Music • Sound • Video • Art

Straight from the new Google group set up by Peter McIlwain and crew at CEMA:

CEMA is pleased to announce that it has received additional funding to continue the development of Nodal. We are currently in the process of updating the current version, along with releasing a version that runs under Microsoft Windows. These new versions should be released around February 2009.

Further development of Nodal will continue in 2009, where we will move to charging a small fee to purchase an updated version of the software (Windows and Mac compatible). Fees collected will go back into further developments of the software. Updated versions will include technical support, a more detailed manual and tutorial guides. Please check back on this page throughout 2009 for updates.

This is exciting. I hope they figure out an easy way to sync this thing with my DAW… I highly recommend checking this out at the link below.

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• More info on Nodal is here.
• The Nodal Google Group is here.

Hey!

Another quick update, this time on music production and music tool tutorials.

When you post a “how-to” question about music software on some discussion boards, you can often get a “RTFM” (Read The Effin’ Manual) response. And although I essentially agree with the sentiment, I find that a) I hardly have time,** and b) the softwares we are dealing with are increasingly complex. And those two facts tend to reinforce each other.

Because of this, I think my learning style has changed. I appreciate and enjoy video tutorials. I can see and watch how something is done, and I pick it up much quicker. Of late, I’ve come across some really nice tutorials:

• Digital Performer by MacAudioLab– First up is a set of new DP6 tutorials from MacAudioLab. These were just released in the last month or so. They are the only comprehensive set of tutorials on DP6 on the market at present. (The other set of DP6 tutorials out there by TutorialDepot are decent bite-sized chunks, but I’d hardly call them comprehensive.) Some of the material is taken from their DP5 tutorials (the bits that have not changed between versions), but there is A LOT of new material including several tutorials on MOTU’s VIs (MX4, MachFive2, Ethno) plus other material. I have to give it the thumbs up.
• Native Instruments KORE2 by MacProVideo — KORE is a very deep and potentially complex instrument. This set of tutorials from MacProVideo go a long way towards making KORE2 accessible. Highly recommended.
• Omnisphere and Stylus RMX by Spectrasonics — Spectrasonics puts out a set of video tutorials on Omnisphere that is very helpful in getting your head around the instrument. Same with Stylus RMX. You have to own these instruments to get access to the video tutorials, but if you do own either, and if you have not taken adavntage of these resources — stop wasting time and go there now to download them. The RMX videos are fantastic and I’m sure the Omni videos will follow in the same vein when all of them are done.
• Absynth3 and Kontakt 2 Tutorial DVDs by Native Instruments — Yes I know these are tutorials on older versions of the software, but 90% of the stuff on them is relevant and valid. These are available from Native Instruments on DVD (no downloadable options), and require a bit of investment in your time as they are very in-depth. But they are well worth it.

There are a few more that I am going through right now. As soon as I have enough of an impression, I’ll post info on them to.

Well, that’s it for now. Cheers!

nk:e