actual status that is set. Some examples of status messages are: 0xB for controller change, 0xC for program change & 0xE for pitch-bend. To get the value of the left nibble, you can use the following expression.

0×99 >> 4 (Shift the 4 places) or 0×99 / 0×10

Determining the midi transmission channel.

The second nibble (99) of the first byte in the stream, represents the midi transmission channel. Channels are 0 indexed so they range from 0-F in hex or 0-15 in decimal. So we can tell quite easily that the transmission channel in our stream is 10 just by adding 1 to the second nibble. We can extract the 2nd nibble using the following expression:

0×99 % 0×10 (% = modulo)

and get the midi channel by adding 1 to the result

(0×99 % 0×10) + 1

Determining the note number and velocity.

These are pretty simple. Just convert the Hex values to a decimal values

0×3c = 60

0×64 = 100

I’ll post my parser here when I’m done with it this weekend.

So it turns out all the fan noise that has been driving me nuts for the last couple of months was caused by dust clogging the vents on my ATI X1900XT.  It took more than a few squirts from the compressed air can to get the card sorted. I’m I cheap or is$6.99 a bit much for a can of air? I ended up spending $4.99 in target on a can that went tepid before i was even done dusting the graphics card.

Update:

It turns out these cans do not contain air but hydroflurocarbons which are heavily taxed ozone depleting gases.

“In Europe 10 % of all electricity used by industry is used to produce compressed air. This amounts to 80 terawatt hours per year.^[1][2]“

Finally something else worth talking about besides the iPad!!!

The imminent  os 4 upgrade will offer a mod matrix feature on all Virus TIs. The feature allows you to use an arpeggiator pattern as a source in the modulation matrix. To those of you not familiar with a mod matrix, I would describe it as a non random, tempo synced, sample and hold LFO. In other words, its a sample and hold LFO that allows you to set the wave level at each individual step(up to 32 steps in the viruses case). A few enhancements have been made to the arp editor in Virus control to facilitate this feature. Firstly, The arp has gained an “Arp matrix mode”. In this new mode, the arpeggiator does not trigger new notes after the first step of the pattern while keys are held down. This allows you to play a sustained sound and have for instance, filter cutoff modulated cyclically by the matrix.

This new addition to the Virus Os has made it a bit easier to put of getting a Korg Radias. Now I can wait till I find a truly crack head deal. The virus’ implementation has a long way to go to match the Radias’ 3 independent sequencers and 16 physical knobs but it is a decent start.

In a future point upgrade, it would be cool to be able to set the modulation destination as an attribute on the arp itself, in addition to setting them in the mod matrix. The TI’s LFOs currently work like this so I don’t believe this will be difficult to implement. The reason this would be cool is that, it would make it possible to switch the range of modulation levels to one that makes sense for the destination being modulated. Take a scenario where you want to modulate the index of a wavetable oscillator with the matrix. If the selected wavetable only has 24 waves, does it really make sense to be able to set the modulation level to 127? All together class “NO”. The EXB-Radias expansion available for the Korg m3 workstations, work this way. The modulation step level settings are also presented in a bipolar fashion so it is clear to the user that they are modulating an attribute either up or down relative to the the attributes current value.

Other goodies slated for the release include comb and vowel filters which are available in the effects block rather than the filter block. 6 spice(curry, saffron, chilli, onion, pepper & mint) themed stomp box overdrive effects are also on the menu. I suspect that the colors of the spices they have chosen to name the overdrives after, is a clue to the identities of the stomp boxes the access engineers based their models on.

I’m still happy I chose the Virus Polar even though I still have an outstanding mortgage on it . The new comb filter will fill a void left by by recently departed waldorf blofeld and the vowel filters will bring back to life, the one feature I missed dearly on my E-mu 6400 Ultra sampler.

Not a bad upgrade at all. Bravo chaps!!! The released demos sound good to these ears but have a listen for yourself at Virus OS4.

Who needs flash? If you read the engadget & gizmodo forums, you would think flash is the oxygen of the interwebnet and the iPad’s lack of support was some sort of digital sacrilege. There are other voices in the blogosphere though and they chime a resounding NO to flash. Vimeo & Youtube both offer their videos using HTLM5, hulu doesn’t but is turning into a paid service anyway so Horton doesn’t give a hoot.

Read the comments section for yourself. http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/2010/01/apples_ipad_–_a_broken_link.html

Enough clamoring for multitasking already!

What most people care about is fast application switching. Most people can only handle iTunes plus another app simultaneously and the iPad delivers on that front.

Guess what else doesn’t multitask?

1. Nikon D9000KZX w/ 1.0 – 9000 VR zoom lens.
2. Playstation 3.
3. Steinway Piano.
4. In car navigation system.
5. Xbox 360 elite.
6. Desk Lamps.
7. Nintento Wii/DS.
8. Movie Theatre. (Don’t count eating popcorn. We both know you aren’t kissing anyone nerdlinger).
9. TVs(If you count the lame widgets, I’ll count the iPad’s clock)
10. Even the Batmobile wasn’t a tank and a bike at the same time. The bat dude had to switch modes!!!

All you whiners on gizmodo and engadget, please use your imagination people!!!

The iPad isn’t here to help you do things the same old way. You need to use your imagination a tad bit to appreciate it. I think its greatest attribute is the fact that it makes computing a lot more casual. One also has to understand that at the moment, it is a blank canvas but by the time it hits the shelves, there will be utterly brilliant software available for it.

Imagine reading to your 4 year old as s/he sits on your lap? Oh look thats a liger, lets click it to hear what sound it makes. Now dear, circle the the odd elephant out of these 3. Ok now lets play a game of tic tac toe and then watch yo gabba gabba. You cannot do any of that on a netbook.

I reckon anytime you need to read, surf, play a game, review a document or watch a movie without being tethered to a desk or one of those victorian pillow + miniature desk combos, the iPad will trounce a netbook. So think train, plane, airport, bathroom, armchair, bed, coffee shop, exercise bike.

Also imagine the following:

A waiter coming up to you in a restaurant and showing you the specials on an iPad. Just wouldn’t be the same on a dell mini. A presenter reading prepared speeches from an iPad rather than a netbook.

A car sales person checking availability, showing options and working out finance rates right away from the desk. How about a real estate agent giving a tour of a house? She can dump all the paper in her car and walk in with just an iPad. Oh you want to me to verify the property taxes? Ok, I’ll make a note of that. Let me show you this new listing that has the kind of kitchen you are looking for right on Witherspoon.

The lack of multi-tasking isn’t a hindrance in any of these use cases. I’m getting one of these the day they are made available. I’ll hand it down to my kids when the 3rd generation comes out and get that as well.

I love it!!!

First, a bit of my background with beat machines/workstations. I’ve owned Akai mpc 1000/2000xl,  Yamaha Rm1x/RS7000/Motif Classic/ES/XS, e-mu MP7, Roland MV-8000, Korg Triton/M3.

I liked the MV8000. Very easy to use, great elastic audio, greate effects but it was too big, preset management was a bit quirky as well and saving took too much time.

I could never really get into the MPC series except for the quick pitch, filter, level modes. The 1000 was slightly bearable but they aren’t deep as far as synthesis. I hated the fact that the pads weren’t laid out chromatically. Lame effects. I’ve never used a 3000 but I’ve been told its a different beast so no flaming please.

The korg work stations are great for programing but I hated the sequencer because there wasn’t a way to drop in and out of record on the fly. Sampling improved in the m3 but not enough to have me hold on.

RS7000 was great but I traded up to a motif so I could have it all in one.

Not long after i got the Maschine, I sold the Motif XS on eBay. I loved working on the motif but I never used it to sample because it was such a chore. Most of the music I did on it, stayed on it. I just don’t have enough hours in my life right now to solo a pair of tracks at a time and dump them to Logic. Now, If I start something on the Maschine and I decide to finish it, I just open up Logic, load up Maschine in there and just record my scene changes as MIDI notes in realtime. That ish is a truck load of fun.

Maschine is the easiest of the bunch to use. The hardware/software combo fits me like a glove. The Maschine was made for my workflow.

I was rather hesitant at first to check the beast out because I’ve owned Kore 2 for a while but I’ve never really gotten into it and i didn’t want to spend the money on another paper weight. Anyway, I decided to drop into my local guitar center on a slow day to give it a go. As usual, no one in the store had a clue about the unit nor knew where the manual was. I fire up the software, the unit lights up and in about 10 minutes, I cooked up some heat using sounds from thestock  5gb sound library. I must have spent less than 2 out of the 10 minutes with my eyes on the monitor. If I remember correctly, 10 minutes is less than the time it takes to located samples on you computer, transfer them to your MPC and load them up.

I have never been one to sample records as I’m in the middle of making a beat. I prefer to have sampling/programming sessions that can last for months at a time. I basically go thru records, cds, iTunes etc, sample stuff i find interesting and then build a library of programs in Kontakt, Battery & Logic. I then rely on these sample forever So Maschine’s tagging and browsing features are totally awesome for this way of working.

A Maschine project is laid out in the following hierachy

Pad – This is the most basic unit in the project. A pad is analogous to a track in most other sequencers. A pad can have a sample, multi sampled – instrument or midi output assigned to it. You can toggle a pad’s mode that allows you to either just trigger the root note of a sample or play the sample/instrument chromatically using all 16 pads in the grid. You can transpose the by either an octave or semitone at a time using one of the soft knobs on the right lcd screen. By holding down a pad, you can change its volume and root pitch using the volume and tempo knobs respectively. By using the left and right arrows located at the top left of the Maschine, you can step thru 8 attributes of the selected pad at a time. These attributes are laid out on the 2 lcd screens and they each have a corresponding soft know assigned to them. The attributes available include but are not limited to the following: Volume, tune, filter type(LP, LP2, HP, BP, BR), filter cutoff & resonance, LFO settings, Trigger mode(Oneshot, ADSR, AHD), Sample start & end, bit depth, fx1 & fx2. The Maschine does an amzing job of not overwhelming you with all these attributes. You just step thru with the arrow keys. You can also solo and mute individual pads on the fly

Group – Each of the 8 groups holds 16 pads and up to 64 patterns associated with those pads. You can actually save the entire group as a unit. Groups also have their own pair of insert effects and they can be routed to independent outs puts. Each project has 8 groups and you can think of them as kits. You can have drums in one groups, chopped up sample in another, vocal samples in yet another and synths in yet another. Just like the pads, groups can be muted and soloed on the fly. So not only can you mute you hi-hats, you can mute your entire drum kit with a touch. You select a group using one of the blue buttons labeled A-H above the transport controls. The button for the active group glows a little brighter so you always know where you are.

Scenes – Allow you to layer group patterns. eg You could pick pattern-1 from group-1, pattern-5 from group-2 and pattern-2 from group-3. The scene inherits the length of its longest pattern and plays in an endless loop until you select another scene. While a scene is looping, you can switch the pattern for the the active group just by hitting the “Pattern” button and then simply tapping the pad that corresponds to the pattern you want to insert into the scene. Scenes may be switched on the fly as well and the switching may be quantized to the 1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/2, bar, beat and scene length. A very cool option that can be set for scene switching is scene sync. This is how it works: If you switch scenes on the 2rd beat of the 3rd bar for example; and you have quantize set to a quarter note, you end up on the 3rd beat of the 3rd bar on the destination scene. Pretty sweeeet!!!.

Project - A project saves the entire memory of the maschine include a chain of scenes that make up a “song”.

I’m a bit sleepy now so I’ll fast forward to a list of the good, the bad & the ugly.

The Good

1. Fun, fun, fun
2. Filtered browsing for samples and instruments within supplied library as well as user created library.
3. Simple well laid out controls.
4. Very legible screens.
5. Tiny footprint. This thing has a smaller footprint than a 12 inch record and is light as a feather.
6. Very simple and cohesive interface.
7. Ability to undo recordings one note at a time.
8. Ability to record automation even in playback mode.
9. Great feeling Pads, buttons and knobs.
10. Great collection of filters, effects and modulators per PAD!!!
11. Insanely easy song creation using scenes.
12. Pretty good bundled library.
13. Ability to drop in and out of record at anytime with a single button push.
14. Quantize/Undo Quantize on the fly.
15. Luminescent pads are extremely useful in a million different ways. Shows you which pads, patterns, steps are assigned or active.
16. Software can run in full screen mode on my OSX. Might do on windows as well.
17. Virtually mouse-less/screen-less  operation.
18. Very stable, no crash so far. Touch wood

The Bad

1. As of version 1.5, The sequencer does not record pitch bend nor midi CC from a midi controller but you can still automate pitch as well as other parameters using the Maschine’s knobs. This functionality is slated for an upcoming release I hear.

The Ugly

1. I haven’t figured out how to move slice points after I auto chop a loop. So I either stick with the choices that the Maschine makes(which haven’t been bad) or export each slice to a different track.

Good night. I’ll catch you in the morning.