It’s interesting sometimes how restrictions (in this case a time restriction) can lead to interesting insights.

A friend of mine sent an email yesterday. The short exchange (I was pressed for time) is below pretty much verbatim.

On Wednesday, January 28, 2009,  [my friend] wrote:

>lunch sounds good…
>
>btw, what kinda music software do you use? and what’s good out there
>for mac?

I replied:

I use Digital Performer, Logic, Live and Reason depending on what I am working on.

Reason – Very complete and relatively inexpensive. I believe there is a demo at their site (www.propellerheads.se). Strength: All in one, rock solid, reasonable CPU demands. Cons: Self contained; (To add vocals or external audio tracks have to use it via ReWire with another application.)

Live – Absolutely fantastic. The new Live8 will be even more phenomenal than the amazing Live 7. I discuss the new Live 8 on my blog (scroll down below the “Chinese HipHop” article). You can also get a demo from their site. (www.ableton.com) Pros: Effin’ fantastic program with amazing loop playing capabilities and built-in plug-ins. Cons: Not many.

LogicStudio – Amazing what you get for $499 — loops, plug-ins, industrial strength sequencer. If you were seriously getting into music, this would be perhaps the single best purchase you could make.

I kid you not.

Underground Chinese hip-hop, which is growing in popularity among students and working-class Chinese, is a profitless, and often subversive, activity for its practitioners.

Check out the NYTimes short video feature here.

OK. So I was, um, not thinking. If I had been, why would I make a resolution only TWO WEEKS before NAMM to NOT buy any new synth plug-ins before June 2009? I don’t even have the excuse of being hung over. Oh well…

Here are some damn interesting things announced on the first day of NAMM, several of which will migrate into my possession at some point this year. (Note that except for a short discussion of Live8, this is mostly a list with links. I’ll write more on each of these in the future.)

Ableton announces LIVE 8…

The biggest surprise to me was the announcement of Ableton Live8. Caught me completely by surprise.

First, if you have not checked out the videos on Ableton’s site, please do. Reading about the new features is not nearly as effective (IMHO) as seeing some of them in action. I’ve provided links to YouTube videos below, but better quality videos are available directly from Ableton at this link: http://www.ableton.com/home?movie=4

First up, there is an overview of Live8…

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But it gets so much more interesting. Check out “Share” for remote collaboration…

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Then there is “Extend” the integration of Max/MSP into LIVE…

While doing some research, I came upon a model for “Phases in the Performance Development Process.” (The word “performance” here referring to general execution of a set of tasks, NOT exclusively musical performance.)

Advance Notice. Learners benefit from material that builds motivation to learn the concept or technical subject. Informal learning products whose objectives are primarily affective (motivational) work best.

Getting Started. This is the time a learner is trying out a skill or concept for the first time. Motivation to learn is high but so is apprehension.

Feeling Arrogant. These are intermediate users who have mastered the basic skills and now want to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. They often become a bit overconfident in their skill at this stage, unaware of the extent of what they don’t know.

Feeling Humble. These are advanced users who are ready to tackle content that might not even be documented yet. They are extremely proficient with basic and intermediate skills and are usually aware of the limits of their knowledge / abilities.

I’m pretty much all over the map depending on what we are talking about. How about you?

(OK. So I am a little late to the party on this one, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless…)

Apparently, w-a-a-a-y back in 2006 in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the release of Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Brian Eno and David Byrne made available all of the constituent tracks to two songs from the album (’A Secret Life’ and ‘Help Me Somebody’) for remixing and use under a creative comments license. Marc Weidenbaum over at the excellent online blog disquiet contacted musicians he liked and asked them to submit remixes for inclusion in a downloadable collection. Marc noted that the result, Our Lives in the Bush of Ghosts, has been downloaded 25,000 times.

That is cool in itself. However, of even greater interest to me is that the tracks are still available (as mp3s or as 1.2GB of WAVs), and the Eno / Byrne project site is still accepting audio and video remixes. (So far 272 audio remixes have been submitted.) It should be noted that the creative commons licensing terms covering non-commercial use of the material are really very liberal. You can re-interpret the songs as you will, or do something completely different using just a portion of the material. Whatever you desire.

Apple announced GarageBand 09 on Tuesday. The big news?

Apple has incorporated music lessons into GarageBand.

GarageBand ’09 introduces Basic Lessons: the easiest way to learn piano and guitar, right on your Mac. Follow along at your own pace with interactive lessons that teach you the fundamentals through HD video instruction, synchronized notation, and animated onscreen instruments.

In addition to basic lessons for guitar and piano, Apple also offers “Artists Lessons” ($4.99 additional) wherein someone can learn from current artists how a tune was built, how certain riffs or licks are played, the thinking behind the song structure, etc.

Right now these look to be professionally filmed. And quite frankly, the selection of artists and styles is rather…limited. But I”m sure the selection will grow. Also – and this is exciting — I can see Apple opening this up into an ‘App Store’ sort of marketplace for folks to sell their own lessons. (EDIT: Ars Technica reports that “Additional lessons, celebrity and otherwise, [emphasis added] will be available for purchase within the “Lesson Store” inside the application after it is available to the public.)

Will you get into conservatory based on these lessons? Doubtful. However this is supremely cool IMHO. Consider the following:

• Schools across the US have cut music electives and programs.